ALERTS: "Hear, O kings, and understand....for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends...."

"Hear, O kings, and understand....for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends...."

(from today's first reading)

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference's "alerts" currently include the following:

• "Support the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" (H.R. 36, S. 1553). 
• "Protect Rights of Conscience and Religious Liberty" (H.R. 940)
• "Use Tax Dollars for Life Not Death" (Pa House Bill 1623)
• "Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Religious Liberty" (Pa House Bill 1510/Senate Bill 974)

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' "Alerts Central" currently includes the following:

• "Protect Rights of Conscience and Religious Liberty" (H.R. 940)
• "State Marriage Defense Act of 2015" (H.R. 824, S. 435)
• "First Amendment Defense Act" (H.R. 2802, S. 1598) 
• "Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act of 2015 (CWPIA)" (H.R. 1299, S. 667).
• "Urge House Support for Women's Public Health and Safety Act (HR 3495)"

As per the USCCB: "Action alerts for issues related to immigration reform can be found through the USCCB-led Catholic coalition, Justice for Immigrants."

As per the USCCB, "Action alerts for pro-life issues can also be found through our partner organization, the National Committee for the Human Life Amendment."  The NCHLA's "Current Action Alerts" include the following:

• "Protect the Rights of Pro-Life Health Care Providers! (updated on 10/23/2015) Now is the time to urge Congress to protect the right of conscientious objection to abortion. Please urge your elected representatives to support the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (ANDA). This proposal is part of the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (HR 940), and is now included in the House’s Labor/Health and Human Services appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2016 (HR 3020, secs. 530 (d) and (e)). Ask members to include this language in final must-pass funding legislation this year."
• "Please Support the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act! (updated on 1/22/2015) On January 22, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2015 (H.R. 7). The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act places in permanent law a consistent federal policy restricting the funding and promotion of abortion. The Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act requires qualified health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to inform consumers about their abortion coverage and abortion payments. Focus now turns to the Senate."
• "Stop Federal Funding of Planned Parenthood (updated on 9/30/2015) The release of undercover videos showing a willingness by Planned Parenthood officials to traffic in fetal organs and tissue has quite properly stirred strong reactions in Congress and the general public. A bill 'To prohibit Federal funding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America' was introduced in both House and Senate (S. 1881, H.R. 3301). Consideration of the Senate bill was blocked but can be brought up again. Please contact your Senators and Representative today!"

(Amidst efforts to call for defunding Planned Parenthood, Trenton Planned Parenthood (www(dot)plannedparenthood(dot)org/planned-parenthood-central-greater-northern-new-jersey/patient-resources/saturday-services-in-trenton) brags of expanding its Saturday hours and makes no secret of doing abortions.  On Saturdays at 9:45, a small group gathers near State and Clinton for the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

While many public officials may claim to be pro life, there is minimal evidence of sufficient testicular fortitude - in Washington or Harrisburg - to just stop giving government dollars to the nation's largest abortion provider!  As per Bishop Thomas Olmstead: "We need to get off the sidelines and stand up for life on the front lines. We need faith like that of our fathers who defended the children of previous generations and who gave up their own lives rather than abandon their faith in Christ" We need our elected officials to absolutely oppose ANY monies going to Planned Parenthood.  Email Representative Fitzpatrick, Senator Casey, and Senator Toomey, asking for all federal funding of Planned Parenthood to stop.    Email all of Bucks County's representatives and senators in Harrisburg, asking for all state funding of Planned Parenthood to stop.)

As per a Letter to Senator McConnell, Senator Reid, Speaker Boehner, and House Minority Leader Pelosi, in support of Representative Chis Smith's HR 1150 (Ken Starr, Archbishop Chaput, Alan Dershowitz, Matthew Franck, Maryann Glendon, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Bishop William Murphy, Pastor Rick Warren, Cardinal Wuerl and others, 7/14/15):

• "We write as a diverse group of religious leaders, public intellectuals and scholars to urge Congressional action on the issue of international religious persecution that threatens people of faith worldwide and our national security.... We are witnessing a tragic, global crisis in religious persecution, violence, and terrorism, with dire consequences for religious minorities and for the national security of the United States....H.R. 1150 would...give Ambassador Saperstein the status that other ambassadors at large at the Department of State enjoy, the authority to develop an interagency strategy to protect global religious freedom, and the resources he needs to implement that strategy. It would also mandate training for all foreign service officers, deputy chiefs of mission, and country ambassadors. This training would ensure that our diplomats fully understand and can effectively defend the free expression of religion worldwide, the enduring value of religious freedom and its relationship to national security, and how to advance the cause of religious liberty in our foreign policy...." 

• As "citizens in the US [we must]...call on...Members of Congress...to support two pieces of urgent legislation in the House of Representatives.  H.R.  1150  And...[H Con Res 75] ("It's genocide' - US Congress challenged over Christian victims of ISIS").  As of 11/10/15, Representative Fitzpatrick is NOT among the 108 co-sponsors of H.R. 1150, nor the  146 co-sponsors of  H Con Res 75.

"Alerts" from the following also deserve your consideration:

• Family Reseach Council Action Page
• National Organization for Marriage's Advocacy Center
• National Center on Sexual Exploitation (nee Morality in Media)

Also, 

• "Why are we not protecting married couples from the violence of contraception — the divorce of unitive and procreative aspects of the beautiful gift of sexuality? Why are we afraid of helping our brothers and sisters to live in truth, according to their dignity?" (11/6/15)

• "....the PA House of Representatives could soon vote on a proposed Constitutional Amendment which would strip away your right to vote for appellate judges.  House Bill 1336...would take away your right to vote for judges for the PA Supreme Court, the Superior Court, and the Commonwealth Court....Please contact your state representative and tell him or her you don't want your right to vote for judges taken away....." (Pa Pro Life Federation, 10/21/15)

• "the marriage act purged of impurities is the nearest thing to the beatific vision we can know....To offer the suffering of celibacy, temporary or permanent, to the Lord is to make use, in the best possible way, of man's greatest joy " (10/21/15)

• "Statement Calling for Constitutional Resistance to Obergefell v. Hodges"  (American Principles Project, 10/8/15)

• "the Sexual Revolution ushered in the scourge of abortion, pornography, and sexual abuse so rampant in recent decades. Instead of real and authentic love, this false 'liberty' offers cheap pleasures that mask a deeper loneliness and pain. Instead of the security of traditional family bonds, it leaves children longing for the stability of a mother’s and a father’s love....Today’s attack on fatherhood, and by extension, motherhood, is multi-pronged and breathtakingly damaging. 41% of children are born into unmarried homes in our day, an increase of 700% from 1950" (Bishop Thomas Olmstead, 9/29/15).

• re: "The Revision and Updating of the Charter for Healthcare Workers (5/6/15)"