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Regional Cornerstone Catholic Conference - Update
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The first regional Cornerstone Conference, scheduled for Saturday, October 22, 2016, will take place at the Mirabeau Park Hotel & Convention Center in Spokane Valley. Bishop Daly will speak at the October gathering which is being organized by the Diocese of Spokane. Everyone is welcome to attend. Cornerstone is an effort by the Bishops of our State, through the Washington State Catholic Conference, to bring together all Catholics for inspiration and education on the full range of Catholic Social Teaching. For more information, contact Scott Cooper at Catholic Charities (509) 358-4273 or scooper@ccspokane.org. |
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Reminder: Statewide Cornerstone Catholic Conference
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The WSCC will host the second statewide Cornerstone Catholic Conference on October 20-21, 2017. Keynote speakers include Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, and Helen Alvaré, George Mason University School of Law professor. |
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St. John Paul II at Hiroshima
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In light of President Obama's plans to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on May 27, it is fitting to recall some excerpts from the remarks St. John Paul II delivered on February 25, 1981, during his visit to Japan:
"It is with deep emotion that I have come here today as a pilgrim of peace. I wanted to make this visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial out of a deep personal conviction that to remember the past is to commit oneself to the future. ...To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war. To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace. ... Let us embark upon the steep and difficult path of peace, the only path that befits human dignity, the only path that leads to the true fulfillment of the human destiny, the only path to a future in which equity, justice and solidarity are realities and not just distant dreams."
The full text of St. John Paul II address and prayer at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial can be found at http://www.atomicbombmuseum.org/6_5.shtml. |
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Abortions Rise Globally
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A new report on the number of abortions worldwide was published recently in the journal, The Lancet. The researchers from the Guttmacher Institute (originally part of Planned Parenthood) and the World Health Organization estimated that there were 56.3 million abortions during 2014 throughout the world, compared with 50.4 million in 1990. The abortion rate declined in developed countries while increasing slightly in developing ones. Most of the increase was attributed to the growth in population. Based on the new estimates, there is an average of 154,000 abortions per day in the world. |
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USCCB President Reacts to Supreme Court HHS Mandate Decision
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Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case of Zubik v. Burwell, in which Catholic and other religious organizations challenged the HHS mandate requiring them to facilitate health insurance coverage of sterilization, contraception, and drugs and devices that cause abortions. The Court unanimously sent the cases back to the lower courts with instructions to afford the parties the opportunity to work out an alternative approach to the mandate. In the meantime, the Court forbade the government from imposing taxes or penalties on the organizations for failure to provide the coverage.
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, commented: "I am encouraged by today's unanimous decision of the Supreme Court. It wipes away the bad decisions that so many of our charitable ministries were appealing, it maintains hope that we might resolve this dispute finally and favorably sometime in the future, and in the meantime, it prevents the Administration from issuing crippling fines against those who object. ... Speaking about religious liberty from the White House in September, Pope Francis said "that freedom remains one of America's most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it." |
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Immigration Decision Pending
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Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a major immigration case, United States v. Texas. The case involves a challenge to the Obama Administration's plan to grant temporary deferral to some 4-5 million undocumented immigrants who pose no national security or public safety threat and who have longstanding close family ties to people in the United States. In November 2014, the Administration announced the creation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program (DAPA), which would prevent the deportation of parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, and an expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) programs. In response, 26 states and the U.S. House of Representatives sued in federal court to block them.
In March of this year, the USCCB joined 24 other faith-based organizations in a friend of the court brief arguing that deferral of the deportations of millions of people provide "substantial humanitarian benefits" and should be permitted to stand. The programs, the brief said, provide "important benefits to those most vulnerable in our society and to those who serve them" and also ensure "that the public will continue to benefit from the substantial contributions of recent immigrants." The Court is expected to issue its ruling before the end of June.
The Washington State Catholic Conference (WSCC) is the public policy voice of the Catholic Bishops of Washington State. |
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USCCB Decries New Deportation Raids
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Bishop Elizondo, auxiliary Bishop of Seattle and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Migration expressed deep concern over reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will soon begin a month-long series of immigrant deportation raids.
"Sending women and children back to Central America will not serve as an effective deterrent to migration because this is a humanitarian crisis and individuals from the region are being forced to flee for their lives. These operations spark panic among our parishes. No person, migrant or otherwise, should have to fear leaving their home to attend church or school. No person should have to fear being torn away from their family and returned to danger." Bishop Elizondo said.
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles also noted that "The raids are yet another depressing sign of the failed state of American immigration policy." |
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