At noon, rallies standing up for religious freedom, took place across the country. Three rallies protesting the HHS mandate were held in the State of Minnesota. One in St. Paul, another in Duluth, and a third in St. Cloud.
Gathered beneath the arches, marked by granite images of the four Gospel writers, on the stairs of St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud, Minn. a little more than 350 people gathered for a prayerful and peaceful demonstration. Holding homemade signs that read: “Washington D.C.‘s Pharoah’s: Let My People Go,” “Nurse’s Conscience Rights,” and “Respect Religious Rights,” the rally was attended by families, doctors, nurses, business owners, retirees, Catholics and non-Catholics, teenagers, seminarians, deacons, and one lone priest from the neighboring Diocese of New Ulm. Many employees took time away from their lunch breaks to attend. After an opening prayer, rally captain and retired registered nurse Jim Schwarz spoke about how Christians “birth Christ in the world” through worship, witness, and acts of service.
“For the Catholic Church this is not just a violation of our conscience, it is a violation of religious liberty, the first of all rights under the first amendment because it impedes the free exercise of religion,” said Schwarz. “Unless the mandate is dropped, the Church will either have to close its institutions or remove the name ‘Catholic’ off the door and abandon its mission.”
Following the Prayer to St. Michael, the crowd was led in singing “America the Beautiful” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” Then the protestors marched slowly around the city block in prayer to demonstrate in front of Senator Al Franken’s (D-MN) office. After filing past his office, the group then re-assembled on the stairs of the Cathedral to conclude the rally by praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary for “the restoration of our religious freedom and to rescind the mandate.”
“I’m here because of the First Amendment and the government telling us we have to pay for medications that induce abortion, which is something I don’t believe in,” said Angie Brandmire, a nursing assistant at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Saint Cloud. “The government is taking control of our lives. This is a land where we’re supposed to be free, and free from persecution.”
Schwarz said that he hopes to organize another rally in Moorhead, Minn. He said that he would like to organize a rally outside of Senator Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) office. “She’s been a barrier to establishing conscience rights,” said Schwarz.
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I was in Chicago, check out my quick blogpost which has a video of Democratic Rep Dan Lipinski’s speech:
http://thoughtsfromacatholic.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/stand-up-for-religious-freedom/
About 2,500 or more were at the U.S. Federal Court plaza in St. Paul to rally for religious freedom—many families with children. Media coverage on the event was miniscule—one small newspaper article that focused on a rally to protest contraceptive coverage and mentioned that 100 other rallies were going on around the counry. The media chose to focus on the significantly smaller crowd (less than 30) who protested the Photo ID bill that was going on at the State Capitol.
Did you also notice that there wasn’t any mention in the Minneapolis paper about the rallies, yet a visit by Kathleen Sebelius was covered. She is on a multi-city tour to correct “the massive misrepresentation and misinformation being purported about Obamacare.” The “crowd” of eight people was larger than expected due to the participation of journalists, the governor, and state representatives. I would say that by speaking to a small group in a private living room, rather than participating in any of the rallies, Ms. Sebelius missed a valuable opportunity.
In Chicago, zero coverage in the Chicago Tribune, but they did cover the few hundred who rallied later that same day for justice for Traymon Martin, and it made the front page.
This is not a battle between the present administration and the religious communities of faith - no it is and always has been Satan versus God. Are we on God’s side in this battle and do we acknowledge that our enemy is Satan? There is little evidence that this is the case - rather we are treating this as a humanistic/secular battle between the Church and the State.
We have to ask ourselves if the Lord God wonders if we are on His side our simply on our own side in His war against Satan for our souls!
This is another good article for any time any one goes against God’s Word, it is definitely Satin doing his work. The federal and state governments are wanting and creating ways to do away with our Catholic and Christian faith. If we do not protest against this and support our faith, we will loose it. If we allow Obamacare to happen, our country will continue to become a socialist country. Stand up for your faith. In 1Cor 14: 26 “When then shall wew say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.” God be with us all.
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