Bigotry Intolerance has no place in nation founded on religious freedom

Back ‘Beyond Park 51’ Statement by Interfaith Group

WASHINGTON—Catholic Bishops dealing with interfaith, domestic and international concerns voiced concern for anti-Muslim prejudice surrounding the threat of Koran burnings in Florida.

“All acts of intolerance aimed at a religious community should find no place in our world, let alone in our nation which is founded on the principle of religious freedom,” said

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, Chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace.

They issued their remarks September 9 (http://www.usccb.org/seia/response-muslim-prejudice.shtml). In their remarks they also endorsed a September 7 statement titled “Beyond Park 51,” issued in Washington by an interfaith group that included Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop-emeritus of Washington, and Father James Massa, director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and interreligious Affairs.

October 25, 2010

Bismarck, North Dakota

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Bishop Murphy, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, compared the challenges faced by today’s workers to the changing society of the Industrial Revolution addressed by Pope Leo XIII in the 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum (Of New Things).

“America is undergoing a rare economic transformation, shedding jobs and testing safety nets as the nation searches for new ways to govern and grow our economy,” said Bishop Murphy. “Workers need a new ‘social contract.’” Bishop Murphy said that creating new jobs would require new investments, initiative and creativity in the economy. He also drew on the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, which call for placing the human person at the center of economic life and emphasize the role of civil society and mediating institutions such as unions in pursing the common good.

“Workers need to have a real voice and effective protections in economic life,” said Bishop Murphy. “The market, the state, and civil society, unions and employers all have roles to play and they must be exercised in creative and fruitful interrelationships. Private action and public policies that strengthen families and reduce poverty are needed. New jobs with just wages and benefits must be created so that all workers can express their dignity through the dignity of work and are able to fulfill God’s call to us all to be co-creators. A new social contract, which begins by honoring work and workers, must be forged that ultimately focuses on the common good of the entire human family.”

A program designed in cooperation with the National Catholic Partnership on Disability

Featured Speakers:

Stephen Mikochik

Dr. Marie T. Hilliard

Connie Rakitan

More information to come.

Each year since 1996, Congress has approved the Dickey amendment to forbid funding any “research in which” human embryos are harmed or destroyed.  This should ensure that taxpayers are not forced to fund a research project when pursuing that project requires the destruction of human life at its earliest stage.  However, beginning with a legal memo commissioned by the Clinton administration in January 1999, this law has been distorted and narrowed to allow federal funding of research that directly relies on such destruction.  As the bishops’ conference said in congressional testimony in 1999, “a mere bookkeeping distinction between funds used to destroy the embryo and funds used to work with the resultant cells is not sufficient” to comply with the law.  In the health care reform debate, as well, we have pointed out that an executive order by itself cannot change the meaning of a law passed by Congress, and that the longstanding policy against funding health plans that cover abortion is not satisfied, but circumvented, by a bookkeeping distinction that merely segregates accounts within such plans.

A task of good government is to use its funding power to direct resources where they will best serve and respect human life, not to find new ways to evade this responsibility. I hope this court decision will encourage our government to renew and expand its commitment to ethically sound avenues of stem cell research. These avenues are showing far more promise than destructive human embryo research in serving the needs of suffering patients.

Notes That Voters Have Upheld Traditional Marriage at Every Turn
Calls Marriage Essential to Well Being of Society

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Francis George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, decried the August 4 decision of a federal judge to overturn California voters’ 2008  initiative that protected marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

“Marriage between a man and a woman is the bedrock of any society. The misuse of law to change the nature of marriage undermines the common good,” Cardinal George said. “It is tragic that a federal judge would overturn the clear and expressed will of the people in their support for the institution of marriage. No court of civil law has the authority to reach into areas of human experience that nature itself has defined.”

Joining Cardinal George in his criticism of the court decision was Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage. Archbishop Kurtz noted that “Citizens of this nation have uniformly voted to uphold the understanding of marriage as a union of one man and one woman in every jurisdiction where the issue has been on the ballot.  This understanding is neither irrational nor unlawful,” he said. “Marriage is more fundamental and essential to the well being of society than perhaps any other institution. It is simply unimaginable that the court could now claim a conflict between marriage and the Constitution.”

In the months ahead, the North Dakota Catholic Conference will work with the North Dakota Family Alliance, civic leaders, and people of all faiths and political persuasions to gather the remaining number of signatures.  We look forward to then redirecting our efforts to sharing the importance of securing religious liberty for all and the need for a Religious Liberty Restoration Amendment in North Dakota.

Following the lead of the federal government and a majority of the states, the Religious Liberty Restoration Amendment would restore protection for religious liberty to its traditional level, providing a sensible balance between the rights of individuals and legitimate government interests.  As Catholics, we are dedicated to protecting the religious rights of all persons.  As North Dakotans, we are committed to enacting a Religious Liberty Restoration Amendment.

“It is the right decision,” Bishop Wester said. “Any law that provides legal cover to profiling affects all members of our communities, including legal residents and citizens. It is a very slippery slope. What is needed now is for Congress and the Administration to live up to their responsibilities and address this issue by passing immigration reform.”

The U.S. Catholic bishops believe that any comprehensive immigration reform bill should contain the following elements: a legalization program that gives migrant workers and their families an opportunity to earn legal permanent residency and eventual citizenship; a new worker visa program that protects the labor rights of both U.S. and foreign workers and gives participants the option to earn permanent residency; reform of the U.S. family-based immigration system to reduce waiting times for family reunification; and restoration of due process protections for immigrants, including asylum-seekers. In the longer term, policies that address the root causes of migration, such as the lack of sustainable development in sending nations, should also be part of the equation.