Friday, February 26, 2016
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Texas AG: Same-sex marriage is void
(KVUE) AUSTIN -- Hours after the Travis County clerk issued the state's first same-sex marriage license, Texas' attorney general said the marriage is void.
Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday the Texas Supreme Court granted his request to stay two court rulings declaring Texas' ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
"The Court's action upholds our state constitution and stays these rulings by activist judges in Travis County," Paxton said in a statement. "The same-sex marriage license issued by the Travis County Clerk is void, just as any license issued in violation of state law would be. I will continue to defend the will of the people of Texas, who have defined marriage as between one man and one woman, against any judicial activism or overreach."
According to the Travis County Clerk's office, Judge David Wahlberg signed a state court order from the 167th District Court to Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir on Thursday, commanding Debeauvoir to "cease and desist relying on the unconstitutional Texas prohibitions against same-sex marriage as a basis for not issuing a marriage license specifically to Plaintiffs Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant," due to the fact that Goodfriend has ovarian cancer... (continued)
Link:
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Fr. Zuhlsdorf: An Open Letter to Most Rev. Michael Olson, Bishop of Fort Worth
(Fr. Z's Blog) I propose a possible way to diffuse some of the tension surrounding Fort Worth’s Bp. Olson and his banning of Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Missale Romanum at Fisher More College.
Years ago, when I worked at the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei“, we had an especially tense and even bitter round of correspondence with an American bishop who steadfastly denied to the faithful any use of the Traditional Latin Mass. Hundreds of people signed petitions. He wouldn’t budge. Finally, my boss, Card. Mayer told me that, at some point, we had to stop arguing and try to open hearts. I round-filed the draft of a conclusive letter I had brought to him and wrote a new one. He signed it and I sent it. A few weeks later we received news that, not only had His Excellency the Bishop granted regular celebrations of the TLM, he celebrated the first one himself.
It was a gesture of rare healing and true grace for many people.
I am reasonably sure that someone in Fort Worth is monitoring this blog for Bp. Olson.
Therefore, I ask:
Your Excellency,
Would you not go to celebrate a Traditional Latin Mass for the student body yourself? If you object to some aspects of Fisher More College, could you not offer this Mass at the parish nearby, which Your Excellency mentioned in your letter to Mr. King, St. Mary of the Assumption?
This gesture would heal wounds that are opening up, allay fears, and give great solace to many people near and far, not the least the students of the College. They are caught in the crossfire.
I humbly ask Your Excellency to consider this petition with an open, fatherly heart.
As a token of my best wishes, I promise during Lent a daily prayer, a Memorare, for you in the heavy mandate that has been entrusted to you as Bishop of Fort Worth.
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
Link:
Related:
- Fr. Z’s first reaction to Bp. Olson banning Extraordinary Form at Fort Worth’s Fisher More College
- More notes on Fisher-More and comments back on
Thursday, July 18, 2013
PERRY SIGNS SWEEPING TEXAS ABORTION RESTRICTIONS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed sweeping new abortion restrictions on Thursday that could shutter most of the state's clinics that provide the procedure, a final step for the Republican-backed measure after weeks of sometimes raucous protests at the state Capitol.
Supporters credited God's will and prayer as the governor signed the legislation, with protesters' chants of "Shame! Shame! Shame!" echoing from the hallway. Opponents have vowed to fight the law, though no court challenges were immediately filed.
"Today, we celebrate the further cementing of the foundation on which the culture of life in Texas is built upon," Perry told an auditorium full of beaming GOP lawmakers and anti-abortion activists. "It is our responsibility and duty to give voice to the unborn individuals."
The law restricts abortions to surgical centers and requires doctors who work at abortion clinics to have hospital admitting privileges. Only five of the 42 abortion clinics in Texas - the nation's second-largest state - currently meet those new requirements. Clinics will have a year to either upgrade their facilities or shut down after the law takes effect in October.
The law also bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, based on the disputed notion that fetuses can feel pain at that point of development, and dictates when abortion-inducing drugs can be taken.
Supporters argue the new law will ensure high-quality health care for women, but opponents view it as over-regulation intended to make abortions harder to obtain.
Similar measures in other states have been blocked by federal judges, and opponents in Texas said they'll pursue a similar course.
"The fight over this law will move to the courts, while the bigger fight for women's access to health care in Texas gains steam," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement.
The action fund is the political arm of Planned Parenthood, which announced later Thursday that it would close its clinics in Bryan, Huntsville and Lufkin by the end of August. The group cited years of state budget cuts to women's health programs, not the new law. Only the Bryan facility offers abortions.
"In recent years, Texas politicians have created an increasingly hostile environment for providers of reproductive health care in underserved communities," said Melaney A. Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
Perry and other top Republican leaders made passing the law a top priority, in part to please the most conservative wing of the party before the primary election in March. But it touched off weeks of protests that saw thousands of activists on both sides of the issue descend on the Texas Capitol in an outpouring of activism unseen in at least 20 years.
After the regular legislative session ended May 27, Perry added passing the abortion measure to lawmakers' agenda for a 30-day special session. But on the last day to pass bills, Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis staged a more than 12-hour, one-woman filibuster hoping to talk past a midnight deadline and kill the legislation.
Republicans used parliamentary objections to silence Davis, but just before midnight hundreds of bill opponents in the Senate gallery screamed and cheered so loudly that all work stopped on the Senate floor below until it was too late. It launched Davis into an overnight political sensation.
But Perry called lawmakers back for a second special session - setting up the bill's final approval last week.
"When Governor Perry signed the bill, he signaled a clear break with Texas families," Davis said in a statement Thursday. She said Perry and his party's elected officials "have now taken sides and chosen narrow partisan special interests over mothers, daughters, sisters and every Texan who puts the health of their family, the well-being of their neighbors, and the future of Texas ahead of politics and personal ambitions."
The signing ceremony was moved from Perry's office on the second floor of the Capitol to a basement auditorium, surrounded by dozens of state troopers who tightly controlled who entered and braced for potentially hundreds of activists. Instead, only about two dozen showed up, clutching coat-hangers and signs that read "My Body, My Choice" and "Shame!"
Perry drew applause for warmly greeting and shaking hands with Dem. Sen. Eddie Lucio of Brownsville, the only Senate Democrat who supported the bill.
As the governor and other lawmakers spoke, protesters repeatedly chanted "shame!" loud enough to be heard. Once the bill was signed, they hooted and then sang Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It!"
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who oversees the state Senate, blamed "intentional chaos created by the radical left" for the bill not passing sooner.
That was a common sentiment among supporters. The Catholic Association said in a statement: "Rick Perry is a brave man for standing up to the mob tactics of the abortion lobby and has earned the respect of pro-life women and men across the country."
Republican Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, who sponsored the bill in the Texas House and mistakenly suggested during debate that emergency room rape kits could be used to terminate pregnancies, said: "It really was the hand of God" and prayer that helped make the signing possible. Laubenberg told Perry, who announced last week that he wouldn't seek a fourth full term as governor next year, that: "Your eternal legacy will be as a defender of life."
Sen. Glenn Hegar, a Katy Republican who sponsored the bill in the Senate, called it "a very proud day in Texas history."
"This will literally change the lives of millions of Texans," Hegar said. "Not just today in 2013, but for eternity."
Link:
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Texas Attorney General: International Vote Monitors Subject to Criminal Prosecution for Violating State Law
The exchange pitted the Vienna-based human rights watchdog Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe against Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who warned the OSCE not to interfere with polling in state elections.
"The threat of criminal sanctions against OSCE/ODIHR observers is unacceptable," Janez Lenarcic, director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) monitoring arm, said in a statement.
"The United States, like all countries in the OSCE, has an obligation to invite ODIHR observers to observe its elections."
Abbott told Reuters on Wednesday that he is considering legal action against the group if it doesn't concede that it will follow the state's laws.
"They act like they may not be subject to Texas law and our goal all along is to make clear to them that when they're in Texas, they're subject to Texas law, and we're not giving them an exemption," he said.
Abbott is skeptical about why the group wants to look at elections in Texas.
"Our concern is that this isn't some benign observation but something intended to be far more prying and maybe even an attempt to suppress voter integrity," he said.
In a letter on Tuesday to the Warsaw-based ODIHR, Abbott had noted that OSCE representatives were not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place.
"It may be a criminal offense for OSCE's representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place's entrance. Failure to comply with these requirements could subject the OSCE's representatives to criminal prosecution for violating state law," he added.
He cited reports that OSCE monitors had met with organizations challenging voter identification laws. Texas' voter ID law was blocked earlier this year by a federal court, and Abbott has said he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The OSCE may be entitled to its opinions about Voter ID laws, but your opinion is legally irrelevant in the United States, where the Supreme Court has already determined that Voter ID laws are constitutional," Abbott wrote.
Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade also wrote to the United Nations-affiliated OSCE/ODIHR on Tuesday, saying that it's key for Texans to understand that the organization has no jurisdiction over the state.
Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry tweeted on Tuesday: "No UN monitors/inspectors will be part of any TX election process; I commend @TXsecofstate for swift action to clarify issue."
The 56-member OSCE routinely sends monitors to elections and noted November's elections would be the sixth U.S. vote that ODIHR has observed "without incident" since 2002.
For next month's elections it has a core team of 13 experts from 10 OSCE countries based in Washington and 44 long-term observers deployed across the country, it said.
Lenarcic had shared his "grave concern" about the threat of Texas prosecutions with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the OSCE said.
"Our observers are required to remain strictly impartial and not to intervene in the voting process in any way," Lenarcic said. "They are in the United States to observe these elections, not to interfere in them."
(Reporting By Michael Shields and Corrie MacLaggan; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols and Jim Forsyth)
Link:
Sunday, September 2, 2012
A Tale of Two Cathedrals: Why “Traditional versus Modernist” Tells Only Part of the Story
There the matter would stand in a limited but superficial comparison: a traditional building versus an innovative building. Both would appear to work well, and if they were not separated by such a great distance, they could offer a choice to churchgoers who had the corresponding philosophy of their own, namely traditional versus contemporary. But things are not so simple. Let us look at the details and interior spaces.
This building is “modern” in every positive meaning of the word. I caution, however, that it comes close to being “cold” in those places where its approach to abstraction is the strongest. What could have been done to improve the Houston Cathedral? The answer is obvious, although not implemented. My friends would have put in those smaller details that come from traditional ornamentation at the smallest scales, even if very restrained. Or its architects could have devised their own form language on those small ornamental scales. The eye needs ordered structure just a little larger than the rich granularity in the natural materials, and that is missing here in some places. By imposing restrictions in its form language on the smaller scales, the hierarchy is lost going down to details.
Harmonious ornamentation achieved through multiple symmetries nourishes our senses and creates in us a healing state. As human beings, we always anthropomorphize our gods, and expect that they share our own higher pleasures. For this reason, our love of God moves us to ornament the place where we worship, and to do so in a totally selfless manner. We wish to create an environment of maximal transcendent pleasure using an understanding that arises from our own physical experience... (continued)
Link:
Friday, September 16, 2011
Diocese of Amarillo Issues Clarification: Father Frank Pavone is Not Accused of Any Wrongdoing
Cathedral Church
Diocese of Amarillo
Priests for Life
Staten Island, New York
As the Vicar of Clergy for the Diocese of Amarillo and the Moderator of the Curia I want to publically state that Reverend Frank Pavone of Priests for Life is a priest in good standing with the Roman Catholic Church. He has all the faculties for ministry that every priest of our diocese has in and for the Diocese of Amarillo.
I would also like to clarify that because there is a dispute about the auditing process and the complete audit for all the entities of Priests for Life, Rachel's Vineyard, and the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life does not mean that Father Pavone is being charge with any malfeasance or being accused of any wrong doing with the financial matters of Priests for Life.
Sincerel yours,
Reverend Monsignor Harold Waldow
Vicar of Clergy
Moderator of the Curia
Rector of the Cathedral
Monday, September 5, 2011
El Paso Diocese Says Anti-Gay Ads Are Priest's View Alone
by Aaron Bracamontes
(El Paso Times) A recent series of advertisements attacking homosexuality has dragged the Catholic Diocese of El Paso into a citywide political recall debate.
The advertisements, titled "The truth about homosexuality," were written by the Rev. Michael Rodriguez of San Juan Bautista Catholic Church and published in four parts in four consecutive editions of the El Paso Times. The ads started running on Saturday and ended Tuesday. The advertisements were also on elpasotimes.com.
While Rodriguez maintains the ads represent the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, officials of the Diocese of El Paso said they do not.
"These paid advertisements are the personal views and opinions of Father Michael Rodriguez," said the Rev. Anthony C. Celino, the vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese.
Celino said the Catholic Church is not taking and cannot take a side in the recall effort.
The advertisements quote several Bible passages and denounce homosexuality and any encouragement of homosexuality. It also alluded to Mayor John Cook and city Reps. Susie Byrd and Steve Ortega, who are currently the target of a recall petition, organized by Word of Life Church Pastor Tom Brown.
"All Catholics have a moral obligation before God to oppose any government attempt to legalize same-sex unions," Rodriguez wrote in part two of the series. "Here in El Paso, certain City Council members have remained obstinate in promoting public recognition and legitimization of homosexual unions. Whether they realize it or not, their actions are objectively immoral and gravely harmful to marriage and the family. It should be obvious to all Catholics what our duty is with respect to these members of City Council."
Rodriguez said he wrote the pieces but did not pay for the advertisements or submit the writings to the Times.
A couple from Plano, Texas, paid for the advertisements.
"I decided to write these articles primarily because it's my duty as a Catholic priest to teach the truth when it comes to faith and morals," Rodriguez said in a written statement to the Times. "My mission is to labor for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. That's why I wrote the articles. The government has no right to undermine or redefine the institution of marriage. This is beyond the scope of their competence."
Rodriguez said he also did not like the precedent the City Council is setting.
"Furthermore, the government has no right to undermine basic public morality," Rodriguez said.
"Unfortunately, members of El Paso's City Council have made decisions that are immoral, irrational, and contrary to the common good of our city."
Byrd said the advertisements are a political action because they alluded to the recall effort.
"To me, that is not the most terrible thing about the ad," Byrd said. "What is, is the fact that he spent a lot of time and money to harm a group in our community."
Ortega said he does not believe that religion should be mixed with government.
"I haven't read his opinion pieces," Ortega said. "I firmly believe in the principle of separation of church and state and therefore his opinions, as a priest, carry absolutely no weight with me as a public official."
Brown said the advertisements came as a pleasant surprise.
"I think it's wonderful. It is freedom of speech," Brown said. "Ultimately, I agree with Rodriguez."
Brown said the diocese should not remain silent on the recall because it goes against the Catholic faith.
"I think the Catholics should have an opinion," he said.
Paul Landernan, an adviser for the El Paso chapter of the Stonewall Young Democrats, said that his organization -- a youth-based organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the United States -- is disappointed that Rodriguez is still stuck in the 19th century.
"He has official duties for the people of his parish," Landernan said, "some of whom are parents of gay people, related to gay people or work with gay people every day."
Rodriguez's words can divide communities, Landernan said.
"Why would a person like this have that level of a violent reaction to the evolution of our society?" he asked.
"He suddenly turned the clock back 40 to 50 years to a time when the Jim Crow-type of thinking was acceptable."
In two weeks, recall petitions for Cook, Byrd and Ortega will be due at City Hall. Landernan said the advertisements' timing was "curious."
"It would have been a blip on the radar" if Rodriguez were not a priest, Landernan said. "And really, the church is almost a victim in this. He has almost used the name of the church without authorization."
The controversy was not limited to the paid advertisements.
On Aug. 21, members of St. Raphael Catholic Church found fliers on their car windshields after church services.
The fliers said, "Éour popes and bishops have reminded us that we must oppose all government efforts to legitimize homosexual unions by attempting to equate them with marriage."
The fliers also said, "Members of the City Council and the mayor have violated our rights and overturned our popular vote. We must hold our politicians accountable and insist that they truly serve our people."
The church's head priest, Monsignor Francis Smith, and the diocese said the fliers were not approved by or affiliated with the church.
"The diocese does not endorse or oppose candidates, political parties, or take actions that can be construed as endorsement or opposition," Celino said. "Recall fliers claiming to be 'Catholic' were not authorized by the Diocese of El Paso."
Smith said the people who distributed the fliers sneaked into the church's parking lot during that Sunday's two largest Masses.
"I always tell my people that if they stick it under your windshield, I did not authorize that," Smith said. "If it is something worthwhile, then why be sneaky about it."
The message on the fliers is not what Smith preaches at his church, he said.
"We have been asked several times to take their stance, and we will not," Smith said. "I do not agree with that lifestyle (homosexuality), but I will help anyone who needs it."
The fliers also list names and numbers of individuals who filed the intent to recall Cook, Byrd and Ortega.
Two of those individuals, Ben Mendoza and Nacho Padilla, said they had no prior knowledge of the fliers. Neither did Brown, he said.
"I personally would not authorize that," Mendoza said. "I can see handing it out on the sidewalk, but not on cars."
Mendoza said he is for the recall because the people's vote was overthrown and he believes that should be the main issue.
Padilla said the fliers led to more individuals signing petitions.
"What they did has worked really positive," Padilla said. "We have gotten a lot of signatures. We won't deny that."
Brown said he was proud that those who support the recall are acting on their own.
"It's a free country, and people are free to promote however they want," Brown said.
Brown said "we'd like to make more progress" as the deadline nears to turn in recall petitions.
"I'd like to say we can predict victory, but we are not there yet. We need to keep working."
Friday, May 6, 2011
Cardinal Burke to pray outside Texas abortion clinic
.- Top Vatican official Cardinal Raymond L. Burke is set to pray and speak out against abortion at Planned Parenthood's new facility expansion in Texas.“Cardinal Burke is a man of great passion for the pro-life cause and is one of the highest ranking U.S. bishops in the church,” said event organizers from the Catholic Charismatic Center on April 28.
The cardinal serves as prefect of the Apostolic Signatura for the Vatican in Rome.
“His particular presence at this abortion facility will be a very significant moment of official opposition to the abortion industry in America.”
Hundreds are expected to join Cardinal Burke on May 9 outside the Houston clinic, which recently built a sizable addition specifically for late-term abortions.
The prayer vigil is part of two pro-life events slated in the next week which include a “Night for Life” benefit on May 8 with Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and head of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
The gala will help fund the Pro-life Apostolate of the Catholic Charismatic Center.
“The presence of these two prominent voices for the unborn in this country lends special significance to this Gala and the message that will be spoken regarding Planned Parenthood’s huge expansion in Houston making it the abortion capital of the United States and South America, will be heard by many,” organizers said.
Related:
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Catholic bishops' letter on voting causes a stir, with critics likening it to an endorsement of McCain
12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Some North Texas Catholics are upset with a letter written to them by their local bishops, saying it amounts to an endorsement of John McCain for president.
"I was personally offended," said Phillip Archer of Dallas. "My bishop basically told me that if I vote for Barack Obama, I will go to hell."
The letter by Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas and Bishop Kevin Vann of the Diocese of Fort Worth says in part: "To vote for a candidate who supports the intrinsic evil of abortion or 'abortion rights' when there is a morally acceptable alternative would be to cooperate in the evil – and, therefore, morally impermissible."
Mr. Obama, the Democratic candidate, supports abortion rights. The Republicans' nominee, Mr. McCain, favors overturning Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that protects abortion rights.
The bishops' letter was distributed or read at parishes across the Diocese of Dallas this weekend. The Fort Worth Diocese is distributing the letter through its newspaper, which is being mailed to all registered Catholic families in the diocese.
Nicole LeBlanc said several people at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Dallas walked out during the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass when the letter was read at the time usually reserved for a homily.
Ms. LeBlanc, an Obama supporter, said she, too, was upset.
"As a Catholic, we're taught about being independent moral agents with free will," she said. "That letter from the bishops is basically telling us that if we vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights, we are basically immoral and our souls are imperiled."
Ms. LeBlanc also said she felt the letter "has gone too far towards bringing political endorsements in the church, which is obviously not legal."
She and Mr. Archer, who also attends Holy Trinity, said a protest of the letter is likely to occur outside the headquarters of the Dallas Diocese on Wednesday afternoon.
The bishops declined to comment Monday. By Monday afternoon, the Diocese of Dallas had received 30 comments on the letter, 80 percent of them supportive, said communications director Annette Gonzales Taylor.
"I don't think it's an endorsement or a condemnation of a specific candidate," said Rick Nyman, a Frisco Catholic who applauded the letter. "I think it's a reminder of what church dogma is. If you like it, fine. If you don't like it, that's not so fine, but we love you anyhow."
Ms. Taylor said the letter was not an endorsement of any political candidate but sought to clarify Catholic teachings, particularly a document issued by U.S. bishops called "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship." She said the bishops felt the document was being misunderstood by some in their dioceses.
Ms. LeBlanc said she has studied the document and believes the bishops have drawn from it selectively, emphasizing one approach to combating abortion and leaving out other key issues.
" 'Faithful Citizenship,' to me and a lot of other Catholics, allows us to form our consciences, weighing all those issues, even though we may vote for a candidate that does not favor outlawing abortion," she said.
The bishops' letter evoked criticism from the nonprofit group Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"This is clearly an attempt on the part of these bishops to do an end-run around the federal tax law ban on electioneering by churches," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, the group's executive director.
But Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University and a Catholic, said the bishops are "completely in the clear from a legal standpoint" with the letter and accurately reflect the church's teaching.
"They are choosing to be more proactive about giving political guidance than most bishops so far have been, but there is nothing radical about the theology underlying their message," Dr. Wilson said.
The bishops' letter quotes from "Faithful Citizenship" as it identifies other "intrinsic evils," including same-sex unions, euthanasia and "destructive" human embryonic stem cell research. The letter notes the church's concern with poverty, health care and immigration reform.
But abortion gets the heaviest stress.
"As Catholics, we must treat our political choices with appropriate moral gravity and in doing so, realize our continuing and unavoidable obligation to be a voice for the voiceless unborn, whose destruction by legal abortion is the pre-eminent intrinsic evil of our day," the letter says.
Both bishops are fairly new on the job, with Bishop Vann having been leader of the Fort Worth Diocese since July 2005 and Bishop Farrell of the Dallas Diocese since May 2007.
A Gallup poll in late June found slightly more support among Catholics for Mr. Obama than for Mr. McCain.
Monday, June 16, 2008
more important than Texas?!?
"What do you call a Texan who thinks that the Vatican is more important than Texas?Ordinarily, you call him a Texan Catholic.
That's what is striking about this passage from a Reuters account of today's meeting between Pope Benedict and President Bush. Marveling at the beauty of the Vatican gardens, the leader of the world's sole superpower asked about the tiny city-state:
Bush asked: "How big is it?" A Vatican aide responded: "Not quite as big as Texas." Bush then said: "Yes but more important ... this is spectacular."OK, that got my attention.
Some reporters seem to be carried away by the prospect of a presidential conversion. If they really understood what it means to be an American Evangelical Protestant, they wouldn't have expected Bush to kneel down, on an impulsive, at a Marian shrine.
But then again, reporters in Rome might not appreciate how much it takes for a red-blooded Texan to admit that anything is bigger, better, or more important than Texas."
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Texas high court says sect kids should go back
SAN ANTONIO — In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents.
The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.
"On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin.
The high court let stand the appellate court's order that Texas District Judge Barbara Walther return the children from foster care to their parents. It's not clear how soon that may happen, but the appellate court ordered her to do it within a reasonable time period.
The ruling shatters one of the largest child-custody cases in U.S. history. State officials said the removals were necessary to end a cycle of sexual abuse at the ranch in which teenage girls were forced to marry and have sex with older men, but parents denied any abuse and said they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.
The case before the court technically only applies to 124 children of the 38 mothers who filed a complaint that prompted the ruling, but it significantly affects nearly all the children since they were removed under identical circumstances.
The ranch is run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven. It is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27.
Under Texas law, children can be taken from their parents if there's a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes. The high court agreed with the appellate court that the seizures fell short of that standard.