"By...1968, federal funding of family planning was in the multi-millions and rising fast. And the bishops...had 'tacitly' agreed to accept federal birth control, provided only it was 'noncoercive.'"
"Pressure for government birth control was rising before LBJ. Although President Dwight Eisenhower had famously remarked that he could think of nothing less appropriate for government involvement than family planning, private conversations on the matter took place during the Kennedy administration....
"Johnson came to the presidency determined to make birth control an integral part of his War on Poverty. Congress agreed. But LBJ, canny politician that he was, feared a Catholic backlash if he moved too fast on the domestic front....
"A key moment occurred in early 1966 when the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now Health and Human Services) for the first time issued guidelines for family planning grants to the states. The NCWC administrative board responded with a statement protesting 'threats to free choice of spouses.' But an NCWC official privately assured [administration official Joseph] Califano this was only 'the last trumpet of the older American bishops.'
"The White House then concluded that non-coercive family planning was acceptable to the hierarchy....
"By the time Johnson announced he wouldn’t seek reelection in 1968, federal funding of family planning was in the multi-millions and rising fast. And the bishops...had 'tacitly' agreed to accept federal birth control, provided only it was 'noncoercive.' It’s unlikely they could have prevented what happened — public opinion, including Catholic opinion, was against them — but they might have gotten a better deal. Is there a lesson here today as Obamacare abortion grows?" (Russell Shaw of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and former USCCB Secretary for Public Affairs)
The Murder of Mary Stachowicz: Truly, a Crime of Hate
Like Matthew Shepard, "In 2002, Mary Stachowicz was also brutally murdered....Mary, the gentle, devout 51-year-old Catholic mother of four urged her co-worker, Nicholas Gutierrez, 19, to change his gay lifestyle. Infuriated by this, as he later told police, he allegedly beat, stabbed and strangled her to death and then stuffed her mangled body in a crawl space in his apartment, located above a Chicago funeral home, where they both worked. I know about Mary Stachowicz, not from the Internet, but personally, because Mary was my secretary at the parish where I was pastor before I was named a Bishop. She worked part time at the funeral home and part time at the parish....Both murders were senseless and brutal, and I condemn them both unequivocally....Shepard’s story has received such widespread attention because his homosexuality was the chief motive for his murder. Mary’s murder was widely ignored by the media, despite the fact that she died as a martyr for her faith....The traditional understanding of marriage as between one man and one woman is not the invention of the Catholic Church and in fact precedes Christianity. It is not based on religion, but on natural law" (Bishop Thomas Paprocki)
"great confusion with regard to the specific vocation of men in marriage and of men in general in the Church"
"I think there has been a great confusion with regard to the specific vocation of men in marriage and of men in general in the Church during the past 50 years or so....
"The goodness and importance of men became very obscured, and for all practical purposes, were not emphasized at all. This is despite the fact that it was a long tradition in the Church, especially through the devotion of St. Joseph, to stress the manly character of the man who sacrifices his life for the sake of the home, who prepares with chivalry to defend his wife and his children and who works to provide the livelihood for the family....
"the gift of sexual attraction is directed toward marriage, and any kind of sexual union belongs properly only within marriage....
"poorly formed men become addicted to pornography, sexual promiscuity, alcohol, drugs, and the whole gamut of addictions....
"A boy or young man is unlikely to build proper manly identity and the manly virtues unless he lives with a father and mother, where he can witness that unique and complementary interaction between the male and the female in a home life in which human life can be welcomed, nurtured and developed....
"the Church must make a concentrated effort to evangelize men by delivering a strong and consistent message about what it means to be a faithful Catholic man. Men need to be addressed very directly about the demanding and noble challenge of serving Jesus Christ the Eternal King and His Catholic Church. Men are hungry and thirsty for meaning beyond the everyday world....
"Men are facing great temptations, particularly, ...due to pornography and confusion about sexuality and desperately need to be taught how to battle these temptations in Christ. Men need to enter into prayer and with the help of God’s Grace, men can overcome these grievous temptations and become men of strong moral character. Catholic men....
"We need to catechize men about the profound realities of the Mass....
"Until men understand that there is Sin, and what Sin is, and that Sin offends God gravely, they will not go to Confession. Men need to have an encounter with God, with our Lord in the Sacrament of Penance to confess their Sins, express their sorrow, and receive His forgiveness....
"There was a period after Vatican II where many were promoting the idea that there weren’t any serious sins.
"Of course, this is lethal for men, especially young men. Young men may begin to engage in the sexual sin of masturbation. Men have told me that when they were teenagers, they confessed the sin of masturbation in the confessional and priests would say, 'Oh, that’s nothing you should be confessing. Everybody does that.' That’s wrong....
"the priest is first and foremost the spiritual father; he is a man. You need to have manly qualities of selflessness, chivalry and discipline to avoid situations improper for a priest. A priest must have the manly confidence and credibility to be a spiritual father to his flock, giving clear firm guidance with kindness and charity....
"The dark confusion of gender theory deceives people into thinking that they can create their own sexual identities based on urges and emotions. We are so blessed God gave us this gift of being a man or being a woman. It’s a matter of us to respond to God’s will to develop our gifts of being a man or woman" (Raymond Cardinal Burke).
"I had the privilege of meeting many good Catholics before making the acquaintance of my husband, but I don’t think I had met a hero before meeting him."
"It is not easy to stand up for what is right when that might mean losing one’s job, one’s family or even one’s life. It is far easier to keep quiet and let things slide....
"I had the privilege of meeting many good Catholics before making the acquaintance of my husband, but I don’t think I had met a hero before meeting him. My husband was, by the grace of God, a man with heroic dedication to truth, goodness and beauty" (Alice von Hildebrand).
Catholic laypeople
"The following unchanging truths lie at the heart of the work of Voice of the Family:
– Sacramental marriage, binding parents together in an indissoluble union, is the greatest protector of children both born and unborn.
– The artificial separation of the unitive and procreative dimensions of the sexual act, in other words contraception and in vitro fertilisation, is a major cause of the culture of death.
– Parents are the primary educators of their children and it is through the education and formation of parents, and future parents, that the culture of life will be built....
"Catholic laypeople, in the light of the worldwide crisis of faith, must be mature enough to recognize that bad things can happen even at the highest levels of the Church, and we must be confident in speaking out when that’s the situation" (John Smeaton)
"Stand with the Christian Fire Chief fired for his faith"
(Family Research Council)
Political Guidance from the USCCB and the Pa Catholic Conference
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (See "Project Life and Liberty: Postcard Campaign") and/or the Pa Catholic Conference continue to facilitate our requests for our leaders in Washington, to....- Support the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (S 946)
- Support the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (HR 940 / S 1204)
- Support the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (as per the Pa Catholic Conference Alert)
- Support "just and compassionate immigration reform" (Tell Pres. Obama to Oppose use of "family detention.")
- Oppose the so-called Protect Women's Health from Corporate Interference Act (S2578)
- Support the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (HR 36) - action link
- Support the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act (HR 217 / S 51) - Defund Planned Parenthood!
On a state level, the Pa Catholic Conference continue to facilitate our requests for our leaders in Harrisburg, to....
- Oppose the death penalty
- Oppose HB 300 / SB 300
- Support equal education funding
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