Two Fabulous Catholic Movies on TV TONIGHT!

At 10 PM this evening on Turner Classic Movies is Alfred Hitchcock's "I Confess." As per Steven D. Greydanus,

• "the whole dilemma turns on the protagonist’s principles, apart from which he could clear his name and finger the real culprit any time he wishes. That’s because Michael William Logan (Montgomery Clift) is a Catholic priest, and the identity of the culprit (O. E. Hasse) is known to him from the confessional, which means that the murderer’s identity is protected by the sacramental seal forbidding priests under any circumstances whatsoever, even at the cost of their lives, from revealing the contents of a confession....At a time when a shadow of suspicion has fallen on many innocent priests, this film’s themes, and its humanizing depiction of a clergyman who is both virtuous and also more complicated than a mere stereotype of piety, are especially resonant" [emphasis added].

At 2 AM on Turner Classic Movies is Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man," in which another Catholic man is wrongly accused and finds strength in his Faith.

Senate Bills 3 & 732

This is crucial information, which cannot wait for next week's bulletin. Please share this information with your parishioners, this weekend....

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 3
As per a 6/22/11 update from the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, "Senate Bill 3 is a proposal that will clearly prohibit abortion coverage in the taxpayer supported insurance plans that will be created in Pennsylvania’s health insurance exchange as we implement the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). It passed the state Senate on June 7 with a vote of 37-12. Today it passed the first step in the House of Representatives with the 22-2 vote out of the House Insurance Committee." Please ask Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Rep. Mike Turzai (717-772-9943; mturzai@pahousegop.com), to schedule a vote on Senate Bill 3, ASAP. Please ask your own state representative (See: http://www.buckscounty.org/government/elections/LegMap.aspx for a useful guide.) to support Senate Bill 3 and to oppose any weakening amendments.


Pennsylvania Senate Bill 732
Pennsylvania Senate Bill 732 is currently in the Pennsylvania House Health Committee. As per a 6/14/11 update from the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, "Now that SB 732 has passed, and similar but not identical legislation passed in the House last month [i.e., House Bill 574], the job now falls to the two chambers to agree upon the final version of the legislation. One notable difference between the two versions is that the Senate amended SB 732 to include a study of what the cost of implementation would be to abortion clinics in Pennsylvania. The House version contains no such provision."
Please ask the House Health Committee chair, Rep. Matt Baker (717-772-5371; mbaker@pahousegop.com), and the committee members (See http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/cteeInfo/cteeInfo.cfm?cde=55&body=H for a useful guide) to strengthen and to pass Senate Bill 732, ASAP.

Fw: Ask House Insurance Committee to Vote on Senate Bill 3

Dear Representatives Galloway, Clymer, Davis, DiGirolamo, Farry, O'Neill, Petri, Quinn, Santarsiero, & Watson,

As per the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, please urge Representative Nicholas Micozzie (R-Delaware), chair of the House Insurance Committee, to schedule a vote on Senate Bill 3, as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Expedite final passage of SB 3 in the Pennsylvania House

Please ask your parishioners to contact Rep. Mike Turzai (717-772-9943; mturzai@pahousegop.com) and Rep Nick Micozzie (717-783-1102; nmicozzie@pahousegop.com), urging them to expedite movement of S.B. 3 to final passage in the Pennsylvania House. Thank you.

"Support SB 732. Oppose any [additional] amendments."

The Mensch Amendment has strengthend Senate Bill 732. As per the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, "The Mensch Amendment creates vital additions to Senate Bill 732, and would hold abortion facilities to the same fire and safety standards, personnel and equipment requirements, and quality assurance procedures as other freestanding ambulatory surgical facilities. Senators will vote on final passage of the bill soon."

As per yesterday's update from the Pennsylvania Family Institute, "Senate Bill 732 will be up for a final vote in the Senate on Monday, June 13th. Ask your State Senator to support this bill without additional amendments....Two-part message: Support SB 732. Oppose any amendments."

With regard to state senators from Bucks County, Stewart Greenleaf, Bob Mensch (of course), and Robert Tomlinson voted for the Mensch Amendment. As Senator Chuck McIlhinney voted AGAINST passage of the Mensch Amendment, it is vital that Senator McIlhinney be encouraged to correct himself and vote for final passage of Senate Bill 732 on Monday.

Please, please, please remind your parishioners to contact Senator McIlhinney.

Senator McIlhinney - a calculated trade off?

Dear Senator McIlhinney,

While I was pleasantly surprised to find that you voted in favor of Senate Bill 3, that pleasure was short lived.

My cynical side leads me to suspect that your vote FOR Senate Bill 3 & your vote AGAINST the Mensch Amendment to Senate Bill 732 was a calculated trade off. As your supporters at Pennsylvania Planned Parenthood Advocates may have gauged that defeating Senate Bill 3 was unlikely, derailing the Mensch Amendment would have been their priority. Am I wrong?

Senator, I find your continued failure to defend the most innocent and vulnerable human beings to be abhorent. Personally, I do not understand how you continue to identify yourself as a Catholic. As a first generation Irish-American Catholic, I also do not understand how the Ancient Order of Hibernians - a Catholic fraternal organization - identifies you as one of its own.

Time to act on the Mensch Amendment to SB 732 & SB 3

"The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference has asked its pro-life advocates to support the Mensch Amendment because the state’s abortion industry is currently exempt from commonsense safety standards that apply to other surgery centers....the Mensch Amendment creates vital additions to Senate Bill 732, and would hold abortion facilities to the same fire and safety standards, personnel and equipment requirements, and quality assurance procedures as other freestanding ambulatory surgical facilities."

As per the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, "Senate Bill 3 would clearly prohibit taxpayer supported insurance plans from covering elective abortions in the insurance exchanges set up under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act."

With votes expected on Monday, please remind your parishioners of how essential it is for them to call their state senators - especially Senator Chuck McIlhinney - to urge the senators to vote "Yes" on the Mensch Amendment to Senate Bill 732. and "Yes" on Senate Bill 3. They should also contact Gov. Corbett, urging him to support strict abortion facility regulations.