"what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me."

"Are babies still being murdered?" 

"For pro-lifers across the country, real action is only measured in one way: Are babies still being murdered?  The best way to make the answer to that question a resounding 'NO!' is to focus on the largest abortion chain in the United States....To end the murder of innocent babies, we need to shut down Planned Parenthood.  An absolutely necessary part of that effort is to shut off all taxpayer money to the organization. To do that, we will need an act of Congress....members of Congress need to know you care.  We ask you to go, right now, to www.StopPlannedParenthoodTaxFunding.com and sign the petition to end taxpayer funding to the largest abortion chain in the nation" (American Life League, 11/14/14).  The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urges us to advocate for our leaders in Washington to...

• Support/Co-Sponsor the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,

• Support/Co-Sponsor the Health Care Conscience Rights Act,

• Incorporate the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act into must-pass funding legislation*
  
  (*"As per an 11/17/14 USCCB letter to Congress:"we want to underscore the increasingly urgent need for Congress to protect rights of conscience with regard to the taking of innocent human life.......We strongly urge you to incorporate ANDA into must-pass funding legislation at your earliest possible opportunity.")

• Oppose the so-called Protect Women's Health from Corporate Interference Act (HR 5051 / S 2578), 

"we come to the undeniable connection between contraception and abortion—a subject many of us shy away from for fear of being rejected as zealots....not only does contraception lead to abortion, but sadly many of the contraceptive devices and chemicals CAUSE abortion....cultural hedonism is not corrected by an election but rather by a conversion to the teachings of Almighty God" (Judie Brown, 11/7/14).

 

Apologies Owed?  Only if you are ashamed of the Gospel.

Disrespect for marriage in Pa (and elsewhere) did not simply start with Tom Corbett's abandoning the legal defense of Pa's DOMA. We have long looked the other way from loved ones living in sin, acted as though we are free to separate the procreative from the unitive in the marital act, and largely stopped viewing marriage as indissoluble.  Some "Catholic" institutions are abandoning the defense of marriage/family with barely a wimper (cf., R.R. Reno, 11/3/14).  Yet, our infidelity to Truth does NOT change Truth!  We know that "if the Church’s teaching on marriage is going to change, the Church would find it necessary to apologize to Henry VIII, revoke the canonization of Saint Thomas More, rebuke John the Baptist ('The greatest man born of woman'?), canonize Herod and Herodias, and delete the story of Sodom and Gomorrah from the Old Testament" (Fr . Jerry Pokorsky, 11/20/14).  The Truth about the Sanctity of Human Life and Marriage/Family is NOT changing!  As lay people, Pope Francis reminded us this past week, that each of us is called to bring that Truth into our apostolates.

• "It is a crucial moment both to tackle the issues that affect your profession today and to renew awareness of the fact that your profession serves the public interest....From your perspective of accounting professionals, you are fully aware of the dramatic reality many people are experiencing in these days, people who have precarious employments or have lost their job; families paying the consequences of this situation; young people seeking their first job and a decent employment.... Christian professionals draw, every day, from the prayer and from the Word of God the strength first of all to accomplish well their duty, with competence and wisdom; and then 'to go beyond'.... Giving a concrete answer to economic and practical questions is not enough; there is need to raise and cultivate an ethics of the economy, of finance and of employment; there is need to keep the value of solidarity alive – solidarity, a word that today risks being removed from the dictionary– solidarity as a moral attitude, an expression of the attention to other people and their legitimate needs.  If we wish to leave to future generations an improved environmental, economic, cultural and social heritage, we are called to take up the responsibility to work for globalizing solidarity....And the social doctrine of the Church teaches us that the principle of solidarity is effected in harmony with the principle of subsidiarity" (Pope Francis to the World Congress of Accountants, 11/14/14).
  

• "There is no doubt that, in our time, due to scientific and technical advancements, the possibilities for physical healing have significantly increased; and yet, in some respects it seems the ability to 'take care' of the person has decreased, especially when he is sick, frail and helpless....you Catholic doctors are committed to live your profession as a human and spiritual mission, as a real lay apostolate....Your work wants to witness by word and by example that human life is always sacred, valuable and inviolable....if the Hippocratic Oath commits you to always be servants of life, the Gospel pushes you further: to love it no matter what, especially when it is in need of special care and attention....The dominant thinking sometimes suggests a 'false compassion', that which believes that it is: helpful to women to promote abortion; an act of dignity to obtain euthanasia; a scientific breakthrough to 'produce' a child and to consider it to be a right rather than a gift to welcome; or to use human lives as guinea pigs presumably to save others. Instead, the compassion of the Gospel is that which accompanies in times of need, that is, the compassion of the Good Samaritan....Fidelity to the Gospel of life and respect for life as a gift from God sometimes require choices that are courageous and go against the current, which in particular circumstances, may become points of conscientious objection....we all know that with so many old people, in this culture of waste, there is this hidden euthanasia" (Pope Francis to the Italian Catholic Physicians' Association, 11/15/14).

• "This complementarity [of man and woman] is at the root of marriage and family....Children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child's development and emotional maturity....permanent commitment to solidarity, fidelity, and fruitful love responds to the deepest longings of the human heart" (Pope Francis to the International Colloquium on the complementarity between man and woman, 11/17/14).

• "I ask you, with your priests, to form strong Christian families, who – by your catechizing – will know, understand and love the truths of the faith more deeply, and thus be protected from those currents which may tempt them to fall away....be close to your young people as they seek to establish and articulate their identity in a disorienting age. Help them to find their purpose in the challenge and joy of co-creation with God that is the vocation to married life, fulfilled in the blessing of children; or indeed in the celibate vocations to the sacred priesthood or religious life, which the Church has been given for the salvation of souls" (Pope Francis to the Bishops of Zambia, 11/17/14). 

• "The Church, as you know, seeks always to be attentive and watchful regarding the spiritual and material welfare of the people, especially those who are marginalised or excluded, to ensure their safety and dignity....the right to food can only be ensured if we care about the actual subject, that is, the person who suffers the effects of hunger and malnutrition....A source of inspiration is natural law, inscribed in the human heart, that speaks a language that everyone can understand: love, justice, peace, elements that are inseparable from each other....If we believe in the principle of the unity of the human family, based on the common paternity of God the Creator, and in the fraternity of human beings, no form of political or economic pressure that exploits the availability of foodstuffs can be considered acceptable" (Pope Francis to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the U.N., 11/20/14).

• "Above all in areas of the world in difficulty, where the lack of work prevents individuals and their families from achieving a dignified life, there is a strong drive to seek a better future wherever that may be, even at the risk of disappointment and failure....I invoke upon you the protection of Mary, the Mother of God, and Saint Joseph, who themselves experienced the difficulty of exile in Egypt" (Pope Francis to the World Congress for the Pastoral Care of Migrants, 11/21/14).

•  "These conditions constitute a fragility that affects numerous children and, consequently, their families. They represent an area that appeal to the direct responsibility of governments and institutions, without of course forgetting the responsibility of Christian communities.  Everyone should be committed to promoting acceptance, encounter and solidarity through concrete support and by encouraging renewed hope....I thank the families, parish groups and various associations present here today and from whom we heard these moving and meaningful testimonies, for the work they carry out every day" (Pope Francis to the International Conference on "The Person with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Animating Hope", 11/2114).

The USCCB urges us to advocate, so that our leaders in Washington....

• Support/Co-Sponsor the Marriage Protection Amendment,

• Support/Co-Sponsor the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act, 

• Support/Co-Sponsor the State Marriage Defense Act,  

• Support/Co-Sponsor the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act.

• The USCCB has also shown clear Opposition to the misleadingly named Employment Non-Discrimination Act.   

Though we supposedly had "pro life" and "pro marriage/family" majorities in the Pa House and Senate - as well as a supposedly "pro life" and " pro marriage/family" governor - EXTREMELY little was accomplished! At the first sign of protest, for example, most walked away from advocating for ultrasound legislation!

As per the National Organization for Marriage, "the most outspoken candidates in favor of marriage won tightly contested races, and you can bet that their advocacy for marriage helped make the difference!" (Brian Brown, 11/5/14).  By contrast, Tom Corbett lost his reelection bid, largely because of his weak defense of life, his abandoning the defense of marriage, and his embrace of HB300/SB300. In the remaining days of his administration, it is not too late for Corbett to salvage his legacy.



"He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Matthew 25: 45, 46).