Virtual Advocacy Day, Lauren Hill’s Journey, Crime Victims

Catholic Advocacy Day: Action Alerts and Updates

Catholic Advocacy Day is Tuesday and you can take part in this united effort to promote life and dignity in the Golden State by participating in Virtual Advocacy Day.   Click here to send an email to your State Senator and Assembly Member saying you support the message of your fellow Catholics visiting the halls of the Capitol on Tuesday.

Diocesan delegates have been learning about the issues for the last few weeks and honing their presentations.  Background on all the issues is available here, including a webinar recording in which the Conference lobbyists offered briefings on each of the bills.  You can also view an update of all the bills here.

Delegates have worked hard to prepare for this day.  Please offer them your support and encouragement by Taking Action now on all our active Action Alerts.

Thank you.         

May 1 is the deadline for policy committees to complete their work on bills.  With the physician-assisted suicide bill (SB 128), the Reproductive FACT Act which targets pro-life pregnancy centers (AB 775) and many other bills being considered it’s an active time in the legislature.  Keep track of all the key bills on our Legislation page.

“How to live in the moment…” Lauren Hill’s Courageous Journey

College freshman Lauren Hill, 19, died of inoperable brain cancer on April 10, surrounded by family and mourned by thousands.

Hill was a typical teen. She was a good student and good high school basketball player; colleges wanted her.

But three years ago she was diagnosed with a cancer that mostly strikes children. It is almost never survived.

What distinguished Lauren’s last three years was her determination to live fully her remaining time, even as her health declined. Mount St. Joseph’s University in Cincinnati said they would let her play on its basketball team, if she was physically able.

Last November 10,000 fans cheered her first college basketball game, a goal she set before the disease. It was played in a sold-out Xavier University arena, used because the scheduled gym was too small.

Hill scored the Mount’s first basket and its last, shooting left-handed for the first time in her career because cancer had already weakened her right side. She played briefly in several subsequent games.

In December she entered hospice care.

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Candlelight Vigil Offers Crime Survivors Opportunity for Remembrance and Healing

An evening of remembrance and healing for crime survivors revealed the importance of ministries that provide ongoing support for those experiencing such a great loss and deep sorrow. 

Such an evening took place Monday night as survivors of crime from across California gathered in Sacramento to commemorate National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, April 19-25, 2015.  Meetings and conferences were held throughout this time to honor and support crime victims and survivors, to discuss various victim-related topics and needs, and to promote a justice system that more effectively addresses the needs of survivors and prevents crime.

One support ministry member at the Monday vigil explained that ministry to the victims of crime takes patience in listening and an understanding that the pain suffered by crime survivors must be given back to God for healing to take place.  As they are healed, they are then able to help others.  

On the Web

Countering Moral Relativism: “The Spiritual poverty of our time.” – “The spirit of the world,” Pope Francis cautioned, tempts us with “the deceptive light of relativism, which obscures the splendor of truth and, shaking the earth beneath our feet, pushes us toward the shifting sands of confusion and despair.”

On Earth Day, the pope also said, “I exhort everyone to see the world through the eyes of God the Creator: the earth is an environment to be safeguarded, a garden to be cultivated.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether, under the Constitution, states must grant same-sex marriage licenses and recognize gay marriages legally performed in another state.   Read our pre-hearing analysis here.

April is a time to promote awareness of child abuse prevention and to learn how the Catholic Church is working to protect children and young people.

Disaster in the MediterraneanPope urges prayers, action on behalf of migrants, unemployed, poor.

April 24, 2015, Vol. 8, No. 16, En Español

For more information, contact the California Catholic Conference, leginfo@cacatholic.org, 916-313-4000, or visit www.cacatholic.org.

Read the full story here.

 

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