Archive for the ‘Headlines’ Category

Faith and Action’s partner organization Priests for Life, led by Father Frank Pavone, filed the federal lawsuit Priests for Life v. Sebelius in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), on February 15, 2012.

It names Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius because she issued President Obama’s order mandating houses of worship to pay for abortion pills, among other unethical and deadly procedures. Under the Affordable Health Care for America Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, HHS secretaries are entitled to issue unconstitutional mandates and ration or deny health care to Americans.

As Faith and Action explained, after hundreds of religious leaders, faith-based and pro-life organizations publicly refused to comply with the mandate, President Obama announced an “accommodation” exempting houses of worship. Now he requires all health insurance companies to provide so-called ‘contraception’ “free of change.” This “accommodation” exempts no one and the number of religious leaders protesting it has grown to thousands.

The Priests for Life lawsuit is the first to be launched subsequent to the announcement of the “accommodations” and addresses policy as it currently stands.

Thus, Priests for Life said, “One part of their lawsuit seeks injunctive relief from the ‘forced speech’ aspect of the controversial Health and Human Services ruling. According to the HHS regulations, virtually all U.S. employers will not only be forced to pay for 100% of an employee’s prescription for abortion-causing drugs, but also be forced to instruct the employee on how to obtain these morally-objectionable prescriptions and get them for free.”

Priests for Life is headquartered in Staten Island, New York and has a Washington office in the headquarters of Father Paul Schenck’s National Pro-Life Center on Capitol Hill.

WND covered the lawsuits by Priests for Life and EWTN, the global Catholic media network, noting that the Obama mandates violate universal human rights.

As Faith and Action further reported, many members of Congress reject the Obama mandates and seek to pass remedial bills until Obamacare can be completely repealed.

On Ash Wednesday, a “State of Emergency” declaration from Faith and Action’s Rev. Rob Schenck will be delivered to President Obama.

Faith and Action also is lodging formal complaints; working with members of Congress to “check” the executive branch; and signing-on to lawsuits to block these actions. Likewise, we’ll continue to mobilize religious leaders to speak out, pray and resist these unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment and other human rights.

Lawmakers in both houses of Congress are attempting to nullify President Obama’s latest so-called ‘healthcare’ mandate requiring all heath insurance companies to provide abortion pills “free of charge.”

On February 10, after Catholic bishops and other Christian and Jewish leaders publicly had refused to comply with a January 2012 mandate requiring them to pay for abortion drugs and other unethical procedures, President Obama announced an “accommodation.” However, while the president and White House say the latest  mandate exempts places of worship, they also say insurance companies must provide “free” “contraceptive coverage” and this really means no one is exempted from the unconstitutional mandate.

Members of our Faith and Action team were part of a special briefing with U.S. senators to discuss strategies for protecting religious leaders and institutions against the severe punishments threatened by the Obama administration should churches refuse to cooperate with him.

We made the point that this battle isn’t about birth-control pills or devices or “preventative care” – as the Obama administration sometimes coins it. After all, birth-control pills and interuterine devices don’t prevent pregnancy, they abort newly-conceived human persons.

This conflict is about the constitutionally guaranteed freedom to exercise our natural rights without government interference.

Recently, we began a new project at Faith and Action, the William Bentley Ball Memorial Archive. The archive contains all the files, case briefs and legal resources of the late attorney William Bentley Ball – a pioneer in defending religious liberty at the U.S. Supreme Court. The archive is being used to assist attorneys, lawmakers and judges in religious liberty cases.

Little did we realize when we began this project how crucial it would soon be to the preservation of our freedoms.

While at the meeting in the U.S. Senate offices discussing ways to resist the Obama administration’s unprecedented executive order, we were stunned to hear the members of the Senate refer to Wisconsin v. Yoder, the historic case argued at the U.S. Supreme Court by William Bentley Ball. We were stunned to hear that it’s the centerpiece of their efforts to end this presidential bullying of churches and religious leaders. In the trial, Mr. Ball defended the religious rights of three Amish families and won the case.

Incidentally, President Obama’s recent announcement backtracking on this issue is not the end of the story. We strongly believe this is just political maneuvering to buy time – and members Congress agree.

As a result of the Senate meeting, members of the Faith and Action team spoke with senior lawyers from one of America’s premier pubic interest constitutional law firms to discuss strategies to fight the president’s executive order.

So our William Bentley Ball archive has already become an invaluable resource in defending the free exercise of religion in America.

Bills and the Obama ‘Accommodation’

On January 30, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida introduced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012 (S. 2043). So far, the bill is cosponsored by 29 of his colleagues. In brief, it would amend the Public Health Service Act to provide religious conscience protections for individuals and organizations.

In reaction to President Obama’s announcement of an “accommodation,” Sen. Rubio said, “It’s good that the president reaffirmed that the federal government cannot force faith-based institutions to provide services that they teach are wrong. Unfortunately, as more of these rules are written, our constitutional rights will continue to be threatened by the administration’s policy goals. This issue exemplifies the problem with putting the federal government in charge of health care and shows why we must fully repeal Obamacare.”

On February 15, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska held a media conference featuring House and Senate colleagues of both parties and called for swift action on his bill, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 11790), which he introduced last March to protect the religious liberties and conscience rights of every American. The bill has 190 cosponsors in the House and Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri is moving the legislation (S. 1467) forward in the other chamber with 37 cosponsors.

(Sen. Blunt also added the full text of Fortenberry’s bill to the Transportation Authorization Bill (S. 1813). On February 16, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois announced the Senate will vote on Blunt’s Senate Amendment 1520 after recess, most likely February 27 or 28.)

“The final rule that was filed last Friday did not make any changes to the HHS mandate,” said Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois. “We still need to pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act in order to protect the conscience rights of all Americans.”

Congressman Bob Latta of Ohio essentially condemned the president’s “accommodation.” He said, “It is an accounting gimmick that ignores the conscience rights of Americans. The Obama administration has gone against 30 years of federal conscience protections with this rule. I am extremely disappointed that this regulation departs from that tradition and the religious liberty that is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution.”

Faith and Action’s president, Rev. Rob Schenck, said, “It’s ludicrous for President Obama to offer a so-called compromise on this egregious violation of religious freedom. The First Amendment expressly forbids him from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. The U.S. founders were crystal clear on that. What’s there to compromise? Certainly not a constitutionally-guaranteed liberty. This action is reason for all religious people – all people of goodwill – to declare a state of emergency. We must speak now or be forever forced to hold our peace.”

Faith and Action was strongly represented at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC today. Peggy Nienaber, Chief of Program, and Patty Bills, Supporter Relations Specialist, joined with other notable political and civic leaders, including the President of the United States, Barack Obama, as the nation was reminded of our dependence upon God.

Congressman Mike McIntyre called on people of a faith to “build a wall of prayer” around our nation. Senator Tom Coburn reminded Americans to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

The featured speaker at the Prayer Breakfast, Eric Metaxes, author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, is a friend of Faith and Action Lead Missionary Rob Schenck, who prayed with Eric about his presentation. Rob challenged Eric to follow the lead of the subject of Metaxes’s books, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and “speak with conviction the truth, no matter who may be present.” Eric thanked Rob and today declared an uncompromising message of God’s grace to all sinners who seek is face.

Also at the National Prayer Breakfast was Mr. Steve Green, president of the crafts store chain, Hobby Lobby. Mr. Green is working to build the largest Biblical antiquities museum in America, if not the world. Rob Schenck has been strategically assisting Mr. Green in locating potential properties to house the museum in the hopes it will be located in the nation’s capital.

Today was an extraordinary day in Washington, DC and Faith and Action was actively engaged in working to give the National Prayer Breakfast a true national impact.

The following is a reprint of the Pennsylvania House Resolution calling for 2012 to be the “Year of the Bible”. We congratulate the courageous men and women of Pennsylvania for taking this bold stand.

On January 23, Rev. Rob Schenck and other ministers addressed some 200 Christians at Faith and Action’s 18^th National Memorial for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers, which took place at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. Since all events at the Capitol must be sponsored by a member of Congress, we humbly thank Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey for sponsoring us.

As noted in our invitation, our partner is Rob’s twin brother, Fr. Paul C.B. Schenck of the National Pro-Life Center on Capitol Hill. Rob and Paul founded the National Memorial Conference for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers 18 years ago. Our sponsors are now the Gospel of Life Ministries, the National Clergy Council, the National Pro-Life Religious Council, National Pro-Life Radio, and Priests for Life.

Rev. Rob Schenck opened the interreligious ceremonies by saying, “The saving of souls is paired with the saving of culture.” He added, “My brother and I have been debating since we were womb-mates. But Father Paul, I’ll give you this one today.
“The Roman Catholic Church has been saving cultures, if you will, for a long, long time. And Archpriest Alexander Webster, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say the Orthodox have been doing it just as long – or as you may argue, even longer. But I won’t open up that conversation either.
“Anyway, we Evangelicals tend to think in ten-year increments. Catholics and Orthodox think in slightly longer expansives, say thousand-year increments.
“So it’s been 18 years since we started this event. In my short-term Evangelical mind, that’s 17 years too many because in 1995 we had hoped that the conscience of the country wouldn’t allow the killing of the unborn to continue one more year. But another year did come and go. And another. And another. And here we are 17 years later.
“Now many people, among them many of my Evangelical colleagues, have been tempted to give up on the fight for the sanctity of life because, as one said to me recently, ‘We don’t seem to be getting anywhere.’ And, of course, yesterday marked the 39^th year since seven judges in Roe v. Wade created a vacuum of law leaving the most defenseless members of human society vulnerable to cruelty and death.
“Now I don’t know how some might see it, but I see the absence of law and the resultant callousness of abandonment and the burning, poisoning, dismembering, eviscerating and smothering of tiny human beings as consummately uncivilized – in fact, barbaric behavior.
“So the justices unleashed barbarism in our culture when they voted seven-to-two to strike down laws protecting vulnerable, pre-born children.
“But you know something, Rome, as they say, wasn’t built in a day and neither was Constantinople. It takes a long time, very long periods of time to build and rebuild civilizations.
“So Father Frank [Pavone], Father Alexander, my fellow Evangelicals, we have our work cut out for us. We must still save souls by announcing the Gospel whenever and wherever we can, but we must also reform civilization. We must civilize the United States of America by ending the tyranny and tragedy of abortion in our time, while modeling and teaching compassion and care for the most vulnerable in our society. And that, folks, ought to keep us all busy for at least another 18 years.”

Recording artist Kelly Clinger, former background singer for Britney Spears and member of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, sang and Dr. Alveda King, national spokeswoman for Silent No More, a Priests for Life ministry, was there in support of Kelly and all pro-life efforts.

Everyone stood to hear the Gospel of Luke 1:41-42: And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life and the National Pro-Life Religious Council gave the homily.

In part, he said, “My brothers and sisters, since 1973 there has been a wound in the heart of America: A wound in the hearts of both young and old; of Republicans and Democrats; of blacks and whites; of rich and poor. There has been a wound inflicted on this great nation, which was conceived in liberty and which claimed both its freedom and its greatness in the acknowledgement of its God. This wound, perpetuated by slogans invoking freedom, has proven to be the very antithesis of freedom.”

Thomas Glessner of the National Institute of Family Life Advocates and National Religious Pro-Life Council, presented the first of two Pro-Life Recognition Awards to Karolyn Schrage, RN, BSN, who serves as executive director of LifeChoices Medical Clinic and 4U Testing Clinic in Joplin, Missouri.

Among Karolyn’s many accomplishments, after a tornado ravaged Joplin and destroyed one its hospitals in 2011, LifeChoices furnished space to the hospital’s OB-GYN staff and other physicians, and assisted in providing medical services to thousands in the Joplin community. At that time of crisis, LifeChoices also became the top distribution center for newborn supplies, and the LifeChoices staff assisted at other medical triage centers too. Amid all of this, Karolyn and her staff fulfilled LifeChoices’ primary mission of assisting pregnant mothers to choose life for their babies.

Karolyn thanked the council as one of many pro-life workers at LifeChoices and said, “May we be ready in every community in every state to serve with His hands, with His heart and with the whisper of hope that only comes from Christ Jesus.”

Fr. Pavone presented the next Pro-Life Recognition Award to Chris Slattery of EMC FrontLine Pregnancy Centers.

As Father noted, New York City is the abortion capital in our nation. Yet Chris is undaunted. In 1984, he opened the first pregnancy resource center in New York. Now EMC FrontLine is a network of 12 pregnancy help centers throughout New York City, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Chris also pioneered the mobile ultrasound clinic, which EMC parks near abortion businesses. Some 45,000 babies have been saved from abortion through Chris’s work.

Chris accepted the award on behalf of all his staff and volunteers. He called their work “a special challenge” because EMC has been attacked by two New York state attorneys general and two laws were written as attempts to put EMC out of business.

He said, “When you are fighting over 75, 80 abortion mills and [abortion committing] hospitals and I hear of states that might lose their last abortion mill, I just dream ‘My Lord, could we ever get to just one in New York?’”

Chris said he’s been able to persevere because so many people pray for and support him. He thanked friends in the room, his family and especially his wife, Eileen, for “putting up with him.” He stressed the importance of the religious community and said, “It is truly through prayer that we are going to save lives.”

Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries announced that their 2012 pro-life award went to Victoria Hearst of Praise Him Ministries. However, Victoria was unable to attend.

After the awards, clergy members prayed by reciting the Lord’s word on life from the Old and New Testaments. In addition to the Schenck brothers and Fr. Pavone, ministers included Deacon Keith Fournier of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia; Pastor Scott Leib of Manassas Assembly of God in Virginia; Rev. Kirk van der Swaagh of the Neighborhood Church of Greenwich Village in New York City; Fr. Martin Eppard of the Church of the Good Shepherd Charismatic Episcopal Church in Pikesville, Maryland; and a minister from OptionLine. Two Catholic priests traveled all the way from Barcelona, Spain to march for life and join our panel. Padres Custodio Ballester and René Castillo recited scripture in their beautiful native tongue, Spanish.

This memorial was one of Faith and Action’s many events for pro-life pilgrims before and after the March for Life.

Rev. Rob Schenck with Reverend Dr. Calvin Butts III

In anticipation of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Faith and Action’s president, Rev. Rob Schenck, was a guest of honor Sunday at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City, where Rob heard one of America’s great black preachers, the Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, preach the Gospel “clearly and unequivocally.” 

Pastor Butts honored Rev. King for his sacrifices, but was “mildly critical” and thus realistic about Rev. King for his personal failings, urging his African-American congregation to run to Jesus Christ. 

Paraphrasing Pastor Butts, Rob recalled, “He actually said in his sermon, ‘Let me get something straight with all of you. While we appreciate the president of the United States, if you’re looking for the Messiah and you think it’s Barack Obama, let me tell you something. Barack Obama is not the Messiah. He is not the Savior – and never will be. Don’t look there.’”

Rob is grateful to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for his human rights legacy and thanks Pastor Butts and Abyssinian Baptist Church for their gracious hospitality, which included a luncheon in the church’s restaurant.

This morning, one of Faith and Action’s partners, Dr. Alveda King, director of African American Outreach at Priests for Life, remembered her Uncle Martin as a “pro-life social conservative.” 

Our sister in Christ, Alveda, often reminds us that “we are one race; the human race.” On Fox News, she said, “I have a dream and it’s in my genes and the dream comes from the Bible, from God, and the principles that are there.”

See Alveda King’s Fox News appearance here: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/01/16/dr-alveda-king-calls-martin-luther-king-jr-a-%E2%80%9Cpro-life-social-conservative%E2%80%9D/

As we enter the New Year, the missionary team at Faith and Action looks forward to the doors of opportunity for prophetic ministry God is already beginning to open.

As your missionaries to our nation’s elected and appointed officials, planning and preparation are already in full swing for our ongoing outreaches such as:

• The National Conference for the Pre-born – the only pro-life prayer and preaching conference held within the US Capitol Complex;

• The National Day of Prayer, where Faith and Action holds the ONLY National Day of Prayer Service at the US Supreme Court;

• The National Bible Reading Marathon on the West Lawn of the US Capitol Building – where the entirety of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is read out loud, 24 hours a day, by church members, religious leaders, and civic leaders (including members of Congress);

• The Annual Congressional Easter Outreach, our missionaries present every member of Congress with a Gospel witness;

• The 10 Commandments Project, as our elected and appointed officials are given a beautiful plaque of the Ten Commandments and reminded to “display them and obey them”;

• The Faith and Action Live Nativity at the US Supreme Court and on Times Square in New York City;

• Our ongoing personal ministry to congressional leaders;

• And so many other outreaches.

Additionally, as we face one of the most important elections in our nation’s history, Faith and Action will vigorously serve as a prophetic voice to the candidates for national office, reminding them of their responsibility to God and to His Word.

Our work is a combined effort of so many individuals, churches, and organizations whose prayerful support makes this ministry possible. Please pray for us in the days ahead. Our goal is nothing more than to be faithful servants of God who has called us. 

On Saturday, Christmas Eve, the Faith and Action Live Nativity will be featured on A Fox and Friends Christmas on the Fox News Channel. The program will also be broadcast at 2:00 AM on Sunday morning. For a list of the times the program will be broadcast on Saturday, Christmas Eve, click here.

The Live Nativity is part of the Faith and Action Christmas outreach and processes each year in front of the US Supreme Court. Our goal is three-fold: 1) To give our elected and appointed officials a visual image of the Gospel, that God so loved the world he gave His only Son; 2) To exercise our religious liberty recognizing that if we do not use our rights, we will lose our rights, and, 3) To remind believers across the nation that if we can get a permit for the Nativity in front of the US Supreme Court, they can get a permit for local public displays as well.

In the last week an outcry has arisen among Christians regarding the United States Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to hear a Bronx-based church’s plea for after-hours school space. A ban was placed on church services in public school buildings by the New York City school system. Many were taken by surprise when, in their quest to overturn the ban, church leaders were unable to have the case heard by the Supreme Court.

In fact, over 100 local pastors and allied legislators took their slight to City Hall last Thursday to urge the city council to allow churches to worship in the city’s public schools after school hours. The rally was in response to the Supreme Court’s rejection of the petition to hear the lawsuit against the Board of Education. On Monday December 5th, the High Court decided not to accept the case which, in turn, means that the Bronx Household of Faith church will no longer be allowed to conduct its worship services in the school it has used since 2002.

It’s important to remember that the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction is discretionary and not mandatory; which is to say: the justices decide which cases they want to hear. In order for them to hear a case, the losing party from an appeal below the Supreme Court must file a petition for a writ of certiorari. Additionally, recent statistics show, for instance, that in 2008 of the 7,700 petitions that were filed, only 87 cases were eventually argued. That’s a less than 1 percent chance of acceptance. This means that the Supreme Court will be very selective on the basis of determinants like national importance, protecting Supreme Court precedence, and careful construction of cases that is mindful of the future. Only four justices need to agree to hear a case for the petition to be granted, and the majority of cases are dismissed.

While the decision may seem disheartening on the surface—perhaps indicating a surprise that some of the normally pro-religious freedom justices contributed to rejecting the petition—Faith and Action would advise people who are disconcerted with the ruling to be patient. It is more than likely that the justices saw something with the petition as it was presented that would not bode well as a precedent for the future. Perhaps some of the justices knew that the case—again, as it was presented—would not gain a majority on the High Court. The important thing to remember, ultimately, is we must keep in mind the justices may have a longer, wiser view in when it comes to ruling on these kinds of cases.

The process of making a judgment call on a case boils down to whether or not a case and its eventual ruling will be productive in the future. While the decision is confusing to many people who thought the Court was moving in a direction where it would enthusiastically protect the rights of churches, at the same time, we at Faith & Action remember are not legal experts, analysts, or lawyers. What we can tell people is that it is quite a complicated process. At this point, we cannot say one way or the other whether, in this particular case, the Court got it right or wrong.

But we do know they are human beings just like us—and this leaves plenty of room for error, patience, and humility as citizens following the case. In the meantime, to become a more informed citizen on the inner workings of the Supreme Court, visit supremecourtus.gov.