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Catholic Bishops Activate 19,000 Churches to Stop Abortion in Health Care Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation's Catholic bishops have activated nearly 19,000 churches across the country to stand up to efforts in Congress to force Americans to pay for abortions under a government-run health care bill. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' effort could have a dramatic effect. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5863.html

Following the "tabling” of the Pro-Life Amendment to the Health Care Reform Bill, Catholic Bishops are speaking out. The tabling ensures that if this version of the Health Care Reform Bill is signed by President Obama Federal funds will be used to kill children in the womb. It would be called “Health Care” when, at least that portion of it used for abortion, would actually be infanticide. Imagine if “Health Care” in the United States of America included payment for killing two year olds at the request of one of their parents, with tax dollars! There is no moral difference....

Catholic Bishops Vote to Reaffirm Food and Water for Coma Patients Baltimore, MD -- The nation's Catholic bishops have agreed to strengthen the requirement that Catholic hospitals give food and water to comatose or patients in a so-called "vegetative" state. The move drew praise and support from the family of Terri Schiavo, whose former husband killed in her by removing her nutrition. http://www.LifeNews.com/bio3001.html

...In the past I have grown angry with Chris Matthews, who is a practicing Catholic, because he has failed to defend the fundamental human right to life. However, in this discussion he took the position that the Stupak amendment - named after the faithful Catholic Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak who co-authored the amendment in the House - would end up causing the defeat of the legislation because there would be no compromise possible over the issue of funding abortion. Interestingly, he compared the current situation to the period just preceding the Civil War in the United States. He drew the...

[Do] Catholics or, specifically, the Catholic Conference of Bishops, endorse the Democrats’ health care bill? Hardly. And yet that’s what the Los Angeles Times claimed in a story written by reporter Kim Geiger. [snip] "The compromise won immediate support from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which urged Catholics to 'lend their full-throated support to the Democrats’ healthcare bill. 'The bishops’ stamp of approval means that this bill is unambiguously pro-life and we will vigorously oppose those who suggest otherwise,' the conference said in a statement Saturday." Well, that’s pretty unambiguous. Except it’s also completely untrue. The Conference of Catholic...

WASHINGTON -- Last night's historic health-care legislation included a major compromise: a ban on federally funded abortion under a new government-run plan. Conservative Democrats proposed the amendment, which passed, 240-194, late Friday as a way to break the impasse on the bill. Last night, 64 Democrats joined 176 Republicans in supporting the measure. "The members on this issue have to be able to vote their conscience," said Rep. Bart Stupak, who proposed the amendment, which bars any woman who receives federal subsidies to help cover insurance costs from having an abortion under the plan.

US bishops conference mounts late drive against 'unacceptable' health-care reform October 29, 2009 The US bishops' conference is mounting a late drive to secure passage of a pro-life amendment to the health-care reform bill. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is asking pastors all across the country to include an insert in their weekly bulletins, urging parishioners to call their Congressional representatives and encourage a vote for a pro-life amendment. The USCCB's pro-life office has indicated that it will press bishops to promote the dissemination of these bulletin inserts. The insert exhorts parishioners to act immediately. "Congressional votes may...

The Catholic Bishops handling Obamacare for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are not happy with the bills before the Senate, and promise to work against the bill if it is not changed. Sent by Bishop William Murphy, Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop John Wester, a letter was sent today outlining their concerns: “that no one should be forced to pay for or participate in abortion, that health care should be affordable and available to the poor and vulnerable, and that the needs of legal immigrants should be met.”

Recently, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development released a statement made to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate stating that “health care is not a privilege but a right and a requirement to protect the life and dignity of each person.” They couldn’t be more wrong. The Committee that composed the document obviously supports President Obama’s desire for national health care reform (with the caveat that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for abortions). National health care reform is a political issue. People of goodwill can be for it...

This coming week, Bishop Thomas Wenski of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando, Fla., will take the unusual step of celebrating a Mass of Reparation, to make amends for sins against God. The motivation: to provide an outlet for Catholics upset with what Wenski calls the University of Notre Dame's "clueless" decision to invite President Barack Obama to speak at its commencement and receive an honorary doctorate May 17. The nation's flagship Catholic university's honoring of a politician whose abortion rights record clashes with a fundamental church teaching has triggered a reaction among the nation's Catholic bishops that is remarkable...

I am also concerned personally for Governor Sebelius. Her appointment as Secretary for HHS places her in a position where she will have to make many decisions that will in all probability continue her personal involvement in promoting legalized abortion and her cooperation in this intrinsic evil. "I am also concerned that the appointment of Governor Sebelius places another Catholic supporting legalized abortion in a prominent national position. She joins Vice-President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and unfortunately a host of Catholic Senators and members of the House of Representatives who support legalized abortion contrary to the clear and...

Bishop Paul Loverde of the diocese of Arlington weighed in on the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) last week, saying that if he oversaw a Catholic hospital he would neither close the facility nor allow it to perform abortions if FOCA were to become law. “I would say, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to close the hospital, you’re going to arrest me, go right ahead," Bishop Loverde told a group of mostly young adults at a diocesan event, according to a CNS report.

"There are grave consequences," Paprocki said in an interview. "If Catholic hospitals were required by federal law to perform abortions, we'd have to close our hospitals." "I don't think I'm being alarmist," Paprocki told the bishops. George agreed that losing federal funds would put Catholic health care facilities, which make up a third of the nation's hospitals, out of business. Closing Catholic hospitals would put many patients seeking charitable care from those facilities at risk, he added. In crafting the statement to Obama, the bishops urged the cardinal to indicate a desire to work with the administration in areas of...

BALTIMORE - The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is permanently cutting off all funding for ACORN in the wake of an embezzlement scandal and allegations of voter registration fraud and political partisanship. The national nonprofit, with more than 1,200 local affiliates, attempts to organize low-income people to advocate for improvement in their communities. Bishop Roger P. Morin of New Orleans said yesterday that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an antipoverty program run by the bishops' conference, decided that it could no longer be certain of ACORN's integrity or accountability. The bishops had been giving $1.1 million a year to...

“Americans United for the Separation of Church and State” has formally requested the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Roman Catholic Bishop of Paterson, N.J., the Most Reverend Arthur Serratelli. I believe this is their first volley in a concerted effort to silence Catholic Bishops. They want to prevent them from teaching the unchangeable Moral Truth, revealed in the Natural Law and confirmed by medical science, that the child in the first home of the whole human race is one of us and that every procured abortion constitutes an intrinsically evil act because it is the taking of innocent human...

When is the last time a bishop's statement on abortion resulted in several days of protest from pro-abortion Catholics? The joint statement issued last Friday by Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth and Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas has done just that. No doubt the forceful clarity of the bishops' message elicited the outcry. The protests began on Sunday when the statement was read from the pulpit by Rev. Tony Ruiz, pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in downtown Dallas. Some two-dozen parishioners walked out and went to the local media to lodge their complaints about "political endorsements." The next...

we cannot make more clear the seriousness of the overriding issue of abortion – while not the "only issue" – it is the defining moral issue, not only today, but of the last 35 years. Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, more than 48 million innocent lives have been lost. Each year in our nation more than one million lives are lost through legalized abortion. Countless other lives are also lost through embryonic stem cell research. In the coming months our nation will once again elect our political leaders. This electoral cycle affords us an opportunity to promote...

The USCCB Committee on Migration sent a delegation to the U.S./Mexico border region to study the plight of unaccompanied minors and human trafficking victims. The ever-growing problems with these populations are some of the gravest and many times most overlooked symptoms of the broken and out-dated immigration system currently employed by the United States. The delegation met with a broad cross-section of agencies and individuals involved with or knowledgeable of these populations to gain critical insights and to understand their needs. The delegation also met with Church officials, government officials, community-based organization, and other with important perspectives. Programs established to...

09:49 AM 9/14/2007 - First, read this press release from the USCCB web site (hat-tip to the ever-vigilant Diogenes): WASHINGTON (September 13, 2007)—Kathy Saile, a church advocate with a decade of experience in Catholic social ministry and Washington policy work, has been named Director of Domestic Policy for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). She starts her new position in October. Since August 2004, Saile has been Associate Director of Public Policy for Lutheran Services in America (USA), in Washington. Previous positions include Director of the Office of Peace and Justice, Catholic Social Service of Central and Northern...

It is almost certain that Portugal will join the list of Catholic countries that have legalized abortion. After an inexpressive referendum, the socialist government presented a projected bill that was approved by the Portuguese Parliament on March 8. Only an unlikely veto by President Cavaco Silva, regarded as a conservative, can prevent the bill from becoming law. The sad part is that the Portuguese Catholic bishops avoided throwing the full weight of their prestige onto the scale in a country with an absolute Catholic majority. During the abortion referendum, the bishops took a non-confrontational attitude. They simply recalled documents and...