Cardinal, Jack Franks' Constituents Weigh in on HB 2354

At last weekend's services at Catholic Church services in the Chicago Archdiocese a letter from Cardinal Francis George was distributed in church bulletins.


And, today, McHenry County residents delivered multiple messages via a YouTube production by Michael Brown of Testimony Pictures to House Bill 2354 co-sponsors State Representatives Jack Franks and Mark Beaubien.

The Cardinal also speaks to House Bill 2354, the bill which stimulated McHenry County pro-lifers to run an ad urging the withdrawal of support from the two.

And also stimulated the demonstration in front of State Rep. Franks' Route 47 office.

Cardinal George emphasizes the removal of “the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers.”

Rarely has the Catholic Church been this fully engaged in Springfield politics.

But as often happens when zealots take complete control, they try to push through legislative language which activates the other side. In this case, the rabidly pro-abortion Personal PAC overplayed its hand. Now it has the Catholic Church's hierarchy with which to contend.

The bill “will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue to be places where life is always respected, where no one is deliberately killed,” the Cardinal explains.

He evokes Abraham Lincoln's 1844 defense of Catholics' “rights of conscience,” even though his Whig Party is described as “often anti-Catholic.”

The entire entire letter follows:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

In the midst of Lent, with its drama of sin and grace, of evil and good, I write about a threat to our freedom to practice our religion in our State.

Before the Illinois General Assembly there is a proposal (HB 2354, the “Reproductive Health and Access Act”) that would remove the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers.

Thirty years ago, we were told that abortion is a rare but necessary tragedy and that abortion providers should not be legally punished.

Today we are being told that abortion is a human right and that those who qualify it in any manner or who will not provide it should be legally punished.

This proposed law will drive Catholic doctors and nurses from health care and will make it impossible for Catholic hospitals to continue to be places where life is always respected, where no one is deliberately killed.

In our country, we recognize conscientious objection to war, even though defending one’s country is a noble and moral act.

We recognize the conscientious objection of those doctors who will not cooperate in administering the death penalty, even for terrible crimes.

Why do some Illinois legislators want to take away conscientious objection to abortion?

The enemies of human life and religious freedom in Illinois are well funded.

Pressure on legislators is great and is increasing.

I ask you to contact your Representative this week to express your dismay that the Illinois legislature, elected democratically, would debate a bill that removes freedom of conscientious decision-making for health care workers as a condition of their employment.

If, as we are told, the State should not come between a doctor and a mother, then surely all can agree that the State should not come between a health care worker and God.

We have, unfortunately, had to get used to the fact that our laws no longer protect unborn human life; now we are to get used to the fact that our laws will no longer protect conscience.

In 1844, Abraham Lincoln broke with his own party, the often anti-Catholic Whigs, and proposed:

“Resolved, that the guarantee of the rights of conscience, as found in our Constitution, is most sacred and inviolable, and one that belongs no less to the Catholic, than to the Protestant; and that all attempts to abridge or interfere with these rights, either of Catholic or Protestant, directly or indirectly, have our decided disapprobation, and shall ever have our most effective opposition.”

Illinois HB 2354 betrays the legacy of Lincoln in his home State.

This proposed law will rend the already fragile garment of our civic unity and further alienate many from our government. Catholics and all people of good will should work to ensure its defeat. I also ask you to thank those legislators who are courageously opposing HB 2354 and to pray for those who are supporting it. To contact your legislator, please go to www.ilga.gov, or call 312-368-1066.

Thank you and God bless you.



Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago

Other stories that might be of interest:

3-28-9 Saturday Demonstration in Front of Jack Franks' Woodstock Office

3-30-9 Anatomy of a Demonstration

3-31-9 HB 2354 Video Shows Disappointment, Pleas for Changing of Mind and Promises of Opposition