The June 24th Fortnight event featured mass and a special patriotic rosary, followed by a fabulous Mexican dinner, and then our guest speakers from Vocare -- Anne Marie Kelly & John Geis who spoke about the challenges we face protecting our religious liberties and the need for Catholics to "engage in the public square" as our Holy Father and the U.S. Catholic bishops are encouraging us all to do.

At the urging of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, we will be sponsoring "Fortnight for Freedom" events at St. Stephens parish from June 21st through July 4th to pray, fast, and act on behalf of our First Amendment guarantees to freedom of religion.  The details are published in the weekly bulletin (also on the parish website).

The key elements of our Fortnight events include:
1) saying the novena prayer daily (found in the bulletin and on the website), as it will also be said during or after everyone mass during this two week period;
2) June 23rd 6:30pm mass celebrated by Fr. Gary Zender of St. Anthony's, to be followed with a holy hour lead by Fr. Ed White;
3) June 24th 6:30pm mass, followed by praying of the Patriotic rosary (really beautiful, if you haven't done this before).  Immediately after that, we will be hosting two guest speakers in the narthex - Anne Marie Kelly (Board Chair) and John Geis (President) from Vocare, a Catholic lay organization in Washington - who will be speaking on the topic of religious freedom and engagement in the public square.  Food & drinks will also be provided.
4) then on Wednesday evening through Friday evening after the 6:30pm masses, Bro. Mauricio Torres will be speaking about consecration -- to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Friday (June 27th) is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; so Bro. Mauricio will be leading the congregation in making a consecration as well.  Saturday (June 28th), following the 8:30am mass, Bro. Mauricio will then lead in consecration to the Immaculate of Heart of Mary (the feast that day)!
5) finally, on Tuesday evening, July 1st after the 6:30pm mass, we'll be praying the Divine Mercy chaplet.

The other key component of the Fortnight, along with all of these prayers, is for us to 'take action'.  We will have a table in the narthex starting June 21st through June 29th with information and postcards that people can sign for mailing to our Congressional representatives in Washington DC, specifically regarding the Health Care Conscience Rights Act.

Also keep in mind that our U.S. Supreme Court is currently deliberating on two critical cases regarding our First Amendment right to religious freedom.  Their decisions could be rendered any day now, but certainly not later than the last Friday in June (the 27th).  PLEASE PRAY for these justices to stand firm on preserving our religious freedoms!

End of the 2014 Legislative Session in Olympia, WA

The 2014 session ended this past week, and overall the results were pretty positive from the Catholic perspective.  Two key bills were defeated: the Abortion Insurance Mandate, and the "Telemedicine" bill that would have required insurance coverage for chemical abortions.  Other partially good news in this session: the Parental Notification of Abortion bill and the Anti-Human trafficking bill both passed in the Senate Law & Justice committee, although they never made it to a floor vote in the Senate.  From what we've heard, this is the first pro-life legislation to have even made it through a committee in Olympia in decades!  So again, generally good news from the efforts in Olympia this year.

Now the focus for our ministry shifts to the national scene, and the U.S. Congress.  Important bills have been introduced in the U.S. Senate that need our action to encourage our Senators to support:
1) the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,
2) the No Taxpayer Funds for Abortion Act, and
3) the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act. 
Please contact your Senators asking them to support and pass these critical bills.  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

On the home front, we're starting plans for the 2014 Fortnight For Freedom events at St. Stephens coming up the two weeks before the July 4th holiday.  We'll be issuing more details as we approach that time.

The pro-abortionists are trying to sneak in another bill before the end of the 2014 session, and the final vote for passage could happen as early as Friday morning, March 7th!  This one is called HB1448 Telemedicine, that would require (once gain) EVERYONE to pay for 'web cam abortions' induced with drugs through their insurance policies (these people truly never give up on new ways to harm women and kill babies).

So here's what you should do: send emails first, then follow-up with phone calls.

Dear Sen. _______:

We just received a notice that the state Senate is about to pass a law allowing webcam chemical abortions (HB1448).  PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT PASSAGE OF THIS BILL, unless it has been amended to clearly remove ‘web cam abortions’!

This change is urgently needed to protect women.  The FDA has reported women dying from this.  This is yet another outrageous attempt by Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry to kill more children, and make more money!

We continue to need your courageous stand, along with your fellow Senators and the Majority Caucus, to stop these attacks on women and their babies.

 Thanks.

Senator Jan Angel	jan.angel@leg.wa.gov
Senator Linda Evans Parlette	linda.parlette@leg.wa.gov

Senator Barbara Bailey	barbara.bailey@leg.wa.gov
Senator Randi Becker	randi.becker@leg.wa.gov
Senator Bruce Dammeier	bruce.dammeier@leg.wa.gov

Latest in Olympia...

The state Senate Health Care committee did NOT hold a hearing on the House-passed abortion insurance mandate (HB2148 "Reproductive Parity Act") by Friday's deadline (February 28th).  This SHOULD mean the bill will die again in the 2014 session, which officially ends on March 13th.  However, it is NEVER over....and there are some old rules that COULD enable the Senate to pass this bill anyway; but that appears unlikely.

So thanks to everyone who called and/or wrote to their state Senators, and more specifically to the members of the Senate Health Care committee (the majority of whom are pro-life)!  But remember...it's never over 'til it's over, and that is not until March 13th when this session formally ends.  There is a somewhat obscure rule in the state Senate called the "Ninth Order" of business which allows a committed majority of Senators to suspend all the Senate Rules and make it possible for that same majority to call any bill to the floor for an immediate vote, including HB 2148.  So we'll continue to keep an eye on this situation.

Meanwhile, for the last 2 weeks of this session, we are focused on supporting passage of SB6434 to curb human trafficking and the sex trade in the state of Washington.  Please contact your state Senators encouraging them to promote passing this important legislation.
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

As the 2014 legislative session in Olympia comes to an end in mid-March, our focus legislatively will shift to the federal level with bills going through the U.S. Congress.  A bill entitled the "Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" was passed earlier this year in the House (in the Senate it's referred to as bill "S1670") that would protect unborn babies capable of feeling excruciating pain beginning at 20 weeks, or more than halfway through pregnancy.  Please contact your U.S. Senators to support passage of this bill.

SSTM Legislative Advocacy Ministry meeting on Thursday, February 13th at 7:00pm.

We have a special guest coming, John Geis, the President and Founder of Vocare (http://vocaremovement.org/).  John will be sharing with us the vision and mission of Vocare, information on their recent activities, as well as the potential for forming a chapter of Vocare at St. Stephens.  This meeting is open to all.

To no great surprise, on Wednesday, February 5th - while most of the state of Washington had their attention focused on the Seahawks Super Bowl parade - in Olympia the state House held a floor vote on HB2148, the Abortion Insurance mandate. Again, no surprise: the forces beholden to Planned Parenthood passed this legislation with a 10 vote margin.  Here’s the House debate on this bill
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014020019#start=1124&stop=3801

So now the battle moves to the state Senate (under SB6359 -- their version of the Abortion Insurance Mandate). This is where the margin is VERY SLIM, so it's critical that everyone you know starts calling state Senators.  If this bill doesn’t make it out of the Senate Health Care Committee, then it won’t get a vote on the Senate floor.  So step 1 is to CALL as many members of this committee right away and ask that it not receive a public hearing and not be passed out of committee (http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/HLTH/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx ).  There’s maybe a 1 vote margin in this committee.  PLEASE CALL these state Senators asking them to OPPOSE passage of this bill. You can simply say "Please vote no on SB6359/HB2148 because I do not want to pay for abortion!"

For more information on the details of this bill, please scroll down to the January 27th blog posting under "Olympia".

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Meanwhile, two other important matters were addressed this past week in the state Senate.

First, the Senate Law & Justice committee passed SB5156, Parental Notification of Abortion prior to abortions performed on girls under the age of 18, requiring a doctor to notify a parent or guardian 48 hours before performing an abortion on an underage girl. (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5156&year=2013 ).  Please contact your state Senators to urge a YES/Support vote on this bill on the Senate floor.  Here’s the video of the committee hearing (http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014021042 ).

Second, a public hearing was held on SB6434 that is legislation focused on curbing human trafficking in our state. While you are contacting your state Senator on the Abortion Insurance Mandate and Parental Notification of Abortion, be sure to tell them you want them to SUPPORT passage of SB 6434 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6434&year=2013). This bi-partisan bill (sex-trafficking) would further empower law enforcement by subjecting "certain property to seizure and forfeiture for patronizing a prostitute."  Vocare board members Angela Connelly and Annmarie Kelly provided power testimony in support of this legislation (minutes 48 thru 54 of this video). http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2014021042#start=0&stop=0    

You can find your legislators at http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

Please continue reading the rest of this blogsite for other key legislative issues being addressed.