News & Events
From the Tiber to the James
Taking the Catholic faith from the pew to the public square – a Virginia Catholic Conference blog with special guest posts.
Threats to religious liberty threaten all of us
Week 2 of the prayer- and action-focused Fortnight for Freedom, called for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is about to begin. While the USCCB launched the initiative, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia reminds us that the fight to preserve religious liberty...
There’s good reason to observe the 2nd Fortnight for Freedom
In 1620, a group of men and women landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts after escaping religious persecution in Europe. One hundred sixty-seven years later, religious liberty was enshrined in our country’s founding document. So essential was this belief that the First...
Debunking the myths about same-sex marriage
During each of the last several Virginia General Assembly sessions, the Virginia Catholic Conference successfully opposed legislation to repeal Virginia’s constitutional amendment preserving marriage as the institution of one man and one woman. But we know the battle...
Faithful citizenship: It means prayerful participation—even when we’d rather not
In today’s vitriolic political culture of sound bites and partisanship, it’s not always easy as Catholics to practice our call to faithful citizenship. The public square may be filled with partisans, but the Church’s social teaching is consistent and neither “left”...
Test of Faith: Christian Charity Requires Fair, Compassionate Approach to Immigration Reform
“Immigration is the civil rights test of our generation.” So says Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, speaking of the dire need to reform our broken immigration system. There’s lively debate surrounding Congress’s latest efforts to reform immigration. “Illegal...
Family as the Cornerstone of Christian Life and Immigration
Imagine a life without our family: a life without the celebrations, the struggles, and the love that family provides. Almost unimaginable, isn’t it? At its very foundation, human society is organized around the family. It is the vital heart of community, our...
Recognizing Jesus in Disguise in the Stranger in Our Midst
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The above line is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, where, for almost a century, millions of pilgrims came with suitcases full of dreams to start new...
What Happened to Plan A?
Recently, we’ve witnessed a tug-of-war between the FDA and one judge over girls’ health (note: not women- young girls). Those pushing unfettered, unsupervised access of young girls to so-called emergency contraception would have us believe it is one of the safest over...
Talking about Our Differences is Good; Doing So Charitably, Even Better!
“Warmonger!”“Baby-killer!”“Sodomite!”“Misogynist homophobe!”Too often the above represents the extent of our civic discourse. It lands in our email boxes and we hear it on radio and television talk shows. Many of us had hoped that after last year’s election we’d see...
Board of Health Agrees: Virginia Women Deserve Better
Imagine for moment, a terrified woman feeling desperate and alone. With that picture in mind, imagine the clinic she turns to for aid. Is the building up to current structural standards, or is it behind the times and in need of repair? Is the procedure room...
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