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NEWS RELEASE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(781) 251-9739  /  info@catholicactionleague.org

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE LAUDS BISHOP TOBIN

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today praised the Bishop of Providence, the Most Reverend Thomas J. Tobin, for counseling U.S. Representative Patrick J. Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) not to receive Holy Communion while supporting abortion as a federal lawmaker.

The Catholic Action League called the bishop’s advice: “an act of courage, fidelity and charity, intended to prevent scandal and sacrilege.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Sacred Scripture, Holy Tradition, canon law and Catholic theology all teach that one of the most grievous sins a Catholic can commit is to receive Holy Communion unworthily. Bishop Tobin is being a good pastor by urging Congressmen Kennedy not to commit the mortal sin of receiving Communion while in a state of grave sin. As silence implies consent, the Bishop also has a responsibility to protect his flock from being misled by the example of a prominent Catholic who repudiates Church teaching about the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.”

“One need not be a Catholic to comprehend that the Catholic religion understands abortion to be the willful murder of the innocent. Public officials who strain to keep abortion legal, unrestricted, and in many cases, taxpayer-funded, bear the moral guilt of what the Second Vatican Council called ‘an abominable crime’. Bishop Tobin’s call to Congressmen Kennedy for conversion and repentance is entirely appropriate, warranted and compassionate. It is Tobin’s critics, both in the media and in politics, who are being cynical, self-serving and overtly political.”

“The Church does not propose specific public policy prescriptions. It does enunciate, however, what conduct is irreconcilable with the practice of the Catholic Faith. Collaboration in the killing of pre-born children, 51 million of whom have met a violent death through surgical abortion since Roe v.Wade, is radically discordant with Catholic faith and morals.”

“Pro-life Catholics can only hope and pray that Bishop Tobin’s courage, dedication and due diligence will be emulated by the rest of the Catholic hierarchy in America. Had they acted with Bishop Tobin’s resolve thirty five years ago, we would not have witnessed the defection of so many Catholic public figures to the culture of death.”


October 29, 2009

Boston City Council candidates

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts does not endorse candidates for public office. For educational and voter information purposes, however, it does provide to its members and supporters the positions of candidates on issues pertaining to the social teachings of the Catholic Church and the religious freedom rights of the Catholic community.

For the 2009 Boston City Council election, the Catholic Action League surveyed all Council candidates on five issues: the right to life; same gender marriage; needle exchange programs; condom distribution in Boston public schools; and so called “transgendered rights.”

2009 Boston City Council candidates' issues survey (pdf)


September 8, 2009

Letters
Boston Herald
P.O. Box 55843
Boston, MA 02205-5843

To the Editor:

With her usual mixture of malice, mendacity and cluelessness, Margery Eagan feigns disbelief at the outrage felt by pro-life Catholics over Ted Kennedy’s record on abortion (Pro-choice means anti-Ted for Catholics, 9/1/2009).

Surgical abortion has claimed the lives of fifty-one million innocent children since in America since 1973. Ted Kennedy fought for more than thirty years to keep the killing legal, unrestricted and, in many cases, publicly funded. He also supported embryonic stem cell research, abortifacient contraception, and same-gender marriage.

Any fair minded observer can easily understand Catholic disgust at the virtual canonization of Ted Kennedy. In Margery Eagan’s case, however, logic, lucidity and intellectual honesty were never really her strong points.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director

cc: Patrick J. Purcell Publisher


NEWS RELEASE

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE

(781) 251-9739

SCANDAL AT MISSION CHURCH IN BOSTON

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today decried the scandal which occurred this morning at Boston's most historic Catholic shrine --- the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, known as Mission Church --- where a Mass of Christian Burial was used to “celebrate the life” of one of America's most notorious opponents of Catholic morality, the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Senator Kennedy fought for more than three decades to keep the killing of pre-born children legal and unrestricted in the United States.

Surgical abortion has claimed more than fifty-one million human lives since 1973. The Catholic religion defines abortion as an “abominable crime”.

President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy, in which he alluded to Kennedy's support for gay rights. One of the Prayers of the Faithful was a petition to end divisions “between gays and straights”.

Ecclesial participants included Rev. Raymond Collins, Rector of the Basilica; Rev. Mark Hession, Kennedy’s parish priest from Our Lady of Victories Church in Centerville on Cape Cod; Rev. J. Donald Monan, Chancellor of Boston College; and Sean Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, who thanked President Obama for his words and his presence. Both the homilist, Fr. Hession, and Cardinal O'Malley suggested that the late senator had found eternal salvation.

The Catholic Action League called the event “a tragic example of the Church’s willingness to surrender to the culture, and serve Caesar rather than Christ”.

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Senator Kennedy supported legal abortion, partial-birth abortion, the public funding of Medicaid abortions, embryonic stem cell research, birth control, federal family planning programs, and so-called emergency contraception. He defended Roe v. Wade, endorsed the proposed Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), and opposed both the Human Life Amendment and the Hyde Amendment. Kennedy maintained a 100% rating from both NARAL and Planned Parenthood. In 1993, he received the Kenneth Edelin Award from Planned Parenthood, and in 2000 received the Champions of Choice Award from NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts at the hands of the same Dr. Kenneth Edelin, the infamous abortionist.

"During his 1994 reelection campaign, Kennedy said ‘I wear as a badge of honor my opposition to the anti-choicers.’ His successful obstruction of the nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 effectively prevented the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Beyond his specific positions on human life issues, Senator Kennedy, along with the late Congressman Robert Drinan, provided the cover and the example for two generations of Catholic politicians to defect from Church teaching on the sanctity of innocent human life.

“No rational person can reasonably be expected to take seriously Catholic opposition to abortion when a champion of the Culture of Death, who repeatedly betrayed the Faith of his baptism, is lauded and extolled by priests and prelates in a Marian basilica. This morning's spectacle is evidence of the corruption which pervades the Catholic Church in the United States. The right to life will never be recognized by secular society if it is not first vindicated and consistently upheld within the institutions of the Church itself.”


NEWS RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE, (781) 251-9739

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CRITICIZES
ATTORNEY GENERAL’S LAWSUIT AGAINST DOMA

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized Bay State Attorney General Martha Coakley for filing a lawsuit in United States District Court challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defence of Marriage Act. Coakley claims that DOMA, which defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman, interferes with the Commonwealth’s “sovereign authority to define and regulate the marital status of its residents.”

The Catholic Action League called the lawsuit “another flagrant attempt by a minority to use the courts to impose its will on the American majority.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Like last year's repeal of the 1913 law which had prohibited out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their unions were not recognized by their home states, this is one more effort by Massachusetts to judicially export homosexual marriage to the rest of the country.  One cannot help but note the shameless hypocrisy of a state government which had refused to allow its own citizens -- the people of Massachusetts -- to vote on the definition of marriage, now claiming that an act of Congress is intruding on its sovereign right of self-government.”

“Still, one has to marvel at the sheer expediency of Martha Coakley's legal strategy.  For someone as deeply embedded in the political left as Attorney General Coakley, it requires considerable dexterity to suddenly discover the virtues of federalism, states’ rights, and the Tenth Amendment.

"This is as cynical as it gets.”


NEWS RELEASE

SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE, (781) 251-9739

CARITAS CHRISTI WITHDRAWS FROM CELTICARE

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today welcomed the news that Caritas Christi Health Care --- the network of six Catholic hospitals affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston --- has withdrawn, under Archdiocesan pressure, from the HMO CeltiCare, which it co-founded and co-owned with the Centene Corporation. CeltiCare was established in May to administer a state funded Commonwealth Care health insurance contract, scheduled to start on July 1, which includes abortion coverage. It was the Catholic Action League which revealed on June 8 that CeltiCare advertised abortion as part of its health plans and listed Planned Parenthood as a reproductive services provider.

The Catholic Action League called the decision by Caritas to withdraw from CeltiCare “an 11th hour, but only partial victory, for the thousands of pro-life Catholics who have spent the last four months bombarding the Archdiocese of Boston with letters, petitions, phone calls and e-mails. The League warned however, that any continued participation by Caritas Christi in Commonwealth Care would obligate Caritas, directly or indirectly, to make abortion referrals.

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Caritas Christi has indicated that a woman seeking an abortion at a Caritas hospital will be sent back to her insurer. For Commonwealth Care members that insurer will be CeltiCare, which will not only procure the abortion but will provide transportation to the abortion facility. Instead of offering compassionate alternatives to abortion, Caritas Christi will still be engaged in a two-step abortion referral. Troubling questions also remain about whether Caritas has already benefited financially from this contract, and whether it continues to have an ongoing relationship with the Centene Corporation.”

“Other questions are still unanswered. It has been publicly known since the 27th of February that this contract entailed participation in state subsidized abortions. The Caritas Christi Board of Governors, which includes an Archdiocesan Cabinet Secretary, has presumably known this since the end of 2008. Why did Caritas, with Archdiocesan support, seek to secure and eventually sign a contract which they knew to be morally problematic? Why did Cardinal O’Malley castigate the now vindicated critics of the contract as doing ‘a great disservice to the Catholic Church’? Why did it take the Archdiocese six months (just five days before the start-up date) to begin to disengage?”

“Caritas withdrew from CeltiCare because it became a toxic public relations liability for the Archdiocese, provoking a firestorm of pro-life opposition throughout the country. If Caritas is to remain faithful to Catholic moral principles is must withdraw however, not only from CeltiCare but from the entire Commonwealth Care contract."


NEWS RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2009
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE (781) 251-9739

CARITAS CHRISTI BOARD INCLUDES MAJOR DONORS TO PRO-ABORTION POLS

Since February, Caritas Christi Health Care --- the network of six Catholic hospitals affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston --- has been enmeshed in a controversy over its decision to seek a state health insurance contract which requires abortion coverage.  Today, the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts revealed that five of the nine members of the Board of Governors of Caritas Christi have been major contributors to political figures who support legal abortion.

Using information gathered from the Federal Election Commission and the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, the League disclosed the following:

 

  • Longtime Caritas Chairman James J. Karam contributed a total of more than $19,000 among the campaigns of President Barrack Obama; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; US Senator John Kerry; Governor Deval Patrick; former Vice President Al Gore; Congressmen Barney Frank and Jim McGovern; former Lt. Governor Kerry Murphy-Healey; former Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and State Senator Joan Menard.

  • Caritas board member Joseph H. Feitelberg, Area Chair for the Order of Malta, contributed a total of more than $8,000 among the campaigns of John Kerry; Deval Patrick; Kerry Murphy-Healey; and Congressmen Barney Frank, Patrick Kennedy and Jim McGovern.

  • Caritas board member Neil F. Finnegan contributed a total of more than $19,000 among the campaigns of Vice President Joe Biden; US Senators Christopher Dodd, Edward Kennedy and John Kerry; Congressmen Michael Capuano, Patrick Kennedy and Edward Markey; Boston Mayor Thomas Menino; and former State Treasurer Shannon O’Brien.

  • Caritas board member John H. Garvey, Dean of Boston College Law School, contributed $1,750 to John Kerry. 

  • Caritas board member Ruben J. King-Shaw Jr., contributed $10,000 to Barrack Obama.

The Catholic Action League called the contributions “further compelling evidence of the indifference and infidelity to Catholic moral teaching which apparently permeates the leadership of Caritas Christi.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “No one should be surprised that Caritas Christi is prepared to participate in a state contract requiring abortion coverage, when the leadership of the organization is willing to subsidize and perpetuate the careers of politicians who believe that abortion should be legal, publicly funded and unrestricted.  Cardinal O'Malley must use his veto power to insist that Caritas Christi withdraw from the Commonwealth Care contract, and withdraw from CeltiCare.”


NEWS RELEASE

THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(781) 251-9739

CARDINAL O’MALLEY, CARITAS CHRISTI, AND ABORTION

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today took issue with the statements released yesterday by Sean Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, and Dr. Ralph de la Torre, President of Caritas Christi Health Care, regarding the Commonwealth Care contract awarded to the Caritas Christi/Centene Corporation partnership, now known as CeltiCare. This contract, offering health insurance to low-income Bay State adults, due to take effect on July 1, includes abortion coverage.

The Archdiocese stated that “Caritas is in active discussions with Celtic Group and CeltiCare with a view to making acceptable modifications to their arrangement.” The Cardinal went on to say that “...under no circumstances will Caritas either perform procedures prohibited by [Catholic teaching] or refer any patient to other providers who perform or procure such procedures.” Dr. de la Torre said “when the patients seek such a procedure, Caritas...will be clear that (a) the hospital does not perform them and (b) the patient must turn to his or her insurer for further guidance.”

Ironically, these statements came just one day after Brian Delaney, CeltiCare’s Director of Communications, when asked whether the Caritas hospitals would refer a patient seeking an abortion to the Caritas/Centene call center, answered “I believe so.” Meanwhile, The Boston Globe reports that Caritas Christi now owns a 49% share of CeltiCare, and that NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts will serve on CeltiCare’s advisory board.

The Catholic Action League described the statements as “yet more unpersuasive denials intended to obscure the fact that as of July 1, Caritas Christi will be in the abortion business.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “The Archdiocese has known for at least 3 1/2 months that this contract requires abortion coverage. Now with less than three weeks to the startup date, the cardinal is suddenly seeking modifications, having previously castigated others who questioned the contract. This reversal begs the questions of why Caritas sought this contract in the first place; why they signed it knowing it was problematic; and why they failed to raise these issues when they testified before the awarding agency on March 12. This last minute call for revisions is either a desperate public relations ploy aimed at diffusing opposition from pro-life Catholics, or a stunning admission of institutional incompetence, or both.”

“The Cardinal’s statement is contradicted by that of Dr. de la Torre. In sending a patient seeking an abortion back to her insurer, Caritas will be sending Commonwealth Care members to the Caritas/Centene partnership, which will not only procure the abortion but lists Planned Parenthood as a reproductive services provider. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2009 will allow no exemption for Caritas Christi in the matter of abortion. Caritas must withdraw from this contract.”


NEWS RELEASE

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(781) 251-9739

CARITAS CHRISTI CONTRACT
WILL INCLUDE ABORTIONS

Celticare Health Plan of Massachusetts, which describes itself as “a partnership between Celtic Group, a subsidiary of Centene Corporation, and Caritas Christi Health Care” --- the network of six Catholic hospitals affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston --- has revealed on its website that all three of its Commonwealth Care health plans will include abortion coverage.

On March 12th the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, the state agency which administers the Commonwealth Care program for low income Bay State residents, awarded a contract to the Commonwealth Family Health Plan Inc. CFHP is a joint venture between Caritas Christi and Celtic Group. On May 6th, the partners established Celticare as a for-profit HMO to manage the state awarded Commonwealth Care contract.

Four of the ten directors of Celticare are officials of Caritas Christi, including Mark J. Rich, the Chief Financial Officer of Caritas, and Dr. Justine M. Carr, Chief Medical Officer of Caritas. The other six directors are affiliated with either Centene Corporation or its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Celtic Insurance Company. Caritas CFO Mark Rich is listed as the Secretary of Celticare.

Celticare also listed on its website the names of “Family Planning and Reproductive Services Providers”, including Planned Parenthood, to which it will refer plan members.

The Catholic Action League called the revelations “final and conclusive proof that Caritas Christi will be a participant in state subsidized abortions.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “This is the fourth time since February 26th that the Caritas/Centene partnership has indicated that abortion will be part of its Commonwealth Care contract. The question of Caritas Christi’s involvement in practices which violate fundamental Catholic moral teaching has now been answered repeatedly and definitively. Four officials of Caritas Christi serve on the board of a health maintenance organization (jointly founded by Caritas and its partner Celtic Group) which will refer women to Planned Parenthood for taxpayer funded abortions, as part of a government program which requires abortion coverage.”

“It is now unmistakably clear that the Archdiocese of Boston has spent the last three months cynically misleading Catholics in this controversy. The time is long overdue for Cardinal O’Malley to apologize for his assertion of March 6th that ‘Caritas Christi will never do anything to promote abortions, to direct any patients to providers of abortion or in any way to participate in actions that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching and anyone who suggests otherwise is doing a great disservice to the Catholic Church.’ ”


NEWS RELEASE

FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(781) 251-9739 

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CRITICIZES HOLY CROSS FOR HONORING SENATOR ROBERT CASEY

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized the College of the Holy Cross – the Bay State’s oldest Jesuit institution -- for conferring an honorary degree on U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. (D - Pennsylvania). Casey was also featured as the principal speaker at this morning's commencement exercises, which were held on the Holy Cross campus in Worcester.

Casey is a supporter of birth control, Plan B / the morning-after pill, the public funding of contraception, and a mandate for contraceptive coverage in employer-sponsored group health insurance. The Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, the Bishop of Scranton, has rebuked Casey for voting to rescind the Mexico City Policy, which had prohibited the use of American tax dollars to fund organizations which promote abortion abroad. Ostensibly a pro-life Democrat, Casey supports the exceptions commonly endorsed by Republican politicians, which would allow abortion in cases of rape, incest and alleged peril to the life of the mother.

The Catholic Action League called the invitation to Casey by Holy Cross “one more example of the infidelity and indifference to Catholic moral teaching that has become characteristic of Jesuit higher education in the United States.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “After the deaths of more than 50 million pre-born children by surgical abortion in this country since Roe v. Wade, and the deaths of countless others by abortifacient contraception, one would think that Holy Cross could find as its commencement speaker a political figure who is authentically and unambiguously pro-life. One suspects that the invitation to Robert Casey is an accurate indicator of the dissent from Catholic doctrine which pervades the college's administration, theology faculty, and Jesuit community. The message which Casey's commencement honor sends to Holy Cross students is that Humanae Vitae is irrelevant, political power trumps Catholic morality, and that personal and professional success is more important than adherence to divine and natural law.”

“The choice of Senator Robert Casey as commencement speaker and honoree was shameful and deplorable. Secular society can never be expected to take seriously Catholic opposition to abortion and contraception so long as Catholic institutions provide platforms and honors to those who compromise with the culture of death. ”


NEWS UPDATE

TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(781) 251-9739

CARITAS CHRISTI / CENTENE CONTRACT ON TRACK FOR JULY 1st

In the continuing controversy over the decision of Caritas Christi Health Care - a network of six Catholic hospitals affiliated with the Boston Archdiocese - to seek a state contract which will require abortion referrals, there have been several new developments.

  1. On May 4th, 2009, CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts announced that Richard D. Lynch had been appointed Plan President and Chief Executive Officer. Based in their new corporate office in Brighton, CeltiCare is a managed care organization that will provide health insurance to Massachusetts residents enrolled in the Commonwealth Care program. CeltiCare’s participation in the Commonwealth Care contract comes as a result of the partnership between Caritas Christi and the Centene Corporation, whose wholly-owned subsidiary, the Celtic Insurance Company, is the parent organization of CeltiCare.

  2. In response to an inquiry from the Catholic Action League, Brian Delaney, Director of Communications for CeltiCare, stated on May 11th that “CeltiCare’s program has been approved by the Massachusetts Connector Authority. Under the contract, CeltiCare will be operational July 1, 2009 and will meet all the State’s requirements under the Commonwealth Care program, including providing family planning services as appropriate.” Assertions to the contrary by Cardinal O’Malley notwithstanding, this is the third time since February 26th that a representative of the Caritas/Centene partnership has affirmed that the Commonwealth Care contract will include abortion and contraception.

  3. It has now been more than two months since Cardinal O’Malley requested an advisory opinion on the contract from the National Catholic Bioethics Center. On May 14, Fr. Tadeuscz Pacholczyk, Director of Education for NCBC, stated that “The NCBC is not able to comment regarding on-going, confidential consultations. Your best source of information would probably be the Archdiocese or perhaps Caritas Christi.” Later, when asked if the opinion had been given to the Archdiocese, another NCBC official told the League “I’m not at liberty to say.”

  4. On May 3rd, at the annual convention of the Massachusetts Knights of Columbus, the State Council repudiated a resolution by former District Deputy Joseph B. Craven Jr. opposing the Caritas contract with Commonwealth Care. The State Council ruled the measure “rejected” and “out of order,” an impossibility under parliamentary procedure. State Officers claimed that an unnamed Archdiocesan official (reportedly one of the Cardinal’s two secretaries), stated that the resolution contained unspecified factual errors. Deacon John Baniukiewicz then told assembled delegates that “We can’t be more Catholic than the Church,” and “We can’t tell the Cardinal what to do.” The measure was defeated.

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “It is clear that the Caritas / Centene partnership is proceeding with all deliberate speed towards the July 1st start-up date of the Commonwealth Care contract, while the Archdiocese continues its efforts to suppress Catholic opposition to the arrangement. Given the prolonged uncertainty about the nature, or even the public availability of the NCBC advisory opinion, one might reasonably surmise that the Cardinal’s request for their involvement was a public relations tactic intended to buy time and diffuse pro-life opposition. Catholics need to keep the pressure up on the Archdiocese to cancel the contract, and they need to keep Rome informed.”


ACTION ALERT!!!

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(781) 251-9739

SAVE EQUAL ACCESS TO TRANSPORTATION FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS

State Representative Martha Walz (D - Boston) has introduced an amendment (# 914) to the FY 2010 House Budget (House Bill #1), repealing the thirty-year old law which guarantees equal treatment of both public and parochial school students in the matter of school bus transportation.

This issue is not about public aid to parochial schools. Rather, school bus transportation has always been considered a health and safety issue affecting all schoolchildren. Under Chapter 76, Section 1 of the Massachusetts General Laws, students “shall not be denied such transportation because their attendance is in a school which is conducted under religious auspices or includes religious instruction in its curriculum.”

Repealing this statute through a budget amendment, which precludes a public hearing, is malicious in intent, devious in method and discriminatory in effect. This amendment reportedly enjoys the support of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s School Department, which has long opposed equality for Catholic school students.

Please call your state representative at (617) 722-2000 and demand that he or she oppose this mean-spirited amendment.

Call Speaker Robert De Leo’s office at (617) 722-2500 and demand that he stop the Walz Amendment, and/or e-mail him at Robert.DeLeo@State.MA.US.

The rights and the safety of Catholic schoolchildren are at stake. It is vitally important that you contact both House Speaker DeLeo and your own legislator immediately.


ACTION ALERT!!!

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(781) 251-9739

STOP TAXPAYER FUNDING OF HOMOSEXUAL PROGRAMS IN MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOLS!

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts is pleased to join with MassResistance (MassResistance.org) in opposing the use of $850,000 of taxpayer money for homosexual propaganda programs in the public schools of Massachusetts. Please contact the Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) immediately.

MassResistance wrote: “...DeLeo needs to hear from you!

EVERYONE needs to call him and/or email him. It won’t take long, but it will make a big difference. Tell him NOT to allow budget amendments #559 and #714 to pass. Tell him that this is a budget crisis. And you do NOT want taxpayer money going to push homosexual programs in our schools targeting kids. The Ways and Means Committee was CORRECT on this one!”

Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop)
Phone - State House: 617-722-2500 District Office: 781-289-8965
Email: Robert.DeLeo@state.ma.us


LETTER TO THE EDITOR

April 17, 2009

Letters
Boston Herald
P.O. Box 55843
Boston, MA 02205-5843

To the Editor:

Given her malign obsession with Catholicism, Margery Eagan could not let Easter Sunday pass without taking yet another gratuitous shot at the Church she despises (Easter reminds us that Christianity’s still here, 4/12/09).

Contrary to Eagan’s fatuous assertions, the religious groups that have suffered the greatest attrition are mainline denominations which have conformed to the culture. Eagan’s Easter column only tells us what we already knew - that she is willing to distort facts to pursue her vendetta against the Catholic Faith.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director


April 16, 2009

Thomas G. Ambrosino, Mayor
Revere School Committee
101 School Street
Revere, MA  02151

Dear Mayor Ambrosino,

     I urge you to vote to rescind the decision of the Revere School Committee, approved on February 24th, 2009, which allows Depo-Provera injections to be administered, and condoms, birth control pills and the morning after pill to be distributed at the health center in Revere High School.

    This deplorable public policy sends the message to Revere High School students that sexual activity by teenagers before marriage is inevitable, that the encouragement of abstinence is hopelessly inadequate, and that reckless and irresponsible behavior can be compensated by resort to contraception. This decision also raises religious freedom concerns. The Catholic religion teaches that contraceptive use is contrary to natural law and, therefore, morally impermissible. Now, as a consequence of the Revere School Committee vote, an agency of the state --- a public high school --- will be effectively telling Catholic students that the teachings of their church can be disregarded, allegedly in the name of public health.

     As all hormonal contraception is abortifacient, insofar as it prevents implantation after conception, this program will result in an untold number of chemical abortions of embryonic human life. Moral and religious issues pertaining to the intimate behavior of minors are the responsibility of parents, not the government. I urge the Revere School Committee to reverse this improvident decision.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director


NEWS RELEASE

THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE DENOUNCES CARITAS CHRISTI DEAL WITH COMMONWEALTH CARE

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized the Archdiocesan hospital network, Caritas Christi, for accepting a state contract, in conjunction with the Centene Corporation, to provide Commonwealth Care health insurance, which includes abortion coverage. The Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority Board awarded the contract this morning after Caritas/Centene assured the panel that women will have “ready access” to timely family planning services such as abortion, sterilization and contraception.

The Catholic Action League called the contract “a significant defeat for the pro-life movement, inflicted not by secular society, but by the Catholic Church in Boston.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “What remains of the Catholic character of Caritas Christi has now been fatally compromised. The partnership in which Caritas Christi is one of the two principals will provide ‘ready access’ to abortion, which the Catholic religion condemns as ‘an abominable crime.’”

“It is now clear that the Archdiocese of Boston has spent the last week cynically misdirecting Catholics and the general public with empty assurances that Caritas Christi would not collaborate in abortion. If a woman with a Commonwealth Care card walks into a Caritas Christi hospital seeking an abortion, she will be directed back to her health plan -- the Caritas/Centene partnership -- which will not only arrange for the procedure, but if necessary will provide transportation to the facility which performs it.”

“With Caritas Christi now thoroughly embedded in the culture of death, we are now facing the end, in Massachusetts at least, of Catholic medical resistance to abortion and contraception. This tragic state of affairs is the personal responsibility of the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who not only failed to stop this contract, but who endorsed it while making unsupportable assertions implausibly denying what everyone else knew -- that the contract required participation in the deliberate killing of innocent unborn children.”


NEWS RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE 

CARITAS CHRISTI STONEWALLS ON ABORTION

The controversy is growing over the decision of Caritas Christi to seek a state contract as a health insurance provider in a program which includes abortion coverage. A story by Michael Paulson in today’s Boston Globe contains revealing information about the refusal of Caritas Christi to either specifically affirm Catholic moral teaching or candidly explain the provisions of the Commonwealth Care contract.

Paulson wrote: “Caritas has repeatedly refused to answer questions from the Globe about the proposal. Yesterday, the hospital network declined to say what services are prohibited under Catholic teaching, how the Caritas hospitals currently respond to patients who seek such prohibited services, or how Caritas proposes to handle requests for such services under the Centene deal. The state contract requires that the venture provide coverage for abortion.”

Paulson also wrote on the Globe website today: “We have repeatedly attempted to get Caritas to explain how the arrangement would work. Caritas, which has at least two communications people in-house and a crisis p.r. consultant too, has thus far refused to offer any explanation, not only of the proposal, but also of current practice at the chain’s six hospitals.”

The Catholic Action League called the Globe’s findings “a startling indictment, from an unexpected source, confirming our worst fears.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Everything we need to know about the Caritas Christi/Centene Corporation partnership and its deal with Commonwealth Care was apparent in this morning's Globe. Caritas, which refuses to release the names of its board of governors, won't even publicly say how it handles requests for abortions now -- without the requirements of a state contract.”

“If Caritas actually intended to accept tax dollars while evading state demands for abortion coverage, every voice on the political left would be raised against it -- in the media, in the Legislature, and among the advocacy groups. Instead, we have heard nothing but silence from the usual adversaries of the Church.”

“It staggers the imagination that anyone can seriously believe the assertions by the Archdiocese of Boston about Caritas and abortion. The only solution is for Caritas to withdraw from the contract.”


LETTER TO THE EDITOR

March 11, 2009

The Boston Globe
P.O. Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819

To the Editor:

Alleviating poverty is a laudable goal consistent with Catholic principles of social justice, but it has little to do with the current controversy over Caritas Christi (Leading theologians back Caritas insurance venture, 3/11/2009).

As Commonwealth Care is a government funded program, whose proposed contract has received bids from several healthcare providers, no low-income person will be adversely affected should Caritas Christi decline to participate. The real issue is whether a Church-affiliated institution should compromise core values in order to partake in a state program subsidized by tax dollars.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts


CONTACTS Relating to CARITAS SCANDAL

Ralph de la Torre, MD, President/CEO
Caritas Christi Health Care
77 Warren Street
Boston, MA 02135
617-789-3000, CCR.Webmaster@CaritasChristi.org

James Karam, Chairman, Board of Governors
Caritas Christi Health Care
JimK@firstbristol.com 

Most Rev. Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio:
NuntiusUSA@NuntiusUSA.org (Corrected)

Holy Father: BenedictXVI@Vatican.va 

Cardinal Sean O'Malley's receptionist: SDiago@RCAB.org 

REV. TADEUSZ PACHOLCZYK, Ph.D (Nat. Catholic Bioethics) Tad.grd.nsc@aya.yale.edu 

JOHN M. HAAS DrJohnHaas@aol.com 

REV. ALFRED CIOFFI, S.T.D., Ph.D. ACioffi@ncbcenter.org 

MARIE T. HILLIARD, R.N., Ph.D., J.C.L. MHilliard@ncbcenter.org


ACTION ALERT!!!

CONTACT: C.J. Doyle

TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009

On Thursday March 12th, the Massachusetts Health Connector Authority -- the state agency responsible for the Commonwealth Care Health program -- will award a contract to a new Commonwealth Care health insurance provider. As of last week, the low bidder was the Caritas Christi/Centene Corporation partnership.

The Health Connector Authority has stated: “All health plans in Commonwealth Care offer the same health benefits.” Those benefits include abortion - with a $50 co-pay.

Assertions to the contrary notwithstanding, neither the Archdiocese of Boston nor Caritas Christi have the power to arbitrarily exempt themselves from the provisions of the law or the requirements of the Health Connector Authority. The only solution consistent with Catholic respect for the sanctity of innocent human life is for Cardinal O’Malley to insist that Caritas Christi immediately withdraw from the Commonwealth Care contract.

Please call Cardinal Sean O’Malley at 617-782-2544, and/or e-mail him at SDiago@RCAB.org and urge him to insist that Caritas Christi withdraw from the Commonwealth Care contract. This is the only way that the Caritas Christi hospital network can avoid collaboration with abortion, sterilization and contraception.

Also, please contact the Apostolic Nuncio, and ask him to apprise our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI of this grave scandal which is afflicting the Church in Boston. The Apostolic Nuncio is the Most Reverend Pietro Sambi. He can be reached at 202-333-7121, and at his e-mail address: NuntiusUSA@NuntiusUSA.org

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts


NEWS RELEASE

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE

CARDINAL O’MALLEY AND CARITAS CHRISTI

In the growing controversy over the state contract which would require the Catholic hospital network, Caritas Christi, to engage in abortion referrals, Sean Cardinal O'Malley made the following statement in his blog on Friday, March 6th: “There has been a significant amount of public dialogue concerning my statement yesterday (as copied below) about the proposed arrangement involving Caritas Christi Health Care with the Commonwealth Care program. To be perfectly clear, Caritas Christi would never do anything to promote abortions, to direct any patients to providers of abortion or in any way to participate in actions that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching and anyone who suggests otherwise is doing a great disservice to the Catholic Church.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comments: “Sadly, the Cardinal’s assertions are directly contradicted by the statement issued by the Caritas Christi/Centene Corporation partnership on February 26th, which said it ‘will contract with providers, both in and out of the Caritas network, to ensure access to all services required by the Authority, including confidential family planning services.’ That statement has never been withdrawn.”

“The Health Connector Authority, which is the Massachusetts state agency which administers the Commonwealth Care program, has stated that: ‘All health plans in Commonwealth Care offer the same health benefits.’ Those benefits include abortion - with a $50 co-pay.”

“It appears that the Caritas Christi/Centene Corporation partnership was established as a fig leaf to give Caritas Christi plausible deniability while seeking a state contract which would require them to violate Catholic moral teaching. The only solution consistent with Catholic respect for the sanctity of innocent human life is for Cardinal O’Malley to insist that Caritas Christi immediately withdraw from the Commonwealth Care contract.”


NEWS RELEASE

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CRITICIZES CARDINAL’S SUPPORT FOR CARITAS CHRISTI

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized the statement issued this afternoon by Sean Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, endorsing the decision of Caritas Christi to participate in a state contract which would require it to make referrals for abortions and contraceptive services. On March 27, it was revealed that Caritas Christi, the network of six Catholic hospitals affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston, had formed a partnership with the St. Louis-based Centene Corporation to secure a contract for state subsidized health insurance for 163,000 low income adults in Massachusetts, as part of the Commonwealth Care program. That same day the Caritas/Centene partnership issued a statement saying that it “will contract with providers, both in and out of the Caritas network, to ensure access to all services required by the Authority, including confidential family planning services.”

In his statement, Cardinal O’Malley said: “...I want to confirm for the Catholic community and the wider interested public that Caritas Christi Health Care has assured me that it will not be engaged in any procedures nor draw any benefits from any relationship which violate the Church's moral teaching as found in the Ethical and Religious Directives [of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops].”

The Catholic Action League characterized the Cardinal’s statement as “a shameful betrayal of the pro-life cause and a shocking failure of episcopal leadership.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “It is impossible to reconcile fidelity to Catholic teaching with even remote cooperation in abortion. The Cardinal’s carefully parsed statement evidently reflects the growing and problematic influence of Father Bryan Hehir, Archdiocesan Secretary for Health and Social Services, rather than the traditional pro-life principles espoused in the past by Sean O’Malley. The Cardinal refuses to acknowledge in his statement what Caritas has already admitted - that it will contract with other providers in making referrals for abortions.”

“Catholics need to apprise the Holy See and the Apostolic Nuncio in Washington of this breach of trust by the Archdiocese of Boston, and of the continuing determination of pro-life Catholics to oppose this disgraceful capitulation to the culture of death.”


NEWS RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CONDEMNS CARITAS CHRISTI ON ABORTION REFERRALS

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today condemned Caritas Christi Health Care, a network of six Catholic hospitals affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston, for bidding on a state contract that would require it to provide referrals for abortions, sterilizations, and contraceptive services. Caritas has formed a partnership with the St. Louis based Centene Corporation, called the Commonwealth Family Health Plan, which is the low bidder on a contract to provide state-subsidized health insurance to 163,000 low-income adults in the Bay State’s Commonwealth Care program. On Friday, the Caritas-Centene partnership issued a statement indicating that it “will contract with providers, both in and out of the Caritas network, to ensure access to all services required by the Authority, including confidential family planning services.”

The Catholic Action League called the proposal “an appalling betrayal of Catholic principles and a grave scandal.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “By accepting this contract, which entails material cooperation with evil, Caritas will fatally compromise its Catholic identity, undermine Church teaching on the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life, and deprive the Catholic community in Massachusetts of access to an authentic Catholic healthcare system, untainted by collaboration with what Pope John Paul II rightly called ‘the culture of death’.”

“Unlike the law requiring Massachusetts hospitals to dispense so-called emergency contraception, (which at least four out of the six Caritas hospitals now comply with), this proposed contract represents not a government mandate, but a voluntary surrender, for financial benefit, of the Catholic moral standards enshrined in the mission statement of Caritas Christi. Moreover, the timing of this improvident decision is horrendous. Just as the Obama Administration is revisiting the issue of conscience clauses for pro-life Catholic doctors and nurses, Caritas Christi is sending the wrong message that cooperation with abortion is permissible for Catholic institutions.”

“It is up to the Archbishop of Boston, Sean Cardinal O’Malley, whose delegate Fr. Brian Hehir, serves on the board of Caritas Christi, to exercise episcopal leadership and recall Caritas to its Catholic mission, identity, and integrity. This contract must be abandoned.”


NEWS RELEASE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2009

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE (781) 251-9739

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE COMMENDS BOSTON COLLEGE FOR RESTORING CLASSROOM CRUCIFIXES

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today commended Jesuit-administered Boston College for its decision to restore crucifixes --- after a forty year absence --- to university classrooms. The crucifixes were removed following the 1967 Land O’Lakes Conference, where the leaders of Catholic higher education in America decided to secularize their institutions in order to make them eligible for federal and state tax dollars. Since that time, numerous Catholic colleges and universities, including BC, have been enmeshed in controversies over efforts to downplay or compromise their Catholic identities.

The Catholic Action League called the Boston College decision “a hopeful sign, and symbolically important, but one that must be accompanied by substantive reforms.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “If Boston College is serious about reclaiming its Catholic identity and recovering its religious integrity it ought to do the following:

1) replace supporters of legal abortion and same-sex marriage on its Board of Trustees with loyal Catholics committed to the moral teachings and the social doctrines of the Catholic Church;

2) replace dissidents and ex-priests in the Theology Department with orthodox professors faithful to the Magisterium;

3) ensure that the university health services comply with Catholic teaching regarding contraception;

4) discontinue the practice of providing commencement platforms and honors to public figures who repudiate Catholic morality;

5) withdraw funding and official recognition from campus groups which promote abortion and homosexuality;

6) provide opportunities for students to participate in the traditional liturgy of the Church; and

7) change university admissions policy so that enrollment in Boston College might once again be available and affordable to the Catholic middle class and working class of Greater Boston, for whom the university was established.”

League Executive Director C. J. Doyle is an alumnus of Boston College.


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