Louisiana State Senator Katrina Jackson at the Live Action Life Awards. / Francesca Pollio/CNA
Washington D.C., Oct 2, 2021 / 10:03 am (CNA).
“It’s racist to fund abortions,” Katrina Jackson recently told EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, “because you’re going to have to cut the budget somewhere.”
Jackson, a pro-life Democrat, spoke with the show in an episode that aired Sept. 30. She responded to the push by Democrats to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding from going toward abortion with the exceptions of rape, incest, and to save the mother’s life. Established in 1976, Hyde has saved more than two million lives according to pro-life estimates. Today, it’s under threat by Democrats, many of whom call it racist.
During a House vote in July, not a single Democrat supported Hyde.
“I was shocked,” Jackson remembered. “I was even more disappointed that some Democrats advocated that it was racist for us not to repeal the Hyde Amendment.”
Jackson spoke from personal experience, she said.
“I sit in a room with African American women every day. 60% of my district is African American,” she emphasized. “I’ve never been in a group of African Americans who’ve asked me to fund abortion.”
Instead, she said, the African American community is “still screaming for equitable education and access to health care.”
The funding of abortion is racist, she stressed, because that funding will be taken from something else.
“At every level of government, in order to spend more money, unless more revenue comes in, you cut the budget somewhere,” she said. “In Louisiana, generally we have a deficit, we have to cut education and health care.”
This goes against what the African American community is actually asking for, she said. “What we’re screaming for right now in the African American community all over this country is, of course, things like health care, education, having a seat at the table, business, economic development,” she said.
She shared her message for President Biden, who reversed his decades-long support of the Hyde Amendment while preparing for the 2020 presidential election.
“I would tell him that those who voted for him and his base didn’t ask him to fund abortion,” she said. “He’s listening to a small segment of America, an extremely small segment of America who are asking him to do this. And he needs to listen to the voice collectively of a whole in America.”
Earlier this year, a Knights of Columbus-sponsored Marist poll found that nearly six in 10 (58%) Americans oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortion, including 31% of Democrats.
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Jimmy Lai at a Hong Kong protest / Courtesy of the Acton Institute
Washington D.C., May 5, 2023 / 08:20 am (CNA).
A new film about Hong Kong media mogul turned pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has amassed more than 1 million views on YouTube an… […]
Pilgrims pray in front of St. Peter’s Basilica / Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
Rome, Italy, May 26, 2022 / 08:37 am (CNA).
When St. Philip Neri came to Rome from Florence in 1533, he encountered a city in upheaval. The Sack of Rome six years prior had left famine and plague in its wake. The Protestant Reformation was in full swing and the Church was rife with corruption.
The young Philip, who would spend around 16 years in Rome as a layman before becoming a priest, soon dedicated himself to caring for the city’s sick and poor.
The saint, whose feast day falls on May 26, also realized that Rome’s people were suffering from a spiritual sickness and tiredness as well, and so he set out to reinvigorate Catholics with the joy of the faith through song and dance — and jokes.
A historic illustration of the seven churches. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
Part of St. Philip’s outreach was the revival of the Seven Churches visit. He may not be the originator of the idea of the pilgrimage to some of Rome’s most important churches, but he is credited with renewing its popularity.
After it fell out of use once again, St. Philip’s congregation of secular priests, the Oratory, revived it in the 1960s, including holding the walk one night each year, as close as possible to the way the saint would have done it.
Fr. Maurizio Botta, who led the pilgrimage, speaks at the start in front of Chiesa Nuova. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
After a two-year pause, on the evening of May 13 into the morning of May 14, around 800 people walked 15 and a half miles in the footsteps of the saint and his followers.
Police officers in cruisers drove ahead of the urban pilgrimage to block traffic as a sea of Catholics from around Italy crossed busy intersections and passed Friday night diners while praying the rosary in unison and singing the Taizé chant “Laudate Dominum,” whose words say in Latin, “Praise the Lord, all people, Alleluia.”
Pilgrims, including scouts, walk through Rome’s Ostiense neighborhood. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
The rosary was prayed four times during the pilgrimage, which took almost 10 hours to complete, including stops for a sack dinner at midnight and short lessons on the virtues led by priests of the Oratory.
Pilgrims, including scouts, walk through Rome’s Ostiense neighborhood. Hannah Brockhaus
The seven basilicas were chosen by the saint for their importance to Christianity, and the walk on May 13-14 followed the path laid out in a 16th-century document almost certainly seen and used by St. Philip — and likely even written by him.
This document, recreated and printed into a booklet for use on the annual pilgrimage today, gives St. Philip’s guidance for those making the Seven Churches visit.
Eating a sack dinner in the courtyard of a church. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
“Before setting out to make this holy Pilgrimage, each of the Brethren must lift up his mind to God, offering him the sincerity of his heart, with the purpose of desiring the sole glory of his divine Majesty in all actions, and especially in this one,” it says.
Those participating can also earn an indulgence under the usual conditions, and are asked to pray for specific intentions. These include praying for the penance of sins, the amendment of lukewarmness and negligence in the service of God, in thanksgiving for the forgiveness of sins, for the pope and the Church, for sinners still in the darkness of an evil life, for the conversion of heretics, schismatics, and infidels, and for the holy souls in purgatory.
Pilgrims stop to pray on the way to St. Peter’s Basilica. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
The pilgrimage began at Chiesa Nuova, the church built by St. Philip for the Oratory, and proceeded to St. Peter’s Basilica, reaching the site of St. Peter’s martyrdom at sunset.
Pilgrims walk on a path next to the Tiber River. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
Each of the seven churches is associated with a moment of Christ’s Passion and Crucifixion. At each stop, an Oratory priest preached on a virtue and its opposing vice, before everyone joined in a prayer for an increase in that virtue and for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The virtues and vices were abstinence against gluttony, patience against ire, chastity against lust, generosity against avarice, fervor of spirit against acedia, charity against envy, and humility against pride.
A street sign marking Seven Churches Way. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
After the Basilica of St. Paul, the pilgrimage followed an ancient street still called Seven Churches Way to arrive at the catacombs and the Basilica of St. Sebastian, a third-century Christian martyr.
As a layman in Rome, St. Philip Neri used to visit the catacombs of St. Sebastian to pray. One night in the catacombs, about 10 years after moving to Rome, as he prayed, a mystical ball of fire entered his mouth and went down into his chest, exploding his ribs and doubling the size of his heart with love of God.
St. Philip was changed, both physically and spiritually, by this event, which he only revealed shortly before his death.
Pilgrims outside the catacombs of St. Sebastian. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
Pilgrims next arrived at the Domine Quo Vadis Church after a silent, moonlit walk through the ancient Appian Way Park, flanked by the silhouettes of Italian cypress trees.
The small church of medieval origin marks the spot where, according to tradition, Jesus appeared to St. Peter as he was fleeing Rome to avoid martyrdom.
Peter asked Jesus, “Domine quo vadis?” (“Lord, where are you going?”), to which Christ said, “Venio Romam iterum crucifigi,” (“I am coming to Rome to be crucified again.”) This rebuke caused Peter to turn around and face his own martyrdom.
Pilgrims walk along the ancient Aurelian Wall on their way to the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
The Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls was the penultimate stop. The church, which has the tomb of St. Lawrence, is located next to Rome’s Verano Monumental Cemetery, and was included among the Seven Churches by St. Philip Neri, Father Botta said, as a reminder of mortality.
Almost 2 weeks ago I went on St. Philip Neri’s 7 Churches Walk in Rome.
800 people walked over 15 miles during the 10-hour night pilgrimage.
During the last stretch, at 5:15am, we passed through Termini train station, and Francesco caught this video of the moment. pic.twitter.com/C2SPHn5yoR
— Hannah Brockhaus (@HannahBrockhaus) May 26, 2022
The final stretch of the walk passed through Rome’s main train station, Termini, where pilgrims sang the Marian antiphon “Salve Regina.”
Pilgrims walk through Termini train station singing the “Salve Regina”. Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
The pilgrimage finished shortly before 6:00 a.m. at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the traditional end of the walk, where the “Salve Regina” hymn was sung again in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Pilgrims sing the “Salve Regina” outside the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Hannah Brockhaus/CNAA baby and his mom enjoy a moment with a new friend at the end of the pilgrimage. Hannah Brockhaus/CNAA statue of Mary on a column outside the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Hannah Brockhaus
Bishop Emmanuel Lafont (center) addresses the crowd during a protest against same-sex marriage in Cayenne, French Guyana, on Jan. 12, 2013. / Photo credit JODY AMIET/AFP via Getty Images
Katrina Jackson shows real grit speaking out against the racism inflicted on African American women by abortion policy that purposely targets the poor and minorities. Analogous to telling Blacks, We’ll take care of you. We’ll kill your babies. Most Afro Americans who champion abortion are apparently either in government politics or street politics, and hold lucrative positions preaching Black victimization. Dogmas antithetical to developing self reliance and industry. It behooves these modern carpetbaggers to ‘keep the Black Man on the plantation’ and ensure their support. It’s a vicious cycle unfortunately promoted by the President and his gang of secular socialist purveyors of racial conflict and cultural destruction. There are Afro Americans well aware of the dynamics in play, who will hopefully have a greater voice in their communities and the public at large – if there’s a change in administration. Although, Biden’s open border policy is seemingly aimed at preventing that by radically shifting demographics in his party’s favor.
We’re edging toward the truth: abortion is racist because it targets African-Americans for extermination, and in America, it always has done. Say it out loud.
Katrina Jackson shows real grit speaking out against the racism inflicted on African American women by abortion policy that purposely targets the poor and minorities. Analogous to telling Blacks, We’ll take care of you. We’ll kill your babies. Most Afro Americans who champion abortion are apparently either in government politics or street politics, and hold lucrative positions preaching Black victimization. Dogmas antithetical to developing self reliance and industry. It behooves these modern carpetbaggers to ‘keep the Black Man on the plantation’ and ensure their support. It’s a vicious cycle unfortunately promoted by the President and his gang of secular socialist purveyors of racial conflict and cultural destruction. There are Afro Americans well aware of the dynamics in play, who will hopefully have a greater voice in their communities and the public at large – if there’s a change in administration. Although, Biden’s open border policy is seemingly aimed at preventing that by radically shifting demographics in his party’s favor.
We’re edging toward the truth: abortion is racist because it targets African-Americans for extermination, and in America, it always has done. Say it out loud.