SB 25: Stop ‘wrongful birth’ lawsuits
Jennifer Allmon The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops supports S.B. 25. This bill is short and simple, but presents a powerful message of profound respect for unborn life and the lives of persons living with disabilities, and the noble desire of doctors to do no harm to their patients. S.B. 25 prohibits wrongful birth lawsuits that claim…
Read MoreSenator Lucio moves forward bill to correct judges’ instructions for capital punishment juries
Current law requires judges to lie to juries; causes unnecessary death penalty decisions AUSTIN — The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops (TCCB) commends Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr., for filing Senate Bill 1065, which will improve the rights of jurors serving in death penalty sentencing trials. Texas law is intentionally misleading as it requires judges and…
Read MoreBishops support full funding of Texas’ DFPS
Michael Barba The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops support fully funding DFPS, especially programs pertaining to aging out, kinship care, prevention and intervention, and the shift to a regional community-based model. To inform this conversation, I’ll walk through two persistent problems facing the agency. Caseload In 1996, the Governor’s Committee to Promote Adoption told DFPS…
Read MoreFort Worth Catholic Charities: HB4 encourages positive kinship care for children in foster care
Dana Springer Director of Child Welfare Services Catholic Charities Fort Worth The main goal of foster care is reunification between child and their birth family. Currently, relatives of the child are not the first option for placement. Research by the Health and Human Services Department has shown that children placed in kinship care have less…
Read MoreFort Worth Catholic Charities: Faith-based agencies welcome HB6
Shannon Rosedale Catholic Charities Fort Worth. More than 25% of Texas’ foster care provider networks are faith-based. These agencies provide a necessary service to protect the state’s most vulnerable children. The services provided are life-saving. For the system improvements in HB 6 to be successful, they must be coupled with conscience protections. Protecting the conscience…
Read MoreBorder bishops call for dignity regardless of ‘migration condition’
WASHINGTON (CNS) — In a joint statement, Catholic bishops whose dioceses are along the U.S.-Mexico border spoke of the “pain, the fear, and the anguish” they’re seeing in immigrants and vowed to follow the example of the pope in building “bridges, rather than the walls of exclusion and exploitation.” MORE
Read MoreFrom the Archives: anniversary of first archbishop of San Antonio
February 16–On this day in 1927, Arthur Jerome Drossaerts was consecrated as the first archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio in San Fernando de Béxar Cathedral. Drossaerts was born in Breda, Holland, in 1862. He was ordained in 1889 and traveled to Louisiana the same year. http://www.texasdaybyday.com The installation program is in the…
Read MoreBishops’ chair on migration responds to judicial decision blocking executive order
Bishop Joe Vásquez, as chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, issued a statement welcoming the decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court’s order blocking several key provisions of President Trump’s executive order regarding refugees. The bishop also said the Church remains in solidarity with those fleeing persecution. MORE
Read MoreCatholic Schools Week 2017
Last week Catholic schools in Texas and across the nation celebrated Catholic Schools Week (CSW) 2017. Representative Drew Springer offered a Texas House Resolution honoring all Catholic Schools in Texas. Cardinal DiNardo was recognized on the Texas House floor and presented with the resolution. All members of the Texas House of Representatives requested that their names…
Read MoreAlternatives ways to reform immigration system – not SB4
Michael Barba Associate Director of Public Policy, Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops As Bishop Joe Vasquez stated emphatically, we oppose Senate Bill 4. I add to his testimony several alternatives, recommended by the bishops, which would significantly improve our immigration system. It would serve the people of Texas to examine how our laws can advance…
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