Thomas More Society Creates Petition to Back Bishop Jenky

Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net

CHICAGO, May 11, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- The Most Reverend Bishop Daniel Jenky, C.S.C., Bishop of Peoria, Illinois, has been attacked repeatedly for using a reference to the intolerance of Hitler and Stalin from his pulpit the week following Easter Sunday. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is charging that Jenky violated federal law restrictions on "electioneering" by churches in delivering the remarks to his congregation, and is calling on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the respected Catholic cleric. The Thomas More Society is continuing to speak out in defense of Bishop Jenky's right to engage in robust, wide open, and uninhibited free speech -- a First Amendment right he shares equally with all other fellow citizens. A petition has been created at www.IStandWithBishopJenky.com to support Bishop Jenky and as a symbolic endorsement of the right of all pastors and people of good will to speak out against political assaults on the church's sacred beliefs and the rights of conscience.

The Catholic Church, which has been unabashedly pro-life, has been threatened with forced closure of its social ministries including hospitals and other vital services in the wake of Obamacare's Health and Human Service mandates that are requiring health organizations to provide and pay for birth control including sterilization and abortifacient medications that are in direct conflict with church teachings.

"No Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb," Bishop Jenky declared during his homily, the full text of which can be read here.

The Thomas More Society joins the Bishop in calling on Catholics to vote according to their Catholic consciences this November and to sign the petition now.

"Faith leaders have a constitutional right to speak out against the current attacks on their religious freedom. Government is crossing the line, not pastors or bishops," said Tom Brejcha, President of the Chicago-based Thomas More Society. Brejcha added, "Americans United for Separation of Church and State has a long history of anti-Catholic bigotry, extending back to its founding in the 1960's when it opposed President John F. Kennedy's candidacy on the basis of his professed Roman Catholic religious faith. This latest IRS complaint is a transparent ploy to intimidate into silence Catholic leaders with whose preaching, no matter how authentically Catholic, Americans United disagrees."

Please sign the petition at www.IStandWithBishopJenky.com.

Click here to see the full text of Bishop Jenky's homily.

About the Thomas More Society
Founded in 1997, the Chicago-based Thomas More Society is a national public interest law firm that seeks to restore respect in law for life, marriage, and religious liberty. The Society is a nonprofit organization wholly supported by private donations. For more information or to support the work of Thomas More Society, please visit www.thomasmoresociety.org.