We come to you with yet another important favor to ask: please urge your Representative, Senator and Governor Wolf to grant a religious exemption on the same-sex parent requirement for Catholic adoption services—commonly known as SWAN (State-Wide Adoption Network).

Gov. Wolf is preventing SWAN providers from denying placement to households with same-sex parents. That goes against what we think is best for the children—placing them in a home with a man and a woman as parents. Many of these agencies have either shut down or severely curtailed their operations as a result of the Governor’s move.

Several legislators are working on our behalf to have this religious exemption placed in the Human Services Code of the budget but it has proven to be a challenge.

Click the link below to sign the petition:
https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/Arl2SODWqLL4j6DMRuEqlA

From Archbishop Chaput:

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate recently passed House Bill 800, which calls for a $100 million increase (from $110 million to $210 million per year) in the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). EITC allows businesses to take a write-off on their state taxes in exchange for donations to scholarship organizations. Needy students have used EITC funding to attend schools of their choice.

In his April 19th column, “Why House Bill 800 Matters,” Archbishop Chaput  wrote, “If passed into law, HB 800 will dramatically increase EITC funding, establish an automatic annual escalator for such funding, and greatly expand the number of families and students eligible for the program. HB 800 is not simply a ‘good idea;’ it’s a huge service to the young people and families of our state. It deserves the support of the Catholic community here in Philadelphia and across the Commonwealth.”

House Bill 800 has moved on to Governor Tom Wolf for consideration. Archbishop Chaput is urging people to contact the governor this week to express support for the bill and to let him know the EITC program benefits the children and families of Pennsylvania.  Contact information for Governor Wolf can be found at https://www.governor.pa.gov/contact/#OnlineForm.

Please consider sharing this material broadly with others. Thank you.

Sincerely in Christ,
Rev. Msgr. Daniel J. Sullivan
Vicar for Clergy

Please urge Governor Wolf to sign House Bill 800, which deals with the Educational Improvement Tax Credit. The EITC is a huge help for Catholic schools. The measure passed the House several weeks ago and passed the Senate today.

Click the link below to sign the petition:
https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/8TG_e5Kufc9WlFvABczlBA

Dear Friends of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary,

Nearly seven years ago Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary began a process to study the possible sale of a portion of its present campus.  After studying the costs to renovate a portion of the campus buildings, in 2016, the Seminary Board of Trustees recommended and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Seminary Board Chair, accepted a recommendation to sell the entire seminary property and explore options to partner with a local Catholic college.  After an exhaustive review, in 2017, Saint Charles Seminary and Neumann University announced that they would begin a dialogue with the hope of leading to an affiliation agreement. While those talks are nearing completion, seminary officials and the Sisters of Saint Francis of Philadelphia are exploring the purchase of property owned by the Sisters near the university to construct new seminary buildings.

While the process with Neumann University was proceeding, a parallel process was occurring with Main Line Health.  As announced earlier, Main Line Health was selected as the successful bidder for the seminary property.  Main Line Health and Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary recently closed on a transaction for the sale of the Seminary’s Wynnewood property. The Seminary will continue to operate on the property for up to five years. During this time Main Line Health and Saint Charles Seminary will continue to work with the township and other community partners to assess the optimal future of the property, while considering both the historical significance of the buildings as well as the needs of our growing and vibrant community.

Sincerely in Christ,

Most Reverend Timothy C. Senior
Rector

Saint Frances would like to congratulate those children who received First Holy Communion this April and May.

On Tuesday, May 21, Saint Frances Cabrini Catholic Community joyfully welcomed Jame Robert Harer to the Catholic Church.  He was accompanied on his spiritual journey by his sponsor John McClure, as well as Monsignor McCormac and Audrey Wilson.  May God continue to bless Jim and fill him with His peace.

The so-called “Equality Act” (H.R. 5) being debated in Congress is quite possibly one of the most dangerous pieces of federal legislation that I have encountered in my lifetime. It would wreak havoc on religious freedom, free speech, churches and faith-based hospitals, as well as undercut all the gains made on behalf of women.

Many aspects of our daily lives – public accommodations, employment, housing, counseling, and more – would be impacted. Here are just a few samples of its likely impact if it ever becomes law:

• Force young girls to dress and shower in front of boys;
• Allow men onto women’s athletic teams and to compete against women in Olympic-style sports;
• Require religious hospitals to provide sex-change operations;
• Compel women’s shelters to allow men into their facilities and share housing with females who have already been subjected to trauma; and
• Prevent couples who believe in God’s design for marriage and sexuality from adopting or caring for a foster child.

While variations of this legislation have been introduced in Congress before, this particular version would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act by adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected classes all throughout the federal code. The architects of this legislation claim it would protect people from discrimination, but in reality it forces people to deny basic biological realities and to compromise their deeply held beliefs and religious convictions in order affirm a person’s sexual behavior or preferred gender status.

Don’t just take my word for it. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), insists that “we cannot allow claims of religious freedom to be used to discriminate against an LGBT individual.” This legislation is so radical that even Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (D – WV) and Gregory Angelo, former leader of the “Log Cabin Republicans,” have publicly opposed it.

While upholding justice and human dignity are essential to any thriving society, and reflective of our core American beliefs, this so-called Equality Act offers no meaningful protections for individuals, but especially none for Christians. Instead, it removes time-honored decency protections for women and girls, violates privacy, regulates speech, and threatens the ability of every American to exercise their religious liberty – even expressly declaring that The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 cannot be used as a claim defense or claim against it!

We cannot allow the government to push people with strong religious convictions into compromising their beliefs – like they tried to do with Peter Vlaming, a teacher at West Point High School in Virginia who was recently fired for simply refusing to use male pronouns for a biological female student. (For a brief account of what happened you can read a post from our sister organization (Family Foundation of Virginia) about it here.)

CLICK HERE to contact your Members of Congress today, and urge them to OPPOSE H.R. 5, the Equality Act. You can also reach your Congressman and Senators at (202) 224-3121. Don’t delay, the House Democrats are pushing to hold a vote on this bill this week!

Thank you!

The Push to Legalize Marijuana is Coming to Bucks County

Lt. Governor John Fetterman is coming to Newtown tonight (Wednesday, May 15th), driven by his desire to go “full-on Colorado in Pennsylvania” with the legalization and commercialization of marijuana. For his “Listening” Tour stop in your area, I encourage you to attend and to voice your concern.

For the past thirty years, Pennsylvania Family Institute has been watching your State Capitol with the mission of strengthening families. The threat of “full-on” marijuana legalization is a direct assault on the family and we absolutely must get involved and speak out against it.

Here are the details:

Wednesday, May 15th
Bucks County Community College, Zlock Performing Arts Center
275 Swamp Road, Newtown, PA 18940
6:00pm to 7:30pm (Doors open at 5:30pm)

Whether you can make this tour stop or not, please also make sure you submit comments online as well. Over 30,000 messages since January have already been sent to Governor Tom Wolf. To submit online, go to governor.pa.gov/recreational-marijuana-feedback.

Make sure to let your State Senator and State Representative know of your concerns with going “full-on Colorado” with the commercialization of marijuana in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Family Institute is teaming up with groups like Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), who have become the nation’s leading organization dedicated to pushing back against the full-on legalization of marijuana. We want to work together with you to help educate and inform others on this growing threat and to provide resources for your comments at this “Listening” Weed Tour event.

Resources are readily available.
SAM has created a website for Pennsylvania – sampennsylvania.org – to help highlights the social costs and other negative impacts of marijuana legalization. There are various resources available, including talking points, facts and in-depth reports. Please make use of these.

We also have several one-page documents and videos available at pafamily.org/marijuana.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us. As always, we want to be a helpful resource to you. And thank you for doing your part in supporting these efforts and speaking out for the benefit of our community.

We should all want a healthy and productive Pennsylvania and that does not include the full-on commercialization of marijuana.