January, 2012

On January 20, the HHS issued a ruling that most employers will be required to cover contraception in their health plans, along with other preventive services, with no cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles. The Catholic Church is included in the “most” employer category.

Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups, of course, applauded the decision. Catholic bishops across the country have condemned the Obama administration’s suppression of religious freedom.

Catholic Vote has the whole list. Archbishop Listecki of Milwaukee, Bishop Ricken of Green Bay and Bishop Morlino of Madison have spoken out. Update 1/30/12 Bishop Callahan of La Crosse has also weighed in.

Bishop Ricken read his letter to the faithful at Mass today, receiving a standing ovation. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is on record as opposing any religious exemptions, as well as the one-year stay before the HHS rule goes into effect.

More from the NBC affiliate in Green Bay:

Green Bay, WI – A Green Bay Catholic Bishop took time Sunday to a read a letter during Mass, calling on Catholics in Northeast Wisconsin to take action against new healthcare regulations. The regulations Bishop David Ricken is opposing come from the Dept. of Health and Human Services, which announced this week most church-affiliated groups will be required to offer their workers coverage, that includes contraception plans.

Under the new law churches and other employers with a religious base have a year to comply with the changes so they have time to adapt, but the bishop said they can never adapt.

“It’s a direct disconnect against our principles, our philosophy, our background, our teaching,” said Ricken. “If we don’t protect the rights to religious liberty for all faiths we’re going to be in trouble as a nation.”

After he read the letter to the congregation Sunday, a stand ovation followed.

Planned Parenthood responded to the church’s opposition. In a statement to NBC26, they said, “Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin applauds the decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services to ensure access to affordable birth control, and not further expand the refusal provision to the birth control coverage benefit under the Affordable Care Act.”

They add, “Planned Parenthood believes all women, regardless of their employer, should be able to access the birth control coverage benefit. That’s why Planned Parenthood opposes the current provision that allows religious employers like churches and church associations to deny this important and economically valuable benefit to their employees. Planned Parenthood also disagrees with adding the one year waiver provision to the final rule.”

Seen and heard ’round Twitter this week. Follow us on Twitter if you aren’t already!

Thank you to everyone who joined us in DC, along with those who prayed for an end to abortion in their home towns. Every year, the March for Life gets bigger and bigger. And Wisconsin continues to be well-represented!

Close to 20 buses from around Wisconsin traveled to Washington, DC for the March. Many carloads of people drove separately, and dozens of individuals and groups of students from several Wisconsin colleges and high schools flew out. Bishop Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay attended the March with the Diocese’s group.

Read an article about the Vigil for Life Mass, held the night before the March, here.

After the rally, Rep. Sean Duffy held a pro-life reception for people from Wisconsin at his Capitol Hill office. Hundreds of people turned out to visit Duffy’s office. Other than Rep. Duffy, speakers at the reception included Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Sen. Ron Johnson, Rep. Reid Ribble, Rep. Chris Smith, Rep. Paul Ryan, Raymond Arroyo of EWTN and National Review columnist Kathryn Jean Lopez.

To get an idea of just how big the March is, watch a minute-long time lapse video of last year’s March for Life here.

Photos from the March, below.

Part of our group, waiting for the March to get going.

Pro-life youth!

Marquette University Students for Life

A group of nearly 250 from St. John Cantius Church of Chicago.

Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska

Marchers stretched for miles and miles.

And miles… the street is filled with pro-lifers as far as the eye can see!

Raymond Arroyo speaking during Rep. Duffy’s reception.

Sen. Ron Johnson speaking during Rep. Duffy’s reception.

Photos at Sts. Peter & Paul blog.

From the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, entire article here:

Many see in these young people a real search for certainty in an era of ambiguity. Mike Hayes, author of “Googling God: The Religious Landscape of People in Their 20s and 30s” writes, “In a world where life seems very fleeting, young adults search for things they can depend on, things that have stood the test of time, things they regard as true, and things greater than themselves.” And for their little brothers and sisters, Catholics in their teens, many seem utterly and simply “on fire” about their faith in a way that older generations find hard to fathom. In their world and in their understanding, living one’s faith is not a given; it must be a conscious decision, and they are embracing the truths of the faith and challenging those older – and perhaps more lukewarm than themselves – to do the same.

This passion  was evidenced on Friday, January 20, 2012 as the Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center came alive with the flames of faith at the “IGNITE! Youth Rally for Life” sponsored by the Nazareth Project of the John Paul II Center. Almost 700 high school students and their chaperones, along with scores of young priests and seminarians from the dioceses of La Crosse, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison, came together for the celebration of the Mass and a two-hour praise and worship rally for life. Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki presided at the “Mass for Life” in a jam-packed Mater Christi Chapel. As part of the Mass, he gave his blessing as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to all of the students who would travel on to the March for Life in Washington, D.C.  The praise and worship rally that followed the Mass rocked the Cousins Center auditorium with music by the band SONAR and later featured Auxiliary Bishop Donald J. Hying leading the gathering in eucharistic adoration and Benediction.

This immense pro-life response locally is echoed all across the country, and as Archbishop Listecki has said, “The unborn don’t vote. These young people will.”

This generation’s passion and fervor for their faith is out-of-control . . . and it’s “catching.” Catch the fever yourself, and feed the flames of faith in your own life. Let Jesus Christ ignite the flames of desire and love in your heart for him. We will set the world ablaze!

January 22, 2012 marks 39 years of legalized abortion in the United States. It has been 39 years since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade.

As a 2005 graduate of UW-Madison, women of my generation are all too familiar with “choice,” the pro-abortion euphemism for the option to legally kill your own unborn child. We have heard the mantra from the Baby Boomers that the world is ours, and an unwanted pregnancy will get in the way of breaking the glass ceiling.

Women of my generation know what choice is. It is neither compassionate nor caring. The face of choice is a friend who commits suicide after having an abortion, when the realization of what she has done sinks in. We have watched as choice wreaked havoc on our friends’ bodies and minds, as abortion took its physical and mental toll. We have watched as choice ended friends’ relationships, women no longer able to look at their partner, men emasculated with no say in the matter.

Choice takes advantage of a woman who is alone and in a desperate place. Nothing about abortion on demand liberates women. Why can’t we see we are killing the next generation of feminists?

Sadly, abortion is an everyday occurrence. Since 1973, nearly 55 million children have been killed through abortion. One-third of my generation is missing due to abortion; legally exterminated in this country we are so proud to call the best country in the world.

In the black community, the numbers are staggering. 3,000 abortions occur every day in the United States, but 1,000 of those are African American babies.  Wisconsin is the eighth lowest state nationally in the number of abortions, but the racial disparity in its numbers far exceeds the national trends. In Wisconsin, 6.2% of the population is black, yet 24% of all state abortions are on African-Americans, which is four times the representation.

If “Every abortion is a tragedy,” as pro-abortion figures proclaim, why are we not doing more to encourage safe and healthy lifestyle choices? Women deserve more, and women deserve better.

We owe it to the next generation of women to offer love and compassion, rather than terminating a human life. We owe it to the next generation to give them a world where abortion is not the solution, masquerading as women’s health.

My generation does not want abortion as our legacy. My generation will be the one to end legalized abortion.

- Virginia Zignego, Communications Director

This is super exciting!! And another slam-dunk pro-life bill for Rep. Andre Jacque, author of the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment.

Pro-Life Wisconsin is strongly supporting legislation currently under circulation that would permit the creation of a “Choose Life” specialty license plate in Wisconsin. Proceeds from plate sales would fund the work of crisis pregnancy centers across the state, including adoption assistance.

Authored by State Representative Andre Jacque (R-Bellevue) and State Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), LRB 3486 would require plate holders to pay a $15 issuance fee and a $25 annual fee that provides funds to Choose Life Wisconsin.  These fees would be in addition to basic plate registration fees. For more details, please click here for a copy of the bill.