"Women lawmakers endure – and defy – the anti-choice wrath of the Catholic Church"

[Dawson Leery]

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2012-04-06/keeping-the-faith/

"Dawnna Dukes' great-grandmother was a French Creole. She came to Austin from Louisiana in 1914 and found herself among a growing number of black Catholics without a house of worship. Austin's white parishes wouldn't allow black congregants, so Dukes' great-grandmother joined with a group of like-minded souls to help found Holy Cross Catholic Church, the city's historically black Catholic parish on East 11th Street. The small congregation eventually became a local political powerhouse; in 1940, Holy Cross Hospital was built on the church grounds, and a year later, Holy Cross Catholic School was established. In the Seventies, Meals on Wheels and More was founded by Holy Cross volunteers, who used the church basement to start the successful charity. The parish was spiritual home to the city's first black City Council member, two Austin ISD board members, and two state representatives, including Austin Democratic state Rep. Dukes.

It was within the powerful confines of Holy Cross Church that Dukes grew up. She was baptized and confirmed there, and the church has married and buried most of her kin. So when Dukes was asked to serve as a guest speaker at the parish after services on the third Sunday in February for Black History Month, to discuss the contributions of black women, she was happy to oblige.

But Dukes never spoke; instead, a week before she was scheduled to appear, she was informed that the Catholic Diocese of Austin had determined that she would not again be allowed to address the congregation – specifically because of her ongoing support for Texas' Women's Health Program, a Medicaid-waiver health care program that aims to reduce unintended pregnancies and to provide basic health care for low-income, uninsured women. "I am a child of Holy Cross," Dukes said recently. And now, she says, "I've been banned."

[atreides1]

1. It would be against my beliefs to wish ill on the Catholic church

But let's get something clear, as long as the laity sits silently by and allows this to continue they are complicit in this as much as the Bishops are!

Please no BS from a catholic saying "we're not all like this", because it's all crap, until you do something that tells the Bishops you will no longer follow their lead.

[Ilsa]

6. This is where I am on this.

Parishioners need to let them know, by their absence and lack of financial support, that they don't agree with their leadership on these issues. And frankly, I think the latter, versus the former, is what will get their attention.

[monmouth]

2. She and Victoria Kennedy should really get on this ridiculousness. What a shame..n/t

[libinnyandia]

3. I went to my hometown parish's website and saw a Glenn Beck video on it. I was thinking of going

to Mass there on Easter. I guess not.

[Dawson Leery]

7. Would you mind giving us a link?

[libinnyandia]

8. Google west fork catholic community

[HockeyMom]

4. Get out of the Catholic Church

Walk. Don't them one dime more of your money.

[Dawson Leery]

9. +100000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[meow2u3]

5. Opus Dei has taken over the Catholic Church in the US

One thing glaringly missing from all this talk about birth control and women: the total lack of expectation of men to control themselves.

I've lost my respect for the bishops since Opus Dei stuck their tentacles into the hierarchy and their noses into politics. Those Opus Dei and OD-influenced bishops are the proverbial empty vessels making the most noise when it comes to telling women to get back in their places. These same bishops are silent in men's role in putting the women in the predicament they're in. They should be excoriating the irresponsible men who get these women pregnant, but they give me the impression that they're secretly--or not-so-secretly--applauding men for destroying women's lives.

My respect for the bishops will be restored only when they show an explicit single standard regarding sexual behavior.