Real Catholic Blog

Here’s a letter from CatholicVote President Brian Burch concerning serious revelations about the new health care law and its permissiveness on abortion — despite what most everyone who read the billsaid. Brian spells out a crucial episode being played out in Pennsylvania right now that could determine whether, despite President Obama’s cynical executive order to the contrary, federal funding of abortions now will be the law of the land>

Dear CatholicVote Friend,

Can you answer this question?

Does President Obama’s new healthcare law fund abortions or not?

Last week the Obama administration announced they would be pouring hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars (our money!) into high-risk insurance pools in Pennsylvania and New Mexico where taxpayer funded abortions would be covered.

And then they got caught.

The National Right to Life Committee exposed the plan, prompting pro-life groups and legislative leaders to demand answers. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) responded by promising not to use the funds for abortion. This time.

Sign our petition to the Catholic Health Association to help us make sure this doesn’t happen again!

Cardinal DiNardo speaking on behalf of the Catholic Bishops responded saying: “We welcome this new policy [preventing abortion coverage] . . . while continuing to be gravely concerned that it was not issued until after some states had announced that pro-abortion health plans were approved and had begun to enroll patients.”

The Cardinal emphasized that the episode makes clear that a new law (not an Executive Order) is needed to strictly prohibit all funding for abortion.

Let’s face it, the nearly 2000-page health care law is so complicated it is virtually impossible to keep up with the new authorities and regulatory agencies that could be manipulated to funnel your money to abortion providers.

So something must be done.

Taxpayer dollars must NEVER be used to fund the destruction of innocent human life.

Some groups claiming to be faithful to the Church continue to claim that the new health care bill does not fund abortion. But last week’s episode proves there are loopholes, and we can’t rely on promises from the Obama administration to keep our money out of the hands of abortion doctors.

Our petition to the Catholic Health Association calling on them to get behind the Protect Life Act continues to add new signatures every day.

Join over 56,000 people that have already signed our petition!

If the Catholic Health Association claims to be Catholic, then they must be held accountable.

Help us turn up the heat. Sign our petition today. …

- Your Friends at CatholicVote.org

Great news! Many of our readers will remember the drummed up controversy by an atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation protesting the U.S. Postal Service issuing a stamp in honor of Mother Teresa. For a brief spell it looked like the USPS might reconsider. However, 138,000 people signed a national petition urging the Post Office to stick to its guns. Last week, it did! Thanks to all of you who signed the petition.

Roy Betts, a spokesman for the Postal Service, told CatholicVote.org last week (click here to read more from CV):

The stamp will be dedicated September 5 [at] the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Feel free to post information about the stamp, the image and the dedication ceremony on your website. Thanks!

The push to stop the stamp was nothing more than anti-religious and, specifically, anti-Catholic bigotry. So, it’s never too late to show support for a great cause like this. If you haven’t signed the petition, please do (by clicking here). CatholicVoteAction.org has done a great job with the Stamp Out Bigotry Web site. In fact, the more people sign in the days ahead, the better the chance of making this a forever stamp. Why not? As one commenter put it, Mother Teresa’s spirit and work are enduring.

Most importantly, be sure to buy and use the Mother Teresa stamp. The Postal Service is like any business — if you buy a certain product a lot, it will keep making it! Show your devotion to the Church through one of its modern servants, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Coming soon, on an envelope in your mail! Mother Teresa’s spirit endures in many forms including, in the very near future, a new U.S. post stamp.

Last week I wrote about the inventive way CatholicVote.org is turning the secularist high holy feast of Earth Day on its head by promoting God’s greatest creation: Human Life! Today, it released a complementary video on people’s reactions to its provocative bus boards in major markets (click to learn more or get involved). It also announced it is expanding the campaign to Los Angeles! Here’s the video. Let us know what you think.

Another slant on Earth Day: Celebrating God’s greatest creation! The people get it!

Normally, a headline like that would signal a sarcastic post, instigated from some wacky, ill-thought, usually liberal fad or, worse, actual policy. But . . . not this time. As they used to say (and probably still do, somewhere): Now that I’ve got your attention!

In this case, it’s CatholicVote.org turning the liberal paganism of Earth worship around on its illogical head to make some actual sense of the Earth Day, whose advocates are vigorous population control freaks. It is buying up billboard and bus signage space around the country to promulgate the pro-life message by using the secular line of thinking. Pretty brilliant to use their words to promote the most precious aspect of God’s creation on Earth:

Human Life!

It is more than disturbing that “environmentalists” choose to protect and prioritize anything living except the unborn. You cannot celebrate the Earth and not celebrate the Creator — and that which He created in His Likeness. As CatholicVote’s Brian Burch said in a statement: 

Our goal is to use Earth Day to get Americans to think more deeply about what it means to truly respect the Earth and creation. Prevailing environmental attitudes too often view humans as the enemy of nature. We believe the human person is God’s greatest creation, and the Earth’s greatest resource. Building up a culture of life is the single most important way to build a culture that respects the environment.

If we truly care about building a world that respects the environment, we must begin by building a moral culture — one that understands pollution not just in materialistic terms, but in spiritual terms too. In fact, moral pollution does more to harm the environment than inefficient cars or greenhouse gases.

If we are wasteful and reckless with the environment, maybe it is because we are wasteful and reckless with each other — including the unborn.

Here’s what Pope Benedict wrote in a recent encyclical:

If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology.

It is contradictory to insist that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves.

CatholicVote.org has bought space for these ads in Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle for starters. You can read more the Earth Day Pro-Life campaign from Joshua Mercer at the CatholicVoteAction blog, here. 

According To CatholicVote’s Burch: “Let’s remember: Transforming pagan feasts into Christian celebrations is what our faith has been doing for 2,000 years.”

Yesterday was heartbreaking for a number of reasons. Not only has a cabal of secular progressives hijacked the American health care system — that has produced the best health care in the history of the world — and furthered the culture of death, it did so with the aiding and abetting of so-called “pro-life” lawmakers. For whatever reason — immense pressure by their political bosses or a disingenuous or cynical position to begin with — these Congressmen caved in and/or betrayed us. Worse, they betrayed our faith.

They, in turn, were misled by people and groups, claiming to represent to the Church, who said the health care bill passed yesterday had no pro-abortion provisions in it. Simply not true, as the U.S. Catholic Bishops reiterated during the final hours of the process. Words cannot express the disappointment, but Brian Burch at CatholicVote.org does a good job. Below is the letter just released. In addition, here is the official statement from CatholicVote.org on Representative Bart Stupak’s (D-Mich.) decision to change his mind at the last minute to vote for the pro-abortion bill, a decision that gave the bill its margin of victory.

Dear Friend of CatholicVote.org,

I just got off the phone with the campaign director for Rep. Bart Stupak.

I told her that the members of CatholicVote.org were appalled by his decision to cave and give President Obama control over taxpayer funding for abortion. I also told his staff that we are rescinding our invitation for him to speak at a special CatholicVote.org event scheduled in Chicago for late April.

Rep. Stupak accepted a meaningless promise of an “Executive Order” that does not address the fundamental problems of the bill. In doing so, he not only allowed the pro-abortion bill to pass, his actions gutted any hope for a bipartisan pro-life movement that many argued would have been possible had he stood firm.

After everything we did to support Stupak and his coalition, his actions yesterday were devastating. We were betrayed.

Reality Check

Confronting a loss of such significance is dispiriting. The emails pouring into CatholicVote range from frustration with politics in general to questions about whether there can truly be a pro-life Democrat.

I share many of these frustrations. Our staff did everything possible to stop this disaster. We worked around the clock last week and all weekend to hold the votes together. We worked with individual bishops and staff to encourage wavering votes to hold firm. We were in regular communication with key representatives and their staffs. We ran radio ads, and launched the Stand With Stupak campaign.

We were confident that we had the votes to stop the legislation, until the end, when Stupak and his key allies folded.

The “Stand With Stupak” campaign was about a principle, not a single man. The principle was simple — no compromise on abortion.

And in the end, even Bart Stupak didn’t stand with Stupak.

Looking Ahead

We may be a movement that is hope-filled, but we are also a movement of action.

The frustrations and anger you are inevitably feeling now cannot be ignored. Over the next 7 months, we will be preparing for the November elections.

Any politician who supported this bill must pay a price. And that price is ultimately paid at the ballot box.

The backers of this health care bill never gave up. They fought for nearly a year against public opinion, and wore down their opponents until they got what they wanted.

We must resolve to do the same.

Remember what happened last night.

Remember how you feel right now.

November will be here before you know it.

Sincerely,

Brian

I just received this e-mail from our friends at CatholicVote.org. Last week, its president, Brian Burch, asked people to sign a petition to back up CBS’ decision to air an pro-life ad during this Sunday’s Super Bowl, featuring star college quarterback Tim Tebow and his mom, who was urged to abort him 20-plus years ago. Big money pro-abortion groups have pressured CBS to pull the ad, so CatholicVote.org stepped in as a counter balance. We hope you signed on. Here’s Brian’s update:

Dear CatholicVote Member,

The President of CBS received a surprise at 9:53 a.m. yesterday.

A large Fed Ex box filled with nearly 500 pages of signatures from over 50,000 friends of CatholicVote arrived at the office of CBS President Leslie Moonves.

Enclosed in the package was a personal letter thanking CBS for standing firm and agreeing to air the ad produced by Focus on the Family featuring Florida football star Tim Tebow and his mother.

I explained that CatholicVote was especially interested in their decision because of our own efforts last year. With your help last January, we pushed hard to have our ad featuring President Obama aired during the Super Bowl.

NBC ultimately rejected the ad, yet I remain enormously proud of what we did together. We stood firm for the principle that every human life matters. We proudly stepped forward to tell the world that every human life is a gift — including the lives of those with whom we may disagree.

We had 2 million people watch our ad on YouTube over the past 12 months, while also sparking a healthy discussion in the media and on the Internet. And the ad was mentioned repeatedly again this year as controversy over the Tebow ad was discussed.

Did we help pave the way for this year’s Tebow ad to be aired? Who knows? What really matters is that we are winning.

Focus on the Family has taken the lead in making a Super Bowl ad a reality for an estimated 400 million people around the world. They deserve our heartfelt thanks.

I know when I see the ad this Sunday, my heart will swell with pride. This ad is not merely a story about Pam Tebow and her son, but also a statement about being pro-life in America.

We aren’t outsiders. We are mainstream, proud, and inspiring the rest of America with what we believe.

And more people every day are coming to see what we see: Life is indeed beautiful.

Be sure to catch Thomas Peters on Fox News tonight. Enjoy the Super Bowl. See you next week.

Sincerely,

Brian Burch, President

CatholicVote.org

P.S. Send us your prediction on the score for the Super Bowl. Pick the winner and the score. Whoever is closest will receive a surprise gift next week and get a shout out at our legislative arm, CatholicVoteAction.org. (Our combined sites receive 15,000 visitors every day!)

This just in from Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org:

BREAKING: CatholicVoteAction.org blogger Thomas Peters will appear on Hannity on the FOX News Channel tonight at 9 PM EST. He will discuss the anti-Catholic attacks on Pope Benedict XVI made by Henry Knox, who serves on President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. TUNE IN TONIGHT!

If you have never seen, read or heard Thomas Peters, do yourself a favor. He’s very well accomplished at a very young age, bright, articulate and witty — and sharp as a nearly forged sabre. He’s the founder of incredibly popular American Papist Blog. Be sure to watch or record this interview.

You might not think that 2009 was much of a year of hope — contrary to Orwellian rhetoric that emanates from our progressive secular rulers in Washington these days. But Brian Burch of CatholicVote.org lists 10 reasons why 2009, despite the government’s move toward rationed health care, taxpayer paid abortions and removal of conscience protections for medical professionals, among many other goals to debase the culture, gives us reason for real — not demogogic — hope. Here they are:

10. It’s Cool to be Pro-Life

Across the popular culture spectrum, the younger generation is, on average, more pro-life than their parents. Whether its reality-TV star Kourtney Kardashian telling People magazine about her decision to keep her child or the multiple opinion polls that show more and more Americans self-identifying as pro-life. Even the show Law & Order included a powerful courtroom scene that compelled a character to question her ‘dogmatic’ support for Roe v. Wade. Hope for the unborn is en vogue.

9. You – the Members of CatholicVote

Over 400,000 members of CatholicVote working to build up the Church and our world made 2009 truly memorable. Back in January the Super Bowl didn’t like the message, but millions of people watched a commercial by CatholicVote.org that reminded America of the dignity of every human life, including an unborn Barack Obama. The inauguration of a strident pro-abortion president was very disappointing, but the proud members of CatholicVote.org responded with the first in a series of ads in our “Life: Imagine the Potential” campaign that also included an ad during the American Idol finale, and a summer ad commemorating the historic achievement of Apollo 11. All of this work and more was made possible by you. Through hard work and prayer, you and I are building a movement. A movement we can be proud of.

8. Death of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus

The death of a man is a sign of hope? Only in the sense that Fr. Richard John Neuhaus once explained: “We are born to die. Not that death is the purpose of our being born, but we are born toward death, and in each of our lives the work of dying is already underway. The work of dying well is, in largest part, the work of living well.” In that sense, Fr. Neuhaus died well, evidenced by the lives he touched, the intellects he captivated, and the winsome pen that delighted and moved thousands of hearts and minds during his rich life. Fr. Neuhaus is no longer with us, but his ideas, and spirited engagement with the world — uniquely as a person of faith — most certainly are.

7. Priests, Religious, and More Priests

From Ireland to New Zealand to many dioceses across the United States, Catholic seminaries are recording record numbers of new seminarians after years of decline. Wherever you look, large numbers of young men and women are bravely choosing to serve Christ and his Church in a world that so urgently needs the witness of courageous, self-sacrificing men and women of God. Perhaps not coincidentally, Pope Benedict XVI designated the second of half of 2009 and first half of 2010 the ‘Year of the Priest.’

6. Maine Delivers for Marriage

During the spring and summer of 2009 a few states in New England, including Maine, legalized so-called same-sex ‘marriage.’ In November, the voters struck back at the ballot box and overruled their Legislature by returning marriage to the traditional definition of one man and one woman. This means that marriage has won 31 out of 31 times when put before the people for a vote! Maine’s triumph effectively put the brakes on efforts to legalize same-sex ‘marriages’ in New York and New Jersey.

5. Religious Leaders Unite to Sign Manhattan Declaration

Invoking the legacy of the late Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox leaders released a powerful 4,732 word document renewing their commitment to the defense of unborn human life, marriage as a sacred union of one man and one woman, and the rights of conscience and religious liberty no matter the cost. The leaders drew a line in the sand stating their willingness to defy any edict that violates these foundational principles. You too can join over 300,000 people who have already signed the Declaration here.

4. Bart Stupak and the Rise of Pro-life Democrats

The deeply disappointing capitulation by Senator Ben Nelson is still fresh on our minds. But it is worth noting as a sign of hope the strengthening voice of pro-life Democrats in the House. For years these pro-life Democrats would vote for life, but remained relatively quiet and rarely publicly challenged their party’s leadership. But with Democrats in control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, pro-life Democrats couldn’t stay silent any longer. In the end it was the reckless power grab by the abortion lobby to hijack healthcare reform that spurred Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) into action. Stupak helped rally other pro-life Democrats to oppose any healthcare bill that included abortion funding, eventually forcing even Speaker Pelosi herself to buckle. As we write this, the final fate of the pro-abortion healthcare bill remains unknown. But the efforts by Stupak and other Democrats represent a sign of hope for a party that all too often is shamefully beholden to the powerful abortion lobby.

3. Smashing Success of the 40 Days for Life Campaigns

Community organizing at its finest. Volunteers who pray and witness outside abortion clinics across the country have always been the unsung heroes of pro-life activism. But the 40 Days for Life campaigns, begun in 2004, are exploding and have now included hundreds of thousands of participants in nearly 300 cities. Their efforts have shut down multiple clinics, saved countless lives, and have pro-abortion advocates grasping for a way to respond. There is none. Modeling prayer efforts on the biblically-based 40 days of prayer and fasting practiced by Our Lord himself is inspirational and paying dividends. Big time.

2. The Conversion of Abby Johnson

The 40 Days for Life campaigns began in Bryan/College Station, TX. In November, the Executive Director of the local Planned Parenthood in this same city was overwhelmed by the evil of abortion and walked out. After watching an abortion on an ultrasound, and seeing the warmth and joy of pro-life activists holding vigils outside the abortion mill, she walked down the street and joined the 40 Days for Life effort. This episode confirms that the conscience of every person is always burning, and nobody is a lost cause. In military terms, the pro-abortion forces suffered a major defector, as Ms. Johnson also revealed what we already know to be true – abortion is heavily pushed for the money and profits, not because it helps women. This story confirms the power of prayer in our fight for justice, and represents one of the most inspirational pro-life stories of 2009.

1. Bishops With Backbone

Someone check what the Catholic Bishops are eating for breakfast — it’s more than Wheaties. Who could have predicted the vocal stand by almost 70 Catholic bishops, led by His Excellency John D’Arcy of South Bend, Indiana, in opposing the bestowal of honors by Notre Dame on our pro-abortion President. The courage displayed over the scandal at Notre Dame carried over into the fall when the USCCB became one of the biggest opponents of health care “reform” because of provisions that included public financing of abortion. Their outspoken opposition prompted more than a few public leaders to call on the Church to be silenced, stripped of its tax-exempt status, and worse. The year also saw more than a few bishops speaking out more forcefully on the fundamental issue of life and its treatment by Catholic politicians. The laity is cheering as more and more bishops are becoming brave to the bone.

It’s the hottest of topics in the realm of Catholics and public policy: What, on the surface, seems to be the only good thing about the health care bill barely passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Saturday night, was the Stupak Amendment, offered by Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) It upholds the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding of abortion, and explicitly denies any part of the health care bill from mandating insurance companies cover abortion services or compromises medical professionals conscience protections.

However, by passing the amendment and adding it to the bill, it made a horrible bill — which still violates Catholic teaching by eliminating health care to elderly and sickly people by rationing it and denying access to it — more palatable to certain members of the House, and was enough for them to vote in favor of the bill as a whole. Not only that, but certain radical feminists in Congress are not unhappy that the Stupak Amendment moved the bill forward to the Senate, where they are hopeful it will eventually get stripped out and eventually approved by the House after a conference report. So says U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the House’s chief deputy Democrat whip (see Life Site News).

On the other hand, as Matt Bowman of CatholicVote.org writes, passing the Stupak Amendment ultimately will make the bill distasteful for the abortion-on-demand crowd and force them to abandon ship.

So, a lot remains to be seen — and done. If you are concerned, and we all should be, it is not a time to relax under a false pretense, nor throw in the towel in frustration. Contact your senators and carry on the good fight.

I received an e-mail from Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org. He has some exciting news I will share with you soon. In the meantime, if you are not familiar with the organization, you should be. Known for its world class — unparalleled production — videos/ads in defense of traditional, Biblical values, it is a leading force in the American Catholic community in the public policy field, educating the public and politicians alike on the grave issues of the day, especially the issue of life. The two links above will take you to two of its most recent videos. We hope you view them and forward the links. Then take a minute to go by its Web site and wish it a happy anniversary.