Life and Marriage/Family in the News

• You’re Invited: Join Our Exclusive Conference Call with Ryan T. Anderson and Mark Regnerus (Witherspoon Institute email, 12/17/19) 

• "in the last week we have learned that a surprising number of self-styled 'conservatives' think it would be a mistake to try to ban hardcore pornography. These conservatives, typically of a more-or-less libertarian bent, came out of the woodwork this past week, after four Republican congressmen wrote a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr, in which they requested that the Justice Department start enforcing obscenity laws against pornographers.....John Adams famously said that the U.S. Constitution was only suited for governing a 'moral and religious people.' One wonders what Adams would have said if he knew that in the future an overwhelming majority of adult U.S. citizens would spend untold hours of their lives immersing themselves in oceans of material so obscene, degrading, and violent that even in his worst nightmares he wouldn’t have imagined it possible....any argument that suggests that the Founders would have done anything other than shut down the pornography industry, using the full force of the government if necessary, is absurd" (Father Shenan J. Boquet , 12/16/19).

• "On December 16, 2019, the New Jersey Senate [shamefully] passed A5802//S4103 ....The bill now goes to Governor Murphy who [disgracefully] said he would sign the bill" (NJRTL, 12/17/19).

• Hallmark Announced They Are Reinstating Zola Ad – Sign the Boycott Hallmark Pledge! (1MM, 12/17/19) 

• The Ukraine Religious Freedom Support Act "introduced in the House of Representatives [aims] to hold Russia accountable for what Congressmen claim is the persecution of religious groups in occupied territories of the Ukraine" (CNA, 12/16/19)

• "When a new acquaintance tells you that he was raised as a Catholic but drifted away, because 'I had some troubles with what the Church teaches,' you don’t immediately suspect that he is a monophysite. No, the odds are overwhelming that he could not reconcile himself to one or more of the Church’s teachings on sexual morality....We are losing the battle on sexual morality because we, as a Church, too often are silent on those issues. When we do speak out, too often we are apologetic. Why? Hasn’t the wisdom of Christian morality been proven, in the painful results of the sexual revolution?" (CatholicCulture.org, 12/13/19) 

4th Sunday of Advent
(Signed Homily)

National Concerns

• NO to "the Shaheen amendment...[in] the Senate’s State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs (SFOPS) appropriations bill" (Human Life Action).

• Support S. 2590/HR 4934 The Dignity for Aborted Children Act (Human Life Action)

• Support the Heartbeat Bill, HR 3985 (cf, LifeSite)

• Support the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (cf, USCCB)

• Born-Alive Legislation Deserves a Vote in the People's House (USCCB) 

• Support the Equal Campus Access Act, HR3243/S1168 (USCCB)

• Urge the President and Congress to Maintain the Refugee Resettlement Program (Pa Catholic Conference) 

• Support S. 874, the Dream Act of 2019 (USCCB Justice for Immigrants)

• Oppose the Misnamed Equality Act (Human Life Action)

• Oppose the Misnamed Do No Harm Act (cf, American Life League)

• Comment to support the Trump Admin's proposed HHS rule change (USCCB)

• Support the Farm Workforce Modernization Act (cf., USCCB)

Commonwealth of Pa

(Pa Catholic Conference Legislative Review and Voter Voice)

• Support the Telemedicine Bill (SB 857) as passed by the Pa House (Pa Catholic Conf)

• Support the Perinatal Hospice Care Act (Pa Catholic Conference)

• Support the "Buyer Beware Act" (SB 60) to fight human trafficking (Pa Catholic Conference)

• Support the Fetal Remains Bill, HB 1890 (Pa Catholic Conference) 

• Support the "Heartbeat" Bill (Pa Catholic Conference) 

• Support the Down Syndrome Protection Act (Pa Catholic Conference)

• Please ask the governor, Pa Senate and Pa Assembly for a religious exemption for adoptions (Pa Catholic Conference) (See also the Pa Family Council link.)

• Call for Funding Increase for Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) (Pa Catholic Conference)  
• Please ask Governor Wolf to SIGN House Bill 800 on the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) (Pa Catholic Conference)

• Support school choice in the Harrisburg School district (Pa Catholic Conference), and ask for co-sponsorship of Speaker Turzai's bill (Pa Catholic Conference)

The Garden State

• Support the NJ Born Alive Survivors Protection Act A5287/S3905 (NJRTL)

• Express your disapproval of the passage of  S4103/ A5802 (NJRTL)

• Oppose NJ S3804/A5508 and S3813/A5510 (NJ Catholic Conference)
• Oppose NJ S3804/A5508 (NJRTL)

• Support the NJ Pain Capable Unborn child Protection Act, A 1686/ S537 (http://protectviablebabies.com/take-action/)