Brian Brown has since moved on to the the National Organization for Marriage where he spearheaded Proposition 8 against Gay Marriage in California.]

Original Post:

Ave Maria!

This is a special AIRMARIA report on the status of religious liberty in America, relative to the ongoing push on the part of the homosexual lobby for full same-sex marriage in Connecticut. Last year same-sex civil unions were legalized by the state assembly with an amendment defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

In Connecticut, same-sex couples already have all the rights and benefits of married people, just not the name “marriage.” This year they are back for what they call “equality,” but in reality the legalization of same-sex marriage in Connecticut will only codify the defense of traditional marriage as a form of discrimination.

Witness the erosion of your religious liberty! This assault will not stop at the state line. The same-sex marriage lobby wishes to challenge the federal Defense of Marriage Act. This affects you, no matter where you live in America.

On March 26, Brian Brown, Executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, testified before the judiciary committee of the state legislature in regard to raised House Bill 7395: An Act Concerning Marriage Equality. He was grilled on the question of commitment to civil rights and his religious convictions. Brian defended both traditional marriage and religious liberty in an eloquent and courageous way. He continues to be attacked on the FIC blog. In this video Brian also tells us what we can do to protect religious liberty.

Don’t underestimate this attack on religious liberty. This has implications for us all. Bill Donohue of the Catholic League has picked up on the threat and is bringing it to national attention. This video is a good synthesis of what happened last Monday.

Ave Maria!

The post Video – News #1 – Religious Liberty Under Fire first appeared on AirMaria.com.

Incredibly, Andrew McDonald, who introduced his outrageously unconstitutional and anti-Catholic bill SB1098 in Connecticut, has been nominated for a seat on the Connecticut Supreme Court and will have his hearing on Monday and the legislative confirmation vote on Wednesday. SB1098 was the bill specifically targeted at Connecticut Catholics that directly intruded on the rights of the bishops and pastors to lead their congregations, a blatant infringement on the constitutional right to religious liberty. You would think that someone who has displayed such grave difficulty separating his ideology from his job as a state senator and specifically failing to see how unconstitutional his bill was, would be the last person that Gov. Malloy would want as a judge of what is constitutional and what is not. This is especially so in a day of such sharp polarization. Surely a less controversial appointment could be found.

See the FIC Action page to see what is being done about this.

From Jessica Hill AP MSNBC – Several thousand protesters showed up at the state capitol in Hartford even after the bill was withdrawn.

From Wikipedia:

In March 2009 McDonald and Judiciary committee co-chair Mike Lawlor proposed a bill (SB 1098) to regulate the management of Roman Catholic parishes in Connecticut. The bill, by allowing parishioners to create a lay board to govern a parish, in which board all control over fiscal and administrative matters would be vested, would effectively have removed the Parish Priest and Bishop from their traditional positions of power. The bill was specific to the Catholic Church.. The public hearing on this bill was cancelled when, according to Capital Police, 1,000 supporters entered the Capital to protest. Another 4,200 were present outside the building.[2] Opponents charged the bill would violate the separation of church and state clause in the First Amendment. It would also violate the “Supremacy clause,” and the Fourteenth Amendment barring discriminatory legislation.^[9][10][11]

See what Family Institute of CT is doing to stop this appointment.

Here is an interview with Peter Wolfgang of FIC recorded live by Airmaria.com on the day of the protest, gives an overview.

Talk by Bishop Lori of Bridgeport Diocese (Now Archbishop of Baltimore) on the steps of the State Capitol followed by Carl Anderson Supreme Knight of the Knights of the Columbus.

The post Andrew McDonald Nominated for CT Supreme Court first appeared on AirMaria.com.