The appointment was publicized in Washington, January 19, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

William Skurla was born June 1, 1956, in Duluth, Minnesota, where he attended Catholic and public elementary schools. He attended Columbia University in New York, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1981. He later attended Mary Immaculate Seminary, Northampton, Pennsylvania, where he earned a master of divinity degree in 1986, and a master of theology degree in 1987.

He was professed as a member of the Franciscans in Sybertsville, Pennsylvania, in 1985, and ordained a priest in 1987. In 1996, he was incardinated into the Eparchy of Van Nuys, California, and named bishop of Van Nuys in 2002. In 2007, he was named bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, New Jersey.

The Archeparchy of Pittsburgh includes 58,492 persons, and embraces all Byzantine Ruthenian Rite Catholics in Western Pennsylvania, several counties in Ohio, and the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

The Archeparchy of Pittsburgh is one of the two Byzantine Catholic and eight Roman Catholic Dioceses that comprise the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. Archbishop-elect Skurla will sit on the PCC Board of Governors.

Welcome and Congratulations from the PCC to Archbishop-elect Skurla!

The PCC supports the following legislation:

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Senate Bill 1/ House Bill 1678/ House Bill 1708/ Others – School Choice

Senate Bill 1 or what could be another legislative vehicle is a top priority for the PCC. The proposal will increase the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program and create Opportunity Scholarships, or vouchers, for the poorest students in the worst performing schools. PCC has been waging a full scale grassroots advocacy campaign to generate support for school choice.

School choice advocates were disappointed that a reform package that includes school vouchers and an increase to the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) scholarship program was not passed before the legislature adjourned for the Christmas break. It is not too late to send a message to your state legislators urging them to pass school choice in 2012. Use the Catholic Advocacy Network to send one today.

House Bill 1378/ Senate Bill 1154 – Special Education Services

These bills would enhance the level of support to special education students in nonpublic schools.

Senate Bill 1134 – Regulation of Religious Child Care Programs

This bill would place the regulation of religious child care and early childhood development facilities in the Department of Education rather than the Department of Public Welfare. It would also remove the asserted authority of the state to demand that religious teaching ministries obtain a state license before they are allowed to exist, while still maintaining all mandates relating to health and safety.

SOCIAL CONCERNS DEPARTMENT

House Bill 1254 – Prohibited use of Public Assistance Funds

This bill would ban the use of an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card to purchase tobacco products, firearms or ammunition, and bans the use of EBT cards at casinos.

Senate Bill 732 – Abortion Clinic Regulations Bill SIGNED INTO LAW

The new law addresses concerns that stemmed from the tragic deaths of one woman and seven infants that occurred in the Philadelphia abortion clinic of Dr. Kermit Gosnell where a woman died and seven newborn babies were killed by infanticide. Conditions in the clinic were so filthy and unsafe that investigators called it a “house of horrors.” The measure holds abortion facilities to the same fire and safety standards, personnel and equipment requirements, and quality assurance procedures as other freestanding ambulatory surgical facilities.

PENNSYLVANIA CATHOLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION

House Bill 1583 – Protective equipment for motorcycle riders

This legislation would repeal the “no helmet” law that was passed in 2006. It would require drivers and passengers of motorcycles to wear protective headgear.

Senate Bill 1099 – Minimum Wage Law

This bill concerns overtime compensation for employees in health care facilities like hospitals and long-term care facilities. If an employee works more than eight hours in any one workday and in excess of 80 hours in 14 days, the employee would be compensated at no less that 1 1/2 times the regular rate.

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference advocates many different issues – Catholic education, religious liberty, life & dignity of the human person, marriage & family, social justice, health care, and faith & politics. To receive action alerts on active issues, join the Pennsylvania Catholic Advocacy Network at www.pacatholic.org/advocacy

Today in Pennsylvania there are 1,200 parishes serving more than 3.3 million Catholics. Pennsylvania Catholics make up 26% of the state’s population. The Church in Pennsylvania provides 52,000 jobs.

But the real legacy of the Church is in how Catholics live out the Gospel in their own communities.

Charitable Outreach

In 1797, the first formal Catholic charitable institution in Pennsylvania was an orphanage and trade school in Philadelphia. More than 200 years later, the Catholic Church continues to minister to people in need.

Catholic Charities agencies are still serving children, although today foster care and adoption services are the norm. Catholic Charities also helps families and individuals with behavioral health, family counseling, and addiction programs. The agencies help refugees and immigrants settle here in the United States.

Catholic Charities agencies provide direct aid to the poor with food pantries and soup kitchens, housing and utilities assistance, and help with clothing and other basic needs.

In 2010, more than 360,000 individuals received services from a Catholic Charities agency in Pennsylvania, and many of them benefit from more than one service.

Education

Catholic schools are another rich part of Pennsylvania’s history. The first parochial school in the United States, St. Mary’s, opened in Philadelphia in 1782. The school is still helping students reach their potential.

Today, Pennsylvania’s approximately 540 Catholic schools are teaching more than 150,000 students. Catholic schools provide jobs for over 10,000 teachers and other professional staff. Most Catholic high schools rightly boast graduation rates at or near 100% for non-transferring students, as well as SAT scores above the state and national averages. Of those graduates, over 90% go on to attend either a two- or four-year institute of higher learning.

Catholic parochial and diocesan schools educate students by establishing high goals and standards as well as strong motivation and effective discipline, all within a nurturing atmosphere. Catholic schools aim to develop each student as a “whole person” – academically, of course, but also spiritually, physically and emotionally.

In two centuries, Pennsylvania’s Catholic schools have educated countless leaders, entrepreneurs, inventors, and even a saint or two.

Both Catholic and non-Catholic students attend parochial and diocesan schools, but the thousands of Catholic students who attend Pennsylvania public schools are also well-formed in our rich faith. They learn and grow in their Catholic identity through parish ministries. In all, approximately 440,000 students receive Catholic instruction every year.

Health Care

Catholic hospitals are another fixture on the Pennsylvania landscape. Generations of Catholics, often women and men in religious orders, came to the Pennsylvania with a mission to care for the sick, the aged and the dying.

In 2010, Catholic health care served more than 3.3 million people in Pennsylvania.

There are Catholic hospitals, long-term care facilities, multi-facility health systems, special providers or other related entities in every community. The Catholic health care system provides healing and comfort through many programs and facilities, ranging from large, state-of-the-art hospitals and emergency rooms to small neighborhood personal-care homes and mobile clinics.

Catholic providers are an integral part of our health care system. They operate with a fundamental commitment to the sanctity and dignity of human life and demonstrate a special concern for the poor and most vulnerable members of society. Often Catholic facilities are the provider of last resort for those who are very poor and very sick.

Forward in Faith

As we consider this strong and vibrant Catholic presence in Pennsylvania, it is easy to feel proud, but we should not feel content. As those of you familiar with the work of the PCC know, threats to religious liberty, the dignity of the human person and other issues of importance to Catholics have become frequent. We also have opportunities to make advancements that would benefit Catholic health care and education, would strengthen our service to the poor and would better enable us to live out our Gospel values. Complacency would not have been tolerated by those who laid this solid foundation over the past 200-plus years, and it should not be tolerated today. And so, as we look to the public policy issues that will face us in 2012, let us be inspired by knowing that our family of faith extends across our entire state and reaches our brothers and sisters in every walk of life.

This article appeared in the Fall 2011 issue of the Viewpoint

The staff of the PCC wishes you and your family a very Merry Christmas. May the joy and peace that the Christ child brings be with you throughout 2012!

We’d like to share with you the following column from Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, Director of Media Relations for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

The Christmas Welcome Mat

The welcome mat is out at Catholic churches across the country. Actually it’s always out, but churches tend to emphasize their open arms and doors during Advent and Christmas and later on in Lent and at Easter.

Why now?

There’s something in the season that makes you think of home – including the spiritual home some are too busy to visit throughout the year. The message of the Prince of Peace, the carols learned in childhood, the large-as-life crèches, and the overflowing poinsettias have a way of warming even a cold heart.

The options are many.

Read the rest here.

A Marriage Protection Amendment to the Pennsylvania State Constitution may be the only way to preserve the definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

Pennsylvania legislators are considering legislation which would pave the way for citizens to vote on a constitutional amendment protecting marriage. Voters in 30 other states have already enacted such constitutional amendments.

In order for a marriage amendment to be added to the state constitution, it must pass the state legislature in two consecutive sessions of the state legislature before it can go to voters in 2014 for passage.

“This court case is a real and present danger to marriage in Pennsylvania,” said Michael Geer, president of Pennsylvania Family Council. “It’s time our legislature act on a constitutional amendment to allow the people a voice on this important issue.”

After millennia of human experience and ethical reflection, history has shown the family to be the foundation of society. The institution of marriage plays an essential role in the continuation of the human race, the full and proper development of each person and the establishment of a society rooted in personal dignity, social stability and mutual respect. Marriage is the foundation of the family. In turn the family is the basic unit of society. Thus while marriage is a personal relationship it also has public significance.

The Church’s vision of human sexuality in marriage is a great truth entrusted to us by God as reflected in the way he created us. Jesus Christ also revealed to us what God’s plan is for our sexuality and for marriage. We not only cherish this great truth but we must also speak up in its defense because we hold marriage to be a sacred reality.

TAKE ACTION: Contact your state legislators to encourage them to support a Pennsylvania Marriage Protection Amendment.

LEARN MORE: Read more about what the Church teaches and why we should work to protect the civil definition of marriage with these resources.

• Marriage & Society
• Marriage & Children
• Respecting Sexuality
• Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality: Respecting Human Dignity
• USCCB: Unique for a Reason

CLICK HERE TO CONTACT HHS AND CONGRESS

In implementing the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the new health care reform law), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a rule requiring almost all private health plans to cover contraception and sterilization as “preventive services” for women. The mandate even forces individuals and groups with religious or moral objections to purchase and provide such coverage if they are to receive or provide health coverage at all. This poses an unprecedented threat to individual and institutional religious freedom.

The rule includes a religious exemption so extremely narrow that it protects almost no one. It covers only a “religious employer” that has the “inculcation of religious values” as its purpose, primarily employs and serves persons who share its religious tenets, and is a church organization under two narrow provisions of the tax code. A great many religious organizations — including Catholic colleges and universiti

es, as well as hospitals and charitable institutions that serve the public – will be ineligible. Individuals and religiously affiliated health insurers will not qualify for the exemption.

The new rule would force insurance plans to cover “all Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.” Never before has the federal government required private health plans to include such coverage. The FDA-approved “emergency contraception” (EC) drugs that are covered by this mandate can work by interfering with implantation of a newly conceived human being. Also, the drug the FDA most recently approved for EC, “Ella,” a close analogue to

the abortion drug RU-486, has been shown in animal tests to cause abortion. Thus, the mandate includes drugs that may cause an abortion both before and after implantation.

ACTION: Please send an e-mail message to HHS by clicking here. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can send a message to HHS asking them to respect religious liberty and to your elected representatives in Congress, urging them to support the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179/S. 1467) to ensure that such federal mandates do not violate Americans’ moral and religious convictions.

PCC UPDATE: Click here to read the comments that the PCC and PCHA submitted to HHS. Don’t forget to send your own message to HHS and Congress by September 30.

Here in Pennsylvania, we mark this anniversary in a particular way because Flight 93 crashed in a field in Shanksville, PA. Click here to read the story of two Pennsylvania Catholics who found strength in their Catholic faith as they worked at the crash site.

Also, Sr. Mary Ann Walsh of the USCCB wrote about how today’s scripture readings “seem to have been penned just for this occasion.” Click here to read the full reflection.

He impressed upon the committee to remember that “every human being possesses inherent dignity, regardless of his or her immigration status.” He cited studies and his own experience about the emotional and financial damage that occurs with family members left behind when their mother or father, wife or husband, is deported or detained. He says, “Children of undocumented immigrants suffer terribly as a result of the enforcement of our currently broken immigration laws.” He cautioned lawmakers to consider carefully the impact enforcement-only laws may have on families.

Shea also discussed the characterization of undocumented immigrants, “Undocumented immigrants in Pennsylvania are not responsible for any generalized ‘lawlessness’ in our communities…such unsubstantiated claims merely contribute to a poisonous rhetoric that stereotypes undocumented individuals as criminals. Simply residing in the United States without an immigration status is not a crime. It is a civil violation, but it is also something that the majority of undocumented individuals cannot do anything about, despite their fervent desire to legalize their status. Immigrants do not fail to become citizens because they are lazy or are inclined to criminality. Poverty, war, and desperation in their home countries drive them here. Then our federal government provides no way for the majority of them to attain a legal status.”

He cited an issue briefing from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explaining “Why Don’t They Come Here Legally?”

“We live in an imperfect and broken world, and when laws contradict the very heart of Christ’s message, we have a duty to advocate for change in those laws,” Shea concluded, “The family is the fundamental building block of society. We ask that protection of the family, charity toward all regardless of immigration status, and a factually-grounded concern for public safety drive this committee’s consideration of all measures.”

Read more: Reflections on Immigration; Justice for Immigrants

BISHOPS’ STATEMENT: Your Catholic Faith On Campus

1. The intact, biological, married family remains the gold standard for family life in the United States, insofar as children are most likely to thrive—economically, socially, and psychologically—in this family form.
2. Marriage is an important public good, associated with a range of economic, health, educational, and safety benefits that help local, state, and federal governments serve the common good.
3. The benefits of marriage extend to poor, working-class, and minority communities, despite the fact that marriage has weakened in these communities in the last four decades.