On Saturday, parishes across Oklahoma will celebrate the first feast day of the first U.S. born martyr, Blessed Stanley Rother, marking the 37 anniversary of his death. Special masses, relic veneration services, and other events will take place throughout the Oklahoma City-area on the weekend of July 28. Catholics from Guatemala, where Rother served as…Read More
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Susan Collins (R-ME) today sent a letter to President Trump, signed by a bipartisan group of more than two dozen senators, stating that the default position of the United States should be to keep families together. The letter is the first bipartisan statement…Read More
A recent poll suggesting widespread support for Roe v. Wade fails to account for the misinformation surrounding the 1973 Supreme Court decision, said the head of a prominent pro-life group this week. “Polling can only be as accurate as the information available to respondents,” said Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of the pro-life group Americans United for…Read More
It is highly unlikely that two additional marijuana state questions will make the Nov. 6 general election ballot, Oklahoma Secretary of State James Williamson said Monday. State law allows for a protest to be filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and “if a protest is filed, it is virtually impossible,” he said. State Question 796…Read More
A federal judge has swept away claims of religious discrimination by plaintiffs including Catholic Social Services of the Philadelphia Archdiocese and ruled the church agency must provide home assessments for same-sex couples wishing to provide foster care for at-risk children in Philadelphia. The Catholic agency’s leadership testified in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia that doing…Read More
The bishops of Tennessee issued a letter to the state’s governor Friday, encouraging him to halt upcoming executions expected to use a controversial three-drug lethal injection. “It is within your power to establish your legacy as a governor of Tennessee who did not preside over an execution on your watch,” the bishops wrote July 13…Read More
A federal court of appeals sided with the Texas Catholic bishops in a July 15 ruling blocking a request from abortion groups to access the bishops’ private communications regarding abortion. “Hitting churches with subpoenas to win the culture wars was a bad idea from the start,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, which represents the…Read More
The House Appropriations Committee moved to protect the conscience rights and religious freedom of faith-based adoption agencies on Wednesday. The committee adopted an amendment to an upcoming funding bill that would preserve federal funding for agencies who do not want to place children with same-sex couples. The amendment was introduced by Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL).…Read More
Gov. Mary Fallin has signed emergency rules regulating Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry a day after they were introduced by the State Board of Health. Although the industry said more regulations were needed to ensure the new law could be effectively implemented, her decision Wednesday set off a firestorm of commentary about controversial provisions that were…Read More
Just weeks after Oklahomans voted for medical marijuana, another initiative petition could expand the state’s laws to include recreational use. Supporters of State Question 797 began gathering signatures before the June 26 statewide ballot that saw more than 56 percent of voters approving of medical cannabis. Isaac Caviness, president of Green the Vote, hopes that…Read More