San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy was one of 20 new Cardinals installed by Pope Francis at a consistory at St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday. Bishop of San Diego since 2015, Cardinal McElroy began work with the California Catholic Conference in 2010 and has served as president since 2019. “We are thrilled that the leadership we have experienced at the California Catholic Conference will now benefit all Catholics globally,” said CCC Executive Director Kathleen Domingo. During his first Mass of Thanksgiving on Aug. 28, Cardinal McElroy focused on Christian humility and challenged “the facades and impulse we all have to put ourselves ahead of others.” View Cardinal McElroy’s first Mass in Rome here. “We offer our prayers and congratulations to Cardinal Robert McElroy,” said USCCB President and Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez. “His strong faith and pastoral concern for the faithful that he has shown in the Diocese of San Diego will serve the global Church well. Please join me in praying for his continued ministry!”
The two-year legislative session officially ended at midnight Wednesday night (Aug. 31), and lawmakers sealed the fate of all bills on the table. Governor Newsom now has until Sept. 30 to sign those bills sent to his desk. The last several hours of the session saw Senator Scott Weiner (D – San Francisco) withdraw his childhood vaccine bill SB 866, which would have allowed children ages 15 and older to obtain vaccinations without parental consent. The California Catholic Conference actively lobbied against this bill, and thank you to all of you who sent alerts through the Legislative Network. The legislature sent several abortion bills to the Governor with a cumulative cost of more than $200 million in taxpayer funds, including $20 million earmarked to fund travel for out-of-state abortion seekers. Please visit our alerts page to send a letter to the Governor asking him to veto these bills. We need to lock arms and actively oppose this egregious expansion of abortion funding, which will likely only increase in coming years if these bills are signed. The legislature also passed the Governor’s CARE Court Plan as a way to help alleviate the state’s homelessness crisis. The State Senate voted 40-0 to approve the bill, and only 2 Assemblymembers (62-2) voted against the proposal to create mental health courts and require California counties to provide mental health treatment. More than a quarter of the legislature’s 120 members will vacate office, leaving a significant number of new members when the next legislative session begins in December. Please visit our alerts page and take action on the bills pending before the Governor, and keep watch for the latest news and ways to help advocate.
Please plan to join the Bishops of California in a Novena to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary to Defeat Proposition 1 from Sept. 29 through Oct. 7 – the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Register here to receive a bishop’s video that will accompany each day of the novena. The California Catholic Conference also has resources available in English and Spanish (other languages soon) to assist your parish in raising awareness and encouraging voter registration and participation this fall. Proposition 1 would enshrine the explicit right to abortion in our state constitution, setting a nationwide precedent. It is the most egregious expansion of abortion this country has ever seen, far beyond Roe, and will likely cost taxpayers millions as it is challenged in court. Click here for more.
Each month, the Pope sets a prayer intention for the entire Church, and invites Catholics across the globe to join him in praying for a specific issue. This intention is elevated by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network and includes the production of The Pope Video. This September, Pope Francis calls on the whole Church to pray for the global abolition of the death penalty. This prayer, while indeed worldwide, is especially poignant here in the United States. The U.S. is one of only 55 countries to retain the death penalty, and it contributes to many of the total executions each year. Currently, Oklahoma is initiating its plan to execute 25 individuals over the next two years. They just carried out the first of these, and several other states continue to schedule executions and hand down death sentences. The Catholic Mobilizing Network has a Mobilize Mercy Toolkit to help you amplify Pope Francis’ message throughout the month of September. You can also Pledge to Pray with the Holy Father and the Church throughout the Month.
“Listen to the voice of creation” is the theme and invitation of this year’s Season of Creation. The ecumenical phase begins on 1 September with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and concludes on 4 October with the feast of Saint Francis. It is a special time for all Christians to pray and work together to care for our common home. This “time for creation” offers, in the words of Pope Francis, “individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live." This is a wonderful time to enroll your family, parish, school, or organization in the Laudato Si Action Platform. The Catholic Climate Covenant has resources for various audiences, including teachers. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has put together suggestions for families and communities on how they live out Pope Francis’ call to Care for Our Common Home. And In God Calls Us All to Care for Our Common Home, the California Bishops challenge the people of California to appreciate the state's beauty and apply– individually and collectively – the teachings of Laudato Si’ in safeguarding our natural gifts.
Kevin Waters, CEO of the Dream Live Hope Foundation in Inglewood, helps prisoners who are re-entering society, including veterans and those who can’t afford the skyrocketing Los Angeles rental market. Not too long ago, he was one of them doing 25 years of a life sentence in prison, and then sent to a transition house. Waters wasn’t free to see his father, who was sick with pancreatic cancer. But his parole agent knew someone who might be able to help, Sister Mary Sean Hodges, and Waters asked the sister if she could get him time with his father before he died. “Within three days, I was taken from that facility to one she was partnering with, and from there, I was able to spend the next 52 days with my dad,” Waters recalls. “She was instrumental in making that happen.” Continue Reading at DailyNews.com
Election Day is less than 68 days away, now is the time to get active and start advocating against Prop. 1, the attempt to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution.
Stay Connected! Sept. 02, 2022 | 
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