- "Most of us will not have a direct encounter with a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice, or Superior or Commonwealth Court judge, but we should care about who is elected....Judges make decisions that affect everyone, including who has a right to life, what is marriage, when should religion be protected, who can adopt children, and many other important questions. The challenge with judicial elections is finding information about the candidates on which to base your voting decision....candidates for judicial office often do not share their personal positions on controversial issues. However, many special interest organizations do evaluate candidates based on their record or other public evidence of their philosophy. These groups often endorse one candidate over another" (Pa Catholic Conference, The Company You Keep: Inform Your Conscience for 2015 Judicial Elections).
- "Members of Congress introduced a resolution...to label the atrocities committed by the Islamic State against Christians and other religious minorities 'genocide'....Call it what it is, name it, and especially declare that it is genocide, says Princeton Professor Robert George, Chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom....citizens in the US [need] to call on their Members of Congress...to support two pieces of urgent legislation in the House of Representatives" (As of 10/26/15, Representative Fitzpatrick is NOT among the 107 co-sponsors of H.R. 1150; Fitzpatrick is NOT among the 144 co-sponsors of H Con Res 75.).
- "....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)
- 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...."
Materials absent from most parish bulletins, websites, and bulletin boards:
- The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference's "alerts"
- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' "Alerts Central"
- the "National Committee for the Human Life Amendment" (NCHLA), and that
- "Action alerts for issues related to immigration reform can be found through the USCCB-led Catholic coalition, "Justice for Immigrants.)
The following sites also deserve your consideration:
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