SCCR Parish Blog

 UPDATED: 12 May 2022 As many of you know, the Supreme Court has on its docket this summer an important case (Dobbs vs. Jackson) which could narrow or even entirely reverse the gravely unjust Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 which, together with a companion case, effectively requires abortion to be legally protected for virtually any reason at any stage in pregnancy in every state in the Union.  (While there are some limits, the Court doctrine of "undue burden" has been interpreted so broadly that it makes most regulation impossible in any state).   Our U.S. Bishops have been asking all Americans to pray for the end of legal structures protecting a so-called "constitutional right" to kill a child in the womb.  In an unprecedented confidentiality breach, a preliminary draft of the opinion on that case has been leaked, which the Chief Justice confirmed as authentic.   This draft opinion essentially invalidates Roe v. Wade, indicating that it has no proper constitutional b

  Per the press release from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Archbishop Schnurr has indicated that he was NOT contacted about tomorrow's visit of Mr. Biden to Mt. St. Joseph University in Delhi Twp. for a town hall event, nor would he have granted permission if asked for him to appear at such an event on Catholic premises.

  the late Sen. Henry Hyde As expected from his campaign promise, Mr. Biden is continuing to use the power of the presidency to attempt to make all federal taxpayers complicit in abortion by funding it.  His recent budget proposal seeks to eliminate the Hyde Amendment , a decades long congressional attempt to prevent taxpayers from directly funding abortion.  (Ironically, years ago, when a U.S. Senator, Mr. Biden supported it).   Mr. Biden's initial budget was just presented to Congress. The  U.S. Bishops have made it easy to protest this outrageous attack on the sacredness of life by including a link to write to Congress . In the meantime, the U.S. bishops are discussing amongst themselves what to do about this very difficult problem. As an interesting aside,  despite his active promotion of abortion, Mr. Biden has not yet publicly said the word as not yet publicly said the word   abortion  since being inaugurated, instead hiding behind euphemisms such as "reproductive choic

  Pope Pius VII, who condemned slavery The Church has always been involved in the "hot button" issues of the current day.  Not because she is a political institution, but often because they have a moral dimension and the Church teaches us how to live in order to remain in Communion with Christ and build His Kingdom. There is a a Catholic blog which is always worth reading entitled The Catholic Thing. They have an intriguing piece on how the Church reacted to the grave evil of slavery in the past (which was widely accepted but the Church condemned) and the grave evil of abortion today (which is widely accepted in our culture but the Church condemns). What is intriguing about it is how many who profess to be Catholic today simply shrug at the question of abortion and tell the Church not to be "political" about it and let those who promote it receive Communion, but are certain they would have been the ones opposing slavery -- and siding with the Church against the cul

  The presidential administration of Mr. Biden continues to advance its strongly pro-abortion agenda. In a recent move, Mr. Biden's cabinet recently reversed the ban enacted by President Trump's administration using tissue from aborted children in federal research.   The Catholic Church has long uphold the principle that one can not perform an intrinsically grave evil (such as killing a child through abortion) even if a good may come of it (such as advances in medical research).   A ghastly result of this practice is that the federal government funded by our tax dollars will now in effect be creating a "market" for the tissue of innocent children killed in the womb.  On the question of the status of baptized Catholic politicians who promote grave sins against life and their relationship to the Holy Eucharist, see Bishop Olmsted's recent pastoral letter .  For more on the difficult issue of a baptized Catholic president promoting abortion, read what Archbishop Nau

  The National Catholic Register has a brief story on the narrow Senate   confirmation of Mr. Xavier Becerra as the secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden/Harris administration. Pro-life groups from both parties are alarmed at this turn of events, because he has a long record of attempting to force participation in abortion at the state level as well as denial of the rights of pro-lifers and of religious liberty.  You might recall that under his direction, the State sued the Little Sisters of the Poor to attempt to force them to provide contraception to their employees, against their conscience and Catholic belief.  Mr. Becerra was baptized Catholic. 

 UPDATED: 21 January to include Nine Days of Life Novena This is the last in my series of prolife posts for the week, in preparation for the National Day of Prayer and Penance for the Legal Protection of the Unborn. In conjunction with that special day, our U.S. Bishops have strongly encouraged all of the faithful to participate in the 9-Day Novena for Life.   (A novena is a nine-day consecutive prayer for an urgent intention).   In order to pray it together with fellow citizens from across the nation, they are recommending starting today, January 21st, and concluding on January 29th.   You can find information on that novena -- including prayers and suggested penances -- at respectlife.org. This year, there is a special urgency in praying the novena as we have just inaugurated a strongly pro-abortion presidential administration. On that note, Archbishop Gomez, the president of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops (a collaborative body of all the American bishops), recently issued a

  The National Catholic Register is a very solid periodical worth reading.  They do have an online version. I recommend their recent editorial on the cabinet and federal officials that Mr. Biden is assembling.

  UPDATED: Nov. 18th In light of the recent election, I've received some questions about Catholic politicians who oppose the faith and the question of Communion (for example, elected officials who support abortion or same-sex "marriage.") These are complicated questions, so here are some considerations. Is someone like Mr. Biden who opposes Church teaching in public office still Catholic? The short answer is, yes.   There is a saying, "Once Catholic, always Catholic."  It means that one is incorporated into the Catholic Church by virtue of baptism, and once baptized into the Church, that  can not be changed.  It is still possible for someone to renounce the Catholic faith of course (technical term: apostasy ) or refuse to follow the teachings and disciplines of the Church, or even to stubbornly contradict the truths of the Church (technical term: heresy ).  This is a separate question from whether or not someone is Catholic.  A good summary of this topic was wr