BIDEN ADMIN ISSUES NATIONAL ABORTION MANDATE FOR EMPLOYERS;DOJ NAMES WEISS SPECIAL COUNSEL IN HUNTER PROBE;DEMOCRATIC AG’S ATTACK IDAHO PRO-LIFE LAW

 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 12 BIDEN ADMIN ISSUES NATIONAL ABORTION MANDATE FOR EMPLOYERS  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this week issued a regulation establishing a national mandate on employers to accommodate workers’ abortions under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The alarming rule is now open for a 60-day period during which citizens can comment with objections. CatholicVote is calling on citizens to submit comments via an easy-to-use portal.  READ DOJ NAMES WEISS SPECIAL COUNSEL IN HUNTER PROBE  The Biden Administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has named David Weiss a special counsel in the ongoing probe into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. House Republicans sounded the alarm about the appointment, claiming it represented a coverup for the Biden family since Weiss as special counsel will be answerable to the Biden administration’s DOJ and – ultimately – to the president.  READ TRUMP REFUSES TO SIGN ‘LOYALTY PLEDGE’  Former President Donald Trump has refused to sign a pledge to back the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election if it ends up being someone other than himself. “Why would I sign it?” Trump said. “I can name three or four people that I wouldn’t support for president. So right there, there’s a problem.”  READ MANCHIN ‘SERIOUSLY’ CONSIDERING EXIT FROM DEM PARTY  Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WV, stated that he is “absolutely” thinking about leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an Independent. “The brand has become so bad. The ‘D’ brand and ‘R’ brand,” Manchin said. “You’ve heard me say a million times that I’m not a Washington Democrat.” He is up for reelection next year.  READ DEMOCRATIC AG’S ATTACK IDAHO PRO-LIFE LAW  Twenty Democratic attorneys general are challenging an Idaho law that protects minors by forbidding adults from trafficking pregnant children to other states for abortions. “A parent's right to protect their child knows no border,” said CatholicVote Director of Government Affairs Tom McClusky. “It is shameful that 20 state attorneys general would put protecting traffickers over protecting parents.”  READ ARCHBISHOP CALLS ON CATHOLICS TO ACT IN THE WORLD  "In our own Catholic Church, we're in a struggle about living our faith in a world that's become very secularized — but secularized not in the sense of apart from religion, but with a value system that's hostile to some basic values that we have," said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco in a new interview. The archbishop is calling on Catholics to live out their faith publicly, influencing a world that has become unwelcoming to Christ and His followers.  READ ATTEND THE ‘HOUR OF THE LAITY’ CONFERENCE  Tepeyac Leadership Inc. will host a conference to form lay Catholics for leadership in civil society in November. Intended for all lay Catholics, The Hour of the Laity: A Lay Catholic Conference is a national conference that “will initiate attendees in a discernment towards the discovery of the unique leadership role God has prepared for them in civil society.”  READ MATERNITY WARDS CLOSING DOWN  Rural hospitals in Ohio, Illinois, New York, and Oregon are closing down their maternity wards due to a staff shortage and lower birth rates.. University hospitals in Ashland, Ohio, OSF Healthcare in Pontiac, Illinois, and Trinity Health in Troy, New York, and Baker City, Oregon, will all shut down their maternity wards by the end of the year. Here’s what it all means for the health of mothers and the safe delivery of babies.  READ ARIZONA UNIVERSITIES DITCH ‘DEI’ STATEMENTS  Arizona’s public universities will no longer require Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) statements from their faculty job applicants. In place of traditional cover letters, the schools had been requesting diversity statements, accounts of the candidate’s activism or commitment to diversity, or written endorsements of progressive concepts such as “intersectional personal identities.”  READ TEXAS A&M DEDICATES NEW CHURCH  The Catholic community of St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M University dedicated a new church on July 29. CatholicVote spoke to Isaiah Bocock, a sophomore at Texas A&M who attended the dedication ceremony. “This church is Mary calling out to us, saying that we’re part of the army and here’s home base,” he said. “It’s going to bring so many people into the Church. I can’t see myself falling away from the Church while I go there.”  READ LOOPCAST  A simple ID law takes down the world's biggest smut site, CV Prez Brian Burch gives the inside scoop on Ohio, and pop icon Ne-Yo schools his publicist... all on this week's LOOPcast!  WATCH LAUGHING  What do you think when someone really lets himself go in a fit of boisterous laughter? You might cringe or you might burst into laughter yourself. Laughter may seem like a superficial thing, but it’s not. It’s surprisingly beneficial physically, socially, mentally, and even spiritually. Here are three great points about laughter that will encourage you to bring more of it into your life.  READ SCHOOL LUNCH IDEAS  School lunch can feel like a daily riddle to solve. How can I keep my kids full and healthy? How can I make sure they’ll eat what I send with them? How can I prevent this from being a giant, time-consuming task every day? Here are 49 answers to your questions.  READ VIRGIL AND COURAGE  What if Dante, Virgil, Chaucer, and other great poets of history could peer into our time and speak their wisdom to us? This is an imaginative letter written by “Virgil” to us on the subject of courage. His Trojan hero Aeneas had to learn that courage doesn’t always come in the fighting of battles and vanquishing of enemies, but in a lifetime of endurance, full of deeds that don’t make it into songs and histories. And this is a greater courage.  READ LESS IS MORE Deacon Matt Newsome writes that in prayer and in painting, less is often more. As he dove into a painting hobby, his enthusiasm led him to acquire loads of paints and supplies he never would use. He realized that similarly in prayer, we can get carried away by the vast treasure trove of prayers that belong to the Catholic Church. Just as a painter develops a “limited palette,” it can be wise to focus on a smaller collection of trusted devotions that define our individual spiritual life.  READ TAKE ACTION  The Biden administration just issued a NATIONWIDE MANDATE to force employers to accommodate employee abortions. CatholicVote is calling on YOU to submit a comment objecting to the new rule. The more comments, the less likely we’ll see this mandate implemented in its current, horrible form.  ACT CATHOLIC 101  No one likes suffering. In fact, we spend much of life trying to avoid or alleviate it. But St. Augustine explains that our worst enemy is not suffering, but pride – and that God can use the experience of suffering as a medicine for our prideful inclinations.  READ SAINT OF THE DAY  St. Jane Frances de Chantal was widowed in her 20s. She became close friends with both St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul. With their help and spiritual direction she started the order known as the “Visitation Sisters.” Throughout her life, St. Jane dealt with deep grief as she endured the deaths of close friends and many members of her family. READ SATURDAY’S PSALM  “I love you, Lord, my strength.” (Psalm 18:2)  READ SATURDAY’S READINGS  Saturday's Mass readings.  READ SUNDAY’S PSALM  “Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.” (Psalm 85:8)  READ SUNDAY’S READINGS  Sunday's Mass readings.  READ ANSWER TO THE TRIVIA  The four Marian dogmas which Catholics are obligated to believe are: Mary was conceived without sin, Mary is the Mother of God, Mary is a perpetual virgin, and Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven. HAVE A TIP?  Send us your news for the Weekend Loop.  EMAIL ARTWORK  The Assumption, by Giuseppe Craffonara, 1830  SHARE The LOOP is a publication of the CatholicVote Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization. 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