2018 Archive

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

DECEMBER 26, 2018

Letters, Cape Cod Times
319 Main Street
Hyannis, MA 02601

To the Editor:

In her column in the Cape Cod Times, Rev. Susan Cartmell endorsed the action of a Dedham priest, the Rev. Stephen Josoma, who, in a protest over immigration laws enforcement, altered a parish Nativity scene by placing the figure of the Baby Jesus in a cage, (Uncomfortable truths in this season of light, 12/23/2018).

Rev. Cartmell’s position, which characterizes the creche as “provocative,” seems to have more to do with the progressivist ideology of contemporary Congregationalism than with a traditional Catholic understanding of Christmas. Cartmell claims that Jesus was political, but Our Savior told Pilate that “My kingdom is not of this world.”

Catholics celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ as the central event in human history—the Incarnation. Exploiting the most joyous day in the Christian calendar to make a political point obscures and trivializes the purpose of Christmas.

Faithful Catholics are growing increasingly fatigued over dissident priests who fail to teach and preach orthodox Faith and morals, but who lecture them, instead, on public policy issues which require prudential judgements, and about which Catholics may legitimately disagree.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

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MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE OF MASSACHUSETTS!

MAY YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A BLESSED AND MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

As we celebrate the birth of the Word made flesh, let us also rejoice in our devotions to the glorious saints of the Christmas Season:

• Saint Stephen, the Proto-Martyr, on December 26th;
• Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, on December 27th;
• The Holy Innocents, Heavenly Patrons of the Pro-Life cause, on December 28th; and
• Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Defender of the Faith, on December 29th.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, Head of the Holy Family, pray for us.

Beloved: The grace of God our Savior hath appeared to all men, instructing us, in order that, rejecting ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live temperately and justly and piously in this world, looking for the blessed hope and glorious coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ: Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, pursuing good works. Thus speak and exhort, in Christ Jesus our Lord — The Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to Titus [2:11-15], for the Mass at Midnight, on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

• In the year, from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created Heaven and earth, five thousand one hundred and ninety-nine;
• from the flood, two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven;
• from the birth of Abraham, two thousand and fifteen;
• from Moses and the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt, one thousand five hundred and ten;
• from the anointing of King David, one thousand and thirty-two;
• in the sixty-fifth week, according to the prophecy of Daniel;
• in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;
• in the year seven hundred and fifty-two from the foundation of the city of Rome;
• in the forty-second year of the empire of Octavian Augustus,
• when the whole world was at peace, in the sixth age of the world, Jesus Christ, eternal God, and Son of the eternal Father, desirous to sanctify the world by His most merciful coming, having been conceived of the Holy Ghost, and nine months having elapsed since His conception, is born in Bethlehem of Juda, having become Man of the Virgin Mary:
• The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.
  (Nativitas Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum carnem.)

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

December 24, 2018

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

To the Editor:

Three days before the most joyous celebration in the Christian calendar, Catholic readers of the Herald had to endure a volley of cheap shots directed at their religion by Peter Borre, (But what about the church hierarchy’s responsibility? 12/22/2018).

When Borre ran for a Boston City Council seat in a special election in 2006, he campaigned as a supporter of abortion and homosexuality. Now, like others who reject Catholic beliefs while claiming to be Catholic, he exploits the crisis in the Church to carry on a polemic against Catholic moral teachings.

Contrary to Borre’s fatuous assertion about Catholics and the “management of their reproductive apparatus,” Catholic morality is not founded upon a decision of the hierarchy, but upon Divine and natural law, the Old and New Testaments, and 2000 years of constant tradition.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

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MEDIA UPDATE

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

C. J. DOYLE INTERVIEWED ON LIFE MATTERS

C. J. Doyle, the Executive Director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, was interviewed last Wednesday by Colbe Mazzarella, the Guest Host of Life Matters, the pro-life television program on the Boston Neighborhood Network, which is cablecast on more than 120 public access stations in communities throughout Massachusetts.

Colbe asked Doyle about the current crisis in the Church, the failure of the Catholic hierarchy in the Commonwealth to support the attempted repeal, by referendum, of the so-called transgender law, and the disturbing decision to appoint an ally of the homosexual movement, former U. S. Attorney Donald Stern, to oversee the investigation of Saint John’s Seminary, which has been rocked by allegations of same sex predation, sexual harassment, and lascivious behavior—contra naturam—involving both students and faculty members.

The program will be shown on Thursday, December 6th, at 4:30 pm, on the BNN News and Information Channel, which, in Boston, will be cablecast on Comcast 9, RCN 15, and Verizon 1961. For those outside of the city, you may watch it streamed live on bnntv.org. The program will be repeated nearly a dozen times on BNN between Friday, December 7th, and Wednesday, December 12th. Please check the BNN TV Guide for times. You may also watch it live by clicking on the link at the Life Matters website.

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thursday, November 22, 2018

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts wishes to extend to all of its members and supporters, and to their families, a Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Although Thanksgiving is a secular festival, non-Catholic in its origins, it has an honorable lineage, is imbued with Christian aspirations, and fosters a filial piety towards one’s country. Most importantly, it reminds us of our duty of gratitude to Almighty God.

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor—and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

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MEDIA UPDATE

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

RAY FLYNN LAUDS JAMES MICHAEL CURLEY AT CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE ANNUAL ROSARY

On Saturday, November 10th, the Honorable Raymond L. Flynn, the former Mayor of Boston and the former United States Ambassador to the Holy See, spoke at the Annual Rosary of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the death of James Michael Curley.

Curley, known as the “Mayor of the Poor,” died in Boston City Hospital—an institution which he lovingly fostered and notably expanded for the needy of the city—on November 12, 1958, a few days before his 84th birthday. During a sixty year political career, which extended from the 1890’s to the 1950’s, Curley served four terms in Congress, four terms as Mayor of Boston, and one term as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In his person and his politics, Curley, a pious and orthodox Catholic, combined, magnificently, a commitment to both the social teachings and the moral teachings of the Catholic Faith. Before the preferential option for the poor, there was James Michael Curley. In 1948, twenty-five years before Roe v. Wade, he presciently predicted that the legalization of birth control would lead to the legalization of abortion, which he characterized as child murder.

A populist who ended the tradition of Catholic deference to Anglo-Protestant leadership, Curley was detested by both Brahmin elites and social climbing, culturally conforming, bourgeois Catholics. Throughout his long political career, he was opposed by the press, corporate capitalism, the Archdiocese of Boston, and the Kennedy family.

A second title which Curley merited might be “Master Builder.” The late dean of American urban historians, Harvard professor Charles Trout, famously said that as a constructor of monumental public works, Curley “compared favorably to Caesar Augustus.” Much of Boston’s public health, public safety, public works and public transit infrastructure dates to Curley.

Ambassador Flynn, who said Mayor Curley was his inspiration in entering political life, spoke of the legislation he filed, together with then State Representatives William M. Bulger, James J. Craven, Charles R. Doyle, and Michael Paul Feeney, to create a Curley memorial, which now stands across from City Hall.

Flynn, who became Chairman of the Legislative Special Committee for the memorial, told us of the important contribution of one of Curley’s old Yankee Republican opponents, former U. S. Senator, UN Ambassador, and Vice-Presidential nominee Henry Cabot Lodge, whose emotional testimony before the committee provided bi-partisan support for honoring Curley.

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts wishes to extend its thanks to Ambassador Flynn, his wife, Mrs. Catherine Flynn, and their son, Raymond Flynn, Jr., for joining us in our Annual Rosary. Each year, on the Saturday before Mayor Curley’s anniversary, members of the League gather at the Curley grave in Old Calvary Cemetery in the Roslindale district of Boston, to pray for the repose of his soul, and for the souls of all of our deceased members.

Ambassador Flynn wrote about our Annual Rosary in his column, published on November 12th, in the Boston Herald.

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MEMBER ADVISORY

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE TO HOLD ANNUAL CURLEY COMMEMORATION

November 12, 2018 will be the 60th anniversary of the death of Boston Mayor and Massachusetts Governor James Michael Curley. The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts will hold its Annual Rosary at the Curley grave on Saturday, November 10th at 12 noon. Mayor Curley’s grave is located on the top of the hill, behind the chapel, in Old Calvary Cemetery in Roslindale, just off Cummins Highway. All Catholic Action League members are invited to participate.

November is the month of the Holy Souls, when the Church remembers in her prayers the faithful departed. Please pray for the repose of the souls of all deceased members of the Catholic Action League, and those of our predecessor organization, the Massachusetts Chapter of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, including those listed below:

• Joseph L. Ahern
• Joseph Arena
• Helene Armeno
• Catherine Barden
• Mr. and Mrs. Emile J. Beauregard
• Hon. Angelo Berlandi
• Robert M. Berlo
• Louise Birmingham
• Marilyn Birnie
• Mrs. Gloria Brackett
• Elisabeth Bresnahan
• Mary Louise Burckhart
• Rev. William C. Burckhart
• David R. Burke
• Leona Carlsen
• Bertrand G. Chasse
• Mr. and Mrs. George A. Coleman
• Hon. and Mrs. John F. Collins
• Rev. Msgr. Leonard A. Coppenrath
• Martin J. Costello
• Charles O. Coudert
• Leo J. Coveney
• Hon. and Mrs. James J. Craven, Jr.
• Dr. Philip T. Crotty, Jr.
• Ann Cutress
• Hon. Michael A. D'Avolio
• Rev. Msgr. John Dillon Day
• Jane M. Deery
• Robert J. Delery
• James J. Derba
• James S. DiPerri
• Marilyn Doherty
• Cora Anne Donovan
• Paul I. Dooley
• Francis A. Doyle, Sr.
• Gregory and Marie Dunn
• William S. Farrell
• Robert J. Flanagan
• Thomas A. Flatley
• Thomas J. Flatley
• Yvonne Goddard
• Roger B. Gill
• Charles P. Gourlis
• Thomas Hamill
• Edward B. Hanify, Jr.
• Hon. & Mrs. Edward T. Hanley
• Mrs. Marion Hardy
• Mr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Healy
• H. Noel Hebard
• Rev. Cornelius J. Heery
• Rev. Harold J. Johnson
• Hon. James M. Kelly
• Eugene F. Kiely, Jr.
• H. E., Edward J. King
• Alfred A. Lagan
• H. E., Bernard, Cardinal, Law
• Frederick G. Lewis
• Paul A. Likoudis
• Reverend Charles Stanley MacIsaac, O.S.
• Florence MacIsaac
• John J. MacIsaac
• Albert James Healy Madden
• Richard Malone
• Paul May
• Vincent Mazzarella
• Paul McCarthy
• Andrew J. McCauley, Esq.
• Celia McClory
• Rev. Myron McCormick, OFM — updated January 30, 2019
• Mrs. Mary McEnroe
• Gino Michelutti
• William P. Monahan, Esq.
• Paul F. X. Moriarty
• John T. Mulry
• Walter T. Mulry
• Hon. James J. Nixon
• Hon. Joseph R. Nolan
• Rev. Hugh O’Regan
• Dante Pattavina
• Frances Pattavina
• Dr. Vincent Pattavina
• Rev. Gilbert S. Phinn
• Frederick C. Pulsifer
• Janet E. Ray
• Thomas F. Reynolds
• Gerald M. Ridge
• Most Rev. Lawrence J. Riley
• John S. Ring
• John J. Shaughnessy
• Elinore C. Sheils
• Francis N. Sheils
• Hugh B. Sheridan, Jr.
• John W. Spillane, KHS, Esq.
• Dr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Stanton
• Virginia Teehan
• Peter L. Travers, Jr.
• Hon. John T. Tynan
• Bro. Bartholomew Varden, CFX
• Rev. Francis X. Wallace
• Thomas A. Walsh
• Thomas A. Welch
• L. Thomas White

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from sins. 2 Maccabees 12:46

Note: List is current as of September, 2019.

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ACTION ALERT!!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

VOTE NO ON QUESTION 3

Next Tuesday, General Election Day, November 6, 2018, Massachusetts voters will go to the polls to elect a United States Senator, nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives, six Constitutional Officers, eight Executive Councillors, 200 Senators and Representatives in the General Court, eleven District Attorneys, and dozens of County office holders.

Voters will also decide on three ballot questions. The first two are Laws Proposed by Initiative Petition. The third, Question 3, is a Referendum on an Existing Law, entitled Transgender Anti-Discrimination.

A NO vote will repeal the 2016 law which added so-called gender identity to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in places of public accommodation, resort or amusement.

In July, 2016, Governor Charlie Baker signed into law Senate Bill 2407, An Act Relative to Transgender Anti-Discrimination. The law authorizes the Commonwealth to prosecute, fine and imprison businessmen and professionals who refuse to recognize men who claim to be women as women, and women who claim to be men as men. According to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and Attorney General Maura Healey, the law could, in some circumstances, apply to churches. Under the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 272, Section 98, which prohibits “incitement” to discrimination, freedom of expression could also be penalized.

The transgender law is a coercive and punitive measure which imposes sanctions on citizens who refuse to participate in the lie that persons can, through some subjective process, change their gender.

Please vote NO on Question 3!

As the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the Archdiocese of Boston, and The Pilot have taken no position on this referendum, please ask your parish priests to speak out on this vital issue of moral sanity, religious liberty, freedom of expression, and the rights of conscience.

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MEDIA UPDATE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

I. “TRANSGENDERISM” IN FEDERAL LAW

II. THE CRISIS IN THE CHURCH

I. The political Left is reacting with hysteria to impending plans by the administration of President Donald J. Trump to reverse the arbitrary and dishonest interpretation of federal law, contrived by the Obama administration, to include so-called “gender identity” in U. S. civil rights protections.

Congress has never passed any law prohibiting discrimination based on either sexual orientation or gender identity. Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 forbids educational institutions which receive federal aid from discriminating against persons based upon their sex. The very idea that a person could be “transgendered” was unknown when the legislation was enacted.

This did not prevent he Obama administration, with its contempt for the legislative process, and its outlandishly expansive view of executive branch regulatory authority, from reinterpreting Title IX to mean that sex actually includes sexual identity. Obama, unlawfully, altered the scope and meaning of the statute without an act of Congress. The Trump administration is making the modest and common sense proposal to return Title IX to the original understanding of its legislative authors.

On Monday, October 22, Michael Levenson of The Boston Globe contacted the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts for a comment on the Trump proposal. In a story on October 23rd, the Globe quoted me as saying that “the Trump administration plan would restore the longstanding definition of gender after the Obama administration’s manifestly fraudulent interpretation of Title IX, which was never intended to protect transgender rights when it was passed by Congress in 1972.”

I was also quoted stating “I think federal policy ought to conform to reality, and the Trump administration ought to be commended there,” adding that government should not “recognize a subjective and arbitrary claim of gender change.”

II. I was also interviewed on October 22nd by Steve Jordahl of American Family Radio on the third public statement of Archbishop Carlo Vigano, where he clearly identified “the scourge of homosexuality” as the source of clerical sexual abuse and the cause of the current crisis in the Church. I called Vigano’s statement “accurate and unassailable,” and went on to characterize it as powerful, compelling and courageous. The story, including my remarks, was published on October 22nd on the AFR website, One News Now.

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MEMBER ADVISORY

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

CHARLES O. COUDERT, 1931-2018, R.I.P.

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts is mourning the death of one of its longtime members and most generous supporters, Charles O. Coudert of Framingham, formerly of Sherborn, who died on September 16th, after a brief illness. He was 87.

Charlie Coudert was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut. A graduate of the Canterbury School and Yale University, Charlie spent his life serving his country, first as an officer in the United States Navy, and then, for more than three decades, as an officer in the U. S. Foreign Service, where he worked as both a diplomat and a consular official. His postings included the U. S. Mission to the United Nations.

Charlie Coudert is, perhaps, best remembered for two things. The first was his many years of dedicated pro-life activism with Operation Rescue: Boston, where, with other pro-life heroes, he kept a lonely vigil in front of the death factories, offering help and compassionate alternatives to women seeking abortions.

The second, and the one which we should always bear in mind, was his relentless and unfaltering insistence that the pro-life movement must understand that the vast majority of prenatal child killings in America does not consist of statistically reported surgical abortions, but is comprised, rather, of unreported and unverifiable chemical abortions. This latter category includes not only so-called medical abortions, caused by abortion inducing drugs, but encompasses the silent, unknown embryonic abortions that are the inevitable result of the continued use of hormonal, abortifacient contraceptives, and which outnumber, geometrically, all other forms of abortion combined.

Courageously and wisely, Charlie Coudert never accepted the conventional wisdom of some mainstream, establishment pro-life organizations, who avoided, for political and ecumenical reasons, talking about contraception. Charlie always perceived, and never hesitated to point out, that contraception is the most pervasive form of abortion in America.

Charlie and his beloved, late wife Barbara “Robbie” Coudert, were members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Charles O. Coudert will be celebrated on Saturday, September 29th, at 10am at Saint Theresa of Lisieux Church in Sherborn.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

“It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from sins.” — 2 Maccabees 12:46.

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NEWS RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CRITICIZES BOSTON CITY COUNCIL VOTE ON QUESTION 3

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts is criticizing the Boston City Council for its resolution, passed earlier today, urging a yes vote on Question 3, which would uphold a 2016 act making so-called gender identity a protected category in Massachusetts civil rights law pertaining to public accommodations.

In July, 2016, Governor Charlie Baker signed into law Senate Bill 2407, An Act Relative to Transgender Anti-Discrimination. The law authorizes the Commonwealth to prosecute, fine and imprison businessmen and professionals who refuse to recognize men who claim to be women as women and women who claim to be men as men. According to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and Attorney General Maura Healey, the law could, in some circumstances, apply to churches. Under the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 272, Section 98, which prohibits “incitement” to discrimination, freedom of expression could also be restricted.

Question 3 is a referendum on the repeal of the measure.

The Catholic Action League called the City Council resolution “a triumph of progressivist ideology over common sense, moral sanity, and biological reality.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “SB 2407 is a coercive and punitive measure which imposes sanctions on citizens who refuse to participate in the lie that persons can, through some subjective process, change their gender. Contrary to the assertions of Councilor Ayanna Pressley, adhering to the perennial wisdom of Western Civilization—reflected in science, legal tradition, and moral understanding—that gender is immutable, does not constitute hatred, and should not be penalized as discrimination. By today’s vote, the Boston City Council has demonstrated, once again, that it prefers pandering to policy making.”

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MEMBER ADVISORY

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

OUR LADY OF SORROWS, PRAY FOR US

Today, September 15th, is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, or, as it was called in the traditional liturgical calendar, the Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Septem Dolorum Beatae Mariae Virginis). Each day of the year, faithful Catholics recite, in their morning prayers, in their Angelus, in their Rosary, and in the Leonine prayers after Low Mass, the Ave Maria of Saint Dominic — the Hail Mary.

On this day, however, it has been a pious custom to recite, while contemplating the Seven Dolours, the Ave Maria of Saint Bonaventure. It reads as follows:

Hail Mary, full of sorrows, Jesus crucified is with thee. Tearful art thou among women, and tearful is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus crucified, give tears to us, crucifiers of thy Son, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Seven Dolours are:

This devotion was revealed to Saint Bridget of Sweden. It commemorates the spiritual martyrdom of Our Lady, who stood at the foot of the Cross. The feast was extended to the entire Latin Church by Pope Saint Pius X.

Let us pray for the intercession of Our Lady, as Catholics stand at the foot of the Cross, while the Church—the Mystical Body of Christ—is crucified by the sins of its prelates and its priests.

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Simeon, pray for us.

Saint Bridget, pray for us.

Saint Pius X, pray for us.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

AUGUST 30, 2018 — Published September 3

Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
P. O. Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819

To the Editor:

At a time when most Catholics are outraged over predation and immorality in the upper echelons of the Church, Margery Eagan’s focus remains ideological, (Why don’t women have a role in the Catholic Church? 8/23/2018).

In her column applying a 1970’s era feminist critique to Catholicism, Eagan mentions power three times and equality once. Many of us thought, naively, that the Catholic Faith was about interior conversion, the personal pursuit of holiness, and the salvation of our souls. All of this seems alien to Eagan. For her, the real issue in the Church is gender imbalance in decision making.

It is remarkable, and rather sad, that Eagan, who writes so frequently, even obsessively, about Catholicism, seems so disconnected from traditional Catholic thought, beliefs, instincts, and sensibilities.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617)524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

Attention: Matthew Bernstein

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MEMBER ALERT!

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS OF ABORTION

The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council said “abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.” The evil fruits of these crimes are legion: for the innocent victims, a cruel, violent and unjust death; for the mothers, untold spiritual, moral, psychological, and often, physical injury; and for the perpetrators, the temporal and eternal consequences of a sin that crieth to heaven for vengeance.

Then, there is the calamitous harm to society: morals corrupted, families weakened, sensibilities coarsened, laws degraded, justice perverted, politics poisoned with lies, an entire culture deformed. Nations and whole civilizations are in danger of collapse from demographic implosion. Everything from the control of borders to the sustainability of entitlements to the provision of adequate force levels for national defense are imperiled by the absence of a reproductive birth rate.

Tens of millions of children who might have grown up to know, love and serve God, and love their neighbor, have been lost. Perhaps, the ultimate tragedy of abortion is that these children died unbaptized, while still marked by original sin. In traditional Catholic belief, expressed in the writings of the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas, the victims of abortion, who are all without actual, personal, volitional sin, enjoy a state of perfect natural happiness after death, but do not attain the Beatific Vision.

As Catholics, we ought to support every worthy pro-life effort to oppose this hideous evil, and to make known to society the suffering of the innocent which this evil entails. One such initiative is coming to Metropolitan Boston on Saturday, September 8th. Please join in this work of mercy!

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

AUGUST 28, 2018

Letters
Boston Herald
70 Fargo Street
Boston, MA 02210

To the Editor:

Louis L. Murray of Boston Catholic Radio is to be commended for his forthright call for meaningful accountability from Pope Francis and Cardinal O’Malley over their role in prolonging the predatory career of disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, (Pope, cardinal should resign, 8/27/2018).

While some victims of McCarrick’s depravity were innocent children, he was most notorious for the same sex harassment and molestation of college and grad school age seminarians, who were legal adults.

If such abuses are to be prevented in the future, the Catholic Church must begin enforcing its multiple, explicit and longstanding prohibitions against the admission of homosexual men to the priesthood.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617)524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

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MEDIA UPDATE

TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

THE McCARRICK REVELATIONS AND CARDINAL O’MALLEY

Michael Voris, Christine Niles and Church Militant have provided intensive media coverage of the appalling revelations that now former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick engaged in vile, degenerate and perverted acts of sexual predation upon seminarians, priests, minors, and others for nearly a half century, in four separate ecclesiastical jurisdictions.

Integral to the character and coverage of this scandal is the abject failure, indeed, gross negligence of other American cardinals, including Sean O’Malley, in their response, or lack thereof, to multiple and credible accusations directed against McCarrick for depraved behavior that extends, at least, as far back as the early nineteen seventies.

Church Militant quotes, extensively, from the comments of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts in two stories on the ignominious crimes of one prelate and the flagrant derelictions of a half dozen more prelates who evaded their clear duty and now claim, implausibly, like Sergeant Shultz, that they knew nothing and saw nothing and heard nothing.

The first article is Catholic Heavyweights Demand Bishop Accountability.

The second article is Cardinal O’Malley Passes the Buck. This second article contains a 30 minute video of a panel discussion on the scandal. My comments are referenced at 10:30, at 23:35, and again, briefly, at 27:20.

You may also watch the video, Complicit Cardinals, here.

In I, Claudius, a work of historical fiction by Robert Graves, the Emperor Claudius, speaking of corruption in first century Rome, proclaims, “Let all the poison that lurks in the mud, hatch out.” That, it seems, is what is happening to the Bride of Christ today.

Our thanks go to Christine Niles of Church Militant for soliciting our views on what has become the most shameful episode in the history of American Catholicism.

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NEWS UPDATE

MONDAY, JULY 30, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

NINE PRO-LIFE STALWARTS IN THE HOUSE

At the request of our members, and for the benefit of the Catholic community in the Commonwealth, the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts now lists, below, the names of the nine pro-life stalwarts in the Bay State House of Representatives who voted on July 18th against Senate Bill 2260, which repealed the state’s long dormant laws prohibiting abortion, adultery, fornication and the distribution of contraceptives.

In an age when Catholic and conservative politicians routinely “evolve” in office, when the Faith of their Baptism means as little as the promises they make on the campaign trail, and when professed principles are for sale—and the asking price is cheap—we should take a moment to commend these two Democrats and seven Republicans who resisted the stampede to abase themselves before the abortion industry.

On this issue, at least, these nine men and women defied the Governor of the Commonwealth, the legislative leadership of both parties, the media, and a host of powerful special interests to uphold Divine and natural law, defend the sanctity of innocent human life, and express their belief in Christian morality.

• Rep. Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman) 7th Plymouth District—617-722-2810—Geoff.Diehl@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Colleen Garry (D-Dracut) 36th Middlesex District—617-722-2380—Colleen.Garry@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Sheila Harrington (R-Groton) 1st Middlesex District—617-722-2305—Sheila.Harrington@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Kevin J. Kuros (R-Uxbridge) 8th Worcester District—617-722-2460—Kevin.Kuros@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica) 22nd Middlesex District—617-722-2460—Marc.Lombardo@mahouse.gov
• Rep. James J. Lyons, Jr. (R-Andover) 18th Essex District—617-722-2460—James.Lyons@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Elizabeth Poirier (R-North Attleborough) 14th Bristol District—617-722-2100—Elizabeth.Poirier@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Keiko Orrall (R-Lakeville) 12th Bristol District—617-722-2090—Keiko.Orrall@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Alan Silvia (D-Fall River) 7th Bristol District—617-722-2230—Alan.Silvia@mahouse.gov

Of the nine Representatives in the General Court who voted against the repeal of the abortion laws, seven—Colleen Garry, Sheila Harrington, Kevin Kuros, Marc Lombardo, James Lyons, Elizabeth Poirier and Alan Silvia—are Catholic.

Sadly, only four of the nine state representatives who voted pro-life on July 18th—Kuros, Lombardo, Lyons, and Orrall—also voted pro-family and pro-freedom on June 27th. On that day, the House passed, 137 to 14, H. 4664, which would ban counseling for confused adolescents intended to rescue them from impure temptations contrary to nature. This measure, which usurps the authority of parents, and poses an ominous threat to religious freedom, is the latest attempt by totalitarian homosexualism to use the power of the government to censor, silence, punish and suppress anyone who opposes them.

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NEWS RELEASE

FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CRITICIZES BAKER’S SIGNING OF ABORTION LAW REPEAL

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized Bay State Governor Charlie Baker for signing into law, this morning, the so-called NASTY Women Act, which repeals the Commonwealth’s long unenforced statutes prohibiting abortion and the distribution of contraceptives.

The measure contained an emergency preamble, which means it went into effect as soon it received the governor’s signature.

The Catholic Action League called the legislation “an exercise in pandering, posturing and symbolism, which will have no practical effect in Massachusetts.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “However uncertain the odds of overturning Roe v. Wade, the chances of reversing Moe v. Hanley—which asserts a right to legal abortion based on the Massachusetts Constitution—are negligible. Despite the hysterical rhetoric, the future composition of the U. S. Supreme Court will not alter the legally protected practice of abortion in the Commonwealth.”

“For Governor Baker and the General Court, this is special interest legislation on behalf of one of state’s most powerful lobbies—Planned Parenthood. Last November, Baker signed legislation guaranteeing free contraceptive coverage in Massachusetts, went on to promise in his State of the State Address in January, and again in March, to fund Planned Parenthood in the event of a cut-off of federal monies, and earlier this week, wrote to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services opposing changes in Title X funding which would could result in a decrease in federal tax dollars to Planned Parenthood.”

“Even by the standards of the state’s Democratic Party, Republican Charlie Baker is on the radical left when it comes to the issue of abortion. Baker’s old boss, Governor Bill Weld, said he wanted a so-called ‘big tent’ on abortion for Bay State Republicans. With the Baker Administration, there is, clearly, no room in the tent for proponents of the right to life who belong to or vote for the Massachusetts Republican Party.”

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PRESS STATEMENT

TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

STATEMENT BY C. J. DOYLE ON GOVERNOR BAKER’S LETTER OPPOSING ABORTION RESTRICTIONS IN TITLE X FUNDING

Yesterday, C. J. Doyle, the Executive Director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, issued the following statement in response to an inquiry from The Boston Globe about a letter sent by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. The letter, part of the public comment process, registers the opposition of the Baker/Polito Administration to proposed changes in Title X funding by the Administration of President Donald J. Trump, enforcing the federal ban on tax dollars for abortion.

“The proposed regulatory changes in the disbursement of U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Title X funds are intended to create a firewall between abortion, the tax funding of which is already proscribed by federal law, and other family planning services.”

“Governor Baker’s letter has less to do with protecting women’s health and more to do with continuing taxpayer subsidies for one of the state’s most influential special interests, Planned Parenthood, the organization most likely to be affected, adversely, by the Title X changes.”

“The Governor, like many supporters of legal abortion, believes that taxpayers should have no right to choose when it comes to subsidizing a procedure many understand to be the taking of an innocent human life.”

“While the proposed changes are a step in the right direction, taxpayers will still be required to subsidize contraception and sterilizations, and pro-life health centers, which promote natural family planning, adoption and abstinence education, may still be ineligible for Title X funds, because of the provision for so-called ‘comprehensive’ family planning.”

A portion of Doyle’s comments were published today in The Boston Globe.

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NEWS RELEASE SUPPLEMENT

SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

SENATE AND HOUSE ROLL CALLS ON ABORTION LAW REPEAL

As a service to our members, the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts now publishes the roll call votes of the Senate and the House of Representatives on Senate Bill 2260—An Act negating archaic statutes targeting young women. This measure, if signed into law by His Excellency, the Governor, would repeal all remaining laws in the Commonwealth prohibiting abortion and contraception.

These laws, long suspended and currently unenforced, have become the object of histrionic demagoguery by the local abortion industry, represented by the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

President Donald J. Trump’s nomination of U. S. Court of Appeals Justice Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court has become the occasion of hysterical denunciation, fevered fund raising appeals, and political muscle flexing by the abortion lobby. As usual, our legislators promptly pandered to one of the state’s most powerful special interests, and biggest campaign finance sugar daddies—Planned Parenthood.

Even if Kavanaugh is confirmed, America is still quite a way from overturning Roe v. Wade. This legislation is not only hasty, ill considered and extreme, but entirely gratuitous. In 1981, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in its ruling in Moe v. Hanley, discovered a right to abortion, and to the public funding of some abortions, in the Massachusetts Constitution—a document written in 1780 by John Adams, Sam Adams and James Bowdoin.

On January 25th, the Senate voted 38 to 0 to repeal the abortion and contraception laws. On July 18th, the House of Representatives voted 138 to 9 for repeal. This means that there are now no reliable pro-life votes in the Senate, while only five percent of House members can be depended upon to support, in all circumstances, the right to life.

Many of the legislators voting for repeal, or who dodged the vote, were previously identified as pro-life, including a number endorsed by pro-life political action committees. All Catholics in the Senate, and more than 90% of Catholics in the House, voted for repeal. A majority of both Democrats and Republicans voted for repeal.

On July 11th, prior to the House vote, the Boston City Council voted unanimously to endorse a resolution calling upon the Legislature to repeal the abortion laws. In her speech advocating repeal, the resolution’s sponsor, City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, referred to “our partners in NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.” Please click on item number 1098 to watch Pressley’s speech and the unopposed voice vote.

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NEWS RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CRITICIZES HOUSE VOTE TO REPEAL MASSACHUSETTS ABORTION LAWS

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized the Massachusetts House of Representatives for voting to repeal the Commonwealth’s long suspended and currently unenforced laws prohibiting abortion and the distribution of contraceptives. The proposed repeal measure, Senate Bill 2260, passed in the state Senate on January 25th, by a vote of 38 to 0. The House voted this afternoon, in a roll call, by a margin of 138 to 9, to engross an amended version of the bill, which would also repeal the laws against adultery and fornication.

As the legislation contains an emergency preamble, it would take effect immediately, if signed by the Governor.

The Catholic Action League called the House vote “hasty, histrionic, and gratuitous, but unsurprising.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Once again, members of the Massachusetts Legislature have demonstrated their toadying subservience to one of the state’s most powerful special interests—Planned Parenthood. More than 70% of state senators, and more than 64% of state representatives, are listed by the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts as ‘Champions’ or ‘Allies.’”

“As the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court asserted, as long ago as 1981, in Moe v. Secretary of Administration and Finance, that the Constitution of the Commonwealth contains a right to abortion, a possible future U. S. Supreme Court decision reversing or modifying Roe v. Wade would have no effect in Massachusetts. This measure is more about pandering than lawmaking.”

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NEWS RELEASE

FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF SAINT PATRICK’S NAME FROM SOUTH BOSTON PARADE

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today renewed its call to remove the name of Saint Patrick from the Evacuation Day/Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in South Boston. Yesterday, the organizers of the parade—the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council—announced that they had hired Bryan Bishop, the CEO of the homosexual organization OUTVETS, as the Director of Parade Operations. This decision means that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, will now, effectively, control the parade.

OUTVETS was created in July, 2014 as part of Mayor Walsh’s campaign to force parade organizers to admit homosexual groups to the line of march. It was the third such contrivance fabricated for this purpose since 1992. Since 2015, OUTVETS has been marching in the parade with banners identifying their sexual behavior.

In 1995, the Veterans Council, under the leadership of the late John J. “Wacko” Hurley, and represented by Attorney Chester Darling, won a hard fought, 9-0 victory before the United States Supreme Court in Hurley v. GLIB, a decision which affirmed the constitutional right of parade organizers to control the message and content of their own parade.

During the 2013 Boston mayoral election, however, then State Representative Walsh promised homosexual activists that, if elected, he would compel the Veterans Council to reverse their position. Shortly after taking office in January, 2014, Walsh began a campaign of intimidation which included threats to boycott the parade, threats to withhold city permits, claims that the Boston Police could not prevent violent disruptions of the parade, and personally shouting, in a public forum, threats and obscenities at parade marshal Phil Wuschke.

In December 2014, with Hurley infirm and absent, a minority on the Veterans Council, led by former Boston police officer Brian Mahoney, and current City Councilor Ed Flynn, seized control of the organization and colluded with Walsh to admit OUTVETS. Flynn would be elected to the City Council in 2015 with support from allies of the mayor.

The Catholic Action League called the decision to hand the parade over to Bishop as “the final step in the de-Christianization of the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in Boston, which will irrevocably sever the event from what little remains of its origins, traditional character and Catholic identity.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Saint Patrick’s Day was instituted to commemorate the Apostle who brought the Catholic Faith to Ireland. It is impossible to honor Saint Patrick while showcasing those who not only repudiate the moral code of Saint Patrick’s religion, but who castigate that code as bigotry, prejudice, hatred and homophobia.”

“Everything which OUTVETS represents is radically discordant with the life and mission of Saint Patrick, who rescued an entire nation from paganism and its libertine moral practises. OUTVETS cares nothing for the traditional culture and heritage of once Catholic Ireland. For them, this event is an opportunity to impose their anti-Catholic ideology on an historically Catholic celebration.”

“This also speaks to the totalitarian instincts of homosexual activists, who must, evidently, not only defeat the victims of their aggression, but then dispossess them of their organizations, and prevent them from ever opposing them again.”

“The current leadership of the Veterans Council should stop misappropriating the venerable name of our patron saint as a means to promote their secular carnival in South Boston. They should do the decent thing, and just call it the Evacuation Day Parade.”

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PRESS STATEMENT

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

STATEMENT BY C. J. DOYLE TO BOSTON GLOBE ON PROPOSED REPEAL OF UNENFORCED ABORTION LAWS IN MASSACHUSETTS

On July 4th, Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle issued the following statement in response to an inquiry from The Boston Globe on the proposed repeal of long suspended and currently unenforced laws prohibiting the procuring of abortion and the distribution of contraceptives in Massachusetts, and proscribing the dissemination of information on birth control in the Bay State.

This latest initiative from the political and media acolytes of Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts supposedly originates in the anticipated reversal of Roe v. Wade, which might occur if President Donald J. Trump is not obstructed, the way President Ronald Reagan was in 1987, in appointing a Supreme Court Justice faithful to the Constitution of the United States.

“To respond to your inquiry:

To answer your question, the current proposal, Senate Bill 2260, AN ACT NEGATING ARCHAIC STATUTES TARGETING YOUNG WOMEN, is more about agitprop, fundraising and posturing than law making.”

Doyle’s last comment was quoted in The Boston Globe on July 5th and in LifeSiteNews on the same day.

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NEWS UPDATE

FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

SOME GOOD NEWS FROM NORTHERN IRELAND

After the national vote in the Republic of Ireland for abortion and apostasy on May 25th, the population control movement, along with its allies in government, the media, and the supranational institutions, turned its heavy artillery on the one part of Erin where innocent human life was still protected, Northern Ireland.

On the day after the referendum, abortion proponents proclaimed: “The North is next.” The culture of death expected only token resistance, followed by a swift collapse and an unconditional surrender.

Now, however, the campaign to overthrow Ulster’s abortion laws by coup de main—through either a court decision or a vote by the British Parliament in Westminster—has faltered. Blitzkrieg, it would seem, will be replaced by siege warfare, and it is likely to be a protracted conflict.

• Despite pressure to legalize abortion in the six counties from inside the British cabinet and even among the Conservative back benches, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley, MP, said on June 5th that abortion was a devolved matter, that Westminster will “not impose its will” and the issue “should be decided by the people of Northern Ireland” through the Northern Irish Assembly in Stormont.
• On June 7th, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled against an application for judicial review of the province’s abortion laws by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. While a majority of justices agreed that prohibiting abortion violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, they found that the Commission had no standing in the matter.
• The majority party in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionists, are signaling their determination to resist schemes to inflict abortion on Ulster. On May 28th, The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, said the Republic’s referendum “has no impact on the law in Northern Ireland,” that the DUP would remain pro-life, and that it was “distasteful to see people dancing in the streets” after the referendum results were announced. Ian Paisley, Jr., MP for North Antrim, said on May 26th, “Northern Ireland won’t be bullied into accepting abortion on demand.” On June 6th, Northern Ireland Assembly Member Jim Wells compared abortion to Nazi genocide. As pro-abortion Conservative Prime Minister Teresa May depends on the DUP to sustain her narrow majority in the House of Commons, the Unionists are holding all the cards.

Please pray for Northern Ireland!

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NEWS UPDATE

SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

CATHOLIC COLLEGES HONOR PROPONENTS OF ABORTION

— BUFFER ZONES IN IRELAND

— REV. FRANCIS X. WALLACE RIP

I. Catholic Colleges honor proponents of abortion, again

David Simas—On May 20th, Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts—founded and administered by the Congregation of the Holy Cross (the Holy Cross Fathers)—conferred an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters upon David Simas, who also delivered the commencement address.

Simas, the Chief Executive Officer of the Obama Foundation, previously served as Deputy Assistant to President Obama, Director of Opinion Research for the Obama Campaign, and Director of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach for the Obama White House.

The administration of President Barack Obama not only supported legal abortion and the deformity of marriage, but, in a brazen assault on First Amendment religious freedom guarantees, imposed a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate upon all employers, including Catholic religious institutions, requiring them to subsidize abortifacients, contraceptives and sterilizations as part of employee group health insurance.

Stonehill is the second Catholic institution to honor Simas. In 2015, he delivered the commencement address at Jesuit administered Boston College Law School.

Jack Connors—On May 12th, Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts—founded and administered by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston—conferred an honorary Doctorate of Laws upon corporate executive and Democratic Party money man Jack Connors.

A major bundler for the Obama/Biden campaigns, Connors spent decades as a leading fundraiser for pro-abortion political figures, including Hilary Clinton, Martha Coakley, Barney Frank, Edward Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy III, John Kerry, Marty Walsh, and Elizabeth Warren.

He also served as Chairman of Partners Healthcare, one of whose flagship facilities, Boston’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital, performs over 4,000 abortions per year. One of the principal beneficiaries of the Connors Family Foundation is the Connors Center for Women’s Health, which has close ties to Planned Parenthood.

Doctor Louise Ivers—On May 19th, the College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, Massachusetts—founded and administered by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Springfield—conferred an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters upon Doctor Louise Ivers, the Director of the Center for Global Health at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Doctor Ivers also delivered the commencement address. Among those attending was the Bishop of Springfield, the Most Reverend Mitchell T. Rozanski.

Just eight days later, on May 27th, after Ireland’s decision to allow child murder, Ivers issued a celebratory tweet, poking the Church, with a link to a Catholic baiting New York Times story.

In 2004, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued the teaching and policy statement Catholics in Political Life, which prohibited Catholic institutions from granting “awards, honors or platforms” to those who “act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.”

This document is routinely ignored, often with episcopal complicity, by most Catholic colleges, universities and law schools. As usual, none of the eleven Catholic institutions of higher education in Massachusetts conferred any awards in 2018 on anyone remotely connected with the pro-life movement.

II. Buffer zones and tax funded abortions in Ireland

When an election or a referendum produces a margin of victory of two to one, as in formerly Catholic Ireland on May 25th, the prevailing side will believe, not unjustifiably, that the political winds are now at their back, and will seek to make the most of their new found opportunity. That is what is happening in Ireland.

Simon Harris, the Irish Minister of Health, has announced that enabling legislation to legalize abortion in Ireland, which could be passed as early as this fall, will now include a provision for “exclusion zones” to limit pro-life prayer, protest and counseling near the killing centers. One opinion poll places public support for such a measure at 72%.

Harris is also calling for taxpayer supported public subsidies for abortion, saying there can be “no barrier to accessing services on the basis of affordability.” Harris even wants the taxpayers to reimburse Irish women who travel to England to kill their pre-born children.

The wishful thinking among some pro-lifers that there would be a measure of mitigation and moderation, or even pull-back, in the enabling legislation is, clearly, illusory. The proponents of mass murder will now move rapidly to employ the instruments of coercion to enforce their revolution.

Irish pro-lifers should be prepared for pressure on Catholic hospitals to perform abortions, compelled participation in abortions, under threat of termination, for health care professionals, and, perhaps, even an amendment to the 1989 Prohibition to Incitement of Hatred Act, criminalizing as hate speech the characterization of abortion as killing.

III. Reverend Francis X. Wallace (1921-2018)

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father Francis X. Wallace, who died on March 22nd at the age of 96. Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Father Wallace was a graduate of Holy Family High School in New Bedford, Saint Anselm’s College in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Saint Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore.

A priest of the Diocese of Fall River and a Colonel in the U. S. Army, Father Wallace was an Army Chaplain in the Korean War, and served with NATO forces in Italy, Greece and Turkey during the Cold War.

After retirement from active duty, Father Wallace served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Patrick’s Parish in Falmouth on Cape Cod, and as a chaplain at Falmouth Hospital.

A faithful and dedicated priest, pious, orthodox and zealous for souls, Father Wallace was a longstanding member of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace. Amen.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

“It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from sins.” — 2 Maccabees 12:46

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NEWS ANALYSIS

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

IRELAND: A CHRONOLOGY OF DE-CHRISTIANIZATION

With sorrow, the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts now publishes an expanded and updated version of this document, which we first issued on May 28, 2015, following the referendum in the Republic of Ireland which deformed the definition of civil marriage in that unhappy country.

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Ireland’s rejection of Divine and Natural Law, and historic civil and criminal law, respecting the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life in the womb, was the culmination of a series of incremental betrayals, over a period of forty-six years, which secularized the Irish State and Irish society. A chronology of these events is presented below:

1972—Irish voters approve, by a referendum margin of 84%-16%, a constitutional amendment repealing Article 44 of the Irish Constitution, which recognized “the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church as the guardian of the Faith professed by the great majority of citizens.”

1973—The Irish Supreme Court declares a right to marital privacy which includes contraceptive use, but declines to overturn laws prohibiting the sale of contraceptives.

1979—The Health (Family Planning) Act becomes law, allowing pharmacists to dispense contraceptives to those holding a prescription from a doctor.

1985—The Health (Family Planning) Amendment Act becomes law, allowing the over-the-counter sale of condoms and spermicides to anyone over the age of eighteen.

1987—Ireland’s first openly homosexual public official, David Norris, is elected to the Senate. A pedophilia defender and anti-Catholic bigot, Norris would call Pope Saint John Paul II an “instrument of evil” and Pope Benedict XVI “a Nazi.” His 2011 presidential campaign would implode after it was revealed that he sought clemency for a convicted homosexual child rapist who had been his partner in sodomy.

1988—In Norris v. Ireland, the European Court of Human Rights rules that Irish law prohibiting sodomy violates Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

1989—The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act becomes law, which outlaws so-called hate speech directed against so-called sexual orientation.

1990—Mary Robinson, a former Senator who advocated for the legalization of contraception, divorce and homosexuality, is elected the seventh President of Ireland. Robinson was the nominee of the Labour Party, but was also endorsed by the Marxist-Leninist Workers Party.

1992—The Health (Family Planning) Amendment Act becomes law, allowing the unrestricted sale of contraceptives to anyone over the age of seventeen.

1992—In Attorney-General v. X, the Irish Supreme Court declares a right to abortion arising from a threat to the life of the mother, including suicidal ideation.

1992—Voters in Ireland reject, by a referendum margin of 65%-35%, a proposed amendment to the Irish Constitution which would overturn the X ruling.

1992—The Thirteenth Amendment to the Irish Constitution is passed, by a referendum margin of 62%-38%, establishing a “right to travel” outside the country, for the purpose of procuring an abortion. Between 6,000 and 8,000 Irish women go to England each year to kill their unborn children.

1992—The Fourteenth Amendment to the Irish Constitution is passed, by a referendum margin of 59%-41%, establishing a right to obtain information about abortion.

1993—The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act becomes law, decriminalizing sodomy in Ireland.

1995—The Fifteenth Amendment to the Irish Constitution repealed, by a referendum margin of 50.2%-49.8%, the constitutional prohibition against divorce, and allowed the civil dissolution of marriage.

1998—The Employment Equality Act becomes law, prohibiting discrimination in employment based upon so-called sexual orientation.

2000—The Equal Status Act becomes law, prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations based upon so-called sexual orientation.

2003—The European Convention on Human Rights Act becomes law, by which Ireland accepts the radically anti-Christian legal code of the European Union.

2007—In Foy v. Ireland, the Irish High Court rules that Irish law contravenes Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, by refusing to recognize as a woman a man who underwent so-called sex re-assignment surgery.

2010—The Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act becomes law, without a recorded roll call, establishing civil unions for same sex couples.

2011—The Republic of Ireland closes its Embassy to the Holy See. Diplomatic relations with the Vatican are maintained through the Irish Embassy to the Italian Republic and the Apostolic Nunciature in Ireland.

2011—The first openly homosexual TD’s (members of parliament)—Jerry Buttimer, John Lyons and Dominic Hannigan—are elected to the Dail.

2013—The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act becomes law, legalizing abortion in cases of suicidal ideation by the mother.

2015—The Children and Family Relationships Act becomes law, allowing homosexual partners to adopt children.

2015—The Thirty-Fourth Amendment to the Irish Constitution is passed, by a referendum margin of 62%-38%, allowing two persons to contract marriage “without distinction as to their sex.”

2015—The first openly homosexual cabinet minister, Leo Varadkar, the son of an Indian immigrant, becomes Minister of Health.

2015—The Gender Recognition Act becomes law, allowing individuals to define their own gender.

2015—The Employment Equality Amendment Act becomes law, which extends anti-discrimination law pertaining to homosexuals and the so-called transgendered to Catholic schools and hospitals, and other religious institutions.

2016—American born Katherine A. Zappone becomes Ireland’s first openly lesbian cabinet minister, when she is appointed Minister for Children and Youth. Zappone is civilly “married” to Ann Gilligan, a former Catholic nun with whom she became romantically involved while both were studying at Jesuit administered Boston College.

2017—Leo Varadkar becomes Ireland’s first homosexual prime minister.

2017—The United Nations recommends that Irish schools introduce compulsory sex education which should include “comprehensive sex education for adolescent girls and boys covering responsible sexual behaviors and focused on preventing early pregnancies, and ensure that it is scientifically objective and its delivery by schools is closely monitored and evaluated.”

2018—Dail Eireann passes, in its second reading, the Provision of Objective Sex Education Bill, which, if enacted, would force Catholic schools to indoctrinate Catholic children with propaganda affirming abortion, contraception, gender dysphoria and sodomy.

2018—The Irish Department of Education orders Catholic schools to change religion classes from an opt-out to an opt-in requirement.

2018—The Irish government proposes an Amendment to the Status Act, which would forbid Catholic schools from giving enrollment preference to Catholic students.

2018—The Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which guaranteed the right to life of unborn children, is repealed in a national referendum, by a margin of 66.4%-33.6%.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

MAY 29, 2018 — Published May 31, 2018

Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
P. O. Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819

To the Editor:

For someone who has spent decades celebrating dissent from the orthodoxy of the Catholic Church, Margery Eagan has no sympathy for those who dissent from the orthodoxies of Planned Parenthood, (An attack on family planning, and women’s health, 5/28/2018).

Pro-life Americans understand abortion to be murder, and what Planned Parenthood does to be mass murder.

In the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Thomas Jefferson famously wrote, “That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.” How much more tyrannical is it to coerce subsidies for the taking of innocent human life?

If, as Eagan claims, “millions of Americans love Planned Parenthood,” why do they not support it with their own money, just the way Catholic parents are forced to do with parochial schools?

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617)524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

Attention: Matthew Bernstein

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NEWS UPDATE

TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

IN ODIUM FIDEI!

Let no one be deceived. The national decision to exterminate the unwanted unborn in Ireland was not just rooted in the capital sins of lust and pride, but in a preternatural hatred for the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, His Immaculate Mother, and the Church which He founded.

This vile, sacrilegious, demonically evil cartoon is how Ireland’s largest newspaper, The Sunday Independent, celebrated the repeal of the Fifth Commandment in what was once the Isle of Saints and Scholars!

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ACTION ALERT!!

MONDAY, MAY 28, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

STOP WALTHAM FROM SEIZING HOME OF CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS ORDER

Despite three previous attempts which ended in failure, Jeannette McCarthy, the Mayor of Waltham, is attempting once again to abuse the municipal police power of eminent domain to confiscate the home and property of a Catholic religious order.

The City of Waltham in Middlesex County is not seeking to build a new highway, transit line or reservoir. The Mayor wants to seize a 46 acre site belonging to Stigmatine Fathers and Brothers because their home and their church are being sought by the Waltham School Committee as the preferred location—among several others—for a new high school.

The site includes the Holy Spouses Shrine, the Espousal Retreat and Conference Center, an open space used for religious retreats, and the actual residence of of the mostly elderly priests and brothers.

Religious institutions are protected from the arbitrary and capricious abuse of state power by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, and in the Commonwealth, by Article II of the Declaration of Rights of the Massachusetts Constitution.

Opposition from local residents, concerned Catholics, and many who simply believe in constitutional government and fair play, defeated this malign proposal three times before. Their efforts are needed once more.

Mayor McCarthy has called for an Executive Session of the Waltham City Council to meet tomorrow evening, May 29th, to consider a $269,000 “feasibility study” to survey the suitability of the property as a site for the new high school.

As the Stigmatines have said, repeatedly, that they will not sell their home, and as the Mayor, School Committee, and School Department have already decided and attempted to take it, the only real purpose of the study is to facilitate the expropriation, at taxpayer expense, of a church and a monastery.

Please contact the members of the Waltham City Council before 7:30 pm tomorrow evening and urge them to reject, once again, Mayor McCarthy’s high handed aggression against innocent members of a religious order which has served that community for decades!

The names, telephone numbers and email addresses of the members of the Waltham City Council can be found by clicking here: https://www.city.waltham.ma.us/city-council.

Thank you, and please call or email before tomorrow night!

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NEWS UPDATE

SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE IRISH ABORTION REFERENDUM

Today, May 27th, the Right Honorable Teresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—the state, which, together with its predecessor regimes, has been responsible for the murder of more Irishmen and Irishwomen than any other in recorded history—congratulated the people of Ireland on their pitiless decision to exterminate their own children.

May is determined to finish the job. Her Minister for Health, Penny Mordaunt, MP, has announced that she now wants Northern Ireland to legalize child murder.

English murders of the Irish is not a phenomenon of the distant past. An estimated 170,000 Irishwomen procured abortions abroad between 1980 and 2016. According to UK Department of Health statistics for that same period, 168,703 women who underwent abortions in England gave Irish addresses.

Please pray for Northern Ireland!

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NEWS RELEASE

SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

IRELAND CHOOSES DEATH

On Friday, May 25th, the citizens of the Republic of Ireland, in a national referendum, voted by a two to one majority to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which guaranteed the right to life of unborn children in that country. The referendum only removed the constitutional protection for pre-natal life. Statutory enabling legislation will still be required to actually legalize abortion in Ireland.

The government of Prime Minister—An Taoiseach—Leo Varadkar proposes the unrestricted procurement of abortion, (abortion on demand), for the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, and effectively unrestricted abortion, with the usual loopholes for the health of the mother, for up to twenty-four weeks. If passed, it would be the one of the most permissive abortion regimes in the European Union.

As the Taoiseach, the government, and all four major political parties in the Republic—Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Labour and Sinn Fein—support legalization, it is expected to pass in Dail Eireann, and the Seanad, by substantial majorities.

With a referendum turnout of 64.1%, 1,489,981 voters cast ballots in favor of repeal, while 723,632 voted to retain the amendment. The margin was 66.4% to 33.6%.

All four provinces and 25 out of 26 counties—Donegal was the exception—voted for repeal. In the nation’s capital city, Dublin, the repeal majority was in excess of 77%.

The Catholic Action League characterized the vote as “a portentous event, effecting civilizational change, and completing Ireland’s transition to a post-Christian society.” The League went on to say that it would result in “the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent, pre-born children, and the persecution of those who refuse to collaborate in this monstrous evil.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “On Bloody Friday, in what was both a tragedy and a crime, the people of Ireland, lead by their first homosexual prime minister, voted overwhelmingly to reject the Author of Life and embrace the Father of Lies.”

“After 16 centuries, and more than 60 generations, of Catholic Faith, Christian culture, and civilized morals, the Irish people have repudiated their religion, betrayed their heritage, scorned their ancestors, and abandoned their historic identity, only to descend into barbarism.”

“One notes with irony that 96 years after the independence of the country, the Irish have, once again, conformed to the values of their former colonial masters. With the Abortion Act of 1967, the United Kingdom—with the exception of the six counties of Northern Ireland—became one of the first western European countries to legalize abortion.”

“No court or parliament is responsible for this. Ireland’s decision is unprecedented. Even in Nazi Germany, a majority never voted for mass murder. Now, nearly one and half million people will have innocent blood on their hands.”

“While foreign money, a monolithically anti-Catholic media, and the pernicious influence of globalist elites in the EU and the UN had a significant impact on the outcome, one must, squarely, place much of the blame on a corrupt, ineffectual, and disproportionately homosexual Irish clergy, which discredited itself by tolerating predators in its ranks, and which offered only tepid resistance to the moral revolution which has now overtaken Ireland.”

“This vote marks the final end of Latin Christendom in the homeland of the Faith, Europe. The toxic mixture of the Sexual Revolution and Vatican II era Catholicism has now deconstructed, in a little over fifty years, a civilization it took nearly two millenia to create.”

“Irish Americans need to reevaluate their traditional support for the unity of Ireland. Northern Ireland is now the only part of the British Isles where human life is fully protected. The pro-life Protestants of the North should be defended from the apostate Catholics of the Republic.”

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AN APPEAL FOR PRAYERS

THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

PLEASE PRAY FOR IRELAND!

This Friday, May 25th, the Republic of Ireland will hold a national referendum on the proposed repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which guarantees the right to life of the unborn child. A corrupt Irish court, ignoring the common law tradition of the country’s jurisprudence, has already ruled that the only legal protection for preborn children is found in the Eighth Amendment.

This referendum will not only decide whether hundreds of thousands of innocent babies will be murdered in Erin in the decades to come, but will determine the character, civilization and destiny, spiritual and materiel, of that nation for generations. The salvation of souls, liberty of the Church, the freedom of faithful Catholics and the national, cultural and demographic survival of Ireland will be in jeopardy if this demonic aggression prevails.

All the forces of hell—the media, Hollywood, the UN, the EU, George Soros, the American multi-national corporations, the globalist elites, the socialist trade unions, and the establishment political parties—are arrayed against the heroes of Ireland’s pro-life movement in this battle for the soul of the nation.

Please pray the Rosary for Ireland, that the Holy Spirit may enlighten the voters of Ireland so they might have “a right judgment in all things, and ever rejoice in His holy comfort. Amen.”

####

On Monday, May 14th, John Aidan Byrne’s organization, Irish Pro-Life USA, held a rally in support of the Eighth Amendment in front of the offices of the Irish Consulate General in Boston’s Back Bay. The event was organized by the local chapter head of Irish Pro-Life USA, Antonio Robert Molle. The featured speaker was C. J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts.

In addition to the Catholic Action League and Irish Pro-Life USA, those participating included members of Operation Rescue: Boston, Students for Life, and Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Molly Finn of WCCA-TV’s Close To Home program video recorded the event. Photography was courtesy of OR Boston’s President, Bill Cotter.

Doyle began by observing that Ireland had never invaded a neighbor, colonized another county, targeted innocent civilians, or waged an unjust war. Now, sadly, Ireland is poised to embrace the values and practices of those who have persecuted her.

Doyle pointed out that the legalization of child murder in the United States brought a fifteen fold increase in the number of abortions in America. If this proportion applies, more than a million Irish children will be butchered in the next four and a half decades following repeal of the Eighth Amendment. Consciences will be anesthetized, the culture will be coarsened, women will be victimized, families will suffer, and morality will dissolve, Doyle said. As euthanasia proceeds from abortion, Doyle warned that the lives of the sick, elderly and disabled would now be endangered.

Doyle predicted that repeal would also oppress consciences and imperil religious freedom. Doctors and nurses, taxpayers and employers, Catholic medical institutions and others, would be forced, against their consciences, and in violation of their sincerely held moral and religious beliefs, to either subsidize, refer or participate in abortions.

Although Ireland has a higher natality than the rest of the EU, it is still below reproductive levels. Doyle stated that the population deficit, accelerated by abortion, would be redressed by more Third World migration, further de-Christianizing and de-Europeanizing that country.

Doyle concluded by asking for prayers and Rosaries for Ireland, so that country would be saved from the tragic errors of Britain, Canada, and America. Patrick Flood of MCFL then expressed the hope that Ireland, which was a beacon of civilization in the age of the barbarians, would again be an exception in the modern world.

C.J. Doyle’s speech is available on YouTube. Click here to view the eight-minute video.

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ACTION ALERT!!

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

PRO-LIFERS WILL RALLY MONDAY AT BOSTON IRISH CONSULATE

On Monday, May 14th, defenders of the right to life will rally across from the Consulate General of the Republic of Ireland in Boston. The Consulate is located at 535 Boylston Street—at the corner of Boylston and Clarendon Streets—near Copley Square in the Back Bay. The demonstration, which is being sponsored by Irish Pro-Life USA, will begin at 12 noon and continue until 5 pm. Among those speaking will be Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle.

On May 25th, the Irish Republic will hold a national referendum on the repeal or retention of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which guarantees the right to life of unborn children in what is now a post-Christian Ireland. A George Soros funded victory for the proponents of abortion will have international ramifications, and will embolden the enemies of life in this country and across the globe.

Members of the pro-life movement here in America will be rallying throughout the country on Monday. We must send a clear and powerful message to the people of Ireland that an embrace of the culture of death will not only destroy innocent human life, but will victimize women, ravage families, ruin Faith and imperil freedom in Erin. Legalizing the mass murder of the pre-born will advance secularization, increase the power of the state, oppress consciences and deprave morals.

Please join us on Monday, May 14th at 12 noon in Boston. If you are coming by public transit, you may take any one of the four branches of the Green Line to Copley Square, and then walk east—towards downtown—one block on Boylston Street until you reach Clarendon Street. You may also take the Orange Line to Back Bay Station and turn right upon leaving the Dartmouth Street exit, or left upon leaving the Clarendon Street exit, and walk one and half blocks north until you reach Boylston Street.

Help us Save the Eighth!

Saint Patrick, pray for us.

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NEWS RELEASE

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2018

CONTACT: JOHN AIDAN BYRNE
(973) 529-4600
jaidanbyrne@optonline.net

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF IRELAND URGE SUPPORT FOR RIGHT TO LIFE IN IRISH ABORTION REFERENDUM

The Friends of Ireland have issued the following statement urging support for the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which guarantees the right to life of unborn children in the Republic of Ireland. A referendum vote on the amendment is scheduled for May 25th.

“On the Eve of Saint Patrick’s Day 2018, we, the undersigned, Friends of Ireland, wish to reaffirm, and to remind all persons of goodwill, that the origin, tradition, and principal purpose of this celebration is to commemorate the Apostle who ‘brought to our mountains the gift of God’s Faith and the sweet light of His Love.’

“The Catholic Faith which Patrick imparted to the Irish people has defended, consistently, for two millenia, the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life in all of its stages and conditions.

“This defense of life includes the lives of civilians and prisoners in time of war, the lives of indigenous peoples confronting colonization, the lives of the sick, elderly and disabled menaced by euthanasia, and the lives of children in the womb threatened by abortion.

“Ireland, more than most nations, ought to understand how vulnerable the defenceless are to acts of capricious violence.

“It would be a grave injustice, a grievous betrayal, and an existential tragedy if Ireland were to repudiate the Faith and legacy of Saint Patrick and embrace, instead, the ethics and practices of alien societies who have, through acts of violence, victimized the weak and the helpless, including, in past generations, the unoffending people of Ireland.

“We would remind the people of Ireland, and her political leaders, that the best and most meaningful way to celebrate our patron saint is to preserve his patrimony, in both the Faith for which he evangelized an entire nation, and in his enduring solicitude for the lives of all of his flock who were endangered.

“We urge the people of the Republic of Ireland to uphold the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution and to continue to protect innocent human life.”

• John Aidan Byrne, President, Irish Pro-Life USA
• C. J. Doyle, Executive Director, Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
• The Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, Inc.,
  Judge James F. McKay, President
  Daniel J. O’Connell, Vice-President
  Jere E. Cole, Secretary
  Sean Pender, Treasurer
• Sohrab Ahmari, Journalist
• Matthew Lee Anderson, D. Phil Candidate in Christian Ethics, Oxford University
• Michael Bayer, Director of Evangelization, Saint Clement Catholic Church, Chicago
• Micaiah Bilger, Journalist
• Father Shenan J. Boquet, President, Human Life International
• Very Reverend Monsignor Patrick S. Brennan, Pastor, Saint Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Portland, Oregon
• Thomas Brejcha, President & Chief Counsel, Thomas More Society
• Doctor Jeffrey J. Burks, Vice-President, Notre Dame Chapter of University Faculty for Life, Associate Professor of Accountancy, University of Notre Dame
• Brian Camenker, President, Mass Resistance, Massachusetts
• Charles Camosy, Associate Professor of Bioethics, Fordham University
• S. Kathleen Carlson, MD Candidate, University of Virginia School of Medicine
• Daniel Carlson, MD, Medical College of Virginia
• Doctor Pat Castle, Coach and Founder, The National Life Runners Team
• Commander Joseph L. Coffey, Chaplain Corps, United States Navy
• Holly Taylor Coolman, Assistant Professor, Providence College
• Daniel J. Costello, Jr., Bettex Professor of Electrical Engineering Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
• William Cotter, President, Operation Rescue: Boston
• Martijn Cremers, Bernard J. Hank Professor of Finance, University of Notre Dame
• Kristen Day, Executive Director, Democrats for Life
• Patrick J. Deneen, David A. Potenziani Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame
• Alexandra DeSanctis, Journalist
• Benjamin Domenech, Publisher, The Federalist
• Lauren Enriquez, Founder, Kingwood Pro-Life Women
• Dan Flaherty, Irish Pro-Life USA, Knights of Columbus, Council 10419
• Honorable Raymond L. Flynn, Former Mayor of Boston, Former U. S. Ambassador to the Holy See
• Catherine Glenn Foster, President & CEO, Americans United for Life
• Richard Garnett, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
• Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
• Catherine Hadro, Host, EWTN Pro-Life Weekly
• Beth Kieran Haile, Independent Scholar
• Thomas A. Haltigan, Chairman, Rockaway Catholic Right to Life Ministries, New Jersey
• Attorney Thomas M. Harvey, Chairman, Massachusetts Alliance to Stop Taxpayer Funded Abortions
• Christina Healey, MD Candidate, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
• Jean B. Healey, Founder of Birthright of the South Shore (Massachusetts)
• Royce Hood, Founder, Law of Life Summit
• Jack Hughes, JP Hughes Consulting, Philadelphia
• Reverend Robert Imbelli, Associate Professor of Theology Emeritus, Boston College
• Elise Italiano, Executive Director, The Given Institute
• Attorney Robert W. Joyce, Boston
• Joseph P. Kaboski, David F. and Erin M. Seng Foundation Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame
• Jessica Keating, Notre Dame Office of Life and Human Dignity
• Brian D. Kelly, Editor, Mancipia
• Philip F. Lawler, Editor, Catholic World News
• Rachel Lu, Independent Writer
• James K. Matheson, DO, Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Maria E. Matheson, BSN, DDS
• Elizabeth S. Matheson, MD, MetroHealth/Cleveland Clinic Emergency Medicine
• Colbe Corcoran Mazzarella, Founder, Way of the Cross for Life
• John P. McCarthy, PhD, Professor Emeritus of History, Fordham University
• Ashley McKinless, Associate Editor, America Media
• Wilson D. Miscamble C.S.C., Professor of History, University of Notre Dame
• Antonio Robert Molle, Irish Pro-Life USA
• Attorney Philip D. Moran, Salem, MA
• Louis L. Murray, Chairman, Boston Catholic Radio
• Joanna Nurmis, Independent Scholar
• Brendan O’Connell, Executive Producer and Host, Life Matters TV
• Sarah E. Pitlyck, Special Counsel, Thomas More Society
• C. C. Pecknold, PhD, Associate Professor of Theology, Catholic University of America
• David Richter, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame
• Kimberly Ross, Senior Contributor, RedState.com
• Kate Scanlon, Writer
• Matthew Schmitz, Senior Editor, First Things
• Paul Shaniuk, MD, Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center
• Mark P. Shea, Author
• O. Carter Snead, Director of the Center for Ethics and Culture, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
• Collette and Michael Sweeney, Sidewalk Counsellors for Mothers in Crisis Pregnancies, New York
• Timothy and Marcella Taggart, Irish Pro-Life USA
• Sean Patrick Tracy, Managing Partner, Tracey & Fox, Houston
• John-Henry Westin, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, LifeSiteNews.com
• C. J. Williams, Director of Outreach, Rehumanize International

The Friends of Ireland is a coalition of American and Canadian organizations and individuals who esteem Ireland and her heritage, admire her traditions, and are solicitous for her future. Most are descendants of the Irish diaspora, and all value the contributions of Ireland to our common civilization.

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MEMBER ADVISORY

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2018
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

HONORABLE MICHAEL A. D’AVOLIO R.I.P.

Please pray for the repose of the soul of former Massachusetts State Representative Michael A. D’Avolio, Esq., who died on March 9th, at the age of 92.

A graduate of Boston English High School, Suffolk University, and Suffolk University Law School, Michael D’Avolio was a veteran of the United States Army Air Force in World War II.

First elected to the Legislature in 1960, Michael D’Avolio served three terms as a Representative in the General Court, holding office from 1961 to 1965, and, again, from 1967 to 1969. He went on to serve as Director of Corporations in the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Michael A. D’Avolio was a member of an outstanding generation of Catholic legislators in the Bay State during the 1960’s that included William M. Bulger, James J. Craven, Charles R. Doyle, Michael Paul Feeney, Raymond L. Flynn, Arthur J. Lewis, and others.

A practicing attorney in his beloved East Boston for more than five decades, Michael D’Avolio was the brother of Attorney Gerald D. D’Avolio, who served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference from 1976 to 2004, and again, from 2010 to 2011.

Representative D’Avolio’s wake will be held at the Ruggiero Family Memorial Home, 971 Saratoga Street, East Boston, on Wednesday, March 14th from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Saint Joseph & Saint Lazarus Church, Ashley Street, East Boston at 11:00 AM on Thursday, March 15th.

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts wishes to extend our sincere condolences to Gerry D’Avolio and to all the members of the D’Avolio family on the occasion of their grievous loss.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

“It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from sins.” — 2 Maccabees 12:46

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PRESS STATEMENT

SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2018
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

STATEMENT BY C. J. DOYLE TO THE IRISH ECHO ON BOSTON’S SAINT PATRICK’S DAY PARADE

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today is calling upon the Allied War Veterans Council of South Boston—the organizers of Boston’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade—to remove the name of the saint from the March 18th parade.

A parade named in honor of the saint who brought the Catholic Faith to Ireland will now showcase homosexual groups who not only express pride in rejecting the Faith of Saint Patrick, but who castigate its moral code as bigotry, hatred, and homophobia.

It will also feature politicians who repudiate Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life and the integrity of marriage, and who believe that Catholics have no moral or legal right to preserve the Christian character of Saint Patrick’s Day.

The organizers of the anti-Catholic carnival on Broadway should stop misappropriating, exploiting, and cheapening the venerable name of our patron saint for an event which advertises those who repudiate the beliefs of Saint Patrick. The March 18th parade, as presently constituted, is an insult to Saint Patrick, and an affront to all faithful Catholics.

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ACTION ALERT UPDATE!!

THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2018
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

NO VOTE YET ON SUICIDE BILL — CALLS AND EMAILS MUST CONTINUE!

Contrary to expectations, the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health did not vote yesterday on S.1225/H.1194 AN ACT RELATIVE TO END OF LIFE OPTIONS, the euthanasia measure characterized as physician assisted suicide.

If you have not yet expressed your opposition to this demonic proposal, please call or email the Committee on Public Health as soon as possible!

As before, please contact your own senator or representative, if he or she serves on the committee, whose members are listed below. If not, please contact the Senate and House Co-Chairmen, Sen. Jason Lewis and Rep. Kate Hogan, whose contact information is listed below.

I would like to express my gratitude to all of those who got in touch with us yesterday to let us know that they had made known to the committee their abhorrence at this deplorable, pro-death legislation. To them, and to everyone who called or emailed the committee, thank you.

Please keep up the pressure!

• Senate Co-Chair Jason M. Lewis, 617-722-1206, Jason.Lewis@masenate.gov
• Senate Vice-Chair Paul R. Feeney, 617-722-1222, paul.feeney@masenate.gov
• Sen. Julian Cyr, 617-722-1570, julian.cyr@masenate.gov
• Sen. Joan B. Lovely, 617-722-1410, Joan.Lovely@masenate.gov
• Sen. Richard J. Ross, 617-722-1555, Richard.Ross@masenate.gov
• House Co-Chair Kate Hogan, 617-722-2130, Kate.Hogan@mahouse.gov
• House Vice-Chair Evandro C. Carvalho, 617-722-2017, Evandro.Carvalho@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Linda Dean Campbell, 617-722-2380, Linda.Campbell@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Jonathan Hecht, 617-722-2140, Jonathan.Hecht@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Paul A. Schmid III, 617-722-2017, Paul.Schmid@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Mary S. Keefe, 617-722-2210, Mary.Keefe@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Brendan P. Crighton, 617-722-2013, brendan.crighton@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Jack Lewis, 617-722-2460, Jack.Lewis@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Chynah Tyler, 617-722-2130, Chynah.Tyler@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Hannah Kane, 617-722-2430, Hannah.Kane@mahouse.gov
• Rep. James J. Lyons, Jr., 617-722-2460, James.Lyons@mahouse.gov

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ACTION ALERT!!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2018
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

OPPOSE ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL!

Today, Wednesday, March 7, 2018, the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health will vote on Senate Bill 1225 and House Bill 1194, AN ACT RELATIVE TO END OF LIFE OPTIONS, sponsored by Senator Barbara A. L’Italien (D-Andover) and Representative Louis L. Kafka (D-Stoughton).

This measure would legalize so-called physician assisted suicide—nominally consensual euthanasia—in the Commonwealth. If reported favorably by the committee, the proposed law would move to the Senate or to the House of Representatives for a floor vote.

Suicide usurps the sovereignty of Almighty God, affronts the Author of Life, and violates Divine and natural law, specifically, the Fifth Commandment of the Decalogue: Thou shalt not kill.

This lethal legislation would replace an objective moral standard—the sanctity of innocent human life—with a subjective utilitarian standard—the quality of human life. If enacted, it will lead, invariably, to involuntary euthanasia, condemning the ill, the disabled, and the elderly to the status of disposable commodities.

Please contact the members of the Joint Committee on Public Health today, and urge them to vote against this malevolent measure!

If you live in the House or Senate district of any committee member, please call that legislator first. If not, please contact the Senate and House Co-Chairmen, listed below.

For your convenience, we enclose the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of the committee members:

• Senate Co-Chair Jason M. Lewis, 617-722-1206, Jason.Lewis@masenate.gov
• Senate Vice-Chair Paul R. Feeney, 617-722-1222, paul.feeney@masenate.gov
• Sen. Julian Cyr, 617-722-1570, julian.cyr@masenate.gov
• Sen. Joan B. Lovely, 617-722-1410, Joan.Lovely@masenate.gov
• Sen. Richard J. Ross, 617-722-1555, Richard.Ross@masenate.gov
• House Co-Chair Kate Hogan, 617-722-2130, Kate.Hogan@mahouse.gov
• House Vice-Chair Evandro C. Carvalho, 617-722-2017, Evandro.Carvalho@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Linda Dean Campbell, 617-722-2380, Linda.Campbell@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Jonathan Hecht, 617-722-2140, Jonathan.Hecht@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Paul A. Schmid III, 617-722-2017, Paul.Schmid@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Mary S. Keefe, 617-722-2210, Mary.Keefe@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Brendan P. Crighton, 617-722-2013, brendan.crighton@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Jack Lewis, 617-722-2460, Jack.Lewis@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Chynah Tyler, 617-722-2130, Chynah.Tyler@mahouse.gov
• Rep. Hannah Kane, 617-722-2430, Hannah.Kane@mahouse.gov
• Rep. James J. Lyons, Jr., 617-722-2460, James.Lyons@mahouse.gov

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MEDIA UPDATE

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

THE CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE IN THE NEWS

February has been a busy media month for the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts. We delivered a public rebuke to a notorious Catholic basher, spoke out in defense of the right to life of the elderly and disabled, and gained nation wide attention when we condemned Massachusetts legislation which would coerce the consciences of Christians:

• Secularized, bourgeois Catholic liberals—social climbing, culturally conforming and politically correct—love to posture and prattle on about social justice, but they see no injustice in the mass murder of unborn children. With their usual mixture of snobbish contempt and intellectual dishonesty, they parrot the anti-Catholic party line and even deride efforts to stop the slaughter as one more example of the alleged Catholic obsession with sex. When the geriatric Catholic basher Margery Eagan asserted this in an op-ed column in The Boston Globe, the League responded with a letter to the editor, published on February 1st, in New England’s largest newspaper, accusing her of whitewashing the killing of innocent children.
• In a February 1st interview with with Church Militant TV, I condemned the improvident decision by the Massachusetts Medical Society to enable the legalization of physician assisted suicide—which is, to say nominally consensual, passive euthanasia—in the Commonwealth, by retreating from the controversy through the adoption of a position of official neutrality. When asked how support for yet another assault on the sanctity of human life, and on the sovereignty of the Author of life, could be increasing in an historically Catholic state, I pointed out that Catholics are no longer a majority in the Bay State, and the overwhelming majority of those who still identify themselves as Catholics, do not attend Mass, do not receive the Sacrament of Penance, and reject the immemorial and irreformable moral precepts of Divine and natural law.
• When Massachusetts State Representative Michael Day (D-Stoneham)—who sits on the Elementary School Advisory Board of Saint Mary’s Parish in Winchester—filed legislation which would prevent the owners, officers or directors of corporations from citing moral or religious objections to servicing homosexual union ceremonies, Associated Press reached out to the Catholic Action League on February 8th for comment. Our clear and forceful press statement, demonstrating that the measure would unjustly penalize business owners for acting in accordance with their consciences, disenfranchise Christians of their constitutional rights, and would result in the wholesale exclusion of conscientious religious believers from entire professions, received national coverage. Our statement was carried on, 7 News WHDH Boston, and in stories which appeared in Boston.com, the Boston Herald, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Times, The Seattle Times, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the Boston Metro and SouthCoastTODAY. As expected, there was no comment on this malign proposal, inimical to the rights and consciences of Catholics, from either the Archdiocese of Boston or the Massachusetts Catholic Conference. The last statement on religious freedom rights on the website of the MCC is from July, 2013. There was, however, a January 31st press release from the archdiocese, about a friendly wager between Cardinal O’Malley and Archbishop Chaput on the Superbowl.

Since our last Media Update on October 30th, we have had a number of additional media appearances in the last quarter of 2017:

• On October 7th, my talk on “Our Lady of Fatima and the Fate of Nations,” at the annual Saint Benedict Center Conference in New Hampshire, was broadcast on the Crusade Channel of the Veritas Radio Network.
• On October 12th, our letter to the editor, denouncing the attempt by the Mayor of Waltham to seize the home of a Catholic religious order by eminent domain, was published in the Waltham News-Tribune.
• On October 31st, Church Militant carried a story, quoting the League, on the decision of Cardinal O’Malley to reverse, after pressure from the Massachusetts Ad Hoc Pro-Life Coalition, the ban on signature gathering on church property.
• On November 2nd, Church Militant published an extensive interview with me, in which I discussed, in detail, the influence of abortion proponents within the Archdiocese of Boston.
• Also on November 2nd, MassLive.com, WCVB TV and BOSTON 25 WFXT TV reported that the Catholic Action League opposed the so-called contraceptive access bill, which would expand employer and taxpayer subsidized coverage of abortifacients, contraceptives and sterilizations.
• On November 8th, the State House News Service released a story on the contraceptive bill quoting me: "What the Left calls access, is actually a state mandated subsidy, burdening the consciences of those forced, against their will, to provide it." The article was carried in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the MetroWest Daily News, and the New Boston Post.
• On November 9th, I was interviewed on the bill by Chrystal Haynes of BOSTON 25, WFXT TV, for a story which was broadcast on the 10 O’clock News.
• Also on November 9th, another story quoting the League on the bill, this time by the Boston University State House Program, appeared in the MetroWest Daily News.
• On November 13th, WCVB TV broadcast a story on Senate passage of the bill, again quoting the League.
• On November 16th, I was interviewed on the corporations bill, and other religious freedom issues, by Bob Bird of the “Bird’s Eye View With Bob Bird,” on KSRM Radio AM 90, Alaska.
• On November 20th and 21st, when the Boston media carried the news that Governor Charlie Baker had signed the measure into law, a number of them reported that the only voice raised against it was from the Catholic Action League. Such reports were broadcast on WBUR Radio/NPR Boston, and on WBSM Radio 1420, and appeared in the Boston Business Journal.
• On November 22nd, Church Militant published an article on the new law, about the League’s opposition to the legislation.
• On December 21st, the Catholic Action League, in an article in the Boston Herald, was the only organization to decry the hate fest and feeding frenzy which followed the death of Cardinal Bernard Law.

My sincere thanks to all of our members who have responded to our annual appeal. Through your support, our efforts to ensure that a Catholic voice is heard in the public life of New England, when there is nothing but silence from the Church, continue.

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NEWS RELEASE

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2018
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE CRITICIZES HOUSE BILL TARGETING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RIGHTS

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today criticized House Bill 767, AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN CIVIL RIGHTS, which is being characterized by its proponents as the “No Religious Excuses for Corporate Discrimination Act.”

The legislation would prohibit corporations, and their officers and directors, from refusing to comply with anti-discrimination law based on “purported religious belief or moral conviction.” The presumed targets of the measure are those businesses which may decline to service same gender “marriage” ceremonies.

The proposed law, sponsored by State Representative Michael S. Day (D-Stoneham), was favorably reported by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary on February 7th. It now moves to a floor vote in the House of Representatives.

The Catholic Action League called the bill “a punitive, coercive proposal intended to disenfranchise those business owners who organize themselves as corporations from exercising their constitutional rights.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “Sexual orientation and so-called gender identity are, already, protected categories in the Commonwealth’s civil rights statute pertaining to public accommodations. Both the Superior Court and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination—a civil enforcement agency—have held, in various decisions, that anti-discrimination law prevails over claims of religious freedom.”

“It would seem that this legislation has been crafted in response to a possible, perhaps likely, U. S. Supreme Court decision affirming religious liberty, founded upon the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment, in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Colorado baker’s case.”

“If the Supreme Court finds that an individual business owner, like baker Jack Phillips, or, as in the Hobby Lobby case, a closely held corporation, cannot be compelled to act against sincerely held moral and religious beliefs, then other corporate actors, in the Bay State, at least, can still be dragooned into servicing same sex ceremonies, and penalized if they refuse.”

“Under this proposed law, if a Massachusetts business owner chooses to incorporate, for tax or investment reasons, then he or she would forfeit certain legal protections guaranteeing their rights of conscience. This creates a materiel incentive to abandon Christian convictions and conform to the dominant, post-Christian culture and accept its secular ideology.”

“The underlying principle in all of this is that those who believe in what everyone, always and everywhere believed about marriage, from the beginning of recorded history until now, are bigots who ought to be punished. This is one more attempt to criminalize the perennial moral wisdom of Western Civilization.”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Michael Day, serves on the Elementary School Advisory Board of Saint Mary’s Parish in Winchester.

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PRESS STATEMENT

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2018
CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

STATEMENT BY C. J. DOYLE TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ON MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE BILL 767

House bill 767—AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN CIVIL RIGHTS, would prevent the owners and officers of businesses in Massachusetts from asserting a religious freedom right or a moral objection in refusing to service same gender, so-called marriage ceremonies. Its sponsor is State Representative Michael S. Day (D-Stoneham).

Day, who the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts lists as a “Champion,” is also a proponent of physician assisted suicide. A graduate of Georgetown University Law School, Day serves on the Elementary School Advisory Board of Saint Mary’s Parish in Winchester.

Despite repeated complaints by faithful Catholics, the Archdiocese of Boston has allowed Representative Day to retain his membership on the school board.

In response to an inquiry by reporter Steve LaBlanc of the Associated Press, Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comment: “This measure has nothing to with preventing discrimination and everything to do with coercing the consciences of Christians and enforcing homosexual ideology on the rest of society.”

“The same people who pleaded for tolerance and an end to discrimination when gay rights laws were being considered, now demand that Christians be punished, and if necessary, driven out of business if they refuse to service same-sex “marriage” ceremonies.”

“If this legal thuggery succeeds, conscientious religious believers will be effectively excluded—which is to say, discriminated against, in entire professions—such as those of printers, photographers, bakers, florists, wedding planners, along with jobs and businesses in the hospitality industry. The hypocrisy is appalling.”

“An act of the Legislature does not supersede the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment or the Declaration of Rights of the Massachusetts Constitution. The U. S. Supreme Court may render this proposed legislation null and void if it decides in favor of religious freedom rights in the Colorado baker’s case.”

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

FEBRUARY 5, 2018

Letters
Boston Herald
70 Fargo Street
Boston, MA 02210

To the Editor:

The Boston Herald, in its editorial rebuking the Polish government for placing exclusive blame on the Nazis for the genocide that was perpetrated in that country in World War II, wrote: “In all some three million Jews and three million other Polish citizens lost their lives in the Nazi death camps.” (Poland’s Holocaust denial, 2/4/2018)

Was there a reason the Herald’s editorial writers could not bring themselves to admit that three million Polish Catholics were murdered by the Nazis? Or does that detract from the narrative?

On the very day the editorial was published German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz that Germany was solely responsible for the attempted extermination of Jews and crimes against the Polish nation during World War II.

Nor is the Herald in any position to engage in finger pointing. On September 2, 1939—one day after Hitler invaded Poland—the current newspaper’s corporate predecessor and namesake, The Boston Herald, editorialized against American intervention.

Instead of condemning Poland, the Herald ought to apologize for the role its own institutional ancestors played in failing to resist Nazi aggression.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617)524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

Boston Herald 1939 editorial

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NEWS UPDATE

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018

CONTACT: C. J. DOYLE
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

— BAKER AND WALSH ON FRONT PAGE OF PILOT

— WALSH INVITED TO “CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK”

I. The Cardinal with the Governor and the Mayor, Again –

In the January 19th edition of The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, whose publisher is Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the front page, headline story and the above the fold, lead photograph were about a new affordable housing initiative undertaken by Saint Francis House and the archdiocesan Planning Office for Urban Affairs. The Union, a former Unitarian institution on Boylston Street in Boston, will be redeveloped, with the help of state and city financing, into 46 units of low income housing.

The headline photo features a smiling Cardinal Sean flanked by two of the leading proponents of abortion and sodomy in Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

In his State of the State Address a few days later, Baker promised, for the second time in the last ten months, to use Massachusetts tax dollars to compensate Planned Parenthood in the event of any loss or reduction of federal funding to the nation’s largest abortion perpetrator. Walsh, the 2016 “Men for Choice” award recipient from NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, has promised to make Boston a sanctuary city for abortion should Roe v. Wade be overturned. Last June, he named a square in the city’s South End after the infamous abortionist Kenneth Edelin.

The 2004 statement by the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholics in Political Life, prohibited Catholic institutions from giving “awards, honors or platforms” to those who “act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.” Cardinal O’Malley, who once served as Pro-Life Chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, has violated this injunction nearly two dozen times in the last four years.

On January 12th, O’Malley issued a statement implicitly rebuking President Donald Trump for his reported remarks about Haiti. He even found it necessary to criticize remarks made by the Pope in Chile.

Baker and Walsh, however, both fanatics about abortion, the deformity of marriage, and the mainstreaming of homosexuality and so-called transgenderism, receive nothing but Home on the Range treatment—where never is heard a discouraging word—from Cardinal Sean. Worse than that, they are repeatedly invited as honored guests to archdiocesan events. Why are these two dedicated enemies of Catholicity the object of such fawning sycophancy by the Archbishop of Boston? Someone should ask His Eminence why these two evil adversaries of Divine and natural law are, repeatedly, accorded celebrity status by the Catholic Church in Boston.

II. Walsh and Evans help kick off Catholic Schools Week –

On January 29th—in yet another violation of Catholics in Political Life—Mayor Marty Walsh and Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans were invited to the Lower Mills campus of Saint John Paul II Academy in Dorchester as part of the beginning of Catholic Schools Week in Massachusetts.

Walsh’s opposition to the moral beliefs and the constitutional rights of Catholic is well known. This opposition includes the rejection of school choice, tuition vouchers and tuition tax credits for Catholic school parents, and retaining the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing Amendment in the Massachusetts Constitution. Apparently, in the view of the archdiocesan educational bureaucracy, all of this offers no obstacle to giving Walsh a platform in a Catholic School.

As for Commissioner Evans, he has followed the example of the man who appointed him.

When the Bay State buffer zone law was overturned in 2014 by the U. S. Supreme Court in McCullen v. Coakley, new punitive legislation directed against pro-life sidewalk counselors was advanced in the General Court. At a legislative hearing on the measure, Evans told House and Senate members on the Judiciary Committee that “Unfortunately, there’s some zealots out there who really get up in these young girls’ faces,” and went on to say “The old behavior was back, as far as women being screamed at in their faces, being dogged as they went down a side street — and that’s why we need to put some teeth into something to give us as police officers some tools to make our job easier.”

Evans made this absurdly malicious claim—about peaceful Catholics reciting the Rosary—despite the absence of reports from his own officers, the lack of video evidence on ubiquitous surveillance cameras, and the fact that no pro-life activists have been arrested outside of Massachusetts abortion clinics in the last decade. That Evans has been praised in the press by Margery Eagan, tells us all we need to know.

Evans was also part of the successful effort by the Walsh administration to muscle the Allied War Veterans Council of South Boston—organizers of Boston’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade—into accepting homosexual groups in a parade in honor of a Catholic saint. Evans reportedly told parade officials that the Boston Police might not be able to secure the parade from threats of violence, and that it might have to be cancelled as a public safety necessity.

In less than two weeks, three adversaries of the right to life—Baker, Walsh and Evans—were given an obsequious reception by church authorities, just four months after faithful, pro-life Catholics had to petition for access to church property. Once again, it would seem that the corporate culture of the Church in Boston is pervaded by a spirit of betrayal. God help us!

Saint Patrick, principal patron saint of the Archdiocese of Boston, pray for us!

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

JANUARY 29, 2018

Telegram & Gazette
Letters to the Editor
100 Front Street, Floor Five
Worcester, MA 01608

To the Editor:

At a time of explosive revelations about sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry, in corporate America, and in her own profession of journalism, Dianne Williamson has now focused two columns, in a little over a week, on past incidents of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church (Some lessons still to learn for church, 1/27/2018).

Williamson’s criticisms of the Church are becoming increasingly threadbare. The recent defrocking of Peter Inzerillo was the occasion for Williamson to revisit events that occurred in the nineteen nineties.

It should be obvious by now that Williamson views the Church as an ideological adversary, which ought to be discredited at every opportunity.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617)524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

JANUARY 29, 2018 — Published February 1

Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
P. O. Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819

To the Editor:

In her latest criticism of the Catholic Church, Margery Eagan wrote that Pope Francis “...focused on the poor, refugees, the planet, forgiveness, mercy—not the typical Catholic focus on anything to do with sex.” (A faith misplaced, 1/29/2018)

Trivializing Catholic moral teaching as a kind of Victorian prudishness about sex is Eagan’s cynical way of whitewashing the mass killing of pre-born children through abortion.

While the Church calls the faithful to chastity outside of marriage, more of its public witness in recent decades has been devoted to upholding the sanctity of innocent human life, a principle which Eagan repudiates and despises.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617)524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

Attention: Matthew Bernstein