October 2024
HEROES
Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., Diocese of Charlotte, and others who helped storm victims
Hurricane Helene devastated much of North Carolina, taking over 100 lives in the Old North State alone and leaving many destitute and homeless.
Amidst all the destruction, Bishop Martin stepped up to come to the aid of the storm’s victims, epitomizing Christ’s call to “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31)
On October 4 – the feast of St. Francis – the Conventual Franciscan bishop visited a Catholic school in western North Carolina which, as CatholicVote reported, was “serving as a key distribution hub in the aftermath of the disaster.”
There, Martin “met with local leaders and volunteers working to distribute vital supplies to those in need,” CatholicVote noted.
He also prayed with the residents of Swannanoa, a small community nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains that was nearly annihilated by the deadly storm.
“The only thing I can do here is to be with people, pray with them, and remind them that Jesus never leaves them,” Martin reflected at the time. He said that while Helene victims “are tired, they’re worried, and they’re just overwhelmed,” he assured them that “Jesus steps into that (situation) all the time.”
Later in the month, CatholicVote reported that Martin’s diocese had “raised $3.8 million from all 50 states and six countries,” the “largest humanitarian effort in its history.”
“Know that the rest of the world is very much with you,” Martin said in a mid-October homily – the words of a true hero.
Rebekah Allick, University of Nebraska volleyball player
For athletes, it’s easy to support a cause that is trendy and popular. But it takes courage to stand for the truth in the face of powerful opposition – just because it’s the right thing to do.
Enter Rebekah Allick, a young Catholic volleyball star for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Allick recently appeared in two ads from the Nebraska pro-life group Protect Women & Children informing voters about the dueling measures on the state’s November 5 ballot – the pro-abortion Initiative 439 and the pro-life Initiative 434.
In the ads, Allick joined other female athletes in calling on Nebraskans to vote “no” on 439 and for 434. She made her stand wearing a shirt reading “God-Fidence: Knowing I Can’t But He Can.”
The collegiate volleyball player called 439 “a radical amendment” being pushed for by “out-of-state activists” in Protect Women & Children’s one-minute ad. “439 outlaws parental notification for minors. 434 defends women from abuse, sex trafficking, and coercion.”
While many college students succumb to peer pressure and the prevailing secular culture, Allick stood firm and used her status as a star student athlete to heroically witness to the truth and her Catholic faith.
Bishops who denounced their states’ pro-abortion amendments
A total of ten states across the nation currently have abortion on their 2024 November ballots.
Fortunately, many Catholic bishops from these states have stood up to encourage the faithful to vote for unborn children’s right to live.
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski – the metropolitan bishop who has limited authority over all seven dioceses in the state of Florida – has repeatedly urged Floridians to reject the extreme pro-abortion Amendment 4 over the past several months.
On October 21, Wenski gave the closing prayer at an event featuring Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and a coalition of physicians opposed to the amendment.
“Your presence here and your words today have reinvigorated all of us,” the archbishop told the doctors, “and have helped us to recommit ourselves … that we can speak to our neighbors, to our family members, and speak of the importance of our communicating to them … why this amendment should fail.”
Over in Nebraska, Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln emerged as a steadfast voice against the aforementioned Initiative 439.
In late October, Conley announced that he will lead a Eucharistic procession around the Nebraska State Capitol building in Lincoln to “plead for the life of the preborn” on November 3 – two days before Election Day.
Earlier, the Lincoln bishop urged Catholics to join him in praying a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during the beginning of October, with the intention of defeating the amendment that he boldly called out as “dangerous and deceptive.”
We commend Wenski, Conley, and all the other heroic bishops who are standing for the true and unchangeable Catholic teaching that human life begins at conception, especially during this time of great confusion.
Superheroes
CatholicVote political volunteers
With November 5 fast approaching, CatholicVote volunteers across the nation have realized the urgency of the 2024 election and have selflessly dedicated their time to helping America make the right choice.
Between texting voters, sending postcards, and making phone calls encouraging people to vote, our volunteers have made all the difference. All of CatholicVote’s critical efforts to stand up for faith, family, and freedom this cycle depended on the heroic work of Catholics like these.
CatholicVote volunteers, you are all superheroes!
ZEROES
Catholic hospitals performing ‘transgender’ surgeries on kids
In early October, the organization Do No Harm released a bombshell report revealing that doctors have subjected children to “transgender” procedures in Catholic-affiliated hospitals across the country.
As CatholicVote reported, the organization’s “research revealed 170 children underwent transgender surgeries and 508 children received cross-sex hormone or puberty blocker prescriptions at Catholic hospitals in the United States between 2019 and 2023.”
“The largest number of transgender interventions among Catholic hospitals was found at Providence Health & Services, the nation’s fourth-largest Catholic health system,” CatholicVote noted.
Upon the report’s release, Catholic Accountability Project Director Tommy Valentine remarked: “I know a lot of people in and around Catholic healthcare, and it’s clear that most of our Catholic hospitals provide care that respects human dignity. But a minority of them have lost the plot.”
While they are thankfully the exception and not the rule, these hospitals are still gravely at odds with Catholic teaching, and the doctors responsible have more than earned their status as zeroes.
Alice Kitchen, former nun who supports Missouri pro-abortion amendment
Alice Kitchen is a former nun from Missouri who is now an activist with the Loretto Feminist Network, a group that describes itself as a “voluntary association of feminists in the larger Loretto Community.”
On October 23, Kitchen penned an op-ed for the Kansas City Star in favor of Amendment 3, the pro-abortion amendment on Missouri’s November ballot.
Amendment 3 seeks to nix Missouri’s current pro-life law, which protects almost all unborn children in the state, and instead make abortion explicitly legal up until “fetal viability” (usually defined as 24 weeks’ gestation).
In the piece, Kitchen claimed that her “religious tradition equips me and encourages me to support reproductive freedom,” a euphemism widely used by pro-abortion activists to refer to the killing of unborn children.
The far-left, anti-Catholic, pro-abortion group Catholics for Choice (CFC) unsurprisingly celebrated the former nun’s op-ed.
“CFC Advocate and former Catholic nun Alice Kitchen has said what we’re all thinking,” CFC wrote in an October 25 X (formerly Twitter) post.
It is clear as day what we are all thinking. This former nun-turned pro-abortion advocate is a total zero.
Readers can find CatholicVote’s 2022 exposé on CFC here.
Cardinal Joseph Tobin and synod participants who pushed the LGBT agenda on the Church
Last but certainly not least, we come to Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, CSsR, Archbishop of Newark, and other participants in October’s Synod assembly who called for the Church to embrace the LGBT movement.
“People are aware of a number of things,” Tobin said at a Vatican press briefing touted by the pro-LGBT activist group New Ways Ministry (NWM).
“They’re aware of the particular challenges and obligations that a response to the LGBT community claims on us,” Tobin continued. “We need to work together and not simply presume that any country has absolute clarity on the type of response.”
The American cardinal went on to compare the LGBT political movement to “the Syrophoenician woman who first Jesus ignored” in the Gospel. “And she responded to help him understand her dilemma,” Tobin said. “Hopefully, that’s a paradigm.”
Earlier this year, a report from the Catholic Accountability Project explored NWM’s “plan to capture the Church for the LGBT movement.” Readers can find the full report here.
