More than 100 members of Congress urge investigation into abortion funding 

CNA Staff, Aug 11, 2020 / 03:10 pm (CNA).- Former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, has selected Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) to be his running mate.  

Harris is the first Black woman, and the first person of Indian descent, to be selected as a running mate for a major party’s ticket. Harris’ mother was born in India, and her father was born in Jamaica. Harris is a staunch supporter of legal protection for abortion and has pushed Biden on that issue in recent months.

The choice was announced just shortly after 4:15 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, August 11. 

“I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked Kamala Harris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,” tweeted Biden on Tuesday.

Biden said that while serving as California’s attorney general, Harris worked with his late son, Beau. 

“I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign,” he said. 

Before being selected to run with Biden, Harris made headlines for her numerous attacks on the former vice president during the primary debates. Harris was especially critical of Biden’s long-time support for the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the use of federal funds for abortions. 

Biden supported the Hyde Amendment, both with his votes and publicly in writing and speeches, for over four decades. He reversed his position in June 2019, just one day after reaffirming his support for the policy. Harris was quick to point this out during the debate. 

“Only since you’ve been running for president this time, [have you] said that you in some way would take that back or you didn’t agree with that decision you made over many, many years and this directly impacted so many women in our country,” said Harris. 

Harris noted Biden’s previous reservations about unlimited legal protection to abortion, reservations which he abandoned during the Democratic primary process. Harris asked him during the primary “Do you now say that you have evolved and you regret that?”

As California attorney general, she drew criticism from the state Catholic conference by sponsoring a bill compelling pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise “free or low-cost” abortion services to their clients. That law was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2018. 

The senator has also previously raised concerns about Biden’s character.

In April 2019, Harris stated that she believed women who have accused Biden of sexual misconduct during his time in the Senate and as vice president. 

“I believe them and I respect them being able to tell their story and having the courage to do it,” she said at an event in Nevada. Biden himself denied ever acting “inappropriately” with women.

While in the Senate, Harris has served as a member of the Judiciary Committee, responsible for vetting candidates for federal judgeships. In 2018, Harris raised questions about the suitability of a candidate based on his membership of the Knights of Columbus.

In December 2018, Harris joined Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in scrutinizing the candidacy of Brian C. Buescher, an Omaha-based lawyer nominated by President Trump to sit on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.

The senators asked if belonging to the Catholic charitable organization could prevent judges from hearing cases “fairly and impartially.”

In her questions to Buescher, Harris described the Knights as “an all-male society” and asked if Buescher was aware that the Knights of Columbus “opposed a woman’s right to choose” and were against “marriage equality” when he joined.

Prior to her election to the Senate in 2016, Harris served as the California attorney general from 2011-2016, and was the San Francisco attorney general from 2004-2011. 

While she has cast herself as a “progressive” prosecutor, her tenure as AG has been a source of controversy during her political career on the national level. 

Harris had a mixed record on the death penalty in California, and faced criticism for her polices which saw Californians imprisoned for non-violent drug offenses. 

Harris came out in support for the legalization of marijuana in 2018. But during a debate in July, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) noted Harris had put “over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations” as attorney general, but laughed while confirming her own use of the drug in an interview. 

Gabbard also pointed out that Harris “blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row,” referring to inmate Kevin Cooper. Cooper was convicted of a quadruple homicide and sentenced to death in 1983, despite considerable evidence of his innocence. Cooper requested additional DNA testing, which Harris blocked as attorney general. 

In 2018, after she was elected to the Senate, she admitted she “felt awful” about her decision. Cooper is still on death row. 

While Harris declined to pursue the death penalty on several occasions, in 2014 she explicitly defended the practice after a California district court found it unconstitutional. 

“I am appealing the court’s decision because it is not supported by the law, and it undermines important protections that our courts provide to defendants,” said Harris, calling the decision a “flawed ruling.” 

Harris has also pushed for laws that would criminalize the parents of truant children, who are disproportionately poor. 

During her inaugural address in 2011, Harris stated that she was “putting parents on notice” that truancy would be dealt with as a crime by parents.  

“If you fail in your responsibility to your kids, we are going to work to make sure you face the full force and consequences of the law,” she said. 

Eight years later, during an interview on a podcast, Harris admitted that several parents were jailed thanks to the statewide anti-truancy law she sponsored, though she said she “regretted” it.

Since entering the Senate, Harris’ thinking has shifted, and she now says she supports ending mandatory minimum sentences along with championing other progressive criminal justice reforms.

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Denver Newsroom, Aug 27, 2020 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- Twice a week for three months, the administration of St. Ambrose Academy in Wisconsin met with Dane County public health officials to ensure that they would be ready to reopen at the start of the school year – which was supposed to happen this week.

They drafted a 35-page plan to mitigate the risks of the coronavirus, including regulations on the flow of students, social distancing, personal protective equipment, and regular cleaning and sanitization. They leased a second building, so that their 115 students could social distance even more. The plan was released to parents, who could choose to send their students to school in person or online.

But on the evening of Aug. 21, days before the school year was set to start for St. Ambrose Academy and other private schools in the county, Public Health Madison-Dane County released Emergency Order #9, mandating that grades 3-12 begin the year online. Only grades kindergarten through second are permitted to meet in person.

“Within hours after the order was announced, I had emails in my inbox from our parents,” Angela Hineline told CNA. Hineline is a long-time St. Ambrose parent, as well as the learning services specialist and enrollment manager for the school. 

“We are following all guidelines and had the rug pulled out from underneath us after hours, great expense, even renting another site,” she said. “We are a shoestring budget school; we have a very, very tight budget, and 55% of our students are on assistance.”

St. Ambrose Academy announced Aug. 26 that they had filed a demand letter on behalf of their school and multiple other Catholic schools, seeking the immediate revocation of the emergency order “by no later than Friday, August 28, 2020, at 12:00 p.m, ‘Given the unconstitutionality and unlawfulness of the School Closure Order,’ citing harm to ‘parents, children, and schools across the County.’”

Hineline said the demand letter cites the “freedom of conscience” clauses in the Wisconsin Constitution as the basis for the school’s argument, as well as other clauses that provide for school choice and religious freedom. 

“The Wisconsin Constitution freedom of conscience clauses provide that the right of every person to worship almighty God according to the dictates of conscience shall never be infringed nor shall any control of or interference with the rights of conscience be permitted,” Hineline said, quoting the letter of demand.

There are also clauses in the state’s constitution that “subject any law burdening religious exercise to strict scrutiny, prohibiting the government from enforcing the law unless it demonstrates that such enforcement furthers a compelling government interest in a narrowly tailored way. Further, all parents have a fundamental liberty interest in the care and upbringing of their children, which includes the rights to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control,” Hineline said.

The letter also cites the sacraments, which must take place in person, as crucial to the religious education of children.

“All of my client-parents are devout, practicing Catholics, whose faith compels them to seek religious education for their children,” the letter states. “Only in-person education satisfies that solemn obligation, as only in person may these students receive Holy Communion at Mass, confess their sins to a priest through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or pray together in the community of fellow students and teachers.” 

Hineline said that St. Ambrose Academy is preparing to fight the order in the state’s Supreme Court, should it not be rescinded by noon on Aug. 28. The school has already raised nearly $100,000 to cover legal fees, she said.

Dane County is one of the 11 counties that comprise the Diocese of Madison. It is the second-largest county in Wisconsin.

Bishop Donald Hying of Madison tweeted his frustration with the emergency order Aug. 22. In a subsequent letter to families affected by the order, Hying said he was “extraordinarily disappointed at this order and its timing,” and that he was permitting schools in Dane County to delay their first day of school until after Labor Day if they wish to do so.

“We’re asking for relief quickly…so that we can open on September 8th,” Hineline said.

Among the parents most concerned about the ban on in-person learning are “single parents that have to work and then would have no one to supervise their children,” Hineline noted, as well as “parents with children with special needs that know that the only way for their child’s learning needs to be met (is) in person due to their child’s unique challenges.”

Hineline said one parent who reached out in concern about the order is a single, low-income mother who did not finish high school because of dyslexia. Now one of her children, a student at St. Ambrose, also has dyslexia, and she is worried that he will not get the help he needs if he is not allowed to attend school in person while she works.

“Her greatest fear is that her own son…could end up being somebody who doesn’t graduate,” Hineline said. “The worry is real. This is not a parent who has access to resources without us.” Hineline said she wrote down the mother’s testimony, because the mother did not want to write it down herself, due to her dyslexia.

“She’s never even voted because…she’s afraid she won’t be able to understand the ballot system. This is just one mother’s way to have her voice, to say, ‘The best thing I can do, the most safe, mature, stable way for me to raise my child and to take care of my child’s needs is for my child to be in his Catholic school with in person education,’” she said.

When asked about the government’s interest in stopping the spread of the coronavirus, Hineline said that the school’s in-person plans had met stringent county requirements, and that other businesses and even childcare facilities were being allowed to open following those same requirements.

“The order continues to allow childcare and youth settings to open,” Hineline said. “Remarkably, the order even allows…we could use our same building as childcare and youth setting, just not as school. That’s an interesting aspect to the order; children can be in school for childcare with teachers, but they can’t be in school for education with teachers.”

The emergency order itself states that school children have low rates of infection with the coronavirus.

“While research on school-aged children continues to emerge and evolve, a number of systematic reviews have found that school-aged children contract COVID at lower rates than older populations,” the order states. “Locally, as of August 20, 2020, nine percent of all COVID cases were among children aged 0-17 in Dane County. This population comprises 22% of the county population overall.”

Hineline said St. Ambrose Academy had always planned to have a virtual learning option for parents if they so choose, but that they believe it is important to provide in-person learning to the students and families who need it most.

“This isn’t one size fits all,” she said. “We do believe that we are essential. We are essential virtually, for those families that need us virtually for their family’s safety, security, stability. We are essential for our families that need us in person. We are essential in the development of a child.”

“As Catholic parents, we believe faith and academics are inseparable. We believe that parents should be able to choose how to best nurture their child’s spiritual life in the Church and in the classroom,” Hineline said, quoting a statement from the school’s parents responding to the demand letter. “Online instruction can deliver content, but not the depth of Catholic faith and values. Fundamental religious liberty has been protected by courts throughout American history. We shouldn’t have to spend the money defending this basic right, but we will see it through. We are talking about the health, the safety, and the security of children.”

[…]

New York City, N.Y., May 23, 2017 / 08:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An event exploring the interaction of the Christian faith with the modern world – in light of the writings of the founder of Communion and Liberation – will take place in New York City this summer.

The June 22 event, titled Christianity: An Encounter that Shapes Life, is the second annual Giussani series on Faith and Modernity. It will be presented by global ecclesiastical movement Communion and Liberation, Crossroads Cultural Center, and the Sheen Center in New York City.
 
The event is free and will focus on the heart of the Christian faith and true human encounter as described by Monsignor Luigi Giussani in his book, “Generating Traces in the History of the World.”

An Encounter that Shapes Life will feature discussions from Father Solanus Benfatti, a professor of Spirituality and Franciscan Traditions at St. Joseph’s Seminary in the Archdiocese of New York, and Michael Waldstein, PhD, a professor of theology at Ave Maria University in Florida.
 
Communion and Liberation began to emerge in 1954 by Italian priest, Catholic thinker, and educator Msgr. Luigi Giussani. The movement focuses on the actualization of man’s faith by living the Christian presence within community.

In his 1995 book “The Risk of Education,” Msgr. Giussani described the movement as “showing the relevance of faith to life’s needs, and therefore – and this ‘therefore’ is important – showing that faith is rational, implies a specific concept of rationality.”

“When we say that faith exalts rationality, we mean that faith corresponds to some fundamental, original need that all men and women feel in their hearts.”

Crossroads Cultural Center was established in 2004 as an extension of Communion and Liberation. The group’s mission is to foster knowledge of reality and life’s meaning, as seen through the lens of Christian faith.

The event will be held at Sheen Center located in East Village of downtown New York City. The center is named after the previous archbishop of Rochester, Fulton Sheen, and hosts events which align to the truth, beauty, and goodness as expressed by the Catholic Church.

A life stream of the conference will be made available at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Sheen Center’s website: https://sheencenter.org/shows/giussani2/

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