Catholic Fire

By Jean M. Heimann "Harsh rhetoric (of those who oppose gay marriage) will continue because gay activists know the war on America is not over. Only this phase of the battle has been won. They are pushing on to create a new America. Bathing the White House in rainbow colors was just the initial re-branding of the nation. The next step will be changing the understanding of religious liberty. " -- Al Kresta from his YouTube video (See bottom of the page.) "Since same-sex marriage is now recognized as a fundamental human right guaranteed by the Constitution, those who oppose it can only be characterized as bigots animated by an irrational prejudice. To be sure, Justice Kennedy and his colleagues assure us that those who have religious objections to same-sex marriage will be respected, but one wonders how such respect is congruent with the logic of the decision. Would one respect the owners of a business who refuse to hire black people as a matter of principle? Woul...

Thanks be to God! So very happy to share the good news: In a procedural vote, the United States Senate decided not to consider the “Protect Women’s Health From Corporate Interference Act of 2014,” a bill that would curtail religious freedom in response to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. Fifty-six senators-- four shy of the number necessary-- voted to consider the bill, while 43 opposed it. “While the outcome of today’s vote is a relief, it is sobering to think that more than half the members of the US Senate, sworn to uphold the laws and Constitution of the United States, would vote for a bill whose purpose is to reduce the religious freedom of their fellow Americans,” said Jayd Henricks, director of government relations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We need more respect for religious freedom in our nation, not less.” Via Catholic World News.

Is this a women's issue? Of course it is! It is about religious liberty, something all women are entitled to be concerned about. Do we want our religious beliefs to be trampled on by the government? The government needs to stop discriminating against us! Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2014 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Women supporting employers challenging the government's contraception spoke out in support of a vision of women's equality that supports fertility and women's role as employers, as the case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday. "All issues are women's issues" said Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association, quoting an earlier statement by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R- N.H.). "Women are just as entitled to religious liberty as any man, and women have as much of a stake in the outcome of this case as any man." McGuire was speaking at a March 25 demonstration in front of the Supreme Court building, as the high court heard o...

Obama seems to think he can dictate to the Catholic Church: Thou shalt pay for abortions. But I have news for him. There is no way we're going to comply. These Little Sisters of the Poor will certainly not comply. He is not God and has no control over our religious beliefs. He also has no authority over the decisions of the Supreme Court. He is the President -- the servant of the people -- not the dictator. The Obama administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court not to exempt Catholic groups from an ObamaCare requirement to offer contraceptive coverage, after the high court gave them a temporary reprieve earlier this week. The court filing comes in response to a surprise order -- issued shortly before coverage under the law went into effect -- by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The justice issued a stay late Tuesday preventing the government from enforcing the so-called contraceptive mandate against the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. The group o...

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two of the many cases challenging the HHS Mandate , Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (10th Circuit Court of Appeals) and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius (3rd Circuit Court of Appeals).  The two circuit courts reached different conclusions on the question of whether for-profit secular corporations possess free exercise rights.  The family owning and running Hobby Lobby are devout Evangelical Christians while the family behind Conestoga Wood Specialties are Mennonites.  Both object to the potential abortifacient effects of “emergency contraception.”  The Court will hear arguments in the Spring. In the words of the Becket Fund litigator on the Hobby Lobby suit, these cases are essentially about “who gets to practice religion.”  The companies’ owners hold that Americans should not be commanded to leave their beliefs at home when they go to work.  But the Obama administration is pressing hard the argument tha...

The National Organization for Marriage is sponsoring a march on Washington, DC on March 26, 2013 in support of  authentic marriage —the union of one man and one woman. They need your help. You can give a contribution to support the March for Marriage by going here . March 26th will be a historic day and I heartily encourage you to be a part of it. If you can’t be there, please consider helping others attend . Here is the latest news on the march from Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute : By Austin Ruse Much of the world looks to the United States for guidance on issues of social policy. The fact of abortion on demand in the U.S. has been a powerful example that other countries have continued to follow. Marriage is the latest battleground social issue in the U.S. and in many parts of the world. So, all eyes not just in the U.S. but globally are turned to the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 when oral arguments are heard in Washington DC. Read More Here's a pr...

Today, Liberty Counsel is filing two amicus briefs with the United States Supreme Court on two marriage cases, the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ( U.S. v. Windsor) and California’s Proposition 8 ( Hollingsworth v. Perry), a state marriage amendment. The High Court will decide both cases by the end of the term in June 2013. America’s very existence is at stake.  Marriage is not simply an artifact of law to regulate Social Security benefits, but an institution of God to procreate and nurture perpetual generations. The natural family is fundamental to our very existence. Thriving societies need healthy children who grow up into responsible citizens. Healthy children require committed parents who will sacrifice their own desires for the well-being of their children. This is all created within the context of natural marriage between one man and one woman. Please pray that the Supreme Court defends the natural definition of marriage during this pivotal point in America's ...

Washington, DC (05 October 2009) – As the United States Supreme Court gathers today for the first day of the Court’s new session, six of nine Justices are Catholics – a historic makeup with far-reaching implications. “At a time when the nation is more embroiled than ever over the atrocity of abortion, will the six of the nine justices have the moral compass to recognize human rights for those not yet born, instead of a political agenda which has, sadly, functioned in place of Justice since 1973,” said American Life League President Judie Brown on the group’s fifth annual Pro-Life Memorial Day – a national event to mark the Court’s first day back in session. As Catholics take a more prominent place in the nation's politics and culture, the debate is heating up over the Church’s role in health care and advocacy of the human personhood movement. The current makeup of the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the question of human personhood, as five states push initiatives to am...

The Senate Judiciary Committee just approved the Sotomayor nomination to the Supreme Court on a 13-6 vote. Floor vote will be next week.

...and so is Obama in his choice of Sotomayor for Supreme Court Justice The United States Supreme Court reversed Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in the now-famous New Haven firefighters case. Although Judge Sotomayor and two of her colleagues did not even think the case worthy of a published opinion, the Supreme Court said the case presented "two provisions of Title VII to be interpreted and reconciled, with few, if any, precedents in the courts of appeals discussing the issue." Concerned Women for America (CWA) President Wendy Wright said, "This decision sends a disturbing message that Sonia Sotomayor, as a judge, sanctioned discrimination against people because of the color of their skin. This validates concerns that Judge Sotomayor's judicial philosophy reflects her personal bias, as expressed in speeches and the controversial groups to which she has belonged, that people should be discriminated against based on their ethnicity or sex. No one in a burning...

Health care "reform" may have stolen the limelight from the President's first Supreme Court pick, but revelations about Sonia Sotomayor's pro-abortion past may bring new attention to the woman chosen as Justice David Souter's replacement. According to an op-ed in today's Washington Times , Sotomayor has a history of extremism when it comes to i nventing a "right" to abortion in the U.S. Constitution. As the article, "Sotomayor worse than Souter," explains, she served for 12 years on the governing board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), which filed six briefs in abortion cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. Charmaine Yoest details that each one "pushed aggressively for an interpretation of abortion rights that would eliminate most or all state and federal abortion regulations while requiring state and federal funding of abortion." In two of the six, the briefs "took positions more extreme than thos...

Robert Bork on Sonia Sotomayor in an interview with Newsweek: What are your thoughts about Judge Sotomayor's nomination? Bork: I think it was a bad mistake. Her comments about the wise Latina suggest identity-group jurisprudence. She also has a reputation for bullying counsel. And her record is not particularly distinguished. Far from it. And it is unusual to nominate somebody who states flatly that she was the beneficiary of affirmative action. But I can't believe she will be any worse than some recent white male appointees. H/T: Southern Appeal

The Washington Times has uncovered information on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s work with the pro-abortion Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund prompting questions about her abortion views, and larger concerns about her judicial philosophy. The Washington Times noted that Sonia Sotomayor held prominent positions with the advocacy group, including serving as chairman of the litigation committee. During her 12-year participation with the fund, the group submitted legal briefs in six separate cases fiercely defending the right to abortion. Read the rest here. Related Post: Sotomayor's Abortion Ties

Do you think this woman is pro-life? Think again. Here is an excerpt from an editorial in today's Washington Times: Americans who think the 1973 Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortion was wrongly decided -- and think the Supreme Court repeatedly compounded its error by limiting the power of states to regulate abortion counseling and the provision of abortion to minors -- should calmly but actively urge their senators to oppose Judge Sotomayor's nomination. The most basic evidence of the judge's support for Roe comes in the triple combination of White House assurances to that effect, of pro-choice senators declaring after meeting with her that they are sure she agrees with them, and of her entire jurisprudential approach of broadly construing anything characterized as "women's rights." Other evidence is more direct . Consider that from 1980 until October 1992, Judge Sotomayor served on the board -- at times as vice president and at times as chairman of the litiga...

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats, determined to seat Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court quickly, announced mid-July hearings on her nomination Tuesday in a move that surprised and angered Republicans. GOP leaders lashed out after Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, announced that he would convene the hearings on July 13 — considerably earlier than Republicans wanted — saying the date presents a "fair and adequate" schedule in line with the timeline for past Supreme Court nominees. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, called the Democrats' tactics "heavy-handed" and urged them to reconsider the schedule. "Let me be clear. ... Because of what our Democratic colleagues are doing and the way they are doing it, it will now be much more difficult to achieve the kind of comity and cooperation on this and other matters that we need and expect around here," McConnell said. President Barack Obama has...

Via Fox News: Sonia Sotomayor told the Senate on Thursday that the White House never questioned her about cases or issues she might have to decide as a Supreme Court justice, a disclosure gleaned from reams of documents that reveal she has spoken repeatedly about how her gender and Latina heritage affect her judging. The federal appeals court judge divulged new details about her finances and provided three decades of writings, speeches and rulings that give both supporters and critics fresh fodder for the coming debate on her confirmation. They include more instances in which she said she hopes a "wise Latina" would reach a better decision than a man without that experience. The comments in 2002 and 2003 echo a much-criticized remark she made in 2001 at the University of California-Berkeley law school that has prompted a furor among conservatives who say they suggest President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee brings a personal bias to her legal decisions. Obama ...

In an earlier post, I reported that Sonia Sotomayer met with top pro-abortion Senator Diane Feinstein on Tuesday and Feinstein said she felt comfortable with her support of Roe V. Wade. Now pro-abortion Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who met with Sotomayor late Wednesday, is saying the same thing. "I was very pleased that the judge indicated that in the past that she has had a great respect for precedent and that Roe v. Wade is established law," Wyden told reporters, according to a Politico report. Wyden says he asked specifically about the issue of abortion and the controversial Supreme Court case and "she acknowledged the importance of precedent." "She made that very clear," Wyden said. Read more here.

From NCReg: Steven Waldman at Beliefnet reports: “Another White House official elaborated slightly, ‘Judge Sotomayor was raised as a Catholic and attends church for family celebrations and other important events.’” What will her presence as the sixth Catholic (albeit a lapsed one ) mean to the court? Read more here. Previous Posts: Pro-abortion Groups Praise Sotomayor's Nomination to Supreme Court Who is Sonia Sontomayor? Planned Parenthood Endorses Sonia Sotomayor Fr. Pavonne on Judge Sotomayor's Supreme Court Nomination Obama Picks Radical Judge for Supreme Court

Is She Catholic? Here is Catholic League Presiden t Bill Donohue's reaction Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court: When John Roberts was nominated to be on the high court, Senator Dick Durbin told CNN that he considered it fair game to probe Roberts about his Catholicism. Durbin released a glowing statement yesterday on Sotomayor that never mentioned her religion. When Roberts was questioned by Senator Arlen Specter and Senator Dianne Feinstein, they both asked him whether he agreed with President John F. Kennedy about separation of church and state. Neither even mentioned Sotomayor’s religion in their respective statements yesterday. When Roberts was nominated, Dahlia Lithwick, legal analyst for Slate , said, “I wouldn’t underestimate the influence of his religion”; when Samuel Alito was nominated, Lithwick said that “People are very, very much talking about the fact that Alito would be the fifth Catholic on the Supreme Court if confirmed.” Yesterday, Lithwic...

Cecile Richards , president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, weighs in on Pres. Obama 's selection of Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring SCOTUS Justice David Souter : "This historic nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court sends a strong signal that President Obama understands the importance of ensuring that our Supreme Court justices respect precedent while also protecting our civil liberties. "Judge Sotomayor has vast experience in nearly every aspect of the law, having served as a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator, a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. What our nation needs from our Supreme Court justices is a deep understanding of the law, an appreciation of the impact of the court's decisions on everyday Americans, and a commitment to the protection of our individual liberties. Judge Sotomayor will bring this dedication and commitment with...