Due to a network failure with its web hosting contractor, the WCC website, www.wisconsincatholic.org, has recently been unavailable. The website is once again up and running, but the contractor was unable to restore a version of the site with recent postings or pages. Therefore, if you are searching for something produced by the WCC in the last two weeks, it is not available at this time. Please feel free to contact the WCC directly at office@wisconsincatholic.org or 608-257-0004 to request copies of recent publications that do not appear on our website. Our contractor has informed us that the WCC site will be fully functional in the coming days. Updates of the status of the WCC website are available on the WCC's Facebook page.

Also, some individuals, in trying to access www.wisconsincatholic.org, have reported that they are being redirected to www.faithwebsites.net. This site is the hosting service for the WCC website and you are being redirected there because you likely attempted to visit www.wisconsincatholic.org while it was not operational. To view the newly restored WCC website, you must delete your internet browser's temporary internet files for the days on which you visited the WCC website. This can be done by scanning your computer with any already-installed security software, or by visiting this webpage, which provides instructions for clearing these files for every kind of internet browser.      

The WCC apologizes for any inconvenience and appreciates your patience.

Legislature Passes State Budget Bill

By a vote of 55-42 and 17-16, the Assembly and Senate passed the state budget. Governor Walker is scheduled to sign it this Sunday. The WCC will send out a summary of the final budget in the coming weeks.

WCC Urges Governor to Veto Bail Bonding in Budget

In a letter to Governor Walker this week, the WCC asked him to veto a provision in the state budget that would permit commercial bail bonding in Wisconsin. Under current Wisconsin law, bail bonding is prohibited. Instead, defendants post bail with the county clerk of courts and, if the defendants are convicted, the court can use some of the bail money to compensate victims and to cover certain court expenses. If commercial bail bonding were to become legal, defendants would pay a percentage (usually 10 percent) of the bail set by the court to a bail bond agent who in turn would post bail for the defendants, thereby enabling them to remain free until their court date. The fee paid to the bail bondsman is non-refundable, even if defendants are later found to be innocent of all charges.

USCCB and WCC Statements on Supreme Court Marriage Decisions

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chair of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act and refusing to rule on the merits of a challenge to California's Proposition 8. The WCC's June 27 statement will be available on our website as soon as it is fully functional.

USCCB Applauds Senate Passage of Immigration Bill

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, commended the U.S. Senate for passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The U.S. Senate passed S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Competitiveness, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, by a vote of 68-32. In a June 20 letter, the bishops of Wisconsin asked Catholics to contact members of Congress in support of immigration reform.

New Bills of Interest

SB-221. Assault of a Child (Grothman) Travel, association, and residency conditions of release before trial of individuals charged with felony sexual assault of a child. To Judiciary and Labor.

AB-245. Work Environments (Pope) Prohibits abusive work environments and permits a person who has been subject to such an environment to bring a civil action. To Labor.

AB-252. Fetal Remains (Bies) Disposition of fetal remains. To Criminal Justice.