The big news in American Catholic circles is the Obama administration’s “contraceptive mandate.” This latest unethical intrusion of big governmnet stipulates that employers, including religious institutions, provide their employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives, sterilizations, and specific abortifacients such as Ella and Plan B.

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle summarized the situation: “If this unprecedented aggression against the religious freedom rights of Catholics is allowed to stand, then virtually all Catholic institutions — colleges, universities, secondary schools, hospitals, charities, service providers, fraternal orders, and advocacy organizations — will be forced to pay for procedures, devices, and chemicals abhorrent to the consciences of Catholics.” Read More »

It was great news to hear that Verastegui’s own Guadalupe Medical Center has opened in Los Angeles. He calls it an “oasis of life” in a “desert of death.”

CNA reports: Former Mexican soap opera star turned pro-life activist Eduardo Verastegui told a crowd of over 500 that he thinks abortion in the U.S. will one day come to an end. “I think we will see regeneration and the end of abortion in this country,” he said at a sold out Jan. 26 fundraiser for Lighthouse Pregnancy Center in Denver, Colo. Read more here.

CNA reports: President Obama, [Robert Aguirre] charged, is “telling not just Hispanic Catholics, but all people of faith, that our faith-formed opinions have no place in the public square.”

“Hispanics are people of faith and family and these values are as unique as our culture,” Aguirre continued. “We believe that family and faith are not to be separated and we deplore in the strongest terms possible this administration’s attempt to curb the religious liberty of Hispanic families.” Read full report here.

Thomas J. Craughwell, Our Sunday Visitor: Chicago history buffs will tell you that their city was founded in 1790 by a successful trapper and fur trader named Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Less well known is du Sable’s background — he was black and Catholic. Read full article here

Phil Lawler of Catholic Culture: Is it humiliating for American political leaders to read that Pope Benedict sees an erosion of religious freedom in our country? It should be. Read full article here.

It’s that simple, as Father Paul Wattson intended it in petitioning Rome to approve the liturgical octave. Pope Saint Pius X approved of the octave in 1908 and Pope Benedict XV promoted its observance throughout the whole Catholic Church. The eight days of prayer begin on January 18, the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, and end on January 25, the feast of the conversion of Saint Paul. The Holy Father in his general audience yesterday called for “interior conversion” saying that the Unity Octave must not be limited to nothing more than “cordiality and cooperation.” Read More »

CNA: The St. Andrew School of Formation (Escuela de Evangelización San Andrés) is offering classes in Arkansas to teach Hispanic Catholics about their faith and how to evangelize others. More on this here.

The American Catholic: Bishop Armando Ochoa of the Diocese of El Paso has raised serious accusations against Fr. Michael Rodriguez, the brave priest who stood up for the sanctity of marriage at the El Paso city council, by filing a legal action against Fr. Rodriguez due to alleged financial misconduct. More on this story here.

CNA reports: Some 100,000 Catholics gathered in the northern Peruvian city of Otuzco to celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of the Gate on Dec. 15. More on this feast day here.

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha will soon be Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. Blessed Marianne Cope will undergo a similar name change. On December 19, the Holy Father approved the miracles requisite for these two Beati — both of whom spent some part of their lives in New York State — to be canonized. Read More »