Jimmy,
You’re 100% correct!! Our bishop are finally united. They MUST stay united, or our religious liberty and other rights given to us as human beings and protected by the Constitution are in jeopardy.

Fight for 100% conscience protection for institutions AND individuals!

Totally agree Jimmy. But, going further, Obama has shown us many times that he will say anything to reach his perceived goals for his left wing ideology. He knew he would have to dial back his proposals. What he really wants to do is “crack” the wall of Catholic social teaching resolve,then subsequent insults (attacks) will render it impotent. He is a snake in snake’s clothing.

I stopped reading after “Reporter”.  Will wait til a more reputable source reports it.  Don’t want to get my hopes only to possibly have them dashed.

Interesting that this comes only *after* Obama’s poll numbers among women took a hit.

Of course, the President isn’t crafting policies with a mind to pleasing the popular opinion of the moment, especially during his re-election campaign.

/sarcasm.

I plan on making the rally in either Madison or Milwaukee next Friday. As far as I’m concerned, unless they back completely off these demands, nothing has changed. Part of my tithe goes to our church which subsidizes a Catholic school (no direct payment of services since the school supports several parishes), but conceivably that makes my tithe at least a remote participation if this mandate goes through. Another part of my tithe goes to a Monastery that also supports a College - again conceivably where my contributions might end up as a remote participation. I would love to see injunctions filed by each diocese in every Federal District Court with thousands of participants to the suits.

If you haven’t already, be sure to take a look at the comments to the Reporter article. (Jimmy posted the link above but here it is again: http://ncronline.org/news/politics/obama-administration-issues-new-contraceptive-mandate-rules )

Of course, no telling if some of those people think of themselves as Catholics…

Can’t help but wonder if it’s all a smoke screen until President Obama gets in office for a second term. Then he will push through his HHS Mandate and give it to the church!

I agree, it’s a smokescreen. Look what happened last time they asked for comments. If they really want to know what is acceptable, bring the Bishops to the table. This is just a play for time, so Obama can be re-elected and so the lawsuits don’t go through.

Here is the only definition of “religious employer” which should be acceptable to the bishops:

religious employer n. A person with employees, in whatever industry, who practices a religion; or, an organization with employees, in whatever industry, which is owned or governed by persons who practice a religion.

In short: If I am a Catholic and I own a hardware store, the government of the United States has no just authority under the Constitution nor no Natural Right under Heaven to compel me to offer my employee a form of health insurance which includes coverage of contraceptives, abortifacients, sterilization, and the like.

Likewise, if I am a Catholic and I operate a restaurant. Or a private school.

For that matter, if I am a Catholic and I own a health insurance company, the government of the United States has no just authority under the Constitution nor no Natural Right under Heaven to compel me to offer my customers a form of health insurance which includes coverage of contraceptives, abortifacients, sterilization, and the like.

The way the ObamaCare act was written, it compels all employers to pay their employees with a mix of dollars and health insurance, instead of having the option to pay them in straight dollars.

Now, that’s a bad enough intrusion on human liberty, and a gross enough violation of Constitutional limits on government. (And it’s truly obscene that more folk don’t realize that.)

But there are two forms of the HHS mandate which go together with ObamaCare to produce unavoidable violations of religious liberty. In one, the types of health insurance plans are not regulated but all employers are obligated to offer employees plans which include contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization. In the other formulation, employers are merely obligated to offer a plan of some kind…but all health insurance companies are compelled to offer contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization included in all plans.

So, either way, you’re compelled to pay for contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization: You have no option, because in one version of the mandate, you’re required to do it, and in the other version, you’re required to offer some kind of coverage but the only coverage that’s allowed on the market is plans that include the morally objectionable stuff.

So in the end, there’s only one “out” that preserves religious liberty: The exemption must not apply only to churches; it must not apply only to churches and hospitals and schools and not-for-profits; no, it must apply to hardware stores and web consultants and butcher’s shops: For the point is, if you’re a Catholic and you employ someone, you may NOT include encouragement to mortal sin in their paycheck.

That would be religious liberty: Liberty to follow the teachings of your religion on every other day of the week as well as on Sunday, no matter what industry your business operates in. Anything less is a “religious test” for business ownership: Catholics would be forbidden to own businesses in the un-exempted industry.

RIGHT ON! Religious liberty for all!

Facts: the Obama administration said at the time the President announced his compromise on the HHS mandate (Feb. 10) that the matter of self-insured religious organizations required more thought, and that something would be worked out.  So here we have the results. 

There’s absolutely no good reason for the bishops to turn down another “you win” from the President, but of course, they will.
They’ve set the real cause of religious liberty in this country back forty-some years.  John Courtney Murray, pray for us.:-(

I believe that the Church will not Cave. It has been the same for 2000 years. When have they backed down on their teachings or watered them down? Has the President not read the Pope’s writings? There will be no Catholic hospitals and so many more people than now will be without a job and without healthcare! Maybe he should be talking to the nuns who run the hospitals…They haven’t been around for 100’s of years because they are weak and can’t take the pressure. We are talking about women and men who have given up everything because they believe what the Church teaches. We will remain united!

Jimmy, I agree with your analysis and words of caution about folding like a lawn chair at the first sign of change. The motive for the administration is both re-election and, even more fundamentally, the implementation of socialism on a grand scale. Let’s be vigilant. Obamacare may be able to achieve what the Freedom of Choice Act was not able to accomplish politically. Using mandates and fiats to thwart the constitution is totalitarianism. I encourage everyone to attend their local Stand Up For Religious Freedom rally on March 23 at noon. It’ll be in over 80 cities.

THERE MUST BE NO COMPROMISE ON THE ISSUES OF LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.  These are God-given Rights for which governments are empowered to PROTECT… not destroy.  (Declaration of Independence)

I don’t believe a word of it. Typical Alinskyite tactic, say one thing then do the opposite when it looks like your enemy (us) has dropped its guard.
We know what this administration wants (unlimited abortions, all the time in every place) so it is only a matter of packaging how they get it.

We must continue to be vigilant in our opposition to the mandate. This administration in no friend to Christians. They see us as suckers who are only a means to the end.

It’s a hopeful sign, I suppose, but as we say, “trust but verify”.  For awhile now, and I admit I don’t know much about health insurance, I’ve wondered if it was possible to get my health insurance through my parish rather through my employer!  And in your #2 comment, after you wrote “nobody” you should not have written “their” but ” his or her.”

This administration is not to be trusted period! This is a typical smoboyskecreen of their socialist agenda…

I agree it’s a smoke screen.. This administration has not had a change of heart, only a change in tactic. They wish to appease certain groups while maintaining a foothold against individual conscience. This can morph easily into corporate rights at their whim. The Bishops cannot be fooled by this and must stand firm, as we all.

Mr. Akin: you would do well to adopt “a conciliatry tone & dial back your rhetoric.” Keep the dicussion positive and on an adult level. Thanks.

Fool the bishops once, shame on Obama. Fool the bishops twice, shame on them.

Your source article reads like a propaganda piece.  The real story is going to be very different from this.

While I’m not a Catholic, I have strongly supported the Catholic Bishops decision.  If the Bishops cave now, what about all the other religions that support religious liberty?  We have stood with the Catholics.  Will the Catholics stand with us ?

thank you for your sage comments and advice. Our Lord had no political affliations. why can’t people of our Church be Roman Catholic first; then flaming liberals. Please follow the magesterium..don’t drink the liberal Koolaide.

The Administration has shown itself to be untrustworthy in too many areas to count. Look how it has seized the public narrative to make it a “woman’s health” issue. The Bishops were far too late to the dance, but must hold firm now, as must we. We cannot allow the government to continue its effort to replace God as the author of all that is good. We have been silent too long. Now is the time to make our voices heard. STAY STRONG, EVERYONE!

I hope Barbara is not a Catholic but an “interested” christian. A wall can NOT stand if you continue to remove the center stones. Thank you and G-d bless you Jimmy.

This is all “packaging”. Obamacare is unconstitutional. Although all Americans should defend religious liberty and the Bill of Rights, the Administration has won in shifting the debate from whether we should accept the poison pill that is Obamacare to what is covered by it.

I will continue to pray that this regulation will end its attack on religion.  In addition, I agree we need to continue to be strong and outspoken to others who do not have a clue as to what is going on in the administration.  Ave Maria

I don’t trust this administration.  This is an election year and if this administration is re-elected, chances are they will reverse this decision again.  The Catholic vote is extremely important once again and we have Rick Santorum to lead the charge.

Absolutely. The bishops and all Catholics and all other Christians, Jews, Muslims and all other believers must stand firm on this issue of religious liberty.  No compromises.

There is no compromise. Obama is a totalitarian hiding under the cloak of American democracy.

Social Security coffers would be brimming over if all these prevented-to-be-born children were allowed to grow up, get jobs, and contribute.

Agreed.  We can’t think that the administration is going to suddenly be in favor or religious rights. We need to make it so that they won’t consider doing something like the HHS mandate again. Especially since I’m sure they have plenty of other things they are planning to try to ram through.

On another note, we as the church need to ask ourselves what God is up to in all this.  Do we need to get things in order within the church as far as our thinking and acting regarding sexual mores?  How many of us believe that abortion, contraception, homosexuality, etc. are okay no matter what the church teaches?

God is interested in us becoming pure, more than if we are persecuted a little bit. Only when we are right with him, can we be a witness to the world.

I won’t be satisfied until Obama (and all of the members of the Pary of Death, a.k.a. Democrats) resign; and he had better hurry because he only has until January 20, 2013 at noon to do it.  After that it will be too late because the new Republican President will take over at that time.  At least then there won’t be as many deceptive attacks on our America.  Right now its just impossible to keep up with Satan; everyday he unleashes some new, hidden attack on American liberty and God’s children, veiled in the cloak of Liberalism and democracy.

Prayers do work, now if the administration will sign up for RCIA I would be glad to be a sponsor.

Obama was trained by Cia and they use satanic rituals to control the minds of the agents.Sometimes human sacrifices aredone but it seems they want something really big so they need many babies killed.It is important to know that Cia belongs to millionaries in the banking system.I have personally experienced their madness.Read my story in http://www.cgbuscaglia.wordpress.com

Absolutely correct.  Until conscience protections are FULLY restored, the partial concession it is not enough.
We must take a page from the NRA, while I am not a fan, they do not budge one inch on any attempts to limit gun rights.  We need to treat our religious convictions as those people treat their gun rights.  Our religious rights are protected under the same Constitution and must be respected.  No administration can pick and choose which rights will be upheld.
The Bishops must do their part and stand up and object until all employers have conscience rights restored, not just those who self insure, whatever it takes, even if it means paying fines.

I don’t trust this president or the Democrats.  Repeal the WHOLE Obamacare socialistic budget busting, solely Democrat, scam and start over with real Americans working together instead of the dictatorial way this was shoved down our throats by the baby killing Democrat Party, of which, Catholics are its single, largest voting block.  Go figure!

Most Holy Trinty I give you My Will, My Understanding and My Memory.AS for me Thy Grace is enough.

Planned Parenthood lauded the “compromise.” That’s all you need to know.

Beware the wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Asking for comments is a ruse. The Federal Register is NOT the law and is open to interpretation. The real law is hidden away in some underground bunker in D.C.

I, too, read the article in the Reporter. THe comments after it make me ill, as does Obama the child-hating, abortion-lover.

I was wondering if anyone was addressing the fact that coercing ANYONE to provide something that is against their religious beliefs is a violation of the Constitution. It seems like all the focus has been on religious institutions, while conceding the loss of religious freedom to individuals.

This whole Pres. Obama-HHS mandate from beginning…to now…to final conciliation exemptions (which will keep coming)...is a ruse…a setup election strategy…to keep the Catholic vote for Obama at a 54-48 split…when he runs against whomever for 2012.  In other words…Obama’s Catholic supporters and those who voted for him in 2008 (54-48)...can now argue what a “genuine Notre Dame conscience protection nice guy” he really is…and sooth their conscious that he can be framed as…so much better than any pro-life Republican nominee… aka Ambassador Doug Kimec. They will give no credit to the Catholic bishop’s Church teaching. I strongly believe that Obama has won the 2012 election with this well thought out and excellently played strategy… he has assured himself of another 54-48 Catholic vote split…coupled with the media’s progressive-ideology agenda…he is the winner!

My recommendation…USCCB and faithful Catholics…attack…attack every immoral and unconstitutional action/policy (e.g. funding Planned Parenthood vs Hyde Amendment)and especially our coercive State Department foreign policy on women’s “health” provisions/issues.  Use this 2012 campaign to to put his whole presidency in the “light of Truth”...draw sharp and concise “lines in the sand”...between Truth and sentimentality-tolerance-relativism ideology…and his Big Government-Chicago style politics philosophy and his progressive liberals…especially articulate the common good.  Use Dr. Phil’s signature line to all Americans…against Obama in 2012 campaign:  “So…how is that (2008-2012) working for you now?”
Pax Christi

Please read The Ryssian Synthesis on Psychopolitics -Library of Congress - It’s the plan. “The Holy Roman Catholic Church”

I pray that we all realize by now that this administration has evil intent, they do not care about the poor, women or whomever, they only care about takewover.  They will say and do whatever it takes to meet their objectives.  Please pray for our bishops, our Catholic people, remember united we stand and divided we fall.  I assure you we will not recover from this fall.

The best solution to this entire issue is to void Obamacare in its entirety.  Any bill that got passed without being read should be invalidated, and any representative who voted for such a bill should not be reelected. This is a shell game, moving the target and hoping the viewers get so confused they lose track of the prize. We must remain vigilant and prayerful.

The bottom line is, you cannot trust this president. Obamacare law must be changed to protect religious rights and beliefs so that this liberal administration or any in the future cannot violate our religious rights and beliefs by establishing rule or executive orders.  This president will give the appearance of accommodation to get your vote.  He must be voted out of office.

The best solution is to vote this administration out of office in November. Everyone needs to keep in mind tha they will say or appear to do anything to stay in office this fall. All teh dirty tricksters, including a few fake Catholics on thier team will do anythng to feign cooperation. It is best to get a new administration in there to look at Obamacare and peel back all of the layers.

Think they will not do that? Weel they have a proven track record- Look what harm they did to the military in the waning moments of controlling the House. They took the military’s heinous trackrecord of of “Military Sexual Trama” (aka MST) and made it worse by forcing military members to room and shower with other service members who may be sexually attacted to them.

According to the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center’s web site on April 2011:
“According to VA statistics, for patients receiving care, they have reported the following rates of assault or harassment during their active duty service:

- 1 in 4 female VA patients experienced a sexual assault
- 1 in 2 female VA patients experienced sexual harassment

- 1 in 100 male VA patients experienced a sexual assault
- 1 in 3 male VA patients experienced sexual harassment”

What do you think will happen now that DADT is gone?

See we have to vote them out and ask a new congress and senate that no law can pass unless it is read out loud in both houses.

A previous poster that Jimmy should take a “conciliatory tone” himself:

conciliatory:
adjective pacifying, pacific, disarming, appeasing, mollifying, peaceable, placatory, propitiatory, soothing The next time he spoke he used a more conciliatory tone.

How does one speak in this type of tone to someone who covers up the Name of the Lord at Georgretown , gives us one year to figure out how to violate our consciences, refuses to defend DOMA and thinks it is ok to leave a baby born from a botched abortion to die on a cold barren table?

“Oh Blood and Water which gushed from the Heart of Jesus as a font of Mercy for us, I trust in You!”

Say this pray for our President’s conversion and that of the unfaithful Catholics with him. It is from “Divine Mercy” as recorded by St. Faustina. Pray, fast, offer or hear the Mass for all of those that they may have a change of heart, not just words.

I don’t know why religious organizations of any stripe have to be considered the same as all other employers. They are not. The whole idea of a religious institution is to live and offer services and products according to their values. As a ‘boomer’, I went to Catholic school. My parents sacrificed for this: they paid for public education through property tax; and then paid twice to the Catholic school. It “wasn’t fair”, but there is another side to this. They really cared. They showed loyalty and commitment to Catholicism, to Catholic education (which is not the same as public education by a long shot, in my opinion), and to the Sisters who were so good to us children. The sacrifice, I believe, ‘tests’ a person: Do you agree with the values you are PAYING FOR? Why does a religious organization have to pay for services or products that are against its values? If people do not agree with their values, then I think they really have no business working there. End of problem. ;-)

The “reporter” should be denounced by the Bishops.  They are in the camp of the liar-in-chief !  The best answer is to defeat him in November & everyone who backs him.  Sebelius & Pelosi have ordained themselves, they spout heresy every time they open their mouths.  Luther & Calvin were dealt with swiftly & thoroughly.  Why not these two female heretics ?

This is Chicago politics and I hope the Bishops will not accept anything, but a complete protection of our religious rights.

This is a good sign but the fact that it came in a Friday doc dump says that the admin is trying to stay under the radar and avoid confrontation with the liberal groups pushing for the full mandate (and then some).  It still appears that that really noting has changed, he went from every employer to religious exemption for churches only, to religious universities and churches would be exempt but their insurers would have to provide it to churches, universities and the self insured institutions would be exempt but there would be a requirement for a ‘third party payer’ who would administer the benefits for birth control.

If the admin gets by with this the next mandate will be forcing religious hospitals to perform abortions as services ‘required by the local community’ (as the law calls for).  I pray that the bishops stand strong and continue to publicly explain the reasons why this mandate is wrong all the way around.  I think it is helping to teach those whose parishes have failed them by not offering adequate formation.  Thankfully Cardinal Tobin is standing for the church and reaching out to the faithful.

Recent polls show Obama is losing voter support.People are begining to see he is attacking their religious freedom. His refusal to bring our boys home NOW from Afghanistan will continue to make people angry. These are the true reason for his shift in tactics.

Having lived in a country with no constitutional protection of freedom of religion I can tell you first hand that it seems that this president is taking American down a dark road indeed.  If you allow the government to force HHS down our throats then look for the rest of our freedoms to be taken away.  Freedom of religion is first for a reason.  Without it we will become a country with no moral high ground to stand on.  Thereby making us no better than Somalia or Iran.

I hope the bishops stand firm. Obamacare should be repealed—even if they compromise on this issue, there are many other details that haven’t been explained and are left to the discretion of a non-elected committee of the HHS Secretary.  Recently news came out that a $1/enrollee surcharge is to be added to each plan to be set aside for abortion coverage, but it will not be openly disclosed as such.  Also haven’t thought out end-of-life issues with regard to the expensive treatments for the elderly—will anyone over a certain age be denied treatment to help balance the budget?  I also foresee a stealth version of a one-child policy by limiting coverage for the delivery and subsequent care of any children beyond the first or second, in keeping with the environmental extremists concern that people are killing the planet and we need to limit population growth. Also foresee mandatory pre-natal testing and abortion of pre-born chidren with medical conditions that may be costly to treat (or allowing the child to be born, but with the caveat that the parents are responsible for all medical costs.)

Mary, on that note, it occurred to me that they could decide to play the thing as a grand bait & switch for some even higher value target, and act like those uppity bishops are really wearing on their magnanimity.  “We were nicer than we should have been last time; now fall in line.”
-
This whole notion of trying to arrange third party payment for this in order to make the instituions provide it without really providing it is just silly.  If you’re going to do THAT then why not get somebody else altogether to administer?  And then, isn’t that basically what we already have in Planned Parasite?

what the admin does not say is that the ‘Secretary’ (HHS) is given free reign to ‘mandate’ anything the admin wants it to.  There are many more dangers lurking in the law that have not been ‘specifically’ spelled out but will be intrusive into business and family matters.  There are several references to various ‘National Public Health Service’ groups tasked with assessing if children are being ‘raised’ properly; those who are deemed inadequately prepared will be forced into daycare/preschool. Another NPHS Corp is tasked with assessing if your employer is adequately providing the ‘necessary’ snacks and beverages and if they are providing the needed activities for employees health as well as assessing whether employees are completing the necessary ‘before during and after work time’ activities.  Then there is the NPHS Physicians who will determine if hospitals, doctors and facilities are providing ‘services necessary to meet the needs of the local community’ - so if these facilities don’t provide free birth control, sterilization, abortions or other services HHS deems necessary they will be forced to provide them or be closed and run by the NPHS.  It is all in the law, more attention should have been paid to these sections by those who think government mandated and controlled healthcare plans are the way to go.  eyes are being opened now and I fear there is no turning back for this monstrosity.

I don’t trust this President and any of his administration one iota! If there’s a way for them to force their
ill contrived social engineering down our throats at the cost of our freedom they will do so without fail. Bishops must remain vigilant and deliberate in their opposition to this blatant infringement on our Constitutional rights! Too bad many of our lawmakers aren’t as concerned as our religious leaders. It is high time that all men of good will take a stand to oppose this lunacy in the form of HHS mandates.

Use this 2012 campaign to to put his whole presidency in the “light of Truth”

I fear even if you do, too many would still like what they see.

This whole sad episode could have been avoided if the American people would have done two important things. First, we should all have listened to the Pope on his visit here in April of 2008 when he claimed “Christ Is Our Hope” NOT A PARTY OR POLITICIAN! We just ignored him when Obama became the Democratic candidate. That was bad enough, but then we ignored the warnings that came from the man himself which already had been debated by the Media at the time. But when you have a major publication like Newsweek come out with a caption “WE ARE ALL SOCIALISTS NOW” that in itself to wake us all up but somehow it too was dismissed as was no big deal. Only after he starts taking actions which clearly threaten our Constitution as well as our relgious freedom do we start to become concerned. It is too late now. We got the leadership we deserved.

Do not trust this administration. What have they actually done to earn any trust whatsoever?  This government and this society cannot be trusted to run healthcare, that’s certain, given their adoration for abortion/population control (why do you think they want “free” birth control/sterilization/abortifacients and then argue that it “saves money” to have fewer people born?)  The “progressive” movement has been the home of eugenics since their beginning.

You’re misreading this, Jimmy. He has caved on nothing.

To the extent self-insurers self-adminster, they’re still on the hook. I don’t know how common this is, though.

More to the point, the rule guarantees that self-insurers are now toxic to third party plan administration companies. Why? Because it forces the latter to provide these “free” products and services, and that’s not what plan administration companies are in the business of doing—all they do is process claims.

I can see plan administration companies dumping self-insurers left and right. They’d be silly not to, given that they can’t pass on the costs to the self-insurer. See pages 19, 22-24 of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

This is an effort to coerce self-insurers into group plans, using the “accommodation” as a hammer. Don’t buy the Reporter’s BS.

Thnk you Jimmy for all that you do.
We - all Americans, need to continue to have our voices be heard.

As Catholics we are being constantly challenged so now we need to be steeped in our faith in order to answer the reasons for our outcry…read, learn, defend!!

Thank you again, Jimmy!!

This administration is now scared that the Supreme Court will rule the entire PPACA unconstitional…which it should and I expect it to!  Thank God for our bishops and all religious denominations that have joined in unity to oppose what threatens our religious freedom.
Support them all by whatever means you can.

I want to have hope that the bishops will finally stand firm against this abomination that the state has become. I really, really want to. I’m trying as hard as I can. But so far, it eludes me, given how they threw the entire American Catholic laity under the bus by endorsing the original bill, and most didn’t even bother to make more than halfhearted comments about not wanting it to pay for abortions.

Of course, now that it’s their OWN ox being gored, they’re up in arms about it, and vowing to fight back. But I fear that a little bit of compromise offered by the agents of Satan in DC will be more than enough to get the bishops back to obediently licking the state’s blood-drenched hand once again.

In the 1920s we had bishops in this country ready and willing to openly and publicly declare that _alcohol prohibition_ was unjust and thus that laws enacting it need not be obeyed. They were willing to defy the government over the right of their flocks to _get drunk_. Now, we have a crowd that seems frightened to even think about publicly defending the right of their flocks (as opposed to merely themselves and their employees) to _not murder babies_.

I’ve long since given up hoping that the bishops would speak out for the right to arrange any effective medical treatment one needs, since they’ve already chosen the other side on that matter. But I suppose there may still be room for hope that they’ll hold out on the abortion and contraception issue for conscience protections that apply to everybody with a conscience.

Well said. We, everyone with the bishops must continue to fight this attack and never back down. The last 5 points are important. Important Note: The administration is not backing down, they are looking for a way around. Possibly to postpone the actual decision/ implementation until after the election. If Obama wins the election, he will not care what he does or who he attacks. He is looking for a way to get the Christian vote before the election only to attack again if he wins.

This latest “accommodation” is nothing new at all.  Here’s what the government actually published: http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2012-06689_PI.pdf

The document explicitly says that it wants comments “on the potential means of accommodating such organizations while ENSURING contraceptive coverage for plan participants and beneficiaries covered under their plans … without cost sharing.” (Top of page 2) That is, they want an answer to “how can we force them to pay for this without complaining about it any more?”, NOT “who should we allow to not participate in this?”

All they are doing is pushing off the implementation until after the election.

Religious freedom is a value that we treasure in this country.  We trace our religous values, however, not just to the founding of this country, but to our identity as believing Christians, following Our Lord Jesus Christ.  He established a church with lasting principles based on diving truth, 2000 years ago.  The Church is living and thriving and devotes itself to the preservation of life, from natural conception to natural death, and to the dignity of man and woman.  We will not compromise on God given rights or values, no matter how often society adopts certain fads or shifting values.  No other organization or body has the longevity of the Church, and that says something about its values and beliefs and the fact it has been preserved in its existence by God.  We fail in some things and some times, but we draw our strength and our beliefs from a faithful, loving God.

Any attempt by men or by governments to suppress our God given rights will be resisted because we have to do so.  The practice of our faith has to be consistent with God’s laws, and thus we cannot submit to human dictates that support or condone abortion or contraception.  The idea that a government could define pregnancy as a health problem is completely repugnant to thinking human beings, and any attempt to justify terminating a pregancy for health reasons must be resisted.  Life begins at conception, and personhood should be seen to begin at that moment and should be protected at all costs.  Governments come and go but God’s truth remains.  Our ultimate destiny is to be with God, and that is true for every living human being, born or unborn.

No compromise, no negotiation. We don’t receive religious freedom by “accommodation.” It is our constitutional right, and we should stand strong and demand it. The fact that they keep jimmying around means they know they’re wrong. They have shown bad faith repeatedly - if we are fooled into negotiating with them, we will be sorry.

Agree, that anything offered by this administration is only a ploy.
The intention is total rule/dictatorship over our country and total
disregard for our Constitution.  Remember, when someone controls your
health they are controlling your life, completely.

Have we given any thought to the Catholics who work for or own insurance companies that have to sponsor abortion, contraception, the morning after pill, etc.?  It is against their faith also.

ABUSE OF POWER - it is that simple.

I’ll be participating in a massive demonstration tomorrow noon at the St. Paul, Minnesota Warren E. Burger Building to protest the HHS mandate. Wild horses cannot keep me from being there. We will be heard tomorrow, en masse!

Don’t most Christians pay taxes that go to fund mass murder in war? Not saying they should but isn’t it about time we stood up to this beast across the board?