Catholic Fire

Washington, DC (19 August 2009) – Students at Catholic universities across the nation are banding together with students at Belmont Abbey College in a stand for religious liberty and conscience rights. Students from the University of Dallas, Franciscan University of Steubenville, De Sales University and Catholic University of America are fighting back as one private school in North Carolina is being forced to fund contraception and chemical abortion under the Obama administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC ignited the First Amendment firestorm when it ruled Belmont Abbey College must include coverage for contraception in its employee health insurance plan. Hormonal contraceptives often function as abortifacients. “People need to wake up!” said Michael Barnett, American Life League’s director of leadership development and its LiveCampus college outreach program. “Under Obama, the federal government is forcing a religious institution to commit an act that violat...

On April 22 , the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark-up a hate crimes bill sponsored by Rep. John Conyers . Serious questions have been raised by religious leaders about this legislation, especially as it pertains to religious pronouncements against homosexuality. Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed this issue today: “The idea of being prosecuted for reading Scripture may seem delirious, but it is just as crazy to think it couldn’t happen. Consider the facts. When this bill was being considered in 2007, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas asked Alabama Rep. Art Davis (his amendment is in the bill) the following question: ‘If a minister preaches that sexual relations outside of marriage of a man and a woman is wrong, and somebody within that congregation goes out and does an act of violence, and that person says that that minister counseled or induced him through the sermon to commit that act, are you saying under your amendment that in no way could that ever be introd...

Following their private meeting in the Oval Office today, a joint communique was released by President Bush and Pope Benedict. Full text: His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and President George W. Bush met today in the Oval Office of the White House. President Bush, on behalf of all Americans, welcomed the Holy Father, wished him a happy birthday, and thanked him for the spiritual and moral guidance, which he offers to the whole human family. The President wished the Pope every success in his Apostolic Journey and in his address at the United Nations, and expressed appreciation for the Pope’s upcoming visit to “Ground Zero” in New York. During their meeting, the Holy Father and the President discussed a number of topics of common interest to the Holy See and the United States of America, including moral and religious considerations to which both parties are committed: the respect of the dignity of the human person; the defense and promotion of life, matrimony and the family; the education ...