Sorry, Jimmy, but I put much of the blame for this on the bishops themselves. Even after Cardinal George warned that the Obama administration was becoming a tyrannical regime, he and most of the others continued to support a nationalized, centralized, big-government health care system. Why in the world would anyone in his right mind, who could see what this regime was, entrust it with everyone’s health care? And even if the present administration were as pure and beneficent as Mother Theresa herself, why would anyone trust that all future administrations would wield such immense power justly? This is what happens when subsidiarity is just paid lip service. And I hate to say it, but I doubt very much that our well-meaning, yet naive bishops will learn anything from this.

This is nothing new for Obama. Recently, at a Congressional Black Caucus rally, Obama quoted a pastor who referred to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as “good crazy” for having strong faith in god, then Obama added that the pastor had attributed the same “good crazy” to him when he decided to run for president (see http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obama-asks-biblical-faith-his-agenda).

Obama then explained how he had “kept the faith” through various acts as president—by responding to the economic crisis with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulations bill, through certain tax credits he had passed and through Obamacare. He finished with a plug for the American Jobs Act.

“It’s never easy,” Obama concluded, “and I never promised easy.  Easy has never been promised to us. But we’ve had faith. We had that good kind of crazy that says you can’t stop marching.” Obama insinuate that having faith in god is similar to having faith in his policies.

Obama doesn’t realize that almost 1/4 of all hospitals in the U.S are run by Catholic Charities. If you try to force them to do abortions the Bishops will have to close the hospitals. Who loses then? Do we really needs more unemployed people ? What is this man thinking ?

The population has jumped up from 1 to 6 billion in 250 years. At 50 million abortions and another 50 million birth control, that is 100 million more humans a year above the 80 million or so that the population is going up right now. Do the math.  Look at the enviroment with todays population. Fish farms, millions of tonnes of chemicals to grow food, factory farms.  North americans make up around 8% of the worlds population but are using up around 25% of the worlds resources. Not really fair, maybe the 3 rd world countries will put an end to our raping of thier countries?

Randy, would you kindly educate the rest of us and give us a breakdown of all of the resources in the world—along with all the resources the world could possibly yield? In other words, a list of every resource, its present volume, its potential volume, its distribution worldwide, and its potential distribution if it were utilized maximally? Or could you point me to the universal inventory team that continually counts, weighs, and measures every resource on earth, calculates its potential worldwide yield, and issues a periodic report of this data? I would like to know who keeps the inventory of every resource on the face of the earth and who is able to calculate what that inventory would be if every resource were utilized maximally. The truth is that there is no such inventory and that hardly a fraction of the world’s resources have been tapped. Your number (25%) is bogus and always has been. You have no idea of what 25% of the world’s resources even are, or what the earth is capable of producing. This is one of those bogus statistics that is used for dishonest political purposes.

Will the 98% of American Catholic women who use artificial contraceptives understand the reasoning if the church makes the choice to end all health insurance coverage for their employees rather than cover contraceptives and sterilization procedures?

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/guttmacher-report-most-us-women-reproductive-age-use-artificial-birth-control-some

Church officials try very hard not understand that most Catholics have simply moved on with this issue. It is history.  I suspect that dropping insurance coverage for employees of Catholic institutions will simply drive another wedge between the hierarchy and Joe and Jane Catholic. The first was the contraception prohibition in the sixties. The second was the disclosure of widespread child molestation by priests and systematic cover-ups by the hierarchy. If the church proceeds to sock Joe and Jane in the wallet over the immorality of artificial contraception, Joe and Jane will not feel charitable because they don’t agree with the church teaching on it.

It’s a tough and weird problem because the church has doubled-down on it, while simultaneously ignoring all the 1, 2 and 3 child and childless families that have become the norm in parishes over the past fifty years. It’s pretty hard for parish priests to get tough in the confessional, because today’s Catholics avoid the Sacrament of Reconciliation like the plague, even though the confessors don’t grill them about what happens in the bedroom.

I am awaiting the PR releases from the American Catholic hierarchy on this matter with great interest.

Steven Lo Vullo has it just right. We have Obama care and the horrors it will continue to bring because of the Bishops. And there is no sign they have learned. And of course no apology for what they have done.

Well, no, babies do NOT ‘create jobs’. Babies ‘create jobs’ only if we INVEST in their futures, with education, healthcare, etc. And prolifers just don’t do that. The most pro-life states have the lowest education rates, highest infant mortalitty rates, etc. IOW, pro-lifers care alot about you before you’re born and after you die, but don’t give a darn in between.

Robert Rodriguez - Terri Schiavo wasn’t brain dead.  And treating babies as a disease to be prevented won’t solve any problems caused by selfishness.

At this point in my life, I would consider an abortion (or a man actively consenting to one) a mortal sin for a Catholic. The church’s teaching on it are clear and abortion is a grave matter. However, the ban on contraception is at odds, as far as I can tell, with the Church’s acceptance (since he 1950’s?) of the use of sexuality to produce children, but also (and separately) to express love in the context of marriage. Chemical means to prevent the releasing of the ovum doesn’t seem immoral in the least to me, and neither does preventing semen from entering the woman’s body. I believe most Americans and most American Catholics feel the same way.Further, and simply, I don’t believe that abortion is a political issue at all—not until the court changes Roe v. Wade. We shouldn’t be taking polical action against American rights, any more than we should try to make pornography illegal (the First Amendment.) We can’t legislate conscience: only educate and pray. My mind may change. But for now, it is the position of many Catholics, from candidate Senator Kerry to persons in my own circle. Poverty is the issue I believe American Catholics, and the bishops, should address, and that includes supporting a bill that offers millions of Americans the health care the insurance companies have denied them, out of greed and corporate conscience-less actions.

Reading posts like Joseph Earls is probably the reason I am bald. Arrrrrrrgh!

Jimmy,

What do you recommend that faithful Catholics do? Are there legal loopholes somewhere that the Catholic insurance agencies could find? Should we start up an emergency savings account and plan on paying for healthcare in cash.

I’m open to both of these options, and any others that faithful bishops, priests, and apologists might suggest.

I hope that we soon reach “the tipping point” at which the new generation of faithful and enthusiastic Catholics can confidently launch an offensive for the sake of the church’s teaching without worrying about the “Spirit of Vatican II” (I think they mean “The Spirit of Woodstock” because its clear they haven’t read the actually documents)Catholics still having a controlling majority in our parishes and seminaries.

Mary, Queen of Angels, protect us from those who would oppress us. Give us strength to accept poverty, hardship, and even death rather than choose the evil of protecting our own abundance by destroying the lives of the generation to come. Help us to be open to life as you were open to welcoming the life and Light of the World. Amen.

@Mr. Rodriquez, Why don’t you show your concern starting with yourself? Do you live in a nice home? Do you drive a car? Apparently, you have a computer. Do you eat well? Do you have medical insurance and see the dentist regularly? Then by your account, you are brain dead. Become a subsistence vegetarian farmer and then let’s talk, at least, if you will only talk on your terms. In the meantime, I would appreciate if you would not pretend you were omniscient.

@cowalker, Catholicism is a religion, a search for the truth guided by scripture and tradition. It is full of sinners, though hopefully many of the kind that stand at the back of the church and ask for mercy. It is not a political party seeking to improve its poll numbers.

bob,

“pro-lifers care alot about you before you’re born and after you die, but don’t give a darn in between.”

And that’s why conservative Christians are the most charitable demographic in our… oh wait. Sorry, mustn’t let the facts impede the progression of tired tropes.

P.S. @cowalker
If the Church’s success were dependent on a popularity contest, she would have closed up shop on Good Friday.

P.P.S. @cowalker

“It’s a tough and weird problem because the church has doubled-down on it, while simultaneously ignoring all the 1, 2 and 3 child and childless families”

You’re assuming that these families are being disobedient to the Church with regard to contraception. Of course, that is no doubt the case for some, but certainly not for all. Some couples can’t have children, and some couples are blessed with only a few. I come from a 3-child home, and this was not the result of unfaithfulness to the Church. Don’t jump to conclusions, please. Thanks.

On the topic of population numbers and resources on this planet - answer me this one - WHO provides for us each and every day?  Why do we trust so little in his constant love and care for us?  We try SO hard to control all the variables in our lives - we need to study the saints more - in whom do we really TRUST?

So which medical costs still require a co-pay? As I understand it, if I get a dangerous infection, e.g., strep, I’ll have a co-pay for the antibiotic. As far as I can tell, people taking medication for many ongoing conditions, e.g., bipolar disorder, will still have a co-pay. Yet, regardless if the person is married or not, people can receive contraception and/or abortifacient birth control completely free. It shows the priorities of this administration.

Remember before the presidential elections, when the Catholic “worthies” were predicting this EXACT scenario? 

Remember the liberals screaming “baseless propaganda?” 

I only wish it was.

Hey, Obama!

How bout having insurance companies pay for educating women on NFP so they can learn their own cycles and naturally conceive or abstain to avoid conception?  That way, perhaps breast cancer rates would decrease altogether because women wouldn’t be pumping their bodies full of added hormones.  But instead, you force insurance companies to cover these things, while Planned Parenthood jumps for joy at all the additional patients it will have when their birth control fails and they need an abortion, and Susan G. Komen can keep on keepin on funding PP while they fool the public into believing they’re busy searching for a cure…It’s all a game and it’s time for people to WAKE UP!

The bishops who thought that electing this man was a good idea have much to answer for.

To say the president is clueless is a maximum understatement.  One has only to look at the statistics from abortions in this country to see the number of future productive citizens that were deprived of even the most basic right - the right to live.  Furthermore, with over 50% of these abortions coming from the African-American family, does the president really care about “his” people? 
Kathy16670 is right on point.

Jimmy, You’re thinking too strategally and too long-term. The goal is to get re-elected next year.

If push comes to shove and I was a bishop I would be advising all the employees who are not catholic and working at the schools, hospitals, and other agencies run by the church to apply for unemployment ASAP and date their unemployment as beginning the day this regulation goes into effect. Also I would post billboards, signs and notices informing the general population that Catholic hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, schools, soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters, orphanages, and other agencies will no longer be allowed to care for anyone that is not Roman Catholic by order of the President of the United States. This, I think would put them inside the religious exemption of the regulations. Oh and send a letter to the president asking for permission to put his signature on the signs.

He talks a lot about shovel-ready jobs.  I think it should be obvious by now that what he’s ready to shovel and already shoveling is B.S.

“Well, no, babies do NOT ‘create jobs’. Babies ‘create jobs’ only if we INVEST in their futures, with education, healthcare, etc. And prolifers just don’t do that. The most pro-life states have the lowest education rates, highest infant mortalitty rates, etc. IOW, pro-lifers care alot about you before you’re born and after you die, but don’t give a darn in between. ” - bob @ 7:56AM

Like all the Catholic schools run in the diocese to get kids a better education than the crime-infested public schools.

Or the colleges run by religious order, people who have dedicated their lives to serving the Lord through serving students.

Like the food pantry in my local parish to assist the hungry, and the programs my local parish has to assist the homeless.

Or the hospitals set up by volunteers and orders to minister to the ill and dying.

You’re correct.  Its not like the founder of the first, free, public school in Europe, the father of public education, is a Catholic priest, St. Joseph Calasanth.  Its not like modern universities are an fruit of monastic and cathedral schools to educate priests.  Its not like a quarter of the hospitals that dot the United States were founded as Catholic ministries to the sick.  Its not like the founder of the Church, Christ himself, instructed his followers to feed the poor, clothe he naked, etc.

Its not like the origin of all these things you value are fruits of the Holy Spirit working in his Church.

So yes, after seeing the countless selflessly volunteered hours by people in my community, I absolutely agree with your statement, “pro-lifers care alot about you before you’re born and after you die, but don’t give a darn in between.”

Let us not forget his(Obama’s) opposition as a state senator to ANY aid for a baby who survived an abortion. His implacable opposition along with Gov. Jerry Brown(So Called Catholic) of California to Prop #8(Cal.), DOMA which even President Clinton and most of congress supported is indicative of an extremist agenda on Contraceptives, Abortion and Homosexual sodomy- Civil and so called marriage unions etc..              The catholic bishops of New York such as Hubbard of Albany and the Catholic bishop of Brooklyn should follow Dolan’s lead and stop talking endlessly and take some action. They all should start denying communion to those such as Andrew Cuomo and Catholic(In Name only)New York legislators who live in sin with a woman they are not married to and like Obama and Brown(California) who promote Homosexual marriage, Birth Control, Guardasil and abortion at taxpayer expense

I don’t feel a lot of sympathy for the bishops on this one. They got right behind this monstrosity and pushed as hard as they could, maintaining only token reservations about exactly one aspect of the whole package—the abortion issue.

Yes, abortion is a really important issue. Arguably the _most_ important one. But it’s not the _only_ one. Yet in exchange for a token, non-binding promise on that one issue, they completely and utterly caved on every other prudential question relating to health care. Not to mention the doctrine of subsidiarity.

When you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas. And when the institutional Church gets into bed with the state, it never works out to the advantage of either the Church or the souls in her care. The state and its culture of death are the only winners when that happens.

You’d think our bishops would have learned that much from history. But it doesn’t seem that they did.

Most of y’all can at least take comfort from the fact that involuntarily paying for somebody else’s contraceptives and abortions is at most “remote cooperation” and thus not mortally sinful. Those of us who have (or are married to folks who have) medical conditions for which any treatment except birth control pills is about to become a felony aren’t so lucky.

But did the bishops stand up for us, and our right to make our own medical choices in consultation with our own doctors instead of culture-of-death bureaucrats in Washington? No…they were too busy selling out to the state. The same state that those of us paying attention _before_ Obamacare was passed already knew sought even more power to command us to sin. The same state that, even as the bishops were cheering on the centralization of all health-care decisionmaking, was busy using its centralized control of family policy to shut down any adoption agency that wouldn’t place children with active homosexuals. The same state that, whenever it gets the chance, is happy to refuse to pay for treatment of poor people with serious and life-threatening conditions, but quite willing to prescribe euthanasia for them. The same state that for the last 38 years has _absolutely insisted_, brooking no reservation whatsoever, that the slaughter of the innocent at any point between conception and birth is an absolute and unquestionable human right.

It’s not like an attentive person couldn’t have predicted the result of this monstrosity. Many attentive people did. But the bishops didn’t listen. At best, their attitude was “yes, those things are bad, and when the state does them, we might write some strongly-worded letters…but you should still trust the people who are doing those evil things to control your healthcare decisions”.

“Breast cancer, cervical cancer are no longer preexisting conditions.  No longer can insurance companies discriminate against women just because you guys are the ones who have to give birth.”
.
Ugh… Mr. President, what do you think are the main causes of the epidemic of breast cancer and cervical cancer in women?  Contraception and abortion. The correlation has already been established by reputable medical research (e.g. Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center). Women ARE discriminated against because we give birth. We’re told our greatest gift is a disease, and because we try to suppress our fertility, we get other horrible life threatening diseases.  Thanks a lot for furthering the destruction and harm of women. I hope for your sake that you are really, truly ignorant. 
.
/endrant

As somebody who is Canadian and who has tax-paid access to health care of all types, I must say that I applaud your president and the other parties who have worked towards improving access to whatever type of health care (including contraception) that someone chooses.

I am a freelance researcher who has NO work benefits:

When I had an ovarian cyst, I popped right over to a clinic and had it checked, for free. And I went back to work between putting my name in the queue and going back over to have the appointment. No work time lost, no paperwork.

When I went into premature labour and my baby died, no one asked me to pay a cent.

When I thereafter had an infection and had to be hospitalized for two nights, there was no checking for non-existent insurance.

Now that I am expecting another baby, the midwife is covered, the specialists I saw ‘to be careful’ are covered, the ultrasounds are covered.

When I ran into a friend recently and discovered that he was in town because his elderly mother had had brain cancer and died, I was gratified to hear that she had done so very peacefully and on her own time in a hospice where my mother works as a palliative care nurse. The hospice is covered.

My niece was bitten by a dog on her face. Her parents are also both self-employed, but the stitches and all related care was covered.

When my brother-in-law had a stroke, which turned out to be a symptom of colon cancer, all of his treatment was covered. I will note that colon cancer is generally understood to by a lifestyle disease, but no one questioned his right to treatment.

I do not happen to use contraceptives (although not because I am an observant Catholic). I do not HAVE TO make use of the availability of the contraceptives that are covered by my publicly-funded healthcare system. But clearly not everyone has need of the same care at the same time, nor should your consciences dictate the care provided to others. The positions taken on this in the article and the comments seem fairly hateful and judgemental. If the Bishops and others who dispute the need for or advisability of birth control would like people to stop using it, perhaps they should convince them, rather than force them to have children they are clearly reluctant to have.

Kind Regards, KHoward.

” If the Bishops and others who dispute the need for or advisability of birth control would like people to stop using it, perhaps they should convince them, rather than force them to have children they are clearly reluctant to have.”
One question: why shouldn’t all those people being forced to have children they are clearly reluctant to have” be responsible for themselves AND STOP DOING THAT THING That creates those children in the first place? Sex=Babies. Take it to the bank.

Is anyone surprised? Why did Catholics support Obama’s thuggish health care system in the first place?  Yes, the whole system is thuggish, not just the contraception parts.  Furthermore, most far left “progressive” policies tend to be thuggish and oppressive (e.g. socialism).  Why any Catholics support the far left is beyond me.

Evil times make saints.

Posted by J.D. on Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 9:02 AM (EDT):
“P.S. @cowalker
If the Church’s success were dependent on a popularity contest, she would have closed up shop on Good Friday.”
I understand that, but it will be a problem for the church if members increasingly and deliberately reject selected church teachings because they are sure they know better. I suspect that committing the “sin” of using artificial contraception every day made it easier to skip mass on Sunday without a worry, and that made it easier to make bigger decisions, such as choosing to divorce and remarry or get an abortion. All I’m saying is that this stand will diminish the church’s influence even more in the long run. I’m not saying I have the answer. People would have understood a decision that contraceptives were moral back in the seventies before the church took a hard stand. Now that decision would come across as reversal of an infallible teaching. (Yes, I know. But there is incredible confusion about which papal statements are “infallible” even among Catholics.) This perception would further diminish the church’s influence. I don’t see a third way out.

Posted by J.D. on Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 9:06 AM (EDT):P.P.S.
“@cowalker
‘It’s a tough and weird problem because the church has doubled-down on it, while simultaneously ignoring all the 1, 2 and 3 child and childless families’

“You’re assuming that these families are being disobedient to the Church with regard to contraception. Of course, that is no doubt the case for some, but certainly not for all.”

Did you read the story about polls showing that 98% of Catholic women use artificial birth control? The same poll found that 2% percent use NFP. (Some have tried both.) Those are extreme numbers. But parish priests don’t question couples on their family planning. In the current culture this would be seen as intruding on their privacy, and they would merely choose a different parish—or a different faith. Again, I don’t see alternative than everyone pretending not to notice the elephant in the room.

The first was the contraception prohibition in the sixties.

I presume by sixties, you mean ca. 60 A.D., if not earlier?

I am awaiting the PR releases from the American Catholic hierarchy on this matter with great interest.

“This is a hard saying”

“Will you too leave me?”

Not much room for spin, is there?

I agree with Joseph Earls, “We can’t legislate conscience: only educate and pray.” We need to get rid of all laws that legislate conscience, and morality, such as theft, prostitution, drug, and don’t forget murder, just to name a few. This is America I should have a right to do what I want. If someone is bothering me we shouldn’t have a law that says I can’t kill them just because your faith or morality says it is wrong, the same goes for the child in the womb of the woman down the street I may have created from a free choice I made.(Sarc)

I believe most Americans and most American Catholics feel the same way.

Unforntuately, you are probably right about how most people feel.  Fortunately, “feelings” do not equate to truth or what is right.

What bothers me is that all this makes me fear that I’ll go to hell for having health insurance, even though I don’t use contraception. I can’t switch to a company that won’t cover it, and if I drop my insurance all together, I’ll still get fined every year for not having insurance, and the money from that fine will fund Obamacare. So is our choice between living bankrupt in a prison for refusing to pay taxes or else go to hell? Where is the limit to this man’s totalitarian arrogance? What does it mean for my soul if I reject him, but am forced to go along with his plan because I have to care for my family?

All I’m saying is that this stand [doubling down on no artificial contraception] will diminish the church’s influence even more in the long run

Dude - you haven’t even seen anything near like the Church’s long run yet (2000 yrs and still going - this current period is but a mere blip).  Let me get this straight - sticking to your teaching that many find hard will lead them to disregard others or leave entirely, but caving in to them will keep them in?  Seriously?  Even assuming that is true, you will no longer be the same church.  And what’s to stop them from demanding you cave in on other teachings?  In the end, you have no Church because they leave, or you have no Church because you teach nothing.  Looks like a lose-lose proposition.  Episcopalians tried your “cave-in” approach and the only thing that grew was the number of people leaving.

What does “darn tootin” mean anyway.  Makes me think of Yosemite Sam of Looney Tunes fame.  Is it like, pg-13 for “Hell, yeah”? 

It’s nice and all that people actually believe that if they cut down on the number of children born through contraception that there will be more for them and the rest of us, I guess, and better and more lavish health care without rationing for all.  It’s kind of naive given what’s already going on.  But, ok, it’s a nice thought.  But the whole idea to quote VP Biden is, “unsustainable”.  It simply won’t work a generation from now.  Of course the current leaders and those who say Hell Yeah in a another generation will be long gone by then and it will be another generation’s problem by that time, the unsustainable part (now happening in some parts of the world)?  Look at it this way, if we all had that same attitude towards the environment, as we do about trying to assure that other people bear fewer children?

“Church officials try very hard not understand that most Catholics have simply moved on with this issue.”

And by “moved on” you mean that the majority of Catholics have rejected Catholic doctrine on marriage and the family.  Fortunately, the Catholic Church is not a democracy, and the Bible is not subject to an amendment process.  Even if 99.9999% of all Catholics decided to reject one area of Catholic teaching, that wouldn’t invalidate it.  It would be like if the whole world said that 1 + 1 = 3.  It wouldn’t make it so.

Every one of us sins at one point or another.  We can either acknowledge our sins, repent of them and try to become better Christians, or we can pretend that the sinful things that we do aren’t really sins.  Guess which path leads to Heaven and which path doesn’t.

That said, I wonder what those Catholics who voted for Obama because he was going to end war, he was going to close Gitmo, and he was going to take care of all of the poor people are thinking now.

All of this bickering: will it bring us to God and Truth?  Just go back to the posted picture of Obama…what a perfect illustration of pride.!  Don’t forget pride cometh before the fall!!! This immature occupant of the White House, is a sidekick for evil incarnate. For those who attended Catholic schools, remember why the Sisters said man was greater than the angels?  Because we are co-creators with God in heaven, able to bring life into the world.  Obama hates life. Satan hates life. And, it would appear we too hate life!  We love our newest car, our pool, our fame and fortunes. Out of sloth and ignorance and apathy, we Catholics have willfully chosen to accept contraception. Now, it will be funded by us all. Abortion is the fruit of promiscuity and contraception and tolerance! Maybe the Bishops never really quite understood this relationship either, but we will pretty soon.  I fear there will be much suffering before it gets better…meanwhile, what worries me, is how so many Catholics were DUPED into voting for this phoney, ... I guess you could say, we swallowed the pill! Will we swallow it again?

This is the most anti-Catholic politician I have ever witnessed on the political stage.  Unfortunately, we have the bishops, people like Doug Kmiec, and uninformed or guilt-ridden Catholics who bought into his lies and voted for this scoundrel.  He has done more damage to the Catholic church and religious freedoms than ever imaginable.  He is truly dangerous and evil!!!  He must be thrown out of office in 2010.

@colleen: my thoughts exactly. The biggest issue is our lack of trust in God, who wants to provide for us all that we need - but we resist Him and want to provide for ourselves.

For those who do not know how contraception works, well here it is.
contraceptives on the market today DO NOT prevent the egg from being released it prevents a FERTILIZED egg from being able to gain sustenance from the uterine lining and then is aborted from the uterus. This is different from the day after pills because the lining never achieves the thickness necessary to sustain life. We may have become lax in our belief due to the many priests having shirked their duty of reminding the congregation about the Church’s teaching on contraceptive’s but that does not make it OK or less of a sin. If you say you are Catholic then you must accept the teachings or else choose not to be Catholic you aren’t required to be you know.

i learned: this site only publishes those items which agrees with all others.  Sad.

I wrote this long historical piece.  No way was it published on this site. So I sent it to the editor.  I give up on this site.  gh

Robert Rodriguez,

Brilliant parody there, pal.

quote Robert;

savage breeding and reproduction

keep our low functioning bottowm dwellers from perennial birthing

fewer crotch droppings

the lower iq, lower income, and lower functioning ones that keep reproducing like Kinkos, and the quality of each copy gets worse with each unit produced.

Large families are the purview of the ignorant, the uneducated, the destitute or just dumb religious fanatics.
———————————————————————

Yup[ you sound so intelligent Robert, pity your parents didn’t help the environment during your conception, or were you a spoiled only child

I’ve known since a year before the Presidential election that Obama was a first class jerk and an absolute lier absolutely committed to the most radical leftest agenda. Apparantly more than half my fellow Catholics ignored the same information I had and that was easily obtainable. Votes have consequences. I guess you can be excused for voting for a local or city or county politican in the dark. But how can educated and well known Catholics excuse what they did when they voted for Obama!!!!

I see the lack of rain has affected your brain, as well. God bless!

Everyone who rejects the Church’s teaching on contraception (not just for Catholics) should remember Christ’s own words: “He who hears you hears me; he who rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

STEVE,  should humans keep on breeding like rabbits?

Biologically, humans and rabbits reproduce via similar mechanisms, so I would answer in the affirmative.
As to the number of offspring, the Church has no problem with couple’s regulating this.  The problem is when the regulation violates natural law.

The problem will be when you have to pay cash at the Catholic Hospitals because they no longer accept insurance or when the Catholic Hospitals close their doors because they refuse to do abortions. Where will you go then? In Louisville,Ky Liberals are upset about University Hospital wanting to merge with a Catholic Healthcare organization. Liberals demand UH still do abortions & sterilizations. UH is going broke. The State & the City refuse to fund it, but still want to say it is a “Public” Hospital. Where are gunshot victims going to go? Where are trauma patients going to go? It is going to close, & what will they do then?

Robert, how can you see contraceptives as liberating?  It’s easier to see it is more like chains.  Look at it:  Chains are a physical means of bondage to create both fear and uncontrol in the situation of slavery; namely that one is powerless to do anything against the trap he or she is in.  What contraceptives do is the same thing except they give the illusion of control by alleviating fear, or rather they supposedly do.  But what, for example, happens when a woman misses a pill?  Suddenly, the fear of getting pregnant causes the spontaneity of sex to be terrifying instead of liberating.  Instead of women being placed in physical chains, they are putting themselves into a trap of intense fear that really destroys what sex really is.  As you say, “biological slavery” is exactly what people get when they take contraceptives.  Not only are there moral objections, psychological problems, and even physical (if you’d like to see the side effects of some of these contraceptives, they’re pretty easy to find and, to be honest, quite horrific in some cases) complications of “birth control,” but the whole idea that babies represent “semen demons” means that babies are automatically terrible.  In fact, children represent the opposite.  They represent the beauty of life!  How incredible are these children in their innocence and need.  How wonderful it is to be not only absolutely necessary in this process, but a co-creator with God!  Rather than them “pillaging you health, finances, free time, quiet time, thinking and pondering time, and well being,” they in fact bring good health (I can prove it), provide a sizable tax break, provide a legacy, give more thinking time than anyone could imagine.
And besides the moral objections, it is pretty clear this bill rips apart some of the constitution we hold to in law. 
One more thing: NFP is the most liberating thing a couple can do.  They know when they are fertile and when they are not and it helps so much when they know to be careful in some times.  It has no negative side effects, is completely natural (liberals should like that), is free (conservatives should like that), and helps to predict WHEN to engage in sex to have a baby.  It’s only logical to take something that works well, is free, is very safe, and can keep men and women in a moral state of conscience…there are almost no problems to NFP and actually have a fail rate that is SIGNIFICANTLY less than all contraceptives, even condoms.  If you want me to verify it, just ask and I’ll give you a few links.  But next time, before you start shouting at Catholics for preaching on hilltops, why don’t you do your research first and step down from the hilltop yourself.
VIVA CHRISTO REY!

Robert, how can you see contraceptives as liberating?  It’s easier to see it is more like chains.  Look at it:  Chains are a physical means of bondage to create both fear and uncontrol in the situation of slavery; namely that one is powerless to do anything against the trap he or she is in.  What contraceptives do is the same thing except they give the illusion of control by alleviating fear, or rather they supposedly do.  But what, for example, happens when a woman misses a pill?  Suddenly, the fear of getting pregnant causes the spontaneity of sex to be terrifying instead of liberating.  Instead of women being placed in physical chains, they are putting themselves into a trap of intense fear that really destroys what sex really is.  As you say, “biological slavery” is exactly what people get when they take contraceptives.

Not only are there moral objections, psychological problems, and even physical (if you’d like to see the side effects of some of these contraceptives, they’re pretty easy to find and, to be honest, quite horrific in some cases) complications of “birth control,” but the whole idea that babies represent “semen demons” means that babies are automatically terrible.  In fact, children represent the opposite.  They represent the beauty of life!  How incredible are these children in their innocence and need.  How wonderful it is to be not only absolutely necessary in this process, but a co-creator with God!  Rather than them “pillaging you health, finances, free time, quiet time, thinking and pondering time, and well being,” they in fact bring good health (I can prove it), provide a sizable tax break, provide a legacy, give more thinking time than anyone could imagine.
And besides the moral objections, it is pretty clear this bill rips apart some of the constitution we hold to in law. 
One more thing: NFP is the most liberating thing a couple can do.  They know when they are fertile and when they are not and it helps so much when they know to be careful in some times.  It has no negative side effects, is completely natural (liberals should like that), is free (conservatives should like that), and helps to predict WHEN to engage in sex to have a baby.  It’s only logical to take something that works well, is free, is very safe, and can keep men and women in a moral state of conscience…there are almost no problems to NFP and actually have a fail rate that is SIGNIFICANTLY less than all contraceptives, even condoms.  If you want me to verify it, just ask and I’ll give you a few links.  But next time, before you start shouting at Catholics for preaching on hilltops, why don’t you do your research first and step down from the hilltop yourself.
VIVA CHRISTO REY!

RealCatholicTV made a documentary called ‘Obama’s Counterfeit Catholics’ where Obama surrounded himself with heretical and apostate Catholics to put about an aura that they were faithful Catholics who supported Obama and downplayed (lied) about his agenda to promote immoral sex and the murder of children.

Sadly it’s true that due to lack of teaching and internal sabotage, many Catholics are liberal and immoral and side with Obama and abortion and homosexuality and eventually the rumblings are beginning to legitimize sex between and with children as well by indoctrinating them about sex under the guise of homosexual tolerance.

Obama is an evil man who will do anything. His actions don’t only affect the U.S., but he is also exporting this evil to coerce other third world countries to adopt acceptance of homosexuality, contraceptives and abortion in return for financial aid. Just see what he is doing in the Phillipines! The man is stark raving mad. Don’t be fooled by his pretend persona of being a believer in Christ. The devil believes in Him also! His actions clearly show that Obama is in league with the anti-Christ. And he clearly intends to make it impossible for Catholics to follow their consciences. The persecution is here!

Shutting down our Catholic hospitals and removing the name ‘Catholic’ from them is precisely what he wants. All removal of Christ and Catholicism from the public sphere. Either way he will win. The world and the US are too far gone to listen to reason. We are beyond that. Our only hope if for God Himself to act and do so in a manner that will stun the world.

Our Lady of Fatima warned us about all this, and even gave the Church the opportunity to change the course of history through the consecration of Russia. She was ignored by the very Church today whose members are compromised from top to bottom. The Church is in a de facto schism right now between the faithful and liberal modernist heretics.

There is no human effort or rational manner for the Church militant to be succesful. We NEED divine assistance! Our pride in thinking we could reform ourselves through Vatican II and through purely human efforts has been a colossal failure. Sometimes God requires us to throw away this pride in our rationalism and make an act of faith that relies on Him. God wants to perform a miracle. But He will do so only by working with us! We have what is necessary. We just need to act. And I myself admit that doing so will require a remarkable amount of self-will and humility to do such a thing and do what we believe is unthinkable to our minds. But God’s ways are not ours, and we must trust and obey.

Pray to Our Lady of Fatima, that the Pope and Bishops and faithful Catholics worldwide will take recourse to God. Otherwise abortion, sexual immorality, secularism and atheism, religious intolerance, hatred of Christianity and the Catholic Church, govenrment tyranny and control; ALL WHICH ARE ERRORS OF COMMUNISM & FREEMASONRY; will continue to be celebrated and promoted throughout the ‘democratic’ world. And not only that, the financial collapse of the West will necessitate a shift in financial power to countries like China, which means the world power going onwards will literally be a Communist one!!! And they will use this advantage to further the spread of communism in total and control all worldwide opposition to its ideologies through censorship and coercion in return for financial stability and mammon.

This is the future that stands before you! We have a weapon given to the Church that will bring about divine intervention by obeying God through the requests of Our Lady of Fatima to consecrate the country known for the source of these errors. God will fight these errors through our act of obedience. And the world will witness that God exists, and because this was brought about through the intercession of Mary, that God is the God of the Catholic Church!

Pray very hard! Regardless of who wins the next U.S. Election, the damage is done and will spread and consume everyone! We need divine intervention. Without God, our efforts, our reasoning, everything is worthless.

Of course as contraception is nearly free as it is, before forcing one religious group to pay for it regardless of conscience and religious pluralism, its widespread availability, decades of sex ed, the sexualization of children in the culture, all this has been going on for a long time and even with inexpensive contraception the number and rate of abortions is so high no one can defend or justify it.  There simply is no evidence that establishes that with cheaper and more readily available contraception that abortions decrease, and women’s health has not become better served by the availability of the pill (per ny mag, ny times, numerous studies etc). 

But it’s not really about the contraception at all is it.  It’s about sticking it to those dirty hated Catholics.  As per comments and speechifying of public officials. That’s what we’re really talking when we’re “darn tootin”.

The question is, why do Sebelius & the President think it so vital to force Catholic groups to do this against stated religious conscience (actual as well as according to doctrine in these cases)?  Why is it so repugnant to them to permit Catholic groups a simple exemption?  It is rather strange given that this administration courted Catholics in the last election cycle very vigorously and even promised dialogue on these very issues.

How’s that “dialogue” going, Fr. Jenkins?

Leo Schlosser you are spot on when you say “If push comes to shove and I was a bishop I would be advising all the employees who are not catholic and working at the schools, hospitals,...” that they can hit the road courtesy of the great pretender Barry Obama.
“Katholic” Polosi said we would have to wait till they pass it to see what was in the Bill. Well so far the 2000 pages of Obummer Care has spawned over 200,000 pages of regulations!
But after all; just like in the days of Samuel we (including many bishops) have said we wanted a “King” well we got us a real Ahab for King.

Okay, let’s not start bad mouthing president Obama.  That is as sinful as the passing of this bill.  He is as much a human as all of us.  And don’t kid yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, the Catholic church is just fine.  We cannot look back at the unheeded warnings and say “well, we should have listened to the Church when we had the chance.”  It’s too late for that.  Now we need solutions, not more accusations.  That will just destroy this country more than it is already crumbling.  You guys want to be good Catholics?  Let’s start being Catholic, then: Universal.  Let’s tell our brothers and sisters of this injustice, and let’s live out the faith we love so dearly in its entirety.  Let the bishops get angry, that is their job and their place.  But we, as the lay members who make up the church, need to support them and show them that the Catholic faith is strong, alive, and, more than that, but thriving in both the US and the World!  The Church has stood for the sanctity of life for 2,000 years.  Nothing on this Earth God has so wonderfully given us will take that sanctity away but ourselves.  So rather than point fingers, brothers and sisters, let’s find the solution instead while keeping to the morality that is indeed under direct assault in the US.  Let’s destroy relativism, let’s destroy lies, let’s destroy those sins which have corrupted the US for so long…but let’s hate the sin.  And love the sinner.

Robert’s comments are brilliantly constructed to elicit as much offense as possible. How sad that the racist eugenic bigotry is re-emerging out from under the rock that had slain the monster that had, 70 years ago, done so much evil.  I urge those who bleat the words of sustainability to examine the concepts of longer life spans, fertility rates, and the expected population plummeting when increased health meets its natural limits. Russia china Europe are in for a world of hurt. And so are we. Children are the taxpayers who will pay for Robert’s and my healthcare.

Robert…where are the large families you talk about?  Only 20 years ago, families had an average of five children.  Do you know what that is now?  We’re at 1.98…and falling.  We’re actually going to be in a population crisis in about 30 years because of it.  There won’t be ANYBODY, just like how China, Russia, most of Europe, and a few countries in the Americas will be in a world of hurt because they will not have PEOPLE. 
And yes, it is a problem that I’m going to be paying for your health care!  Don’t tell me how horrible it is for you and your generation!  You still have social security!  You will probably still have all those great benefits like medicare to help you through it too.  Guess what I’m going to have?  Nothing.  So don’t you tell me that it’s not a problem!
And what exactly is “preventative care?”  I didn’t know we had to prevent children because it’s “caring” to families.  And end of life planning won’t exist without children.  Sorry, the economy doesn’t work that way.  Children are wonderful and big families are even better, especially since they are the entire future.  And if you hold to what you just said, those large families that are “vile and gross” will be the only thing keeping your medicare, medicaid, or social security!  As I said, do your research and try not to insult the younger crowds here.

Jimmy, isn’t it the case that Obamacase will require all employers to provide insurance by 2012 or 2013 or something like that? In that case, a contraceptive mandate is not just a mandate that will make Catholic employers have to stop providing insurance, but a mandate that will force Cathlic organizations either to provide plans with contraception or close their organizations entirely. It seems no one is talking about this…that it’s worse than it seems…. or am I missing something???

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it is NOT a sin for a Catholic working for a SECULAR employer to take advantage of the employer’s health insurance even if its benefits happen to include contraception or sterilization coverage.

As long as the individual doesn’t personally use those benefits, they are not committing a sin, and their level of cooperation in evil is remote at best. In fact, the majority of Catholics who don’t work for the Church are ALREADY in this situation and have been for years since many health insurance plans already cover birth control. So this new regulation does NOT mean individual Catholics are suddenly going to have to give up health insurance coverage or be committing a sin.

I have never yet heard anyone argue that you, as an individual Catholic, have a moral obligation to drop any health insurance plan that covers contraception even if that means going without insurance completely. 

The problem with these new regulations is that they compel Catholic institutions to actually PROVIDE and pay for contraceptive benefits. The problem is not with the covered individual (who is still free to choose whether or not to use that coverage), but with the EMPLOYER being compelled to pay for and provide a “service” that violates their moral convictions.

It is sad to read comments such as R. rodriquez. His references, eg. crotch droppings,embryonic terrorists apply to him more that anyone else I can think of.I wonder what made him so full of arrogance and hate?

Well Robert, does your son or daughter know how you feel about him or her?  Once again, be careful who you are offending on this blog.  All of us here see children as a great gift and blessing from God.  I think it is silly that you seem to think murder is beneficial to human well being.  I suppose if you think that way, the world would be better off without anybody we so choose.  Hmm, that sounds like something I’ve heard of before.  Something in China, I believe under a ruthless dictator named Mao.  So Robert, with great love in my heart, and an intense sadness for you and my fellow Catholics here, I request you leave us be to our mourning and stop responding.  You are leading my brothers and sisters to sin.  Venial sins, but never the less, still sin.  I pray you may find Christ and the Wisdom of God in the coming years.  And one more thing: Tell your son or daughter you love them.  Believe me, it makes such a difference.

R. Rodriguez.  You haunt these blogs because you thirst for attention.  Semen demons?  Are you kidding?  You sound as gay as Perez Hilton.  Have some dignity.

Here’s what I perceive about our Pres.; His goal is
1)not jobs but rather a population dependent on government
  for sustenance
2)not just tax revenue, but complete government control of all that is
  now private business
3)not continuity of Soc. Security (or unemployment comp.), but
  everyone,of all ages, to be dependent, and controlable
* see Venezula
Christianity, especially Catholocism interferes with THE plan !

WHY AREN’T WOMEN BEING TOLD THE TRUTH???

Why have breast cancer rates skyrocketed since the 1960’s???

•? the World Health?organization lists combined oral contraceptives in the highest
level of cancer-causing agents (Group 1). “Most combined oral contraceptives
are taken orally, but they can also be delivered by injection, transdermal patch
or vaginal ring.” Lancet Oncology 2005;6:552-553
•? a?Mayo Clinic meta-analysis found the use of oral contraceptives before a first
full term pregnancy increases the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer by 44%.
Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2006;81(10):1290-1302
•? two studies in prominent medical journals have strongly linked use of oral
contraceptives with the aggressive, deadly, triple-negative
breast cancer, which most often affects young women under
age 50 and?african?americans. Cancer Research 2010;70(2):575-58and Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 2009; 18(4)1157-1166

For more info see www.abortionbreastcancer.com

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MEANS AWARENESS OF CONTRACEPTION AND ABORTION!

Large families and families of any size are awesome and no it is not going to be helping anything to force people to not have children or to only have one child per couple or whatever the latest population mythology going.  Commenters who call other persons *swine* but think themselves exempt from that formulation are no friends of Democrats or Pres. Obama, let’s be clear.  The fact is that in the places where this has been attempted it has simply not been beneficial in terms of the economic and material desires and aspirations described by the angry and invective hurling commenter here are not achieved even with lots and lots of free birth control, sterilizations, and abortions, and most of them coerced by governmental power and intrusion.  Just as overpopulation is a myth the great utopia that limits the number of children running around to some state requirement or quota is based upon non-reality and as shown here based upon inherent hatred for human beings, prioritizing the needs of self over all others.  The funny thing is in that prioritization neither the one who screams for it nor the others get their needs met. 

Government imposed quotas on family size and coercive state control is as VP Biden said to Chinese leaders recently, “not sustainable”.  And even as a short term “solution” it is pretty barbaric, in practice as well as in theory. 

Of course it is kind of weird that this post was about forcing Catholic institutions to pay for various things against religious conscience but that the hijacking commenter decided to try to make it all about why “large Catholic families” are “gross” and “swine”.  Something tells me that the Obama administration will take great pains to distance itself from anti-Catholic bigotry as the motive and essence behind these policies.  Of course not only Catholics (or Mormons for that matter) have large families.  The commenter would like, in addition to the free birth control, a government coerced quota on number of children.  Of course neither the birth control nor the coercion will really effectively eliminate all children as this commenter seems with his “swine” reference interested in doing.  Seems a little obsessive to enact layer upon layer of legislation to regulate and ensure and guard against more children.  Especially when without those same children the government, and all the goodies and benefits, will crumble and collapse under its own weight.

My wife and I escaped from using contraception 15 years ago. We have four children. I use the word “escape” because when people are trapped in what the world teaches MUST be used and our weakness it’s hard to see a way out. Only after once you’ve learned to observe the signs of fertility and abstain for on average 10-12 days do you realize how simple and beautiful NFP is. You also realize that some thing, excuse me - someOne was trying desperately to keep you trapped.
We been called fanatics. Strange to be called a fanatic for having awareness of mutual fertility and abstaining for a few days. Very Strange.

So anyway to get back to the actual post and discussion.  Why not for the Obama admin to respect religious exemption for religious conscience.  Surely other faiths will also have need of it.  It is not a Catholic only or even a faith only issue by any means.  What is the reason for trying to compel people to act contrary to conscience?

Over the long run of course trying to impose special standards on selected groups will fail miserably.  Trying to make one or other religious group believe in something by legislative standard is really abhorrent to the nation’s system of laws.  And will it actually demolish Catholics, or the Church, or any other religious group that resists the attempt at control?  I am certain that it will not even accomplish this sad and mediocre aim. 

Clearly this is what VP Biden was alluding to when he stated to Chinese officials during his visit that the one-child policy was not sustainable.  Countries that employ that sort of tactic ultimately will not prosper even if they achieve certain short term goals.  And for the goals it achieves, is it really worth it.  Clearly many Chinese do not feel that there is any freedom there such that highly degreed individuals are more than willing to emigrate and take low paying jobs here and make numerous compromises as they see the damage wrought and do not want it for their own children and families.  And the human cost in terms of human rights violations and atrocities really make whatever their short term “results” a total waste. 

Seems like a real disconnect going with the Obama admin in terms of a push for making Catholics the bad guys and scapegoating—must be ramping up to some place, where is it heading exactly.  Given the “defense” of it we are treated to here and in other places it is inescapable that with generating all this anti-Catholic hatred and getting people all worked up (see above) that the administration surely has a purpose and point in all of this.  Like I said it is worth considering, the fact that in the first election cycle the administration was desperate to court Catholics and receive Catholic support.  Now it seems they are trying to switch up support by demonizing Catholics and tapping into anti-Catholic bigotry and centuries old outmoded attitudes.  Now that is really what is truly “gross”.

Now Jesus hung around men because he recognized the need for fraternity.  Those men eventually became the first bishops and priests and from them, they gave way (by the laying on of hands in the Sacrament of Holy Orders) to more priests and bishops.  It is from this direct line that we can trace so much back to those days.  And if you’re questioning their purity, you’re right to.  However, despite those desires and temptations, they turned to God and Jesus on the Cross and found solace in it.  They did not fall to those temptations.
One more thing: Mary Magdalen?  Really?  Well, she is a perfect example of the Divine Mercy Jesus gives all of us.  Once she was reconciled with Christ, she stayed with Jesus as one of the women who cared for him and especially who cared for Mary the Mother of God, most especially after Jesus’ death.  Mary Magdalen saw the Holiness of these people and wanted to emulate that.  It’s pretty easy logic to see why she would want to be around those incredible men and women.
And Robert…stop commenting.

Is that so?  Once again, do your research.  There are the most men in seminary since the 60’s.  There is a shortage of priests now, perhaps, but within 4 years or so, we’ll have many, many more.  And that is probably because of a wonderful generation of priests, those that are 25-35 years old right now.  They have had such a powerful impact on the Church.  You are making a rude and illogical assumption by saying there is a shortage of priests because of the gay rights movement.
Have you ever been to Mass?  Men do not wear dresses, there is no flashy “bling bling,” nothing.  Your attacks are so outrageous and false, you make yourself look more foolish than you are trying to insult the Church.  Don’t attack priests.  If you wish to lash out, do so to me.  By all means, every insult you say to me increases my humility and love for God and only God knows how much more humility, patience, and love I need.

I hope and pray that all married people will see the evilness of abortion and birth control and will have large families.

Supporting abortion and birth control is evil. And so is voting for politicians who support it.

Well, actually large families are wonderful. I am the oldest of 8 myself. My wife and I hope to beat that. Birth control has freed you from nothing. It has made people forget that raising children is the Most important job in the world!!  Also I think you will be in for a surprise because the Catholic Church will prevail. Long after this present culture is dead and gone, the Church will still be hre and be shining victoriously. And might I remind you that many of the greatest scientists, artists, and intellectuals are Catholics. Besides what does it matter if this uneducated present generation with all of its unfounded ideas about birth control and abortion being a good thing respect us or not. We cannot change the Truth to satisfy the ignorant. THose of us who are educated and are scientists (yes I am a scientist)know that what the Chuch teaches does make sense and is actually better for people than what you are peddling with your hatred of large families and the Church. WE WILL PREVAIL IN THE END BECAUSE WE HAVE THE TRUTH. It is only the foolish who reject the truth when it is offered.

Sam, the population has gone from 1 to 6.5 billion in 250 years. Being catholic you must agree with the slogan “protection of life from conception to natural death” does that mean as in nature if some one breaks a leg,  or needs a transplant or premature babies should die? And who was protecting these countless abuse victims. Mahoney? Law?

First of all if you want to be taken seriously at all you need to speak in a professional and academic fashion without all of the vulgarity. As for the kind of scientist I am, I deal with cancer and treating it with radiation. My education required a lot of biology and physics. As for the world moving on without me I am on the young side in my field. I always have done very well in academia and have always been at the top of my class.

As for the sad news that many fellow Catholics are not following the teachings of the Church I am well aware of this and it is horrible. However just because everyone else is jumping off a cliff does that mean I will as well? Absolutely not. As for my wife, her life’s dream was always to have many children and be a stay at home mother. God’s first command to mankind was “increase and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” It is sheer imagination and not based in fact at all to believe that the earth is overpopulated. Who are you to say that there are too many children in this world. Children, each and every one, are a gift from God. Having a large family is a beautiful and wonderful thing.

@ Randy - for a new life there must be a direct act of God to create a soul. If you maintain that the world is going to become overpopulated you are saying that God can’t keep track and will one day realize he created too many people which is sheer absurdity.  Your second statement didn’t make a whole lot of sense but I’ll try to respond anyway. Of course we should treat a broken arm or provide support to a premie. We should use the medical resources available to us provided they do not violate the Law of God. God comes first. His law is supreme and supersedes any human laws. Thus we cannot recognize laws that provide abortion and things of this nature. We must fight against them ecause they are evil and go against God and against the natural order of things.

As for the abuse victims the perpetrators sinned and sinned greviously (mortal sin). But this has nothing to do with preventing the murder
of unborn children and of the use of birth control.  The sinfulness of its members is not an argument against the truth of Church teaching. I am sure enemies of the Church will be trying to throw it in our faces for many years to come just as they have been doing since the time of Christ. When will people realize that a member not living up to the teaching of the Church is no argument against the teaching of the Church. In Logic and philisophical circles this would be called a non sequitor. Opposition to abortion and birth control has nothing to do with abuse.

Sam, you are, quite honestly, one of the most honorable men I have ever met.  And I haven’t even met you.  Large family, cancer physician, and a speaker of truth…plus a Catholic who is obviously strong in the faith.  Thank you for the work you do in your office to show Christ to the world.  Look Robert, if Sam is a cancer physician, you can bet he’s seen some of the worst things in this world.  Cancer is a horrible way to die and it splits families to pieces.  Even if you don’t have a moral issue with contraception, you should probably take note that Sam has some sense of what he’s talking about.

Thanks Brendan but Im not the Oncologist. I am the Medical Dosimetrist. I do the research and create the plan that provides the treatment the physician wants. And yes you do see a lot of things when it comes to everything the patients and their families have to deal with. Also, we hope and pray for many children but we have only been married 2 years and so do not have a large family yet. We had one beautiful little girl but she died. We keep hoping and praying that God will bless us with many more.

Good for you, Sam! As for Mr. Rodriguez, did you get dealt a bad deck, or something? I wouldn’t be criticizing something you know nothing about.
Peace.

First of all many of those Ph.Ds spout that nonsense because it is politically correct and political correctness gets them grants. Unfortunately academia is not always about learning these days but about bringing in money.
//
Yes I do deny global warming and human driven climate change. It simply does not exist. Again many spout it because it is politically correct but it is pure nonsense. Those who were alive in the 1970’s may remember the “global cooling scare.” The scientist then were saying we were heading for a new Ice Age. The truth is that it is a cycle. If you are a mathematician or engineer think of it as a Sine wave. If a biologist, think of homeostasis. We have mechanisms in the body. Lets use the example of blood pressure. It is not one value. It will fluctuate. It goes up and the body says oops getting too high and it lowers it. It drops until the body says oops too low and then it goes up again. This is the cycle that happens over and over again. It is similar with this whole climate thing.
//
Having lots of children is clearly not to blame. I might maintain that it is the hot air of all of this political correctness and hatred of life that is the problem!!
//
I have an obligation to obey God’s laws not these population control Nazis.  Having children is a joy not boring. Also for your information large families are usually more efficient at using resources because of cost. Large families usually don’t get all their children cell phones, computers in their rooms, personal tvs, designer clothes etc. They also often frequent second hand stores for clothes and such. You could call this more “socially responsible.” Maybe all those politically correct people could take a lesson from this. Dont think that large families use everything a 2 children family does times the number of children. This is simply not the case.
The way you speak of women having children is very degrading and insulting to women. Again, having many children is the responsible thing to do. I certainly WILL NOT limit the number of children my wife and I have. I encourage everyone else to also be faithful to the teaching of the Catholic Church and not listen to these politicians and such that have an agenda to push abortion and birth control.

1. These Ph.Ds spout this nonsense because it is politically correct and political correctness gets grants. Simple enough.
2. Yes I deny global warming and human driven climate change. It simply does not exist. Back in the 1970s there was the “global cooling scare.” It is a cycle it regualtes itself up and down just like a sine wave or homeostasis in the body. Ex. Blood pressure. Blood pressure goes up and the body says “too high” and brings it back down until body says “too low” and so on. It fluctuates along a central point. Climate is the same.
3. Having lots of kids are not too blame but perhaps all the hot air of these polically correct population control Nazis is!
4. Large families are usually more efficient with resources. Things are shared, second things are bought, and luxuries are avoided. Large families dont have 10 tvs, 10 cell phones, 10 computers, designer clothes etc. Maybe these politically correct 2 children families could learn how to be more frugal from the large families.
5. I have an obligation to follow God’s laws not the propaganda of these self-proclaimed experts in population control.
6. I certainly will NOT be limiting the number of children we have. I hope everyone else will come to realize that having large families is a GOOD thing and is socially responsible.
7. Finally, the way you speak of women having children is very insulting and degrading to women. Having children is a wonderful and enobling thing.
8.You need to look at the facts and see that just because some idea is popular and politically correct does not make it true!!

He will Sam, He loves you very much.  And I have the utmost respect for those who work in the field of cancer.  It is a tough job anyway you look at it.  And when you get to Heaven, you can bet your daughter will run up to you and thank you for all that you did here on Earth.
And Sam’s completely right, Robert.  In the words of Peter Kreeft, there are some ideas too stupid only a Ph.D will believe them.
China’s expected population, in ten years, is supposed to drop to about 600 million.  Why?  Because there are no babies being born there anymore.  All 1st world countries currently have a negative replacement rate.  A positive replacement rate is considered to be 2.1-2.5 or above (replace both parents, naturally).  So if all the first world countries have a negative replacement rate, what do you think that means for the total global population?
And third world countries have a HUGE replacement rate, but they also have a lifespan of about 40 years or less.  I think its safe to say that in the next 100 years or so, there will still be around 6 billion people on the planet.  But like Sam said, we can have large families and still support ourselves just fine.  Look at it this way: You can have your one kid and have nothing to show for it.  Sam, for example (since I am in no position to have children yet) can have say…10 kids.  He’ll die in peace, surrounded by a massive family.  I know it’s true because when my grandpa dies in a few months (it’s only a matter of time now), he’s going to die surrounded by around 100 or so people.

Catholic Teaching does not say it is wrong to prayfully limit the number of children a husband and wife may conceive but that the end does not justify the means. Contraception is always wrong because it violates the unitive and procreative meaning, but fertility awareness and abstinence (nfp) are not contraception. Contra-ception literally means an act “against the beginning”. It is a grave sin. All “artificial birth control” is either contraceptive or abortifacient.

David, what you are saying might be true for you. But the 90% of the rest of us who believe that ssm or abortion is ok should not be forced to follow your beliefs. At the end of the day your beliefs are no more valid than anyone elses beliefs.

Obama is the worst.  He should have his NOBEL PEACE PRIZE revoked.  I see no reason why he was given one in the first place.

@Randy
Both Abortion & Ssm are violations of natural law and do violence to children.
No one can say “we hold these truths to be self-evident” and aclaim these morally bankrupt philosophies.

@ randy - Truth is not relevant. It is irrational to say something may be true for one person but not for another. Certain things are either good or they are bad. They cant be both. This is the principle of non contradiction. When it comes to these immoral practices you should be forced to avoid them. Just like you are “forced” to not rob someone, kill someone already born, rape, etc.  Also the number of people who believe an error does not make it the truth. “Everyone thinks so” or “everyone is doing it” has never been an acceptable excuse for evil.

Abortion murders the lives of children. This isn’t a ‘belief.’ This is a stone cold fact. And yes, you should be forced not to murder, otherwise we ought to shut down all the prison systems and let everyone go scott free, because if muder being wrong is ‘just a belief like any supposed other’, then who are we to have a criminal system? And if you justify that, then might as well let all the thieves and rapists and other scoundrels go free too, after all they shouldn’t be forced to follow ‘beliefs’ and these aren’t as bad as murder.

In fact the entire contraceptive and abortion and homosexual mentality has in actuality made it easier to get away with rape. Contraceptions help cover up the evidence. Abortion clinics take that further, including the fact that Planned Parenthood clinics have been covering up these crimes, but not as many people seem up in arms about that unless of course it’s the Catholic Church… Also many homosexuals will testify that they had sex at a young age with an adult partner (who took advantage of them…) oh but that’s supposedly a ‘good thing’ and acceptable and in that instance they don’t feel like anything wrong has been done to them, despite that many times victims will usualy try to rationalize away the fact that they’ve been violated unjustly. But we shouldn’t point that out, better to let the rapist off the hook rather than make them ‘feel bad’...

All this creates an unjust society from head to foot. No wonder more progress continues to be made by groups trying to decriminilize pedophilia and make it acceptable. All the ills of society began down that slippery slope the moment they began contracepting. Instead of fixing the problems, society is now trying to eliminate problems by pretending there were never any problems in the first place. It’s a denial of reality in order to ‘feel better.’ Society itself is a victim of its own guillable criminal actions.

Sam, your comments are awesome.  It’s good to know that are young Catholics in the world like you.

Meanwhile Biden says and does nothing.

Does the “professor-in-chief” know about the sevre demographic problems Europe, Japan, and South Korea are facing?  They are on the verge of population implosion.  Does he know that in 1936, when social security was first introduced, there were six kids in the avergae family, there were 30 workers per retiree, and the average life expectancy was less than 65?  Thanks to abortion (50+ million since 1973) and artificial contraception we have certainly thinned the ranks.  The economic uphevel has just started.  There has never been a successful human society where their population was declining.  God help us.

Liberal totalitarianism.

Obama’s obsession with birth control and abortion is beyond weird… John D: maybe he does but ignores it in favor of PP. Why? who knows?

As I’ve said since I was probably 22 or 23 years old, and that’s been a while ago, “liberalism is a mental disorder.”  It makes one stupid.

I disagree totally with the canard which states that one is a liberal at 24 and a conservative at 40.  What it means if someone is a liberal at 24, that person has never grown up and accepted responsibility nor does he or she have common sense.

And unfortunately right now we are being “ruled” by a bunch of children who are acting like thugs and criminals.

Would President Obama also require insurance to cover vasectomy reversals and reversals for woman who want to get their tubes untied?

Catholics that voted for this creature and reject the teachings of mother Church are accessories to the abomination of Abortion, they will answer before the altar of God when they exit this life.

To any of the “Catholics” who commented above that they agree with contraception, Obama, Obamacare, etc: I propose you try 1 of 2 things.
1. Go to the Catholics Come Home website and find Janet Smith’s “Contraception: Why Not.” Listen or read it.
2. If your mind is still unchanged, you know where the door is. No one is keeping you from leaving the Church. You are doing a good enough job of excommunicating yourself already.
TRUTH doesn’t change…legalization of birth control or not.

I used to argue with the church on this.  Now I understand just how bad this artificial contraception is.  Once you separate procreation from pleasure, all hell breaks loose.  Artificial contraception has enabled rampant promiscuity (been to a college campus lately?).  This has resulted in more abortions (per Planned Parenthood 56% of women seeking abortions were using contraceptives), more divorce (married people can be promiscuous too), more pornography (do you really think women would do those things if there was a chance they’d become pregnant?), and, oh yes, plunging birth rates.  Europe isn’t producing enough children to replace its current population.  This, in turn, has negative impact on the economy as there are not enough young people to pay into their generous social systems.  Now, our college professor president, wants to exacerbate the problem by cutting down our birth rate even more.  God help us.

Reading some of these comments and this blog makes me embarrassed to be Catholic.  How can people look past all the positives and go straight to the negative?  It’s sad how uneducated, sexist, and racist some Catholics are.

St. Louis,have you read any of the above blogs regarding the reasoning behind the church’s stance on artificial contraception?  There are plenty of downstream ramifications which simply are not pleasant.

Bad economics from the Obama Administration meets bad theology and worse psychology from the Catholic Church.

The problem is that humans are far more fertile than we need to be with modern health and nutritional standards. Our bodies are designed for an era when nutrition was more scarce and few children survived to adulthood.

Because our bodies are capable of producing far more children than we can take care of, couples need to artificially limit their fertility.

“Natural” Family Planning IS artificial birth control, unless you really believe that there is something natural about a couple timing their sex life to the infertile times of a woman’s menstrual cycle. The difference between NFP and contraception is that NFP makes the sexual relationship unnatural in an effort to keep the individual sex acts natural, while contraception changes the sex act, but maintains the natural sexual relationship.

The reason why Catholic teaching is flawed is that it overemphasizes the importance of the individual act and dismisses the importance of the relationship as a whole. Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic Church teaches that sex in marriage is holy and sacred.  But the Catholic Church also teaches that anything less than its ideal is sacrilegious and a serious sin. In doing so, it puts sex on a pedestal, making the perfect the enemy of the good.