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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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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