Truly, we must wonder if we have entered the ‘end times.’  With the Pope’s Theologian, Walter Cardinal Kasper, calling for Holy Communion to be given to the divorced and remarried, and others in the Roman Curia calling for acceptance of abortion and a cessation of pro-life activities, Catholics are justified in wondering what this world is coming to.Here at home, the lobbying arm of the Texas bishops, The Texas Catholic Conference, last year supported SB303, which would have made it easier for the medical profession in Texas to terminate the lives of patients in spite of their wishes and the the wishes of family and legal surrogates.  By the grace of God, a lot of hard work by dedicated pro-life advocates, and the pars sanior of the Texas Legislature and Governor Rick Perry, SB303 was defeated.  But Catholics and all Christians were left wondering what the world was coming to when nominally Christian organizations were so diametrically opposed to other, mostly Christian, organizations dedicated to protecting innocent human life.

As further evidence of this scandal, the current Newsletter of the Texas Catholic Conference [see below] contains a vicious attack on the Texas Right to Life organization and praises State Senator Robert Duell, the author of SB303.  Ironically, the TCC overlooks Texas Right to Life’s efforts in helping patients victimized by the law so as to escape medical futility panels.  Sadly, too, the TCC has no public statements to address the professing Catholics in the Legislature who support abortion, yet the TCC makes time to attack the leading prolife organization in our state.

Politics are bad enough when individuals like George Soros, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates supply billions of dollars to organizations that provide abortion on demand, euthanasia, the definition of death as brain death, the transplantation of human organs taken from living donors, etc.  But when Catholic organizations join these death peddlers in supporting legislation that serves to advance their questionable-at-best agenda, the faithful can only wonder if we are indeed on the brink of the end times.

– Abyssum

Texas Catholic Conference News Clips is a weekly compilation of  news articles on issues relevant to the concerns of the Catholic Church in Texas. The citations below include the headline, source, and key message of each article. The TCC does not  endorse or validate the views or content of the articles, but makes them available solely to inform members of the Texas Catholic Network on the issues and challenges of contemporary public affairs in Texas and the nation.SEN. DEUELL CHALLENGES TEXAS RIGHT TO LIFE OVER “SLANDEROUS” ADS
Dallas Morning News – May 16, 2014
State Sen. Bob Deuell of Greenville and a leading anti-abortion group are sparring this week over a negative radio commercial that the group is airing against Deuell’s re-election bid in his North Texas senate district. Deuell filed a cease-and-desist demand letter with multiple radio stations that have been running the ad by Texas Right to Life, asserting it contains false and defamatory statements.The commercial alleges that Deuell, a family physician, “turned his back on life and on disabled patients” in sponsoring an end-of-life bill last year that passed the Senate but failed in the House. The ad also raised hospital “death panel” claims previously used by the group against Deuell and his legislation.
The Texas Catholic Conference and Catholic Bishops of Texas, who supported Deuell’s bill, have debunked the claims. They said that Texas Right to Life “has tried to stoke fear through ridiculous claims of non-existent death panels and assertions that doctors are secretly trying to kill patients. Both claims are absurd.” The Catholic Conference also ripped Texas Right to Life for spreading “fabrications” about the position of Catholics on the issue.Deuell, who said his bill would have given patients and families new safeguards and lengthened the time to find a new facility when treatment for an ailing patient ends, attached a letter from the Texas Catholic Conference to his cease-and-desist letter. Deuell said other groups that will corroborate the “false and slanderous nature” of the ads are the Texas Alliance for Life, Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and Texas Medical Association.Texas Right to Life responded to Deuell’s action by saying it was “alerting voters that Deuell’s allegiance is to the medical lobby and not to families and their ailing ones. That’s why he is trying intimidate RTL with baseless legal threats.” The group is backing retired businessman Bob Hall of Edgewood against Deuell in the May 27 runoff in Senate District 2, which includes eastern Dallas County.http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/sen-deuell-challenges-texas-right-to-life-over-slanderous-ads.html/STATE SEN. BOB DEUELL FALLS UNDER ATTACK FROM RIGHT IN RACE
Dallas Morning News – May 18, 2014
Once considered the most conservative member of the Senate, Republican Bob Deuell of Greenville now finds himself under attack from right-wing groups — and even called “liberal” by his GOP runoff opponent. When he was first elected in 2002, Deuell was the ultra conservative challenger to a Democratic incumbent. Now, 12 years later, he is lambasted by local tea party officials and a handful of conservative groups as out of step with the majority of Republican voters in Senate District 2, which includes eastern Dallas County and Rockwall County.http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20140518-state-sen.-bob-deuell-falls-under-attack-from-right-in-race.ece

FORT WORTH TAKES A NEW LOOK AT RESTRICTIONS ON PAYDAY LENDING
Ft. Worth Star Telegram – May 18, 2014
Fort Worth, the only major city in the state not to pass an ordinance restricting the operations of payday lenders, is taking a new look at the issue. Two weeks ago, City Manager Tom Higgins released a report on payday lenders for council members, noting that most of the 15 cities in Texas that have passed new regulations have been sued by a trade group representing the lenders. Responding to a council request, the report said city staff members would monitor the lawsuits against San Antonio and Dallas to determine if it’s practical to adopt a payday loan ordinance here.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/05/16/5826829/fort-worth-cautiously-looks-at.html

MEDICAID ROLLS GROW IN STATES RESISTING HEALTH LAW
Associated Press – May 14, 2014
States that thus far have refused a federal offer to expand Medicaid are still seeing significant sign-ups for the safety-net program that serves the poor, according to a report Tuesday that raises political and budget implications. The market analysis firm Avalare Health estimated that at least 550,300 more people signed up for Medicaid through the end of March in 17 out of 26 states that have not yet expanded eligibility for the program under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. The actual number could be markedly higher since Avalere did not report data for populous Florida.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/medicaid-rolls-grow-in-states-resisting-health-law/2014/05/13/9ae1d32a-dac0-11e3-a837-8835df6c12c4_story.html

TEXAS ABORTION LAW CREATES OBSTACLES FOR VALLEY WOMEN
USA Today – May 17, 2014
BROWNSVILLE, Tex. — The women who visit Lucy Felix at her advocacy center are lately faced with a slate of difficult choices: risk deportation to drive to a clinic, cross the nearby border into Mexico for a risky abortion or keep an unwanted, unplanned pregnancy to term. Since Texas lawmakers passed new restrictions on abortion clinics last year, the number of clinics in the Rio Grande Valley that perform the service has dropped from two to zero, forcing women to drive more than 300 miles roundtrip to other cities for services or attempt riskier procedures across the border.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/17/texas-abortion-law-women-valley/8804871/