Life Issues Commission sends objections on conscience protection rescission
LOS ANGELES --- In advance of this week's deadline to comment on the Department of Health and Human Services' proposal to rescind federal conscience protection regulations for health care workers, the archdiocesan Commission for Catholic Life Issues sent an official letter to HHS April 7 outlining objections to the proposed rescission.

Authored by Commission member Daniel Mansueto, the eight-page letter argues against rescinding the December 19, 2008 final rule entitled "Ensuring That Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies Or Practices in Violation of Federal Law."

As stated in the letter, the December 19 Rule is needed in order to ensure protection for those who refuse, on conscience grounds, to provide certain types of support for abortion and artificial contraception, including pharmacists who refuse to provide abortifacients and health care providers who refuse to provide referrals for abortion and artificial contraception. The letter noted this is especially urgent for Catholics who work in non-Catholic institutions.

The rescission of the December 19 Rule, according to the archdiocesan Commission for Catholic Life Issues, would be a signal that HHS is not committed to enforcing, or is even hostile to, the Conscience Protection Statutes and would have an adverse impact on health care by driving ethical Catholic individuals and institutions from the field.

The rescission will also lead to "ambiguities that may result in violations of federally protected conscience rights and will weaken enforcement of those rights," said archdiocesan commission for Catholic Life Issues officials.

Shooting victims, outpouring of grief reflect city's immigrant roots
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (CNS) --- The 14 people who died April 3 in the shooting at the American Civic Association --- and the dozens who escaped --- reflected the city's immigrant past and present, as has the outpouring of support and grief from the region, according to area priests and others. As word of events at the immigrant services center spread that Friday, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic and Protestant religious leaders flocked to a Catholic Charities office nearby to provide support for anxious relatives and friends of people who were believed to be inside the agency. While police tried to understand what was happening at the center, counselors, clergy, translators and others gathered at Catholic Charities, said staff member Marsha Maroney. She told Catholic News Service April 6 that dozens of counselors and others with social service skills would be on hand at Catholic Charities for as long as people needed assistance in coping with the worst crime Binghamton-area residents could recall happening in their community. Police said Jiverly A. Wong, 41, barricaded an exit route at the center with his car, then killed 13 people including an English teacher and a dozen students. He shot and wounded four others before taking his own life, they said.

Iowa bishops say allowing gay marriage 'will grievously harm families'
DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNS) --- Iowa's Catholic bishops vigorously disagreed with the Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous decision April 3 that strikes down state law defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman. "This decision rejects the wisdom of thousands of years of human history. It implements a novel understanding of marriage, which will grievously harm families and children," the bishops said in a statement prepared by the Iowa Catholic Conference. The bishops vowed to continue to protect and promote marriage as a union between a man and a woman and asked Catholics and other citizens of Iowa to call for a constitutional amendment on marriage. With the high court's ruling, Iowa becomes the third state in the nation to recognize marriages for gay and lesbian couples, after Massachusetts and Connecticut. In its 7-0 decision, the court in Des Moines ruled that "limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the Iowa Constitution." The decision further allows gay and lesbian couples full access to the institution of civil marriage. The ruling resolves an action brought by six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in Polk County because of the 1998 Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Parishioners from eight dioceses seek mediation for parish closings
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Parishioners from 31 groups in eight U.S. dioceses have joined forces to ask the Vatican to suspend parish closings and to instruct bishops to negotiate the closures with local Catholics. In an 18-page letter delivered April 7 to several Vatican offices, the parish representatives said the decision to close hundreds of parishes across the country has left the U.S. Catholic Church at a "'tipping point' of permanent damage and irreversible decline." Peter Borre, co-chairman of the Boston-based Council of Parishes, formed in 2004 to oppose parish closings, said the effort is meant to offer a "third way" for the Catholic Church to respond to changing demographics, financial concerns and the declining number of priests nationwide. "We are asking the Secretariat of State to basically instruct U.S. bishops to suspend, not roll back, parish closings and to urge bishops in the eight dioceses we name to enter into mediation with parishioner groups," Borre told Catholic News Service from Rome April 7. In addition to parishioners in the Boston Archdiocese, other worshippers involved in the request are from the New York and New Orleans archdioceses and the dioceses of Allentown, Pa., Buffalo, N.Y., Cleveland, Scranton, Pa., and Springfield, Mass.

Members of new advisory council urged to make groups' voices heard
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- The Obama administration told members of a new President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and other guests April 6 that it wants the government to aggressively encourage participation by faith-based and community organizations in advisory and hands-on capacities. At the opening session of a briefing that continued April 7, Joshua Dubois, director of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, explained that the council and his office are still being organized, but that President Barack Obama's goal is to "bring into partnership" faith-based and community organizations in the United States and around the world. He noted that the predecessor Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, created by President George W. Bush, did great work, but that there was a sense that "certain faiths were not welcome" and that community groups that didn't have religious roots were not encouraged to participate. "We take the word 'community' very seriously and when we talk about faith-based, we mean interfaith," Dubois said. He was joined in presentations by White House staff members charged with policy on education and urban affairs. Also speaking were an associate director of the Office of Management and Budget and Candy Hill, senior vice president for social policy at Catholic Charities USA.