St. Patrick Social Concerns Ministry Newsletter

VOLUME 1, ISSUE IV — ELECTION ISSUE — F A L L 2 0 1 6 T H I S I S S U E Bring Your Faith to the Voting This quarterly issue is de- Booth signed to help you — as a Why is our faith important when Way, the Truth and the Life.” (Jn 14:6) the Eucharist—and the eternal life He Catholic — prepare to vote voting? “If indeed ‘the just ordering of His Word is reflected in Holy Scrip- won for us—are central to who we in the upcoming election by focusing on “non - society and of the state is a central re- ture, the Catechism, and in the inspi- are, to how we live and to the deci- negotiables” found in God’s sponsibility of politics,’ the Church rations of the . sions we make. ‘cannot and must not remain on the Word, teachings of the You know the expression “don’t talk One of our most crucial upcoming sidelines in the fight for justice’.” So Holy Roman Catholic Ap- politics and religion at the dinner decisions will be how we vote in this writes Francis, quoting Pope ostolic tradition, including table?” But, how can you not talk election season. The Bishops have the Catechism, the U.S. Benedict XVI. www.usccb.org about something that you love or that written a document to help us as Conference of Catholic Bishops, and inspired words As Catholics, we have a duty to seek is important to you? As Catholics, Catholics form our consciences: of our nation’s Founding the truth. And, there’s no better way what gives meaning and purpose to www.usccb.org: “Forming Consciences Fathers, and strong Ameri- than to go to the source: “Jesus is the our lives is Jesus. His real presence in for Faithful Citizenship.” can Catholics and patriots.

“NON - Catholic “Non-Negotiables” NEGOTIABLES” “These are non-negotiable issues be- (5th Commandment). Human life must MARRIAGE AND FAMILY.  Life: The protection cause there is no room for nuance or be respected and protected absolute- The matrimonial covenant… has been and dignity of every degree of support. You are either for or ly from the moment of conception. raised by Christ the Lord to the digni- against them. There is no middle From the first moment of his exist- ty of a sacrament…. The intimate human life from ground. They are outright forbidden by ence, a human being must be recog- community of life and love which conception to natu- Church teaching and no Catholic may nized as having the rights of a person. constitute the married state has been ral death. agree to support , euthanasia, (Catechism 2270). “Before I formed established by the Creator and en- embryonic stem cell research or same- you in the womb I knew you, and dowed by him with its own proper sex ‘marriage’ in any degree whatsoever. before you were born I consecrated laws…. God himself is the author of  Marriage and Fami- This goes for every Catholic from the you.” (Jer 1:5; 10:8-12; Ps 22:10- marriage. (Catechism 1601; 1603). ly. The primacy of highest political officials to the lowliest 11). and most unknown Catholic in the pew. AUTHENTIC HUMAN FREE- the family as the —Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide. This precedes politics, party loyalties, DOM. Pope Benedict XVI added first cell of society. Those whose lives are diminished or political leanings or any such thing. this “non-negotiable,” which is con- weakened deserve special respect. The protection and [Satan] has successfully convinced most firmed in the Catechism: The right Whatever its motives and means, Catholics that moral issues are political to the exercise of freedom, especially honor given to the direct euthanasia consists of putting issues. And in so doing he has success- in religious and moral matters, is an faithful marriage an end to the lives of handicapped, fully shut down a huge amount of moral inalienable requirement of the dignity sick or dying persons. It is morally between a man and exhortation and reflection… And cowed of man. (Catechism 1747). unacceptable. (Catechism 2276-77). a woman and the by this satanic trick and lie many clergy condemned assisted The Bill of Rights, similarly protect and other Catholics sadly cave and run family built upon it. suicide as “false compassion” that this right: “Congress shall make no for cover in speaking to these issues at was part of a throw-away culture law respecting an establishment of all, not just in political seasons.” (Msgr.  Authentic Human that rejects and scorns people who religion, or prohibiting the free exer- Charles Pope, Pastor, Holy Comforter- do not fulfill certain criteria of cise thereof.” (First Amendment, U.S. Freedom. Includes , Washington, D.C., Nation- health, beauty and value in socie- Constitution). al Catholic Register/blog) the first freedom— ty. (“A False and Dangerous Compas- Religious freedom is currently under religious freedom— sion,” Scott, Catholic Standard, LIFE. Human life is sacred because attack—addressed on page 2. 9/22/2016). bound by truth and from its beginning it involves the exercised within a creative action of God and it remains —Embryonic Stem Cell Re- Msgr. Pope contrasts these [“non- search. The intentional destruction negotiables”] “with other issues with moral framework. forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. of human embryos, which is neces- moral implications where there is (Catechism 2258). sary for embryonic stem cell re- room for debate such as “matters of search, is gravely immoral. (Catechism economic justice, care for the poor, —Abortion. Thou Shalt Not Kill. 2274-75). immigration issues, and so forth.”

ST. PATRICK’S SOCIAL CONCERNS * ROCKVIL LE MD * (301) 924 - 2285 P A G E 2 Start With a Well-Formed Conscience

FROM THE CATECHISM OF THE are good and denouncing those that and to reject authoritative teachings. CATHOLIC CHURCH: are evil. It bears witness to the au- (1783) thority of truth in reference to the Deep within his conscience, man In the formation of conscience the supreme good to which the human discovers a law which he has not laid Word of God is the light for our person is drawn, and it welcomes upon himself but which he must path, we must assimilate it in faith the commandments. When he listens obey. Its voice, ever calling him to and prayer and put it into practice. to his conscience, the prudent man love and to do what is good and to We must also examine our con- avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the can hear God speaking. (1777) science before the Lord's Cross. We right moment. . . . For man has in his Conscience must be informed and are assisted by the gifts of the Holy heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His moral judgment enlightened. A well- Spirit, aided by the witness or advice conscience is man's most secret core formed conscience is upright and of others and guided by the authori- and his sanctuary. There he is alone truthful. It formulates its judgments tative teaching of the Church. with God whose voice echoes in his according to reason, in conformity (1785). depths. (1776) with the true good willed by the Faced with a moral choice, con- wisdom of the Creator. The educa- Moral conscience, present at the science can make either a right judg- tion of conscience is indispensable heart of the person, enjoins him at ment in accordance with reason and for human beings who are subjected the appropriate moment to do good the divine law or, on the contrary, an to negative influences and tempted and to avoid evil. It also judges par- erroneous judgment that departs “A well-formed by sin to prefer their own judgment ticular choices, approving those that from them. (1786) conscience is upright

and truthful. It formulates its Vote to Protect Religious Freedom judgments according Religious liberty is protected under sexual behavior is being labeled as a pregnancy centers, and health care the U.S. Constitution: “Congress “Hate Crime.” professionals from refusing to partici- to reason, in shall make no law respecting an pate in . —There is a tacit shift of ”freedom of establishment of religion, or prohib- religion” to “freedom to worship” that —Businesses have been forced to close conformity with the iting the free exercise thereof.” could limit religious freedom outside due to their refusal to provide services

However, this “first freedom” is the four walls of the church. in direct opposition to their religious true good willed by beliefs concerning traditional marriage. under attack in the United States. —Laws have been implemented making For years, there have been signs of a it a crime to record or publish confi- —Students have been denied the right the wisdom of the raging storm rising against the funda- dential communications with health to form Christian groups which require mental teachings of the Catholic care providers, even if they disclose their leaders to abstain from sexual Creator.” Church. Examples of this religious criminal activity (i.e., a California bill activity outside of marriage. designed to target the type of undercover intolerance continue to mount: —Catholic social services groups have journalism that exposed Planned been forced to discontinue adoption —The Liberty Institute recorded 1,285 Parenthood’s harvesting and selling of and foster care services for refusal to -Catechism of the attacks on religion in the U.S. in 2015, baby body parts). Catholic Church doubling the number reported in 2012 place children with same-sex or unmar- —Laws requiring acceptance of gender ried opposite-sex cohabiting couples —The HHS “mandate” requires reli- identity and sexual orientation are contrary to their religious beliefs. gious organizations to provide abortion restricting Catholic and other faith- —Catholic social service groups -inducing drugs, sterilizations, and based colleges from making hiring, providing services for victims of human contraceptives in direct violation of student housing, or admission decisions trafficking are being required to refer their beliefs. The Little Sisters of the in accordance with their religious be- for contraceptive or abortion services Poor is still in the midst of legal battles liefs. related to this mandate. in violation of Catholic teaching. —Ordinances are in place that restrict- —The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights ing sidewalk counselors from peacefully —Students have had to resort to legal released a report which claimed praying and holding signs outside abor- means to fight decisions disallowing “religious freedom” and “religious tion sites. references to God in poetry and flyers, liberty” are “code words” or pretexts and from wearing a Rosary or refer- —Teachers seeking religious exemp- for bigotry. encing the Bible in class assignments. tion from participation in a school

—Protections are being denied health program administered by Planned —Students have been refused the right care workers from being forced to Parenthood have been denied. participate in abortions and other to offer a prayer before football games, activities that would violate their sin- —Individuals have faced erroneous and cheerleaders from painting Bible cerely held religious beliefs. prosecution for investigating abortion verses on banners. providers. —Mandates are requiring religious —The recitation of “God bless Ameri- —A “transgender bathroom mandate” employers to accept members or lead- ca” has been banned in some schools, is being forced upon public schools and ers who do not adhere to their core and Kindergarten students were pre- beliefs. institutions. vented from performing “God bless the

—Religiously-based speech regarding —Laws have been implemented termi- USA” at their graduation ceremony. nating the rights of hospitals, pro-life

ST. PATRICK’S SOCIAL CONCERNS * ROCKVIL LE MD * (301) 924 - 2285 VOLUME 1, ISSUE IV — P A G E 3 Our Lady—Our Mother Chooses Life “Our choices end Have you ever stopped to contemplate that God became man… with all that this means? Jesus was at one point a little one-celled human being. He had an where another umbilical cord, and was nourished by the Blessed Mother in her womb. And he was born – this is our great Solemnity of Christmas! It is because each individual’s human person is made in God’s image and likeness – God who actually be- came human – that human life has such a wondrous dignity and value! And more this is why abortion is so intrinsically evil. Let us pray for all women facing fundamental crisis pregnancies, and diligently support them however we can so that they Reproduction of Madonna of the can have the courage to imitate Mary’s trust and welcome the new life en- Streets by Roberto Ferruzzi rights begin.” (1854-1934) trusted to them.

-Archbishop F. Nauman Every Human Being Has an Immortal Soul

God breathes life into every human being “Of course, religion will speak about funda- unresolved grief that inevitably ensues from from conception, and that soul will live forev- mental human-rights issues. However, to abortion.” er. Our Lord gave his life for each and every understand that the government has a human being who ever lived, is living, or ever right to protect human life is not de- will live. pendent on religious belief. As the Partial-Birth Abortion Founders stated, these are self-evident “Does anyone really have the choice to end truths. They are accessible to everyone That is even more true with Partial-Birth another human being’s life?” asks Archbishop through the use of reason. They do not re- Abortion, a procedure used from the fifth Joseph F. Naumann. “Our choices end where quire faith. month on, and which involves pulling a living another individual’s more fundamental rights baby feet-first out of the womb, except for begin.” “Our current permissive abortion policies, the head, puncturing the skull and suctioning placing the entire burden of responsibility for out the brain. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Archbishop Naumann goes on to say, “Our the abortion decision upon the mother, result was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Founders actually believed that the right to in millions of women experiencing an inner 2007, in a 5-4 decision, but there are ongoing life is given to us by our Creator, not by the imprisonment where the bars keeping them efforts to overturn it. Supreme Court. from freedom and happiness are the guilt and

“The Truth Will Set You Free” (John 8:32) Authentic human freedom is not license to tions and duties to God are impeded, or law of God. An unjust law is a code that is do whatever one wants, but is rather the even worse, contradicted by the govern- out of harmony with the moral law. To ability to truly love. And love, as the gift of ment, then we can no longer claim to be a put it in the terms of Saint , oneself to another, seeking his or her true land of the free, and a beacon of hope to an unjust law is a human law that is not root- good, requires self-mastery. Thus the 10 the world…. ed in eternal law and natural law.” Commandments lead to our flourishing and the true ability to love. In his famous "Letter from Birmingham …[T]he teaching of the Church is absolute- Jail" in 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. ly clear about religious liberty: “The hu- As reflected in excerpts from “Our First boldly said, "The goal of America is man person has a right to religious free- Most Cherished Liberty—a Statement of freedom." As a Christian pastor, he ar- dom. This freedom means that all men are Religious Liberty” by the U.S. Conference of gued that to call America to the full meas- to be immune from coercion on the part of Catholic Bishops: To be Catholic and ure of that freedom was the specific contri- individuals or of social groups and of any American should not mean having to bution Christians are obliged to make. He human power, in such [ways] that in mat- choose one over the other…. Religious rooted his legal and constitutional argu- ters religious no one is to be forced to act liberty is not only about going to Mass on ments about justice in the long Christian in a manner contrary to his own beliefs…. Sunday or praying the Rosary at home. It tradition: “I would agree with Saint What we ask is nothing more than that our is about whether we can make our contri- Augustine that ‘An unjust law is no law God-given right to religious liberty be bution to the common good of all Ameri- at all.’ Now what is the difference between respected. We ask nothing less than that cans. Can we do the good works our faith the two? How does one determine when a law the Constitution and laws of the United calls us to do, without having to compro- is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made States, which recognize that right, be re- mise that very same faith?.... If our obliga- code that squares with the moral law or the spected.” (www.USCCB..org)

ST. PATRICK’S SOCIAL CONCERNS * ROCKVIL LE MD * (301) 924 - 2285 P A G E 4 Look to the Saints for Inspiration

ABORTION rupture’ of the ordinary bonds of parent- reduce a human being to simply disposa- ing and family…. The second is related to ble biological material.” (Donum Vitae, I.5.) —St. Catherine of Sweden—Patron the dignity that is to be accorded each saint of protection against abortion and person without discrimination. That dig- EUTHANASIA miscarriage. nity demands the recognition that a per- son is never to be treated merely as a —Pope St. John Paul II: “Euthanasia is —St. Gianna Beretta Molla was an means to another end. A cloning program a grave violation of the law of God, since Italian pediatrician who refused an abor- may be aimed at the production of genet- it is the deliberate and morally unaccepta- tion when pregnant with her fourth child ically engineered human beings… Doing ble killing of a human person.” despite knowing carrying to term could this means subordinating such cloned result in her death. She opted instead for beings to the purposes of others, for utili- SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE

a removal of the fibroma, and her daugh- ty or satisfaction or even mere curiosity. —St. , of ter was successfully delivered by Caesari- Such a process is intrinsically wrong.” Statesmen and Politicians, who was be- an section. However, Molla died of septic peritonitis seven days after giving birth. EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH headed for standing up to King Henry VIII in defending the Catholic Church’s teach- —St. Mother Theresa stated, “Any —Pope St. John Paul II: “So-called ing on marriage. country that accepts abortion, is not ‘spare embryos’ [ ] destroyed or used for teaching its people to love, but to use research which, under the pretext of —St. , Roman Catholic Bish- violence to get what it wants.” scientific or medical process, in fact re- op, also resisted King Henry VIII’s actions, duces human life to the level of simple and was tried and executed. CLONING ‘biological material’ to be freely disposed of.” (1995 encyclical letter The Gospel of RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

—Pope St. John Paul II: “A first objec- Life 14) —Pope St. John Paul II “Freedom con- tion relates to the dignity of human pro- sists not in doing what we like, but in creation. Each person should have the —Pope St. John XXIII: “Any produc- having the right to do what we ought.” right to be born of the natural sexual tion of human beings for the sake of ex-

union of a man and a woman… The clon- perimentation, research, or harvesting of

ing process would involve… a ‘radical organs is morally wrong. Such actions Pray the Rosary for Our Nation

The Holy Rosary has been described by many saints prefigured by the sling of and religious as a powerful “spiritual weapon” with which he over- against enemies of all kinds: came Goliath.

“One day through the Rosary and the Scapular I “The Rosary is the most excellent will save the world.” —Blessed Mary to St. form of prayer and the most effica- St. Patrick Catholic Church Dominic cious means of attaining eternal life. Social Concerns Ministry Newsletter It is the remedy for all our evils, the “The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” — root of all our blessings. There is no Monica Ludwig, Director St. Padre Pio more excellent way of praying.” — St. Patrick’s Social Concerns Pope Leo XIII St. Patrick Catholic Church “The greatest method of praying is to pray the 4101 Norbeck Road Rosary.” —St. “The Most Holy Virgin in these last Rockville, MD 20853 times in which we live has given a new Tel: (301) 924-2285 “We put confidence in the Holy Rosary for heal- efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to Email: [email protected] ing the evils which afflict our times.” —Pope Pius such an extent that there is no problem, no Researcher/Writer XII matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or Robert Hill, Esq., Immigration above all spiritual, in the personal life of each Attorney “The Rosary is the most powerful weapon to one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved touch the Heart of Jesus, Our Redeemer, who by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, Editorial Assistance: Melanie Baker, Director, Adult Faith loves his mother.” —St. Louie Marie de Monfort no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot re- Formation who also noted its strength against the devil, as solve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.” —Sister Jane Baily, Director, Faith Formation Lucia dos Santos of Fatima for Children

ST. PATRICK’S SOCIAL CONCERNS * ROCKVIL LE MD * (301) 924 - 2285