RUBIO CALLS ON ADMIN TO INVESTIGATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD;FEDS FINE TENNESSEE COMPANY OVER ILLEGAL MIGRANT CHILD LABOR; BIDEN ADMIN FORCING LGBTQ LANGUAGE

 

NOTE: This is an early edition of the Weekend LOOP normally sent on Saturdays. The LOOP will take a break from delivering news from now until after Easter Sunday, but be on the lookout for a short devotional version of the LOOP each day of this Holy Triduum! THURSDAY, MARCH 28 - HOLY THURSDAY VOTERS DISAPPROVE OF BIDEN ON ISSUE THEY CARE MOST ABOUT  A new Harvard Harris poll in conjunction with the Center for American Political Studies found both that immigration is the issue voters are most concerned about and that Biden’s approval rating for his handling of immigration is worse than on any other topic.  READ JUDGE GAGS TRUMP IN ONGOING CASE  A New York judge has placed a gag order on former President Donald Trump restricting his ability to speak out about witnesses, prosecutors, and jurors involved in the criminal case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.  READ YOUNGKIN SINGLEHANDEDLY BLOCKS GUN CONTROL AGENDA  Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed 30 gun control bills on Tuesday afternoon, using his perch as a Republican governor to restrain Democrats from taking the state in a leftward direction despite their party having taken full control of the legislature in November.  READ SCHOOL CHOICE MOVEMENT GROWS  Earlier this month, Alabama became the 15th state in the nation to enact a program providing education savings accounts and the 10th state to enact universal education choice. Last week, South Carolina and Louisiana took steps to become the 11th and 12th states to make every K­-12 student eligible for education choice. Read more about the progress of the school choice movement here.  READ RUBIO CALLS ON ADMIN TO INVESTIGATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD  Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, this week sounded the alarm about reports that Planned Parenthood is providing aborted baby body parts to researchers in exchange for “valuable consideration” and intellectual property rights over the results of experiments on the remains. Rubio wrote a formal letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and HHS Inspector General Christi Grimm calling for a federal investigation.  READ FEDS FINE TENNESSEE COMPANY OVER ILLEGAL MIGRANT CHILD LABOR  The United States Department of Labor imposed nearly $2 million in fines against a Tennessee manufacturer for illegally “employing” migrant children “to operate dangerous machinery" and "requiring them to work more hours than the law allows."  READ BIDEN ADMIN FORCING LGBTQ LANGUAGE An Interior Department mining agency sought to purge its website and field offices of traditional language that could offend LGBTQ individuals. The move was made to comply with an executive order from President Biden.  READ PRO-LGBTQ COUNTY OFFICIALS MOCK CHRISTIANS  Last week, Democrats on Fairfax County‘s board of supervisors voted to designate Easter Sunday as “Transgender Visibility Day.” Members of the board are “sending a message to Christians that they do not matter as they turn one of their holiest days into a celebration of an ideology that undermines the church’s core convictions,” writes Stephanie Lundquist-Arora.  READ LOOPcast  Birth control exposed, bridge collapse, and getting Catholics back to church – all on the latest LOOPcast!  WATCH EASTER BRUNCH IDEAS  During Holy Week, we find ourselves in the curious position of fasting more than ever while at the same time shopping and preparing a big feast. Now that’s some grace! Here are some tasty Easter brunch recipes that will both add sacrificial value to your fasting and do justice to the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning.  READ HOW TO FEEL PAIN  The post-Christian of today does not see good or evil, but pleasure and pain. Both are meaningless and subjective, and pain must be avoided at all costs, even to the point of “ceasing to exist” (as in assisted suicide). But a worldview that does not assign meaning, purpose, and even goodness to pain can make no sense of the world at all. According to David Warren at The Catholic Thing, here is the way to feel pain.  READ IT’S HARD TO MAKE FRIENDS!  People don’t mind leaning on family, because family is safe and easy. But making new friends requires emotional vulnerability and energy, which can bring out all sorts of insecurities. It’s a lot easier to fill a social calendar with things that don’t actually require a lot of emotional effort than to reach out to new people. Read here to learn why friendship is worth it!  READ SINCERELY BEAUTIFUL  Modern culture is in flight from beauty and has been for quite some time now. The exact beginning of that flight can be difficult to pinpoint and varies somewhat based on the particular aspect of culture that one considers. Here’s how our flight from beauty mirrors a flight from judgment.  READ CATHOLIC 101  "If you want to discover the DNA of the Church, read John 17." Fr. Joshua Whitfield walks us through the high-priestly prayer Jesus prayed on the very first Holy Thursday.  READ SAINT OF THE DAY  St. Sixtus III was born in Rome and became the 44th Pope in 432. During his Papacy, Sixtus protested against heresies, approved the results of the Council of Ephesus, restored Roman basilicas, and talked often with St. Augustine of Hippo. Sixtus died in 440 of natural causes.  READ HOLY THURSDAY PSALM  “Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.” (1 Cor 10:16)  READ HOLY THURSDAY READINGS  Holy Thursday's Mass readings.  READ ANSWER TO THE TRIVIA  Antiphon. HAVE A TIP?  Send us your news for the Weekend LOOP.  EMAIL TRIDUUM  Here are five amazing facts about the Triduum to get you ready for Easter!  READ Share with friends to win cool stuff! Have friends who'd love the Loop, too? Give them your unique referral link (below) and get an awesome reward when they subscribe! https://join.catholicvote.org/0447f467/ Facebook Twitter Email Your referral count: 0 Share the LOOP The LOOP is a publication of CatholicVote Civic Action, a 501(c)(4) organization. The LOOP is organized, funded, and published by faithful Catholic laity. We do not claim to speak for any individual bishop or the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. CATHOLICVOTE | PO Box 3310 | Carmel, IN 46082 | (317) 669-6127