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September 22, 2011 |
This week, USCCB President Archbishop Dolan called on clergy to preach on poverty and educate and advocate for the poor and jobless (read more here). He also wrote a letter asking the Obama Administration to protect and defend the Defense of Marriage Act (read more here). This Sunday is Pray for the DREAM (Act) Sunday, please keep all those involved in supporting the DREAM Act in your prayers. You can learn more about the DREAM Act online here and in Bishop Farrell's blog post listed below. Please also continue to pray for our Church and State leaders, that they will work to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
Our call to Faithful Citizenship is never-ending, and doesn't have an interim break! Learn more about how to stay informed and involved as a Faithful Citizen in this month's Capitol Comments: Resources for Engaging Others in Our Faith.
Finally, today is the early registration deadline for our 2011 Scripture Seminar on the Gospel of Mark - Peasant Genius of the Ancient Church. The two-day Seminar will feature Rev. J. Patrick Mullen, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at St. John's Seminary College in Camarillo, CA.Cardinal Daniel DiNardo will celebrate Mass with Scripture Seminar participants during the event. Click here to learn more. Online registration is available, and the final registration deadline is October 10. For more information, contact Becky Sierra at 512-339-9882.
Action Alerts
Tell your US Senators to Preserve Poverty-Focused International Assistance
The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to take up the Fiscal Year 2012 Foreign Operations Appropriation Bill this week. Poverty-focused international assistance amounts to less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget and provides help for people suffering from severe poverty, disease and violence. Click here to learn more and send an email to your Senators asking that they give priority to poverty-focused international assistance within the Foreign Operations Appropriation.
Texas Bishops
We all have a dream
Bishop Kevin Farrell, Diocese of Dallas We all have a dream. Some are impossible. Some are achievable and some are just beyond our grasp. Let's talk about the latter...those just beyond our grasp. The United States is a great place to live. America is a wonderful place to grow up. There is a group of young people who have grown up in America, lived in the United States most of their lives but for whom the dream of American citizenship is just beyond their grasp. Read Full Story >> A Summit on Poverty
Bishop Kevin Vann, Diocese of Fort Worth
Sunday afternoon saw the opening of the annual meeting of Catholic Charities USA held at the OMNI hotel in Fort Worth right across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral. The opening was a Mass at St. Patrick's celebrated by myself, Bishops Michael Driscoll of Boise Idaho, and Bishop Joseph Sullivan of Brooklyn, and a number of priests. Read Full Story >>
News
USCCB Media Blog: Jesus Won’t Pass Muster at HHS
This blog entry discusses the impact of the US Department of Health and Human Services' recently released rules on religious exemptions.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is picky when it comes to religious exemptions from its rules implementing the nation’s new affordable health care bill. Right now HHS has such a narrow standard as to who operates a religious ministry, Jesus himself couldn’t pass muster. HHS has a very limited definition of which church organizations can be exempted from having to pay for contraceptives, sterilization and other services that violate church teaching. Read Full Story >>
Church and state: Why can't they be friends?
By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service
Pope Benedict XVI has made the dangers of secularism a major theme of his pontificate. And it's a battle both sides take seriously.
On the one hand, the pope warns that societies without the moorings of Christian values will be lost at sea, unaware of or indifferent to the truth that anchors humanity to justice, peace, respect and solidarity. Read Full Story >>
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