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March 28, 2024
Friends,
Let me introduce you to current Becket clients, Mike and Kitty Burke, a loving Catholic couple who applied to be foster parents in Massachusetts. They are in all respects the ideal foster parents—Mike is an Iraq war veteran, Kitty worked with special needs children, and they have long wanted to become parents. During their application process, the state even said the Burkes are "lovely people" who seem to really "understand" what it means to be foster parents.
Children in foster care throughout Massachusetts are waiting for families like the Burkes. The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) currently does not have enough foster homes or facilities to meet the needs of the children in its care, leaving over 1,500 children without a family. The shortage is so extreme that the state has resorted to housing perfectly healthy children in hospitals for weeks on end.
Yet the Massachusetts DCF denied the Burkes’ application to be foster parents. Why? Because of their Catholic beliefs about marriage and sexuality. The Burkes would love and accept any child regardless of the child’s future sexual orientation or struggles with gender identity but were rejected since they would not renounce their Catholic beliefs. Watch
this <[link removed]>
video<[link removed]> featuring the Burkes and Becket VP and Senior Counsel Lori Windham to learn more about this case.
Last August, we filed a
federal lawsuit<[link removed]> asking the courts to enforce existing federal law that protects the ability of religious people and organizations to foster children in need without having to give up their beliefs. A hearing took place earlier this month, and we expect a decision later in the spring.
What's happening at Becket
Religious preschools fight for equal access. We are helping schools in the Archdiocese of Denver fight for the right of Catholic and other religious schools to participate in Colorado’s “universal” education program, which is meant to make preschool free for Colorado families at a private or public school of their choice. Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood blocked Catholic preschools from participating in the program, excluding families from participating in a benefit worth hundreds of dollars every month simply because those families feel called to provide their children with a religious education. Families should be free to choose to send their kids to a Catholic preschool without forfeiting a public benefit—especially one the government has described as “universal.” We await the decision from the trial any day now. Read more
here<[link removed]>.
Freedom from performing abortions. In
Moyle v. United States<[link removed]>, we filed a friend-of-the-court brief against HHS’s new attempt to force religious doctors and hospitals to perform abortions. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, HHS reinterpreted the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, meant to prevent hospitals from refusing care to uninsured patients, to require certain hospitals to perform abortions. On behalf of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, we argue that this newest mandate fails to consider the 30-year-old Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a federal statute that provides strong religious liberty protections for people of faith. Our brief details the long history of the federal government weaponizing its health agencies to punish religious healthcare providers. But religious healthcare professionals should not have to abandon their faith to care for those in need.
What we’re reading (watching and listening to)
Becket' Religious Freedom Index gives reason to hope. Chelsea Langston Bombino at Center for Public Justice has published an imaginative engagement with our Religious Freedom Index:
"When I delve into the
Becket Religious Freedom Index<[link removed]>, I don’t just see statistics and debates. I see a narrative of America’s journey—a tale of our nation imperfectly yet progressively embracing the pursuit of the Sacred across diverse beliefs. This unfolding story mirrors a fairy tale, illustrating a multi-religious, multi-generational quest for resacralization in every aspect of American life.
Central to this narrative is the recognition that while our understanding of the Divine varies widely, there’s a growing acknowledgment that religious and spiritual freedom is a fundamental requirement. This freedom allows individuals and communities to live out their sacred beliefs, stories, and traditions, fostering a rich tapestry of diverse expressions of faith."
Preferred pronouns in the workplace. Over at the Gospel Coalition, Constitutional Law Fellow
Rich Osborne explains<[link removed]> early court rulings that answer, "If your employer demands you use another’s preferred pronouns, and you cannot in good conscience comply, can your employer fire you?"
Protecting patients and doctors in healthcare. In First Things,
Louis Brown writes<[link removed]> about why a renewal of health care with the “foundational moral obligation to love and care for every patient, especially the most vulnerable” and first principles such as conscience rights for patients and medical professions are essential to fight a trend toward dehumanizing healthcare.
Time to revisit a 1995 option for parents. Over at Newsweek, Jay Richard and former Becket advocacy director Emily Kao explain why it is time to revisit the Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act in “
Congress Can Fulfill <[link removed]>
the Constitution's Promise to America's Parents<[link removed]>.”
RFRA Three Decades On. At the Federalist Society, I joined a panel discussion on the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act’s impact in its thirty years and the modern pressure points it faces. Watch it
here<[link removed]>.
I'm signing off to exercise my religious liberty to observe the Triduum. For Catholics, this marks the three days leading up to Easter. Happy Easter to those who celebrate!
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Mark Rienzi
President & CEO
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