Free Republic

The Society of Catholic Scientists has scheduled their 2021 SCS conference, and this year’s topic is literally out of this world. Titled “E.T., A.I., and Minds Beyond the Human,” the conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. from June 4th thru 6th. It will feature a full range of education and theology experts covering topics related to the theme. “There’ll be 13 talks,” said Dr. Stephen Barr, president of the Society of Catholic Scientists, in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (CNA).” Half of the talks are going to be about extraterrestrial life, and there’s...

The Maryland Catholic Conference is on board with Gov. Martin J. O’Malley on his top legislative priority: raising the state’s minimum wage. As the state’s largest provider of social services, the Catholic Church has a unique vantage on the challenges facing low-earning workers, said Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the MCC, which advocates for public policy on behalf of the state’s bishops. Russell and the MCC’s associate directors spoke with the press Jan. 10, two days after the start of the General Assembly’s 2014 session. The following issues are among those they highlighted as legislative priorities in this year’s...

The 2013 Maryland General Assembly session ends midnight April 8, and the Maryland Catholic Conference expects to work up to the legislature’s final hours on policy issues ranging from stem-cell research funding transparency to nonpublic school textbook funding. Among the legislation getting a final push from the MCC is the Maryland Highway Safety Act, which would allow the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to issue driver’s licenses or identification cards to people without a Social Security number. “Expanding the eligibility for a driver’s license would protect all drivers in the state and make our roads and highways safer,” the MCC said...

A state agency responsible directly to Gov. Dave Heineman held up licensing rules for professional counselors and social workers last winter, forcing licensing board members to work out compromise language related to serving homosexual clients. The Legislature and Nebraskans have not wanted equal protection for homosexuals, Dr. Joann Schaefer said last week as she explained her insistence that the state licensing board for counselors and social workers work out a compromise with the Nebraska Catholic Conference on licensing rules. The controversy began because “sexual orientation” was to be covered in a new anti-discrimination clause in proposed new rules for licensed...

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), then based in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill, vigorously lobbied for Nicaragua's Sandinista regime, the Cuban-style Marxist regime that shot its way to power in 1979. Today, WOLA pretends it is concerned about the rule of law in Honduras after the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court supported removing the leftist president for defying its constitution. WOLA and Jim Wallis' publication Sojourners have teamed up to spin Honduras' defense of its democracy as another example of a U.S.-supported, imperialist military coup. The constitutional coup in Honduras was...

Thousands of Catholics from throughout the greater Los Angeles area gathered in East Los Angeles Dec. 2 to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe as the mother of all peoples -- from every language, race and culture. A mile-long procession, the oldest religious procession in the city honoring Mary, led participants to East Los Angeles College Stadium, where Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and the auxiliary bishops of Los Angeles, numerous priests and more than 15,000 of the faithful gathered for Mass. The theme this year was "Mother Without Borders: Bringing Down the Walls of Injustice." The event was part of a...

From State funding which would have included lethal embryonic research to vouchers, to defending Marriage, referendums across the country should concern Catholic voters. Voters in New Jersey defeated a proposal that would have authorized $450 million in bonds for stem-cell research projects, but an effort in Utah to repeal a schools voucher program was successful. The ballot questions were among 34 initiatives or referendums held in six states Nov. 6 during off-year elections. Another nine questions had been decided in elections earlier in the year. The Catholic bishops in five New Jersey dioceses had urged rejection of Public Question 2...

Catholic group to campaign for study of adult stem cells

The Missouri Catholic Conference is urging candidates for state offices to return contributions from a nonprofit organization that advocates for stem cell research and other medical analysis and testing.  The move has inspired a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service, arguing that the request violates prohibitions on political activity by nonprofit organizations.  “It constitutes illegal political interference,” said Marcus S. Owens, a tax lawyer, who filed the complaint on behalf of a client he declined to identify.The Missouri conference sent the request to more than 50 candidates for state offices who received donations from the organization, Supporters of Health Research...

I received this e-mail from NYSCatholicConference.org: Stop Cloning and Embryo Research Contact Your Assembly Representative Now On Tuesday, May 3, 2005 the New York State Assembly Health Committee voted in favor of releasing dangerous legislation (A.6300)that would promote human cloning for the purpose of conducting medical experiments on living human embryos. This means that the full Assembly can vote on this issue in the very near future. Please urge your Assembly representative to oppose this bill. Embryonic stem cell research depends on human cloning and is a radical assault on human life! Take action now.

Douglas R. Scott, president of Life Decisions International (LDI), today blasted the Florida Catholic Conference (FCC) for "a cold and feeble response to the plight of Terri Schindler Schiavo and those like her." " The FCC issued a statement that addressed Presumption for Nutrition and Hydration: "The Catholic community begins discussions regarding the withdrawal and withholding of artificial nutrition and hydration with a presumption in favor of their provision. However, when the burdens exceed the benefits of providing them, they may be withdrawn or withheld. We note that what is too burdensome for one person may not be too burdensome...