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Lansing, Mich., Aug 13, 2019 / 03:28 am (CNA).- Lawmakers in Michigan are considering ending public funding for a program that counsels pregnant women on alternatives to abortion, prompting concern from the Michigan Catholic Conference, which has been advocating for the program since its inception five years ago.

The program, administered by a nonprofit called Real Alternatives, began in Pennsylvania in 1996 and has since helped thousands of women, across several states, facing unplanned pregnancies by providing counseling and material resources such as baby formula and other necessities. The program expanded its operations to Michigan beginning in June 2014 with the backing of the Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC).

Two Democratic Michigan state senators introduced amendments to the state budget this year to block funding for Real Alternatives, which failed to pass. The funding for the program— $700,000 in total— is still included in the legislature’s budget for 2020.

Despite this, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the state’s new governor who took office in Jan. 2019, has so far not included funding for Real Alternatives in her most recent budget, according to a July 22 editorial in The Detroit News.

David Maluchnik, communications vice president for the MCC, told CNA that the MCC is continuing to advocate for funding for the program to be included in the state budget.

“We’ve already succeeded in beating back efforts to line-item the funds from committee and on the Senate floor,” Maluchnik told CNA via email.

“As out-of-state, pro-abortion organizations have spent at least six figures to defund the program, MCC continues to speak with administration officials and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as budget discussions continue.”

According to Real Alternatives’ estimates, the Michigan program has served 8,240 women at 31,958 support visits since 2014. The state has appropriated $3.3 million to the program since its inception.

“Citizens want to help these women. This is the fastest way to lower abortions,” Real Alternatives founding CEO Kevin Bagatta told CNA.

“Citizens are happy that their taxpayer monies are being used to help their fellow citizens in an unexpected pregnancy.”

If a woman is alone and poor, she may struggle with the pressures of an unexpected pregnancy, he said. What the Real Alternatives program does is provide a counselor, who helps the woman from conception until 12 months after the baby’s birth, training her how to take care of the baby and herself.

The counselor acts as a mentor— like a big sister, he said, or maybe even the mother they never had— to help to relieve some of the stress and pressures of pregnancy. He noted that it is primarily a counseling program, not a medical program, although the program offers referrals for medical needs, and saves the state of Michigan money that it might have otherwise spent on additional medical care for pregnant women.

All together, he said, the program has served close to 400,000 women across all the states where it operates since its founding 24 years ago. Over the years, he said, numerous clients come back having finished a nursing degree to volunteer at the very center that helped them.

In Michigan, Real Alternatives uses a network of 15 pregnancy support centers, as well as several Catholic Charities affiliates, to provide its services to women.

According to the Michigan state health department, Real Alternatives is receiving $700,000 in funding for FY 2019, with $650,000 of that coming from federal grants and $50,000 from the state general fund.

Pennsylvania and beyond

Bagatta was one of the original founders of Real Alternatives, which was founded and is still headquartered in Pennsylvania. He said the Pennsylvania program alone has served over 308,000 women since its inception, and has inspired pro-life groups in other states to start similar programs. He said they’ve helped about 14 states so far to start similar programs whereby the state helps to fund the pregnancy support network.

“We’re really no different from domestic violence and rape crisis programs,” he explained.

“In those programs you have a certain client, a woman who’s vulnerable…and what this program is it’s, again, another vulnerable client, the woman who’s in an unexpected pregnancy.”

Bagatta noted that research done in the 1980s found that about 80% of women who had procured an abortion who were surveyed said that they would not have gone through with the procedure if just one person had taken the time to help them.

In 1996, then-Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey put funding in the state budget for alternatives to abortion services. Bagatta said this was the first time that a state used government funding for pregnancy centers and Catholic Charities to promote childbirth as an alternative to abortion for women facing unintended pregnancies.

Today, Real Alternatives runs the Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Michigan programs from their base in Harrisburg. They helped to start a similar program in Texas.

In 2013, Real Alternatives was asked by the Michigan Catholic Conference to help to explain the program to then-Governor Rick Snyder, who put money in the budget to start the state’s program.

Catholic Charities affiliates in the various states are staffed with licensed social workers and trained counselors.

Under the George W. Bush administration, the program was accepted as meeting the requirements to use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) money from the federal government, which states may use as they see fit. This means many of the state programs are funded with federal dollars; Pennsylvania’s program, like Michigan’s, also is funded by some state revenue. Usually the program is accepted in a state with a pro-life governor, Bagatta said.

“Every state gets TANF money. So if you’re a pro-life governor, you can have this program and use your TANF money to do a program like we have in the multiple states that we administer.”

In Michigan, half the clients are served through Catholic Charities affiliates in Kalamazoo, Southeast Michigan, West Michigan, and Washtenaw, in addition to three pregnancy centers.

Catholic Charities affiliates are able to dedicate staff specifically for this program as a result of the funding received, Bagatta said, and the funding model provides an incentive for the centers to serve more clients and open specific pregnancy resource programs.

Attempts to defund Real Alternatives

The program is not without its critics, however. Early in 2019, a group called the Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint with the governor and attorney general stating that after pledging to administer 8,000 visits and serve 2,000 people in Michigan in Real Alternatives’ first year of operation, the program “only managed to oversee a mere 785 visits and serve only 403 women.”

The Campaign for Accountability also stated that the abortion rate in Michigan had remained “about the same” during the time that Real Alternatives had been active in the state.

The Campaign for Accountability is run by the Hopewell Fund, a nonprofit whose executive director and project director formerly worked for the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood.

“You wouldn’t think the work to help women, so that she doesn’t have to choose an abortion, would be controversial. But it is,” Bagatta said.

“We’re surprised that in 2019 there are groups that don’t want us to be funded, there are groups that don’t want the program to succeed.”

Previously, in September 2017, Pennsylvania’s auditor general recommended ending the state’s contract with Real Alternatives because, in his estimation, the organization had used Pennsylvania state money to expand its operations in other states, in violation of the group’s agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.

Real Alternatives responded in a statement at the time, saying that the Program Development and Advancement Agreement is a second, voluntary contract whereby service providers “hire Real Alternatives to grow its model Pregnancy and Parenting Support Program.”

Real Alternatives said that while service providers are fully reimbursed for their services, many of them voluntarily agreed to provide 3% back to Real Alternatives— which then became private funds— in order to help to spread the program to other states. This allowed Real Alternatives to, in their words, “scrupulously” comply with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services requirements that Pennsylvania state dollars not be used in other states.

Real Alternatives said this process had been audited four times in the past with no issues, and ultimately successfully sued the state of Pennsylvania, claiming the auditor general was overreaching his authority by seeking to audit Real Alternative’s use of those private funds.

Future uncertain

Maluchnik of the Michigan Catholic Conference reiterated that Real Alternatives provides needed care for women who would otherwise choose abortion.

“[The program] not only provides support and care, it provides formula and [referrals for] pre- and post-natal meds; it gets clothing and shelter to mom and baby where there may otherwise be none; it helps with parenting tips when there’s no one to talk to; it offsets threats to infant mortality and gives young children and mothers a healthy start and a brighter future.”

“In the end, pulling the rug from under low-income women and her unborn or infant child at a time when they’re most vulnerable would constitute a heartless, calculated political maneuver. We’re praying it does not happen.”

[…]

Anchorage, Alaska, Aug 13, 2019 / 12:09 am (CNA).- A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction protecting a women’s overnight shelter in Anchorage from the city’s demands that it house biological males.

“All Americans should … […]

Jackson, Miss., Aug 12, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- Mississippi’s Catholic bishops are speaking out against last week’s extensive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that targeted workers at food processing plants, rounding up and detaining nearly 700 undocumented immigrants.

Nearly 400 of those detained — some of whom left children behind on the first day of the new school year— have not yet been released.

“We can stand in solidarity to provide solace, material assistance and strength for the separated and traumatized children, parents and families. Of course, we are committed to a just and compassionate reform to our nation’s immigration system, but there is an urgent and critical need at this time to avoid a worsening crisis,” Bishops Joseph Kopacz of Jackson and Louis Kihneman of Biloxi said in an Aug. 9 joint statement together with representatives of the state’s Episcopal, Methodist, and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America communities.

ICE agents carried out raids on seven sites in Mississippi Aug. 7, rounding up as many as 700 undocumented workers. Officials have announced that around 300 of those detained have been released on humanitarian grounds, many of them parents who are now reunited with their children, CNN reports.

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Jackson is asking for donations— both monetary and also items such as diapers, baby formula, household and school supplies, and hygiene kits— to help families affected by the raids.

“To say that immigration reform is a contentious and complex topic would be an understatement. As Christians, within any disagreement we should all be held together by our baptismal promises. Our baptism, regardless of denomination calls us to unity in Jesus Christ. We are his body and, therefore, called to act in love as a unified community for our churches and for the common good of our local communities and nation,” the Christian leaders said in their joint statement.

They echoed USCCB president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, who wrote a letter to President Trump last month saying that ICE raids “cause the unacceptable suffering of thousands of children and their parents, and create widespread panic in our communities.”

“We can stand in solidarity to provide solace, material assistance and strength for the separated and traumatized children, parents and families. Of course, we are committed to a just and compassionate reform to our nation’s immigration system, but there is an urgent and critical need at this time to avoid a worsening crisis,” the Christian leaders said.

CNN spoke to Father Odel Medina at St. Anne Catholic Church in Carthage, about 50 miles northeast of Jackson, who said around 50 members of his congregation were detained in the raids. He called the raids a “disaster” for his parish, CNN reports.

[…]

Philadelphia, Pa., Aug 12, 2019 / 03:50 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Charles Chaput is not a cardinal. He has never been an officer at the U.S. bishops’ conference. He has never lived in Rome, and, in an international Church, he is not a polyglot.

Chap… […]

Albany, N.Y., Aug 12, 2019 / 01:30 pm (CNA).- A one-year window that allows adults in New York state who were sexually abused as children to file lawsuits against their abusers opens on Wednesday, August 14. Those who were sexually abused now have a on… […]

Fort Worth, Texas, Aug 12, 2019 / 11:30 am (CNA).- The Bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, has not authenticated alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary that are said to have taken place in the diocese, according to a statement released last week.

“Rece… […]

Washington D.C., Aug 10, 2019 / 03:32 pm (CNA).- After a recent survey found that two-thirds of Catholics do not believe Church teaching about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Catholic commenters are stressing the importance of better faith formation.

“We should never assume that ‘everyone here knows the basics.’ We have to constantly reiterate the basics and take every advantage that we have to catechize,” said John Bergsma, a professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

A recent Pew Research study found that just 31% of U.S. Catholics they surveyed believe that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist, through a process called transubstantiation, become the body and blood of Jesus— a fundamental teaching central to the Catholic faith, known as the Real Presence.

Sixty-nine percent of Catholics that Pew surveyed reported their belief that the bread and wine used during the Eucharist “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” This mindset made up a majority in every age group surveyed.

“Most Catholics who believe that the bread and wine are symbolic do not know that the church holds that transubstantiation occurs,” Pew reported Aug. 5.

“Overall, 43% of Catholics believe that the bread and wine are symbolic and also that this reflects the position of the church. Still, one-in-five Catholics (22%) reject the idea of transubstantiation, even though they know about the church’s teaching.”

Interestingly, a small percentage of those surveyed— 3%— claimed to believe in the Real Presence despite not knowing that this is what the Church teaches.

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron said the study made him angry because it showed poor formation for generations in the Church.

“This should be a wake-up call to all of us in the Church—priests, bishops, religious, laypeople, catechists, parents, everyone—that we need to pick up our game when it comes to communicating even the most basic doctrines of the Church,” Barron wrote on his blog Aug. 6.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 1374 states: “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained’…it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present.”

Bergsma told CNA that he found the results of the Pew survey unsurprising, as similar polls in the past two decades have turned up similar results.

He said many of the “self-identified” Catholics surveyed probably don’t show up at Mass very often, if at all.

“Really what this poll shows, once again, is that there are large numbers of persons in the United States who consider themselves ‘Catholic’ almost as an ethnic or cultural category, because they received one or more sacraments when they were children, or their family is traditionally Catholic,” Bergsma said.

“However, although these persons consider themselves ‘Catholic’ as a demographic category, they haven’t and don’t practice the Catholic faith, and they haven’t made much effort to learn what the Catholic Church teaches.”

He called for better catechesis, especially in parish and school settings, to counter the lack of belief shown in the survey.

For Bergsma, a former Protestant pastor who once preached vehemently against the Catholic Church, a big factor in his conversion was encountering the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist.

“Jesus said, ‘This is my body … this is my blood.’ Every Christian who claims to follow Christ should take him at his word and believe in the Real Presence,” he said.

“The early Christians surely did, and reading the earliest Christian writings on the Eucharist is what converted me on this issue…For those who don’t know or reject the Church’s teaching, I would encourage them to give it a chance. Read, for example, what the Catechism says about the Eucharist, and ponder it with an open mind.”

Father Bradley Zamora, director of liturgy at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois, told CNA that the Eucharist— and what the Church teaches about it— is the “very core” of the Catholic faith, and the fact that it seems to be so misunderstood is disheartening.

“As a person of faith, as someone who has chosen to follow Christ as a disciple, you have to be willing to enter into the narrative of what we believe,” he said.

“You have to be willing to give your heart completely to Christ, you have to put on eyes of faith, you have to open your ears to the very voice of Christ. This is the disposition, as difficult as it may be, that our faith begs of us. When we gather for the Eucharist we see and hear things happening in front of us, but beneath what we see and what we hear is the very Paschal Mystery coming to life before our eyes.”

Zamora, like Bergsma, emphasized the need for better catechesis and teaching about the basic tenets of the Catholic faith. He also said that Catholics do themselves a “disservice” as a Church when they don’t speak about the mysteries of the faith as often as they can. As a seminary professor, he said he tries to bring his seminarians back to the reality of the Real Presence constantly as he teaches them how to celebrate Mass.

“When we pronounce the words of the institution narrative, ‘This is my body,’ and ‘This is my blood,’ it is Christ Himself who prays those words again in our time and space just as He did at the Last Supper,” Zamora explained.

“What we do when we gather for prayer is not some stage play, but rather we re-present the very mystery Christ instituted.”

[…]

Washington D.C., Aug 9, 2019 / 04:16 pm (CNA).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops’ conference on issues of immigration and racism denounced xenophobic and dehumanizing language in the United States, warning that it fosters discrimination and hatred.

“The tragic loss of life of 22 people this weekend in El Paso demonstrates that hate-filled rhetoric and ideas can become the motivation for some to commit acts of violence,” the bishops said.

“The anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, anti-Muslim, and anti-Semitic sentiments that have been publicly proclaimed in our society in recent years have incited hatred in our communities.”

The statement was issued Aug. 8 by Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin, head of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee; Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, chair of the domestic social development committee; and Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, head of the ad hoc committee against racism.

On Saturday Aug. 3, an armed man opened fire at a shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 and injuring more than two dozen, according to police reports. The suspect is in custody.

The shooter reportedly published a four-page document online in the hours before the attack, detailing his hatred toward immigrants and Hispanics. He also reportedly described the weapons he would use in the shooting. Police said he appeared to have been targeting Latinos during the attack.

Following the shooting, critics quickly turned their attention to President Donald Trump, noting that the suspect’s manifesto had echoed some of his language, such as characterizing immigrants as an “invasion.” They also denounced the president’s derogatory comments aimed at cities and countries with large black populations, and his suggestion that four Democratic congresswomen of color “go back” to their home countries, despite their being U.S. citizens.

“Donald Trump has created plenty of space for hate,” said presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren. “He is a racist. He has made one racist remark after another. He has put in place racist policies. And we’ve seen the consequences of it.”

Senator Bernie Sanders, who is also running for president, tweeted at Trump after the shooting, “Your language creates a climate which emboldens violent extremists.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) went a step further, calling Trump’s rhetoric on immigration “directly responsible” for the El Paso shooting.

In his initial response to the shooting, Trump condemned the violence but did not mention white nationalism. In a later televised appearance, he said, “In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.”

On the day of the shooting, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, and Bishop Dewane issued a statement, denouncing the violence as “senseless and inhumane” and calling for legislation to address “the plague that gun violence has become” in the United States.

The second statement from the U.S. bishops comes as criticism mounts against the president for his rhetoric regarding minorities.

In their Aug. 8 statement, the bishops did not reference Trump, or any other political leader, by name. Instead they asked all Americans “to stop using hate-filled language that demeans and divides us and motivates some to such horrific violence.”

The noted that racial hatred was also apparent as a motivation in last year’s Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston in 2015.

“[W]e ask our leaders and all Americans to work to unite us as a great, diverse, and welcoming people,” the bishops said.

While the bishops’ statement avoided calling out Trump by name, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller addressed the president in his initial response to the shooting several days earlier.

On his personal Twitter account, the archbishop posted Aug. 5, “President you are a poor man, a very week [sic] man. Stop damaging people. Please!” A second tweet read, “President stop your hatred. People in the US deserve better.”

The tweets were later deleted.

In a video posted to the archdiocesan Facebook page the next day, García-Siller said, “I regret that my recent Tweet remarks were not focused on the issues, but on an individual.”

“All individuals have God-given dignity and should be accorded respect and love as children of God,” the archbishop said, adding, “We should be aware of this in our discourse about the office of the president of the United States, which is due our respect.”

García-Siller encouraged prayers for the victims of violence and said his desire is to bring hope and healing, and act in a way that reflects civility and builds unity.

“If I have added to anyone’s pain at this emotional time, I deeply regret it.”

The archbishop reiterated his condemnation of racism, which he said is still a problem in America today.

“No one has the moral right to make racist statements,” he said, denouncing harassment of immigrants and rhetoric that instigates fear.

“We must pray fervently for peace amidst all the violence which seems to be overwhelming in our society. We must be lights in the darkness,” the archbishop concluded. “We do not need more division, but rather we need to move forward in freedom to discuss these topics more deeply in light of the Gospel.”

[…]

Detroit, Mich., Aug 9, 2019 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Christian leaders and local legislators have mourned the death of a Chaldean Christian who had been deported to Iraq by the United States.

Jimmy Al-Daoud, a 41 year-old Chaldean Catholic who lived in the … […]

Washington D.C., Aug 9, 2019 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- The U.S. Department of Education will hear a Title IX complaint brought by three female high school track athletes over a state policy allowing biologically male athletes to compete in female sports if th… […]