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MCC responds to rouge 'Catholic' ad attacking congressman's strong stance against abortion funding by taxpayers

LANSING - Earlier today, The Detroit News Washington bureau reported that a group calling itself "Catholics United" has undertaken a television advertising campaign against Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) for his strong stance against abortion funding in the U.S. Senate version of health care reform.

The statement below was released in response to a separate media inquiry if "Catholics United" was affiliated with the Michigan Catholic Conference.  The statement may be attributed to Paul Long, Michigan Catholic Conference Vice-President for Public Policy.

"The Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are the official voices of the Catholic Church, in this state and across the country, respectively, on matters pertaining to public policy.  No group has done more to promote the need for universal health care coverage than the Catholic Church. Both the MCC and the USCCB have stated as clear as day, however, that the Senate-passed version of health care reform is unacceptable in its current form as it fails to uphold the Hyde Amendment, which ensures no federal taxpayer dollars are used to pay for abortions or health plans that cover abortions, and also fails to protect individual conscience rights.

"The aforementioned television advertising campaign is misleading the public and distorting the official policy positions of the Catholic Church in Michigan and throughout the country.  In no way does Catholics United represent the public policy positions of the Catholic Church.  In fact, the ad campaign and its accompanying news release grossly misrepresents the official position of the Catholic Church on health care reform, and unfairly and erroneously attacks Congressman Bart Stupak for his efforts to prohibit tax-payer funded abortions."

Link to USCCB description of current Senate health care reform bill, and how it allows for taxpayer funded abortion.

U.S. Bishops Provide Resources Explaining Flaws In Senate Health Care Bill

WASHINGTON — The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has made available several new resources explaining its calls for essential changes to the Senate health care reform bill. In a March 15 statement, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, President of the USCCB, said that the U.S. bishops would, regretfully, have to oppose the final bill if these changes were not made.

The resources are available at: www.usccb.org/healthcare

Among them is an analysis of the abortion funding provisions of the Senate health care bill that highlights the bishops’ objections (www.usccb.org/healthcare/030410facts.pdf). Two pieces respond to recent criticisms of the bishops’ position on the health care bill, namely criticisms from Timothy Stoltzfus Jost of Washington and Lee University Law School (www.usccb.org/healthcare/jost-response.pdf) and the other regarding the funding of abortion at community health centers (www.usccb.org/healthcare/communityhealthcenters.pdf).

With so much of the health care debate focusing on the nature of the legal “status quo” of federal abortion funding, the page also features a backgrounder on current federal policy on abortion funding (www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/healthcare/abortion_funding_102309.pdf) and an analysis of the House health care bill’s Stupak Amendment (www.usccb.org/healthcare/StupakAmendmentFactsheet.pdf).

From Oprah to Feed the Fire: Religious Sisters will headline Saturday's youth event

You might have seen them on a February broadcast of "The Oprah Winfrey Show"; now its your turn to ask these religious sisters questions.

Join Sisters Karol Joseph and Steven Patrick of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist at the next Feed the Fire on March 20 at St. Agnes Parish in Freeland.

Join us for praise and worship music beginning at 4 p.m., followed by Mass with Bishop Cistone. After dinner, the Sisters will talk about how to hear God’s call in your life and to take questions. There is no charge to attend Feed the Fire, however, there is a $6 charge for dinner. All are welcome.

Check out these clips of the Sisters on the Oprah show:









You may also watch clips on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" website at http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Lisa-Ling-Spends-a-Day-in-the-Life-of-Nuns-Video  or  http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Nuns-Reflect-on-Silence-After-the-Show-Video.

Action Alert! Help Stop Abortion Funding in Health Care Reform

As long-time advocates of health care reform, the U.S. Catholic bishops continue to make the moral case that genuine health care reform must protect the life, dignity, consciences and health of all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Health care reform should provide access to affordable and quality health care for all, and not advance a pro-abortion agenda in our country. Genuine health care reform is being blocked by those who insist on reversing widely supported policies against federal funding of abortion and plans which include abortion, not by those working simply to preserve these longstanding protections.

1. On November 7, the U.S. House of Representatives passed major health care reform that reaffirms the essential, longstanding and widely supported policy against using federal funds for elective abortions and includes positive measures on affordability and immigrants.
2. On December 24, the U.S. Senate rejected this policy and passed health care reform that requires federal funds to help subsidize and promote health plans that cover elective abortions. All purchasers of such plans will be required to pay for other people's abortions through a separate payment solely to pay for abortion. And the affordability credits for very low income families purchasing private plans in a Health Insurance Exchange are inadequate and would leave families financially vulnerable.
3. Outside the abortion context, neither bill has adequate conscience protection for health care providers, plans or employers.
4. Congressional leaders are now trying to figure out how the rules of the House and Senate could allow the final passage of a modified bill that would satisfy disagreements between House and Senate versions.

Catholics need to make their voices heard insisting that health care reform protect the lives, dignity, consciences and health of all. Please take a brief moment to send a message to your local Congressperson and two U.S. Senators. If you prefer to call rather than email, the Capitol switchboard number is (202) 224.3121.

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As federal health care reform continues to move forward at a rapid pace, messages are urgently needed to elected officials like Congressman Dale Kildee (D-Flint) to prevent publicly funded abortions in any health care reform bill.

Please take a moment to follow this link, which is also pasted below, and contact Congressman Kildee. It is very important that the language in the House-passed bill preventing abortion funding, the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, be incorporated in its essential features as a part of any final bill.

A Michigan Saint? Diocese of Marquette opens investigation into alleged miracle attributed to pioneer bishop

MARQUETTE - The cause for sainthood of the Catholic Diocese of Marquette’s first bishop will take a major step forward this week when the diocese opens an official inquiry into an alleged miracle being attributed to the Servant of God, Bishop Frederic Baraga. 

The Most Rev. Alexander K. Sample, Bishop of Marquette, announced the development in the nearly 60-year old cause during a news conference held on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 in Marquette.

“Since my first days as a seminarian studying for the priesthood, I have had a great devotion to Bishop Baraga,” Bishop Sample said.  “As his eleventh successor, I am thrilled at the prospect of a miracle that will advance his cause.   With all the priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of the diocese, I give thanks to God for his holy, priestly example.”

The diocese will form a canonical tribunal that will investigate the potential miracle, which took place in the U.P.

“We have a case involving what was thought to be a tumor on a patient’s liver that showed up on various tests, including a CT scan and an ultrasound.  However, when exploratory surgery was done, there was no tumor to be found,” explained Father Ronald Browne, diocesan moderator of the curia.

In this instance, the patient, the patient’s family and their parish priest had prayed for healing by invoking the intercession of Bishop Baraga.  In addition, Bishop Baraga’s stole had been placed on the patient’s abdomen, after which the patient reported that the pain went away.

In order to be affirmed as a miracle, the event being investigated must be one that science cannot explain and be attributable to the intercession of the person whose sainthood is being sought.

Bishop Sample has appointed Fr. Browne as episcopal delegate to lead the work of the canonical tribunal.  Other members of the team will include Father Ben Paris as promoter of justice, Elizabeth Delene as notary, Judy Jason as copyist (transcriptionist) and Dr. John G. Kublin, M.D. as the medical expert.

The bishop has also appointed Father Michael Steber, pastor of St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette, to serve as chancellor in this case, but he is not part of the team.  Father Steber will open the inquiry process, obtain the signatures of the tribunal members on the key documents that need to be signed and close the process when it is finished.  The opening session is scheduled to take place on Friday, March 12, at 2 p.m. EST at the Diocesan Office Building.

In investigating the alleged miracle, the tribunal will determine whether an event has occurred that cannot be explained by science and whether it can be attributed to the intercession of Bishop Baraga.  After a complete investigation into the potential miracle, two independent physicians must testify as to the physical condition of the person who was the beneficiary of the alleged miracle.

The cause for Bishop Baraga’s sainthood was opened in 1952.  Since that time, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has reviewed documentation, called a positio, (pronounced peh-ZEET-see-oh) that detailed Bishop Baraga’s life and virtues, as well as documents written by or about him.  Bishop Baraga carries the title, “Servant of God,” since the congregation has formally admitted his cause for consideration.

The diocese is currently at the next step in the sainthood process, which is to determine whether any miracles have been attributed to Bishop Baraga’s intercession.  The congregation informed the postulator of the Baraga Cause, Dr. Andrea Ambrosi (pronounced Ahn-DRAY-a Ahm-BROH-zee) of Rome, that the alleged miracle soon to be looked into had the semblance of being a miracle attributable to Bishop Baraga and that it merited further investigation.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints will again review the positio and make a recommendation to Pope Benedict XVI regarding Bishop Baraga’s heroic virtue.  The Holy Father will then decide whether the title of “Venerable” can be bestowed on Bishop Baraga.

Once a miracle attributable to Baraga has been verified and the proper documentation submitted to the pontiff, Pope Benedict will decide whether Bishop Baraga is to be beatified, which would give him the title of “Blessed.”  This would allow him to be publicly venerated in a limited sense.

In order for Bishop Baraga to be canonized, that is, declared a saint, the diocese would need to verify another miracle attributable to his intercession that occurred after his beatification.  Pending a positive result, Bishop Baraga would be known as Saint Frederic Baraga and be subject to public veneration throughout the worldwide Church.

Bishop Baraga was born in Slovenia in 1797.  He came to the United States to be a missionary to the Odawa and Ojibwa of the upper Great Lakes region in 1830.  Bishop Baraga traveled throughout the 80,000 square mile territory by canoe, boat, horse, snowshoes and even dog sled.

Records indicate that Bishop Baraga once stopped along the Lake Huron shoreline, in present-day Sanilac County (now part of the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw) in route to the U.P. The modern parish communities of St. Denis in Lexington and St. Mary - Our Lady of Sorrows in Port Sanilac can trace their roots, in part, to his missionary activities.

He was consecrated a bishop and appointed vicar apostolic of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1853. When the vicariate apostolic was established as the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie (now called the Diocese of Marquette) in 1857, Baraga served as its first bishop until his death in 1868.  His work includes an Ojibwa English dictionary, which is still in use today.

The Bishop Baraga Association was established in 1930 to promote the cause for sainthood of the “Snowshoe Priest,” as Bishop Baraga is called.  For more information regarding the Bishop Baraga Association, contact Elizabeth Delene at (906) 227-9117 or 1-800-562-9745, ext. 117.

Diocesan Collection for Haiti tops $300,000

SAGINAW - Generous members of the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw have contributed more than $300,000 to support Catholic Relief Services efforts in Haiti, according to Terri Grierson, director for the Office of Christian Service.

“The response from our parishes and other local organizations has been overwhelming,” Grierson said. “I am continuously amazed by the generosity of the faithful people of our Diocese. It is humbling to know that there are so many people here, who, despite their own economic problems, are willing to give of themselves for their brothers and sisters in Haiti.”

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake leveled the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in January. Haiti is considered to be the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

The Haitian government reports more than 200,000 people were killed in the earthquake, 300,000 were treated for injuries, and 250,000 homes were destroyed.

In Port-au-Prince, approximately 20 million cubic yards of rubble need to be removed. Seven organized settlements have been established for 42,000 homeless people; around 460,000 people remain in 315 makeshift camps. Despite this, the resilience of the Haitian people is heard in a popular saying on the streets and in the camps, “Nou bite men nou pap tonbe: We may stumble, but we will not fall.”

By working with Caritas Haiti, the Church’s charitable agency there, CRS has focused on the distribution of food and emergency shelter kits, and on coordination with partners on water, sanitation, health and security issues.  CRS is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Grierson said local donations continue to come into the diocesan offices to be forwarded to CRS.

 For more information on the CRS relief efforts, prayer and educational resources, and information on how you can help with the long-term rebuilding process, go online to www.crs.org or call 1-877-HELP-CRS.