Immigration Bill Is Stalled, Not Dead, Backers Say

WASHINGTON – With the June 7 failure of a procedural vote intended to bring the bill to a vote, the Senate's attempt to pass comprehensive immigration reform will go back behind the scenes, though the bill’s backers in both parties vowed to bring it back to the floor.

After the failure of a second cloture vote to cut off debate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would take the bill off the floor to allow other legislation to move along, though without closing the door to reviving its consideration.

Analysts on all sides have said that if immigration reform legislation isn’t passed before the end of 2007, it’s unlikely to get a serious shot at passage again until after the 2008 general election.

Assisted Suicide in Calif. Abandoned for This Year

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A coalition that includes the California Catholic Conference and other Catholic groups welcomed the news that the issue of physician-assisted suicide is dead in the state Legislature this year.

Facing a June 8 deadline for action on bills by legislators and reportedly lacking sufficient support, sponsors decided not to bring AB 374 to a vote on the Assembly floor June 7.

The bill, similar to an Oregon assisted-suicide law, would have allowed patients with less than three months to live to request and ingest medication to kill themselves, after meeting certain conditions.

Carol Hogan, communications director for the California Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops on public policy matters, said the coalition owes “a huge debt of gratitude to the ‘grass-roots’ volunteers, many of them Catholic parishioners” for defeat of the bill.

Bush Vows He’ll Veto Embryonic Stem-Cell Bill

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives rejected a bill June 6 that would have allowed human cloning but passed legislation the next day that would promote stem-cell research involving the destruction of human embryos.

President George W. Bush vowed to veto the stem-cell measure, however, saying it “puts scientific research and ethical principle into conflict, rather than supporting a balanced approach that advances scientific and medical frontiers without violating moral principles.”

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, had urged the defeat of both bills in a June 6 letter to House members.

“Embryonic stem-cell research has been as disappointing in its results as it has been divisive to our society,” the cardinal wrote.

“Pursuit of this destructive research will almost certainly require you to embrace more and more egregious violations of moral norms in the effort to bring its ‘promise’ to fruition.”

He said the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2007 was erroneously named and showed “the direction in which the embryonic stem-cell agenda is now taking us.”

The House defeated that bill by a 204-213 vote late June 6. The Stem-Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, approved by the House 247-176 June 7, passed the Senate April 11 by a 63-34 vote.

Web Site Calls Attention to Lourdes’ Anniversary

WASHINGTON – A group called Friends of Lourdes USA has launched a Web site to raise awareness for a jubilee year commemorating the 150th anniversary of Mary’s appearance to a young girl near Lourdes, France.

Created in May 2006, the site www.friendsoflourdesusa.com describes ways Americans can observe the anniversary of Mary’s 1858 appearance to St. Bernadette Soubirous in the grotto of Massabielle.

Mary revealed to St. Bernadette that she was the Immaculate Conception and requested that a chapel be built at the grotto.

A fountain there has reportedly healed sick people who drink from it or bathe in it. Approximately six million people visit the grotto each year.

Catholics See Religious Revival in Netherlands

OXFORD, England – When Menno Rasch, an information specialist at the Netherlands’ Utrecht University, set up a Web site in May 2006 to debate Christian ideas, he expected interest would be confined to a group of fellow Dutch lecturers. But within 10 hours, gristelijk.nl had received 350 inquiries.

A year later, it attracts 10,000 visitors daily, confirming a new interest in the Christian faith in this secular European society.

“I doubt people are preparing to make personal decisions about rejoining the churches,” Rasch said.

“But Christians have become more outspoken about their beliefs recently – their faith is no longer viewed as something backward, but as a real and valid option. This is a major change.”

Reports of a religious revival surfaced in the Netherlands in early 2006, when a study called “De Toekomst van God” (“The Future of God”) claimed the Netherlands was witnessing a phase of “post-secularization.”

British Cardinals Remind Politicians About Abortion

LONDON – Britain’s two cardinals have reminded Catholic politicians that it is unacceptable for them to vote for abortion rights.

Cardinals Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, and Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster, England, denounced the 1967 Abortion Act as the act approaches its 40th anniversary.

“I remind them to avoid cooperating in the unspeakable crime of abortion, and the barrier such cooperation erects to receiving holy Communion,” said Cardinal O’Brien, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, during a homily at St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, to mark the Church in Scotland’s Day for Life.

“I speak most especially to those who claim to be Catholic,” he said. “I ask them to examine their consciences and discern if they are playing any part in sustaining this social evil.”

Cardinal O’Brien said Catholics must be “unwilling to give our vote” to politicians who supported abortion.