The following was sent to California Catholic Daily by one of its correspondents on Apr. 28.
Dear Archbishops and Bishops of California,
I write with urgency and conviction, to bring to your attention that the California Catholic Conference of Bishops is not including support for AB 2336 on Catholic Advocacy Day next Tuesday, April 29th. AB 2336 would ban Sex-Selection Abortions and will be voted on just one week later, on Tuesday, May 6th, in the Assembly Health Committee. Your timely and full support is critically needed! This is lethal prenatal discrimination against baby girls. Even former President Jimmy Carter recently said, “…160 million girls are now missing from the face of the earth because they are murdered at birth by their parents or either selectively aborted when their parents find out that the fetus is a girl.” President Carter called this discrimination “the worst human rights abuse on earth.”
The Church is abjectly failing and missing a tremendous opportunity to lead the way in support for this life-affirming effort, as polls show as high as 85% agreement for banning Sex-Selection Abortions, across party lines and demographic subsets. Eight states already have Sex-Selection Abortion bans. The evidence is clear that sex-selection abortions are occurring here in California. Catholic Bishops could have a powerful influence in unifying support for this bill among all legislators, for few people, regardless of their party affiliation, can publicly support killing babies simply because they are baby girls—or baby boys.
The California Bishops’ current silence on AB 2336 on Catholic Advocacy Day sends the message to the Assembly Health Committee members, many of whom are Catholic, everyone at the Capitol, the voters of California and Americans all across the country that the Bishops of California do not proclaim the protection of innocent human life as a moral imperative, nor a legislative priority. How can prisoner phone call rates, AB 1876, be more important than saving the lives of baby girls on Catholic Advocacy Day?
My ten years of daily experience as a sidewalk counselor in front of Sacramento abortion businesses, offering compassionate assistance to abortion-bound women and serving as the last chance, the last hope a baby has for life, convicts my conscience and I pray that I can convey this sense of urgency to you as a plea for your leadership. Every day, a classroom of future students are killed by abortion right here in Sacramento. In California, the equivalent of an entire large school-full of children are killed daily (800 babies), as about one-quarter of all US abortions take place in our state.
Yet, rather than make saving babies a priority, the California Catholic Conference of Bishops will be advocating for education tax credits. How ironic, when you think of the tens of thousands of empty classrooms and closed schools, resulting from abortion. Every week thousands of Hispanic babies are killed in our state, paid for with our own personal tax dollars, yours and mine. Immigration and tax-breaks for the poor are very important, but we cannot be silent as babies are being slaughtered and women are hurt for a lifetime!
Surely, support for AB 2336 can and must be included in Catholic Advocacy Day on Tuesday, if there is the will, the courage, and the leadership among our Bishops to do so.
Surely, support for AB 2336 can and must be included in Catholic Advocacy Day on Tuesday, if there is the will, the courage, and the leadership among our Bishops to do so.
By our silence, we are complicit in a massive Culture of Death. Life must be a priority. Even at this late date, it is not too late for you to include support for AB 2336, especially for those legislators who are on the Assembly Health Committee, scheduled to vote on this bill Tuesday, May 6, just a week after Catholic Advocacy Day.
Recently, Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila had only days to protect life in Colorado, yet he personally led the effort to successfully oppose abortion in his state, with a rally attended by 1,000 faithful at the state capitol, prayer, phone calls, emails, and visits to the state legislators. See Archbishop Aquila’s personal Letter which went out over the weekend of April 11th here and the news article here.
If we profess to believe in the Resurrected Lord, then let us go forth to live as a witness to the assurance that with God, all things are possible.
I plead with you to do what is right, even when it might not be popular at the California State Capitol, in order to begin to restore a Culture of Life here in California.
Sincerely,
Wynette Sills, St. Joseph Parish
Sacramento Diocese
916-955-1577
wsills@succeed.net
Are they still praying for rain?
Perhaps this is not fair, but it appears to me that since most CA Bishops do not actively and publically encourage all literate laity to study the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition”,
they want to promote their own brand of Catholicism (rather than that of the Catholic Church), and their own politics by keeping people ignorant of the true teaching of the Faith. This is in direct disobedience to Saint Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis who has asked us all to study the CCC.
In California ILLEGAL immigration and supporting the Democratic Party of Death seems more important than saving the lives of millions of babies – female or male.
If their fellow Bishops were being dismembered or burned by chemicals until death, perhaps they would be more attentive.
” If their fellow Bishops were being dismembered or burned by chemicals until death, perhaps they would be more attentive.” –
Do you really think they care about anything other than their own income and comfort?
Is there time to contact our bishops? Which bishop made the decision to not address this issue? Who is in charge of the group or was this a collective decision? I fear the “sacrosanct” tax exemption for the Catholic church is once again the deciding factor in this decision, the tax exemption that has been traded for nearly 60 million unborn babies since 1973.
The California bishops are under the control of the bureaucrats at the California Conference of Bishops who kiss the feet of the Democrats and bow to them every chance they get. Their determining to ignore this bill, as well as basically all other baby life saving bills, shows them to be in the camp of the enemies of the true Catholic faith. To put in bluntly, the California Bishops are in league with the enemies of Catholicism. What can they say to deny this?
Each Bishop is in charge of his own Diocese.
The CA Bishops Conference is not in charge of each Bishop, although each CA Bishop is a member.
Most ignore everything they do not want to deal with.
CHRIS is right. Most do not even want to teach the Faith in entirety – by requesting that all literate Laity study the CCC at home. Either they think we are too stupid or have ulterior, sinister motives.
God Bless you, Wynett Sills. I am so pained to think that our Calif Bishops are not all over AB 2336 adoption. This is just another scandal to me and other faithful “pro life” Catholics–why aren’t all Catholics “pro life”? Something I will never understand. Everyone, please storm our Bishops in California with letters like Wynett’s. We must not be silent when it comes to saving lives!
Ms. Sills plea to California’s bishops is stunning in its power, and in the evil that it valiantly hopes to defeat. Indeed, to quote Ms. Sills, “How can prisoner phone call rates, AB 1876, be more important than saving the lives of baby girls on Catholic Advocacy Day?” The California Catholic Conference of Bishops is notoriously liberal, a bastion of the Cardinal Bernardin “seamless garment” variety, ignoring much that it could do regarding homosexual sexual support, sexual mores, generally, and abortion. How can this group not demand — with penalty of en masse denial of communion — that Catholic members of the Assembly not support these types of bills? And, how can the Church — particularly members like Bishop Soto — continue to regularly reward Catholic traitor politicians in the Assembly and Senate with various commendations and honors from the Church? These feminized men lack moral and personal courage (with very few exceptions). Never wanting for luxurious surroundings or free “happy meals” these bishops are, as a class, a scandal to the Faithful. But, what are we to do with a Vatican that is seeking to institutionalize Vatican II by every means possible. Holy Father, the weakness of the Council will never disappear and must be addressed. Yes, there is a clear and convincing connection between the absence of Vatican leadership in demanding faithful stewards among its bishops, and the absence of local leadership by these ordinaries when hard battles must be fought, ones that will lead to ridicule, scorn, and outright rejection. Wait — isn’t this what Jesus promised to those that follow Him: “If the world hate you, know ye, that it hath hated me before you. If you had been of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (John 15:18-19) (DRV).
How much more evidence do you need to confirm that the California Catholic Bishops are in bed with the Democrat party?
Today is Catholic Advocacy Day in Sacramento. No sign of petitioning against the specific killing of girls in the womb=gendercide. But they will talk about education tax credits. Really?! Or prisoner cell phone rates? Over specifically killing girls when one is pregnant.
This is the group of Bishops who were silent on –
• Sarah’s Law and other parental consent laws to prevent 12 year old girls and older from getting abortions without their parents consent.
• Bathroom Bill. Where boys can use girls bathrooms and showers and vice versa.
• Harvey Milk Day in all California Schools. Promoting a sexual predator, liar and Jim Jones supporter. Holding him up as a hero to young children and teens.
• Eliminating counseling for same sex attraction. Parents cannot get counseling for kids who are confused and need help.
Yep, CA Bishops Conference = Democratic Party of Death &
and the Church of feel good.
Why did Ned Dolesji decide not to bring this to the attention of the bishops?
Ned knows that the bishops don’t want to hear certain things so he accommodates them by keeping them busy with socialist-type issues, including phones, immigration, car seats, etc.
This is the real war against women.
I called Bishop Vann’s office today to bring this to his attention, and his secretary Marianne laughed at me when I suggested that I leave my name and number for him to call me back. She flatly told me that he would not do so, but that I could write him a letter if I wished.
I also noticed that the CCC just hastily added AB 2336 to its Catholic Advocacy Day web page: https://www.cacatholic.org/index.php/take-action/catholic-advocacy-day. I suppose this will give them cover. Better late than never.
I know the CA Bishops Conference Call themselves the CCC. But the official Church abbreviation referenced in many Church Documents is CCC.
The California Catholic Bishops Conference should call themselves the CCBC.
CCC = “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition”
Let’s start an individual campaign without our Bishops to insure that our Faith is shared with all. Including accurate teaching on abortion, euthanasia, contraception, homosexual (sodomy)marriage, etc.
“….the CATECHISM has raised throughout the world, even among non-Christians, and confirms its purpose of being presented as a full, complete exposition of Catholic doctrine, enabling everyone to know what the Church professes, celebrates, lives, and prays in her daily life.” – SAINT Pope John Paul II (CCC pg xiv)
https://cal-catholic.com/wordpress/2014/04/28/will-calif-bishops-do-anything-about-murder-of-baby-girls/#comment-133957
“Endowment for Human Development”
Great message by Wynette Sills, but I call your attention to the Catholic Bishops’ website Advocacy Day page listing AB 2336 as one of the bills to be lobbied…also a full page statement on the issue giving the History, background, church teaching and four talking points. So, the bishops’ staff are on the ball!
Louise, I also found the information you are talking about, but it was not on the site where people would have looked for details about Advocacy Day. When I found the site, I wondered why it was hidden. Was the information actively provided to anyone on Advocacy Day? Why is it so hard for any pro-life position to be emphasized – or even mentioned – by the Catholic bishops?
They put it on the site AFTER we all started getting on their case.
Great letter! Powerful and persuasive.