Archives for September 2017

Our Congressional leaders in Washington are taking action to protect life, and they need your help! Please join me in urging your Congressman to support life by ending late-term abortion – tinyurl.com/EndLateTermAbortion.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the U.S. House Majority Leader, just announced that he plans to bring H.R. 36—Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 3rd. This important bill would place a nationwide ban on late-term abortions of babies after 20 weeks (or five months of pregnancy), a point at which unborn babies feel pain. Every congressman – including yours – will be casting a Yes or No vote, so your voice can make a difference.

TAKE ACTION: Please join PA Family Council as we urge our Federal lawmakers to pass this vitally important bill that will save countless lives! You can easily send an email to your US House member urging them to vote for this bill by going to the Citizen Action Center.

“The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act will protect the voiceless, the vulnerable, and the marginalized,” said Rep. McCarthy in a press conference on Tuesday.  “It will protect those children who science has proven can feel pain, and give them a chance to grow and live full and happy lives. We have an obligation to speak and defend for those who can’t speak for themselves.” 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a previous version of this bill in 2015 by a vote of 242-184, but it failed to pass in the U.S. Senate. If the bill can pass through both chambers of Congress, it is expected that President Donald Trump would sign the bill into law. In a letter to pro-life leaders during the campaign, President Trump committed to “signing into law the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would end painful later-term abortions nationwide.” 

Thank you for taking action now to protect the voiceless and most vulnerable among us. Also, please forward this message to friends, family, and neighbors and encourage them to contact their U.S. Congressman as well. 

Defending life,

Michael Geer, President

Pennsylvania Family Council

TAKE ACTION: tinyurl.com/EndLateTermAbortion

What’s the latest on….

SB3 (improving abortion laws)? SB3 passed the State Senate but now needs the PA State House to act! For more on SB3 and to send your State Representative an email: click here or go to tinyurl.com/YESonSB3.

SB300 (Funding Women’s Health, not Abortion)? SB300 awaits action by the full State Senate after passing in committee by a 7-5 vote. For more on SB300 and to send your State Senator an email: click here or go to tinyurl.com/SupportSB300.

SB300 would reallocate funds away from entities providing abortion and invest in those providing better and more comprehensive women’s health care. Not only is Planned Parenthood the largest abortion business in Pennsylvania but they have failed a slew of safety inspections. Jeremy Samek, Senior Counsel for PA Family Institute, pointed out these Planned Parenthood facts at a rally in downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday that was organized by the national organization Students for Life of America’s SockIt2PP tour. Here’s Jeremy with SFLA President Kristan Hawkins:

Governor Wolf’s Road Trip for Planned Parenthood? Hundreds of people across Pennsylvania have signed our petition calling out the governor’s continued advocacy for the largest abortion business in the state. Governor Wolf hosted a panel discussion this past Tuesday at Montgomery County Community College, his 3rd stop on his road trip that included visits to on-site abortion clinics in Warminster and Philadelphia. If you haven’t already, please sign our petition: click here or visit tinyurl.com/StopWolfTour.

School Choice Options? Expanding the Education Improvement Tax Credit program (EITC) is still an option for inclusion in the state budget. For more and to send your state officials an email: click here or go to tinyurl.com/ExpandEITC.

Boyertown? After Judge Edward G. Smith ruled on August 25th that the Boyertown Area School District can continue to violate the bodily privacy rights of their students, the legal team involved has 30 days to file an appeal. Preparations have been ongoing for an appeal, which should be announced soon. The next step would then be the case proceeding to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Questions?

Feel free to email – mail@pafamily.org – or call us: 717-545-0600.

Upcoming Events:

• See You At The Pole – Wednesday, September 27: For over 25 years, this annual event encourages students to come together in prayer around their school’s flag pole. See You At The Pole, a day committed to global unity and prayer for this generation, will have students in every time zone gathering at their flagpoles and praying for their school, friends, families, churches and communities. “Fixing our eyes on Jesus” is this year’s theme from Hebrews 12:2. For more, go to syatp.com.

• Values Voter Summit – October 13-15: Join Michael and Susan Geer at “one of the conservative movement’s marquee annual events,” the Values Voter Summit. This forum helps inform and mobilize citizens across America to preserve the bedrock values of traditional marriage, religious liberty, sanctity of life and limited government that make our nation strong. PA Family Institute receives a donation for every registration we recruit: just click here to use this registration page or go to valuesvotersummit.org/register-fpc.

• City on the Hill Youth Leadership Conference – July 22-28, 2018: Mark your calendar for this truly “life-changing” experience available to high school teens. Also, keep this in mind as a Christmas gift option for any high schooler in your family. For more, visit pafamily.org/coth.

• Friends of the Family banquet – Friday, September 22: We are gearing up for our gathering in Hershey and excited for what the night will bring. Your prayers for the evening are appreciated. We truly are grateful to those attending and to so many others that partner with us. Thank you.

Pennsylvania Family Institute

23 North Front Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101

717-545-0600 | pafamily.org

This is “appropriations season” on the Hill. That means Congressmust pass funding legislation for Fiscal Year 2018. As you know, we have been encouraging our members to include certain pro-life provisions – chief among them the Conscience Protection Act – in the “must-pass” bill. I am happy to report that we are one step closer to attaining that goal!

Last Thursday, the House of Representatives approved HR 3354,Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, 2018. It includes the full text of the Conscience Protection Act (CPA) of 2017! It also includes other provisions which we have taken action on such as the nullification of the DC law that legalized assisted suicide and the DC Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act (RHNDA), a DC law that could force pro-life employers to hire people who disagree with their sincerely held beliefs about the sanctity of life. There are many other pro-life provisions (both longstanding and new) in the funding bill as well, such as a prohibition on funding elective abortions for detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and against funding for research involving human fetal tissue from abortions. While we expect all long-standing pro-life provisions to be retained in the year-end appropriations legislation, not all of the new provisions are likely to be retained.  Of the new provisions, our top priority is to ensure that the CPA is included.

Our voices are being heard, but we are not across the goal line yet. The passage of HR 3354 is good news, but it is only the first step of many. For example, rather than finalizing the FY 2018 appropriations legislation by the end of the fiscal year (September 30), both the House and the Senate passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the government at its current levels with current policies untilDecember 8, 2017.  This means that negotiations between the House and the Senate are underway between now and December on what policies will be included in the final year-end appropriations legislation. That is why I again urge you to continue contacting your members of Congress. It is particularly important that the Senate know that our top priority is inclusion of the Conscience Protection Act in the year-end appropriations legislation. Even if you have already sent a message, please do so again. The more of us who raise our voices, the more clearly our lawmakers will hear us calling them to protect our deeply cherished rights of life and freedom of conscience.

Thank you for continuing to stand with us. You are making a difference. Please, let’s keep the drive alive until every life is protected in law.

Together we will be heard!

Thank you to all who attended the first Youth Group meeting of the year on Sunday, September 17th.  The children gathered to enjoy some pizza, make decorations for the upcoming healing mass, made a craft for our home-bound parishioners and played some fun games to get to know each other!  Below are some pictures from the night:

I am sharing information on the “Share the Journey” campaign to be launched by Pope Francis in support of migrants and refugees later this month.

Sponsored by Caritas Internationalis, Share the Journey promotes the culture of encounter in communities where migrants and refugees leave and return to, where they travel through, and where they chose to make their homes. The campaign aims to dispel fear and inspire communities to build relationships with those forced to leave their native lands due to violence, oppression, famine, and other hardships. The campaign is set to run through September 2019.

In solidarity with the Holy Father, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. will launch Share the Journey in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Sunday, September 24, 2017 at an 11:00 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

All are welcome to attend the Mass which will include a procession of recent immigrants and refugees from local parishes and the Refugee Resettlement Program of Catholic Social Services. The Mass is being combined with the existing liturgy to celebrate religious jubilarians, as many of our men and women religious have a keen focus on matters related to immigrants and refugees.

In addition to the Mass, the Reach Out social media campaign will be launched on Archbishop Chaput’s Facebook page during the week of September 18th. One of the ways your parish can show support, is by taking a picture of you with your parishioners holding hands in a circle facing outward. The picture can be shared on social media using the hashtag #ReachOut. Reach Out symbolizes understanding and support for immigrants and refugee as well as the challenges they face.

Lastly, you can respond to the Holy Father’s call by joining in a “Week of Prayer and Action” for migrants and refugees, beginning at Masses on October 7th and 8ththough October 14th.

Yesterday, over 300 Catholic school students gathered on the steps of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul to celebrate the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year in the five-county Archdiocese of Philadelphia. This celebration signaled the opening of the 234th consecutive year for Catholic education in the region.

You can view the full video here https://vimeo.com/catholicphilly/review/233422220/1f6a1d1c4a. Further details about the event are below.

The several hundred students in attendance represented young people from the 119 parish and regional Catholic elementary schools, 17 Archdiocesan high schools, and four Archdiocesan Schools of Special Education in the City of Philadelphia as well as Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties.

Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald, who oversees the Office of Catholic Education, and Mr. Christopher Mominey, Chief Operating Officer and Secretary for Catholic Education, addressed students, parents, faculty, administrators, and staff members in the crowd.

The event concluded with a pep rally featuring the Conwell-Egan Catholic High School Cheerleading Squad, Fairless Hills (Bucks County), and the Cardinal O’Hara High School Marching Band and Color Guard, Springfield (Delaware County). In addition, mascots from many Archdiocesan high schools competed in a race judged by the Phillie Phanatic.

Please join  in praying for our students, school families, administrators, teachers, and staff members as they open the new school year. Thank you.