WASHINGTON — In an unprecedented action, 43 Catholic dioceses, institutions and laypeople filed a dozen lawsuits May 21 in federal courts throughout the country, challenging the constitutionality of the Obama administration’s "contraception mandate."
The action signaled the inability of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and President Barack Obama to come to an agreement over a controversial federal rule that has ignited a groundbreaking First Amendment battle. The rule requires Catholic institutions to provide co-pay-free abortion drugs, contraception and sterilization in their employee health plans, and it includes a narrow definition of what constituted a religious institution covered under the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution.
In March, the Obama administration solicited comments for its proposed rulemaking to address various objections to the mandate's provisions.
On May 15, the USCCB general counsel formally rejected the administration’s proposals.
Today, May 21, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and the president of the USCCB, marked the unprecedented action by expressing both dismay that talks between the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Obama administration had produced no worthy solution and a strong resolve that objecting institutions will find redress in the courts.
“We have tried negotiation with the administration and legislation with the Congress — and we’ll keep at it — but there’s still no fix. Time is running out, and our valuable ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance; so we have to resort to the courts now,” said Cardinal Dolan in a prepared statement.
“Though the conference is not a party to the lawsuits, we applaud this courageous action by so many individual dioceses, charities, hospitals and schools across the nation, in coordination with the law firm of Jones Day. It is also a compelling display of the unity of the Church in defense of religious liberty."
His statement noted the “diversity of the Church’s ministries that serve the common good and that are jeopardized by the mandate — ministries to the poor, the sick and the uneducated, to people of any faith or no faith at all.”
Notre Dame
In a striking departure from its decision to honor Obama, an unabashed supporter of abortion rights, just three years ago, at its 2009 commencement, the University of Notre Dame announced today that it had joined the nationwide legal challenge.
Richard Garnett, a constitutional scholar at Notre Dame, backed the university’s decision to file a lawsuit.
“These latest lawsuits, like the many others that had already been filed, are asking the courts to enforce the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and to protect religious liberty and conscience from a regrettable and burdensome regulatory mandate,” said Garnett in a published statement.
“This mandate,” he continued, “imposes a serious and unnecessary burden on many religious institutions’ commitments, witness and mission. It purports to require many religious schools, health-care providers and social-welfare agencies to compromise their institutional character and integrity. In a society that respects and values diversity, as ours does, we should protect and accommodate our distinctively religious institutions and welcome their contributions to the common good.”
Father John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, issued a public statement that defended the legal challenge, asserting that the university did not seek to prevent the "government from providing such services. Many of our faculty, staff and students — both Catholic and non-Catholic — have made conscientious decisions to use contraceptives," read Father Jenkins’ statement.
But Gerard Bradley, a professor at the university's law school, suggested that the plaintiffs must not downplay the Church's moral objections to the services mandated by the new federal rule.
"In trying to reassure those at Notre Dame who use contraception that the lawsuit portends no threat to their privacy, he [Father Jenkins] comes perilously close to implying that there is nothing objectively wrong about their choices," said Bradley.
"It is important that all spokespersons for Catholic institutions bear in mind that the mandate pertains to inherently evil actions — contraception, sterilization and early abortion," said Bradley, who added that not every plaintiff needed to address this fact, but "none should say or imply anything incompatible with the status of the teachings" of the Church.
Not a 'War on Women'
While partisan groups have mischaracterized opposition to the mandate as a "war on women," Church leaders have sought to clarify their determination to protect the free exercise of Catholic institutions.
Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, the chairman of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, described the unprecedented action as "a sign of our determination to be able to serve the common good with the faith that inspires the services we provide."
"It indicates that we are not in this for any partisan reason,” he said in an interview. “We turn to the courts, who are impartial, to defend our First Amendment religious liberties."
The Archdiocese of New York, the Archdiocese of Washington, The Catholic University of America and Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, are among the plaintiffs who filed suits in 12 federal courts across the country.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington explained that the legal action was necessary to challenge the administration’s narrow definition of what constitutes a religious entity covered under the Free Exercise Clause.
“That’s why I signed on board to be a part of this nationwide request for judicial review,” Cardinal Wuerl told the Register.
Last week, Anthony Picarello, the U.S. bishops’ associate general secretary and general counsel, and Michael Moses, USCCB associate general counsel, in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, clarified the conference’s long-standing concerns about the HHS mandate.
Cardinal Wuerl noted that the general counsel’s formal response “simply pointed out that we don’t see any [acceptable] changes … to an extremely narrow definition of what is a religious entity. Since then ... we have been told that the definition will not be changed,” he noted.
“This administration is claiming the unique right to define for the Church what constitutes our ministry. In the past, the federal government offered a broad religious exemption that included all Catholic entities — schools, agencies and hospitals. Now we have a new definition that excludes all of them. That’s why we are in court,” he said.
Insurmountable Obstacle
After Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius approved the mandate in January, the bishops protested that narrow definition, and the administration issued an “accommodation” on Feb. 10 that ostensibly shifted responsibility for underwriting the objectionable services to insurance carriers.
Subsequently, the bishops noted that many Catholic organizations are self-insured. Further, they argued that the federal rule made their employee health plans the conduit for providing objectionable services.
The administration later suggested that other entities take responsibility for underwriting and facilitating the coverage, but the federal rule has not been altered, and key issues continue to pose an insurmountable obstacle for the bishops’ conference.
The letter from the USCCB's Picarello and Moses summarized these concerns and also provided additional analysis that bolstered their consistent opposition to the HHS mandate.
The USCCB comments noted that the administration's accommodation would only apply to some religious groups and that it “would still leave their premiums or plans (or both) as the source or conduit for the objectionable ‘services.’ But the use of premiums and plans for that purpose is precisely what is morally objectionable, and having an insurer or third party administer the payments does not overcome the moral objection.”
The comments concluded that, “under the terms set out in the HHS Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), the ‘accommodation’ cannot provide effective relief even for those few stakeholders that qualify for it.”
Jim Towey, the president of Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla., suggested that “what is different about the flurry of lawsuits filed today is that a number of these plaintiffs are self-insured.
“The regulations were silent about how self-insured organizations were to be treated. These organizations have been waiting for months for this to be addressed, and they are saying they can’t wait anymore,” he said.
Catholic universities face an additional problem — the new health bill also mandates the inclusion of contraception and abortion drugs in their student health-insurance plan, and there is no religious exemption for any university, though Catholic institutions have been informed that they can apply for a one-year extension before they begin providing this required coverage.
Further, the new health bill is expected to sharply increase costs for students who seek coverage. Ave Maria’s insurance carrier has already informed the university that provisions in the new health bill will result in a “66% increase in their annual premiums (from $839 to $1,392),” according to a statement released by Ave Maria.
“As you get closer to some of these deadlines, you can seek an injunction,” Towey noted, “but insurance is complicated, and you can’t change your plans overnight.” He predicted that the lawsuits filed by objecting Catholic institutions will “lead to a flurry of activity by the Obama administration. But whether they can satisfy the plaintiffs is in question.”
Franciscan University filed suit today and also announced its decision to drop the student health plan last week. The university has received strong backing from the majority of its alumni and students, reported Michael Hernon, vice president of advancement for the university.
He noted that Franciscan “had a 20-year relationship with Jones Day,” the Cleveland, Ohio-based law firm that is leading the national lawsuit effort on a pro bono basis.
“We knew we had one of the largest law firms in the country backing us,” said Hernon.
In recent months, the bishops' allies on Capitol Hill sought to pass legislation that would broaden the mandate's religious exemption and strengthen conscience provisions, but these measures failed to secure the necessary votes.
Meanwhile, several Church-affliated institutions have already filed lawsuits, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Alliance Defense Fund, both public interest groups. The Eternal Word Televison Network (EWTN) is among those plaintiffs; the Register is a service of EWTN.
The Surpreme Court, which will rule on the constitutionality of the new health bill, could decide to overturn part or all of Obama's signature effort.Thus, a number of objecting religious institutions have said that they will wait for the high court's ruling, expected by late June, before reviewing their options.
Some critics have challenged the decision by Franciscan and several other universities to both take legal action now and to drop student health insurance.
But Hernon said that Franciscan was forced to act: “We are under the gun. The administration made it clear to the bishops that they were not going to budge on the mandate.”
John Garvey, the president of The Catholic University of America and a constitutional scholar who has advised the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, noted that the mandate imposes a policy that contradicts the fundamental mission of a Catholic university: to teach “ideas and ideals. A Catholic university not only transmits knowledge in academic subjects like chemistry or Mandarin Chinese; it also educates them for a life of virtue when they graduate."
He, too, reported that since the announcement was released about CUA’s legal challenge, “my email box was flooded — hundreds within the space of hours. Every single one of them says ‘thank you’ for standing up for religious freedom.”
Standing for the First Amendment
The following is a list of organizations and individuals that have filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the HHS contraception mandate. The list was updated May 21 as 43 new lawsuits were filed:
Archbishop Carroll High School, Washington, D.C.
Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
ArchCare, Catholic health-care system of the Archdiocese of New York
Attorney General of North Dakota
Attorney General of South Carolina
Attorney General of South Dakota
Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Diocese of Pittsburgh
Catholic Charities of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.
Catholic Charities of Jackson, Miss.
Catholic Charities of Joliet, Ill.
Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh
Catholic Charities of Rockville Centre, N.Y.
Catholic Charities of Springfield, Ill.
Catholic Charities of St. Louis
Catholic Health Services of Long Island, N.Y.
Catholic Mutual Group, Lincoln, Neb.
Catholic Social & Community Services Inc., Biloxi, Miss.
Catholic Social Services, Lincoln, Neb.
The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
Consortium of Catholic Academies
De l’Epee Deaf Center Inc., Gulfport, Miss.
Diocese of Biloxi, Miss.
Diocese of Dallas, Texas
Diocese of Erie, Pa.
Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.
Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas
Diocese of Jackson, Miss.
Diocese of Joliet, Ill.
Diocese of Springfield, Ill.
Eternal Word Television Network (parent company of the National Catholic Register)
Franciscan Alliance Inc., Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind.
Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio
Stacy Molai, lay missionary
O’Brien Industrial Holdings LLC, St. Louis
Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, Ind.
Pius X High School, Lincoln, Neb.
Priests for Life, Staten Island, N.Y.
Prince of Peace Center, Farrell, Pa.
Resurrection Catholic School, Pascagoula, Miss.
Sacred Heart Catholic School, Hattiesburg, Miss.
St. Anne Home and Retirement Community of Fort Wayne, Ind.
St. Dominic Health Services, Springfield, Ill.
St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Madison, Miss.
St. Martin Center, Erie, Pa.
University of Notre Dame, South Bend. Ind.
University of St. Francis, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Vicksburg Catholic School, Vicksburg, Miss.
Weingartz Supply Co., Ann Arbor, Mich.
Louisiana College, a Southern Baptist college
Geneva College, a Presbyterian college
Edward Pentin: Images of Rome's 2013 March for Life
Tom Hoopes: Why Catholics Are Grateful to George W. Bush
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Hard to see this ending well. If these institution take federal funds they will see a sea change in public opinion as to their responsibilities towards continued assistance. The administration will no doubt lose face and possible an election. The most needy in society will lose any possibility of adequate health care. The Church and President Obama will get along no matter what the outcome.
Spin it any way you want to, it still is an infringement on first amendment rights. Give in to this and stand by to lose all your rights over time, especially if Pres Obama is reelected. Pres believes in the progressive dream where rights are given and taken away by the State, not by God. The president took away conscience rights for the individual(s) which is a clear signal that he intends to ignore the right of conscience as we, in the USA, have had for years. What he put back in place was an attempt to placate those who would object with a psuedo conscience clause, very limited, that could be further eroded in time. So many in the media are so ignorant of rights and principles, especially Judeo-Christian principles upon which this country was founded.
Hey, New Jersey, especially the Archdiocese of Newark, where are you? Way too many cradle Catholics to be silent here.
I am so proud that my Diocese (Dallas), under the leadership of Bishop Farrell, has stepped up to the plate to defend our religious liberty. Bravo!
I applaud Cardinal Wuerl and Cardinal Timothy Dolan for their quick and decisive actions in this matterr. But as aCatholic for 59 years of my life I have to question where are all the other Catholic Bishops, dioceses, priests, religious and Catholia lay people? If every Catholic in the United States voiced their concern for this demonic health bill, President Obama would have to reconsider his decision.
While the U.S. is in a position as never before faced the neeed for the the inception of thie United States Constitution guarding our free rights as citizens of this country, I remain optimistic. We have God Almighty on our side. I urge every Catholic or Christian to unite and President Obama will have a formidable for to deal with. The country needs to take this action by Pres. Obama very seriously and not re-elect him for another term in office. St. Michael the Archangel protect our country.
This is a fantastic story, I wish I’d written it! I would like to note, for the benefit of readers who might not know it, that the Michigan Catholic Conference includes some or all of the dioceses in Michigan, so there are actually more dioceses suing the government than indicated by the list.
I am sorry that it has come to this kind of action, because I’m sure that even with pro bono legal work it will cost a lot of money—it will certainly cost a lot of taxpayer money for government’s representation. But what else can we do? It is ridiculous to refuse to sue the government because your taxes go to legal expenses used against you as well as for you. If you have to sue the government, you have to sue, and the government has left Americans with no choice. The infringement on religious freedom is egregious, and only the fact that birth control pills are popular gets in the way of people seeing this. The United States government simply cannot do what it says it is going to do under our system of government. And if it gets away with this, religious freedom in our country is already gone.
If all of the Catholic Institutions and Dioceses file, what a joyous thing that would be. We are a strong voice and need to continue to be heard! God, please turn this country around.
What we need to do is pray,—pray that the Obama Administration will broaden its interpretration and waiver for religious institutions and refrain from potential evil intentions on the American Society as a whole and preserve religious liberty for all citizens.
I pray that Obama has woken a sleeping giant.
Bravo to all those who have taken action. It is inspiring to see our Church so united in fighting this serious injustice.
Fitting activity of Pentecost - the Holy Spirit at work.
This is an extraordinary effort to squelch an extraordinary and continued effort to destroy Christianity in our country.
May God bless this effort.
The Holy Spirit teaches us wisdom and love. We are taught to have life and have it abundantly. Our faith is practiced through how we live, what we teach, and what we provide for others. Through God’s Providence our country has been blessed by wise leaders who founded a country based on wisdom which acknowledges our God-given rights to life,liberty, and our pursuit of happiness which includes the practice of our religion and informed conscience. The President of our country cannot for any reason abridge these rights. President Obama serves at the pleasure of the people not the reverse. The HHS Mandate is an arrogant first step to abridge our right to practice our Christian religion. Beware. It is the arrogance of a wolf lurking in sheep’s clothing.
Bravo to our Catholic Institutions for their lawsuits in the defense of religious freedom! Religious Freedom and freedom of conscience is our Constitutional right and the Obama Administration has blatantly attacked this right… they must be stopped!
Praise God for Cardinal Dolan, all our Bishops and priests, deacons and nuns who have spoken up and will continue to do so, in solidarity, as we all must do, as we are confornted with having to administer medication to patient’s to end their lives, i.e., Euthanasia, to participate in Infantacide, to withhold fluid and hydration causing the patient to die of dehydration, the withholding of administering necessary antibiotics to patient’s with, so called, terminal diseases, who have infections and need antibiotics to cure the infection and so on… we nust continue to be ever vigilant in our defense of the Sanctity of Life from Conception to Natural Death and the defeat of the Culture of Death!
As a Catholic nurse, the Sanctity of all human life from Conception until Natural Death, when God, alone, who is the Author of Life, calls us home is sacrosant in our rendering care to our patients as we see the Image of God in every patient as we strive to provide excellence of care to our patient’s in the way we have always done and NEVER NEVER to Harm!
Joana Livoti, RN, BS, MS
Where is Bishop LoVerde and the diocese of Arlington, Virginia? They should be on that list!this97
We should all pray the novena to defeat the HHS mandate (found on Priests for Life website) and the rosary. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us.
Holy Spirit set our hearts on fire and fortify us in this battle for Freedom of Religious Liberties.
I applaud these organizations. Cardinal George, where is the Archdiocese of Chicago?
Inevitably other faiths and other religions will make the same argument regarding religious freedom. I hope all of you will be just as supportive of their 1st Amendment rights also. Only you can examine your own hearts and determine what religious freedoms are really ready to allow others. Some cannot see beyond their own interest and are relunctant or hesistant about protecting those same rights for others. Don’t put that Mosque up in this neighborhood.
The US Catholic Bishops filing lawsuits against contraception coverage in National Healthcare is a fatwa that must be resisted in a democratic society.
First, in America our constitution gives rights to persons not businesses or corporations. Only citizens have a right to religious liberty- not bishops’ councils, not churches, not schools, and not hospitals. People have a fundamental right to privacy in their sexual lives without the meddling of the Vatican. Obama’s compromise of not requiring these institutions to pay for abortion, in-vitro fertilization, or stem cell procedures but requiring insurance companies to provide coverage is a reasonable balance between conflicting interests. Catholic bishops want the government to force their version of morality on all of society-regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof. This is a clear violation of the principal of the separation of church and state.
Second, the US Catholic Bishops falsely represent that they alone represent Catholic Laity. Most Catholics practice some form of contraception. Humane Vitae is recognized by Laity as scientifically false. There are only so many resources on our planet and human population cannot expand to the point where it endangers the ecosystem we all depend on. One cannot have limitless population growth. Each family should make its own determination on number of children they can afford to raise, and use birth control methods of their choice. Laity needs to file a countersuit against the US Bishops for false representation of lay interests in their prosecution of President Obama. The Bishops represent the pope alone, who is not a US Citizen. This is not a valid class action lawsuit. Laity has never had a vote on the church’s stand on reproductive policy, and as such the US Bishop’s filling lacks legal standing.
Third, the US Courts need to take action against the Catholic Bishops for the political bullying which goes on weekly in church, by clergy attempting to seize national power. Local Bishops censor the press, refuse to allow Catholic Reform Groups from meeting on church (community) property, silence questioning theologians, and run roughshod over individual Catholic’s freedom of conscience, This is a serious violation of the American Constitution and Liberty. It is not the Bishops duty to tell laity how to vote, button hole worshipers to go on demonstrations, write letters to newspapers, pay for billboards, picket abortion clinics, deny communion to freethinkers, or vilify politicians from the pulpit they don’t like. It would be nice to worship God on Sunday without listening to partisan hate and propaganda. If the self-appointed Bishops want to engage in such strong arm tactics; the Catholic Church needs to lose its tax exempt status.
Before chiding Law Makers on public policy, the Catholic Church must take corrective action against corruption within the hierarchy and papacy! The current flap over National Healthcare is nothing but a distraction to prevent further scrutiny into the world wide pedophile scandal, prosecution of criminals within the priesthood, and rampant misuse of charitable funds!
It would be great if other non-catholic churches and organizations came aboard too.
Though dioceses and others in the lawsuits have my admiration and prayers and one effort has my modest contribution, these complex lawsuits now plausibly very-damaged by Fr. Jenkins’ missive must be re-strengthened by his clearly stating in a *timely* manner the binding nature of the teaching against marital contraception even though it is not directly revealed and by his clarifying that “conscientious decisions” by faithful Catholics are to be based on a *well-formed* conscience—meaning one humbly receptive to the magisterium in any of its several modes.
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This is the hour and circumstance perhaps arranged by the Holy Spirit to finally expose that insidiously clever *single-word* dissenting-comment on Humanae Vitae that has misled MANY for decades: “UNRESOLVED”.
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Meanwhile, as invited speaker Christian Pollster Scott Rasmussen recently said to the Pacific Justice Institute: “when you think about political action, remember that it’s just as important how you fight as what you fight about.” In Industry we say “work smarter not just harder”. Further, Rasmussen “urged Christians to represent Christ in the nation’s social and political state, saying now is not the time to compromise on moral issues.” At the same time he definitely defines the economy as #1 issue “for most voters”. All logical and correct points!
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Knowing President Obama has a sharp, disciplined Team, we Catholics should not underestimate it. However and fortunately for our rescue, Mr. Obama has personally, perhaps even unwittingly made one major ongoing-mistake that could & should deny him a second term unless we sleep or be quiet out of fear: POTUS Obama has provided so much evidence against himself that we need not make charges nor need we fear an “Axelrod Twitter” before morning coffee that discredits us for simply pointing out HOW he Disrespects both his professed Savior Jesus Christ and people, ironically especially his “fellow” Christians!
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And remember that neither Plouffe, nor Jarrett nor Axelrod nor the once Constitution-Professor Obama is able to cite Article VI of the Constitution as keeping VOTERS from closely examining candidates on any issue considered by the voter to be harmful to Americans. Just tell them that Article VI has the good but narrow purpose of allowing the alternative of giving one’s “Affirmation” instead of one’s “Oath” for taking office or appointment – so that good citizen Quakers and atheists, for example, can serve!
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Below are just some examples of President Obama’s ever accumulating abuses we must highlight or lose this imperfect yet God-blessed Republic on November 6. Below, “IGT” stands for “Intelligent God Talk” by God-respecting candidates, a much needed new practice for 2012:
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As IGT grows it will be discussed even in the lagging MSM because it contrasts deeply with the severe disrespect for God and humans shown by self-described-Christian President Obama:
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1) Obama violates John 1:3 “through Him (Jesus Christ) ALL things were made”, meaning Jesus’ Personal Treasures are not excludable from John 1:3 yet Mr. Obama diligently FACILITATES their abortion-killing though he’s not required to so-facilitate, 2) Obama does the “Obama-Stomp” on sacred conscience with his HHS mandate, 3) Obama disses Jesus by approving adoption of Jesus’ “little ones” by gay couples thus letting Jesus’ little ones be led astray, 4) Obama challenges God on the definition of God-approved marriage by asserting that a right exists that obviously fails to meet the “self-evident” criterion built into the Declaration of Independence tor unalienable rights, 5) Obama shows ZERO EMPATHY with his Savior’s suffering via witnessing all of the above even though Mr. Obama preaches the *importance* of empathy! 6) President Obama seems to think we should trust him a second time!
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Commenter Skyryder clearly does not understand the Declaration, the Constitution and the nature of the Catholic Church.
To the poster who dares not use his real name called skyryder. Your post is full of logical fallacies and apparently you know very little about the U.S Constitution. What you fail to mention in your post is that The Obama administration grant waiver to various groups like the Amish and Muslim but not the Catholics? How can you create laws that only apply to some people?
Also, I’ve got news for you: the Catholic Church actively advocates for universal health care. In fact, the Church teaches that health care is a right, not merely a privilege, as articulated by Pope John XXIII in Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) in 1963. At an international Papal conference on health care in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI stated that it is the “moral responsibility of nations to guarantee access to health care for all of their citizens, regardless of social and economic status or their ability to pay.”
Want more evidence? Look at the Catholic Catechism (n. 2288), or the U. S. Bishops’ pastoral letter, “Economic Justice for All” (1986) (nn. 86, 90, 103,191, 212, 230, 247, and 286).
The issue is not that the Obama administration seeks to provide
access to healthcare, the issue is that it wants to compel religiously-affiliated employers to provide health care coverage that runs counter to core doctrinal beliefs.
The HHS Mandate does not allow religiously affiliated businesses and
organizations to provide these procedures only in these limited circumstances of medical necessity. If it did, this conversation might be different. In fact, Catholic universities that exist in states where coverage is mandatory, such as the Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of Dallas, and University of Notre Dame, provide that coverage only when medically necessary. The HHS mandate makes no exception to allow for the Church to freely exercise its religious beliefs by making this distinction (but the HHS Mandate does make exception for Amish and Muslim).
The Catholic Church only opposes the government’s attempt
to cross the line between “separation of church ad state” by forcing the Church to chose between obeying the law and violating her conscious. The 1st Amendment prevents the government from forcing citizens to make this choice.
I have heard claim about “Religiously-affiliated businesses receive millions of dollars in Federal funding; therefore the government has every right to impose regulations on those businesses. If the Church doesn’t want to be regulated, it should stay out of the business-sector altogether.”
Bishop Lori responded to this argument best in saying: “We don’t get a handout. We have a contract for services, and we deliver them. … We bring the generosity of the Catholic people, and we bring volunteers. When you contract with the Church, you get a bang for your buck.” If religious organizations, particularly Catholic organizations, were forced to shut down due to regulations such as the HHS mandate, this country would be astounded by the results. The Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students every day, at a cost of $10 billion a year to parents and
parishes.
If there were no Catholic schools, these same students would have to be educated in public schools, which would cost $18 billion to American taxpayers. In secondary education alone, the Church has more than 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000 students. In terms of health care, the Church has a non-profit hospital system comprising of 637 hospitals which treat one in five patients in the United States every day.
Every city and town benefits from Catholic organizations. In Obama’s hometown of Chicago, there are hundreds of Catholic organizations that serve the needs of that city. One of those is Catholic Charities which provides 2.2 million free meals to the hungry and needy each year. That is 6,027 meals a day, in one city. What would this country and our taxes look like without these businesses and the services they provide?
The Church’s beliefs are clear. Whether or not individuals choose to disobey the Church’s directives does not change the fact that “the First Amendment stands tightly closed against any governmental regulation of religious beliefs.” (Stated in the Supreme Court’s 8-1 Johnson v. Robisondecision.). No amount of ad hominem, straw man , red herring excuses from the Obama supporters can change this fact.
Skywalker, Esq.:
Whaaaaaat? A fatwa is a legal pronouncement in Islam, issued by a religious law specialist on a specific issue.
Your poorly constructed diatribe is replete with fallacies, lies, obfuscation, faulty thinking, red herrings, and unsubstantiated accusations. You obviously have little knowledge of legal matters, constitutional law, and Catholic canon law.
Amongst some of your other non pariel bloopers:
- Bishops are not self-appointed. A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight.
- The legal actions cited in this article are NOT class action lawsuits. Remind me, now which state admitted you to the bar?
- All of the true- blue Catholic laity in our diocese view Humana Vitae as both scientifically valid and scripturally sound.
Silly boy—your post is nothing more than unmitigated tripe ( including fecal matter). No well informed individual can possibly take you seriously…
“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
I wanted to thank each organization that has taken part in this, but the list is too long, so THANK YOU to every Catholic institution leading the fight for religious freedom in the US
@Skyryder
First, you are wrong. Our Constitution gives rights to All people in our country, not just citizens, and the Supreme Court determines who is a person and who is not. The Supreme Court has determined you are not a person if you are an unborn human being, but you can be a person if you are a corporation, business, or organization of various type including churches.
Second, the Catholic Church is a recognized institution in the United States with Constitutional protections among which is the right to provide or not provide any kind of health insurance their conscience agrees with. Obama and the Democrats are FORCING a properly organized religious institution in the United States to provide health insurance to their employees that would include devices and measures that would violate their consciences and produce evil. They have a First Amendment Right to protect themselves from having to provide something the Church considers evil. The Church is not in court to try and stop every non employee of theirs from being able to obtain such devices and measures in their health insurance.
The Catholic Church is not issuing a fatwa, they are standing up to a Democrat dictator and defending the rights of the First Amendment which entitles you to expose your bigoted, prejudicial, ignorance in a letter to a Catholic newspaper which recognizes your right to be wrong and publishes it.
Skywalker, Esq.:
Whaaaaaat? A fatwa is a legal pronouncement in Islam, issued by a religious law specialist on a specific issue. Please explain why you think that an Islamic legal pronouncement is relevant.
As a proud member of the Catholic laity, I am very disturbed by your vitriolic rhetoric. Your poorly constructed diatribe is replete with fallacies, lies, obfuscation, faulty thinking, red herrings, and unsubstantiated accusations. You obviously have little knowledge of legal matters, constitutional law, and Catholic canon law. Either you are a poorly catechized cafeteria catholic or one of those crack-pot anti-Catholic “trollers” who have nothing else better to do. I suspect that the latter is closest to the truth. However, If you are a Catholic, you seriously need to make a trip to a confessional - tout suite!
Let ‘s examine a few of your nonpareil bloopers:
- “If the self-appointed Bishops…” Actually, Bishops are not self-appointed. A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight.
- “ This is not a valid class action lawsuit.” The legal actions cited in this article are NOT class action lawsuits. Did you actually review the pleadings, or are you just shooting from the hip? Remind me, now which state admitted you to the bar?
- “Humana Vitae is recognized by Laity as scientifically false.” Are you a member of the Catholic laity? I know many members of the Catholic laity in our diocese and they all view Humana Vitae as both scientifically valid and scripturally sound. Roman Catholics look to the Pope and Majestarium for rulings on matters of faith and morals. Many moral non-Catholics, including Protestant clergy, respect this encyclical. As an example, one of my closest friends is Jewish. She is a professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at one of best medical schools in California. She refers to Humana Vitae as her moral compass.
Silly boy—not only is your post nothing more than unmitigated tripe, it is blasphemous as well. No well informed individual can possibly take you seriously…
“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
The times call for all citizens of the Great Nation to be ever vigilant and fight for our religious freedom, because it that freedom is gone, the others will follow. Archdiocese of Santa Fe where are you, wake up the hour is late!
This lawsuit really illustrates why I am a completely lapsed Catholic. The Bishop of Pittsburgh feels this impinges on his religious liberty. But he expressly refuses to join in the anti-war protest back in 2003 that ended on the steps of his cathedral. He does nothing to oppose those who vote for the death penalty in Pennsylvania and does not object to Catholics being required to pay taxes to support such actions. He also raises no similar objections to the draconian budget cuts that are seriously harming the poor in Pennsylvania. Has he threatened to excommunicate any of the Republican state legislators that vote in support of these policies? Christ did not mention birth control during the sermon on the mount. He did condemn war, poverty and the concept of “an eye for an eye.” Birth control is so far down the list of issues that true Christians should be focused on that its simply absurd that this is now the centerpiece of Catholic propaganda in America. When the Catholic Church gets its priorities straight and starts acting like a true “christian church” I’ll be back.
The more I think about it, the more I think that the Bishops getting Notre Dame to join this legal challenge is critical. Some day we may know more about how that came to be. First, their is some important symbolism here since ND was viewed fairly recently as being pro-Obama in the public mind. Secondly, Notre Dame is still the most well-known Catholic school in the country among Catholics and non-Catholics alike. There may be schools that objectively speaking may be “more” catholic, but let us face it, St. Thomas in Steubenville or Ave Maria U don’t carry that cachet that ND does. Finally, ND is viewed by any liberal catholic academics as being very important to carry their banner, and it makes it hard for liberal catholic academics to get their schools to oppose this action when ND has gone the other way (note that there are no Jesuit schools joining the challenge…yet.
I see the administrations stance as just one of their strategies to reduce the number of people covered by private insurance plans and drive those people into government run health plans.
Thank you to all who are willing to fight for our freedom and our believes. In a time, when they are preaching tolerance for all parts of this society, isn’t funny how we don’t seem to be included in these tolerance for believes. Obama is not a president of the people only the groups he likes. Which is failure on his part. NO VOTE FROM ME OR MY FAMILY>
“We turn to the courts, who are impartial, to defend our First Amendment religious liberties.”
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Archbishop William Lori is very kind and I hope his statement is indeed true.
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tom buchele said, “This lawsuit really illustrates why I am a completely lapsed Catholic”
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Tom by the incidents you mentioned it sounds more like you have lapsed because you are not the Bishop and the Church isn’t following your lead.
@tom buchele
“This lawsuit really illustrates why I am a completely lapsed Catholic.”
Sadly, I think this shows more about you than it does the good bishop of Pittsburgh. Anti-war protest, the death penalty and budget cuts are all prudential issues, non of which involve sin. God’s greatest gift is life, his second is salvation. His First Commandment is, “I am the Lord, thy God. You shall have no other gods, besides me.” When man makes himself god, he violates the very first commandment. The thinking you exposed in your post indicates you are making yourself a god, knowing better than Him.
When 54% of all “identified” people who claim to be Catholic voted for this messiah, what did you expect? When ND invited him to be commencement speaker, what did you expect? So where are we in the modern Catholic mindset at this point in time? Catholicism has long been trending all over the map even among clergy and religious. For decades our Bishops have failed to lead leaving that vacuum to be filled by many other voices. Bishops have been unwilling to speak out personally and instead “sign on” to collective statements or letters. Where is the personal leadership in that? It’s time we Catholics stop respecting titles and the “collar” but examine the man who is wearing the collar. In my own parish, my Pastor announced from the pulpit in a homily “I vote Democrat.” I would have preferred if he announced “I vote the Bible.” Unfortunately, I know few Catholics who actually take that viewpoint.
@tom buchele
Oh, one other thing; Jesus never directed his followers to go get governments to do what he was teaching them to do themselves. Read the New Testament; you won’t find anything in it where Jesus directs his believers to get government to do His works.
Those of you who think the Democrat Party is doing the Lord’s work are sadly mistaken. President Obama is aptly demonstrating who he thinks his god is - himself. All of what the Democrat Party does is for their own personal glorification and for the votes of poorly catechized Catholics and non-believers. How could anybody seriously believe the Democrat Party is doing good for the poor when everything they have done “for” them has produced more poverty even bankrupting Social Security in the process? What would you expect coming from a political party responsible for the deaths of over 52,000,000 innocent human beings? Is that something that God is going to bless? Come on, Catholics, think!
We must pray and do penance in the hope that God will enlighten those traitorous voters who defied Him in the last election so they will help us this time erase their ill-advised creation of the Socialist blight of the Obama administration from American society and history. The future of our nation will be in fatal jeopardy if Obama and the Democrats win the next election.
I agree with all “In the Pew” wrote, and can only add that since bishops are now speaking out, in unison, it’s time for us all to get behind them.
They have joint meeting in June. So let’s write to our bishops, to support what they are doing. This is 100% about freedom of religion. All Christians are in the same boat, with everything to lose, if we get distracted or have a hard time of letting go of how most of our bishops sat on their hands for too long. That needs to be ancient history. Let’s live in the present.
There was always a handful of bishops trying to get everyone’s attention about moral issues. Now, there are MORE of them. Let’s support their effort, so it will continue, and so they will remain united with the Manhattan Declaration vision, of keeping religious freedoms in the US.
I’d love to see the Manhattan Declaration vision extended to include “The Five NON-NEGOTIABLES for Christians” from EWTN. That would be ideal. But baby steps for now; bishops are headed in the right direction, leading well with this right now. They need letters of support (our feedback) and prayers.
I don’t think the Obama administration “gets it”. They could well loose the votes they want because of this very serious affront to us (Catholics, other religious groups)and the threat to our religious liberties. They may think they could loose the election based on other issues…but won’t they be surprised to realize it is THIS issue that will cause Obama to loose the Presidency.
@Bob Rowland, I have no need to do “penance” for fellow Catholic voters who supported and continue to support this tin horn messiah. It’s Catholics like Sr. Carol, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Dick Durbin, David Axelrod, Leon Panetta and Nancy Pelosi who need a Damascus Road experience.
I’m a Catholic in Love with Jesus and follow the mandates of the Pope who is the Vicar of Jesus Christ not just a man as proposed by some who have written comments.And I too would like to know where the Jesuits are especially Gonzaga University in Washington state and other Jesuit run organizations from the North West. Jesus preached free will but where do our loyalties lay and who do we owe our Love and support to. Jesus came to give us light and bring us out of the darkness of evil and sin. Do we really love Jesus who gave up is life for love of us, or do we just love ourselves and our own will not the will of God who sent Him to die for love of us.This whole thing makes me very sad. Pray the Rosary and ask the Blessed Mother for her intercession and for the intervention of Divine Providence.
...and a thundering silence from the MSM…
@Tom Buchell –
I beg to differ with you on many of your bitter statements. Your posting is full of errors and misconceptions. Here are some examples:
“The Bishop of Pittsburgh feels this impinges on his religious liberty” Let’s get this straight! As the above article states “These latest lawsuits, like the many others that had already been filed, are asking the courts to enforce the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and to protect religious liberty and conscience from a regrettable and burdensome regulatory mandate.” We, the Catholic laity (especially those of us who are involved in ministries), stand with our bishops. They are protecting the rights of all Christians, Jews, Moslems, and other religious organizations. I admire their courageousness!
“But he expressly refuses to join in the anti-war protest back in 2003 that ended on the steps of his cathedral”. How could he? Bishop Zubick wasn’t the Bishop of Pittsburgh and was actually on a sabbatical at that time. I looked all over the web and couldn’t find a single reference a 2003 anti-war protest that involved the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh .
“He does nothing to oppose those who vote for the death penalty in Pennsylvania and does not object to Catholics being required to pay taxes to support such actions” Time after time, the good bishop has publicly voiced his objection the death penalty. Bishops often work behind the scenes. So tell me, how do you know that he hasn’t? Do you have any evidence to the contrary? I would like to share with you an excerpt from Bishop Zubke’s January 23, 2009 letter to his flock: Please take the time to read It:
It’s what our society needs as well. Pope John Paul II often said that the modern world is trapped in a “culture of death.” He meant that the more we see death as a solution to the ills that plague us, the more impossible it becomes for a society to survive at all. Life is the answer, no matter the question. Only a society that embraces life has hope.
In the coming year we need to shed all the pseudo-rationales that have become our excuse for the culture of death. At a time when we are painfully realizing that our economic structure cannot be based on ignoring the dignity of real work, we have to come to the understanding that our society cannot be based on anything that compromises the sacredness of human life.
We have to shed the rationale of an unwanted unborn child. There are no unwanted unborn, just living unborn who don’t need permission to be alive, to be fully human.
We have to shed the rationale of a “right to choose.” When the choice is death, there is no right to choose it for an innocent soul.
We have to shed the rationale that life is secondary to scientific research. No benefit accrues to humanity when the sacredness of life is sacrificed in the lab.
We have to shed the rationale that life can be qualified and quantified. The sacredness of any human life, the value of any life, is never dependent on its utility.
We have to shed the rationale that economics dictate whether we can accept a new life. Life does not come with a price tag.
We have to shed the idea that marriage is just another human relationship. Marriage is sacred because it is rooted in the creation and nurturing of new life.
We have to shed the rationale that capital punishment solves anything. State-sponsored killing only teaches killing.
We have to shed the idea that the elderly have a duty to die when their lives become inconsequential. There is no such thing as an inconsequential life at any point.
God’s absolute gift
We are in need of conversion; we are in need of shedding all the assumptions and presumptions that have allowed us to embrace the “culture of death.” If not, truly “The Biggest Loser” will be our very understanding of what it means to be human, what it means to be a child of God.
We can do this. We can beat this “culture of death” by embracing life as an absolute gift from our life-giving Creator, from the first moment of conception to the last breath of natural death.
“Has he threatened to excommunicate any of the Republican state legislators that vote in support of these policies?” Excommunication is a word that is often bandied about by Catholics, non-Catholics, and the media. However, when properly understood within the context of canon law, it is a penalty that the Church only applies in the rarest of cases, as a last resort, and for the purpose of helping to bring about the offender’s repentance. There is nothing in canon law that even remotely addresses how a governmental official should vote on fiscal matters – simply put, there are no grounds for excommunication in this situation.
“Christ did not mention birth control during the sermon on the mount.” Mayhap, but since you were not there, you cannot say with any certainty that he did not. Think about it…
Not everything that Jesus said or did was recorded in Scripture. “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written. “John 21:25
There were no birth control pills, abortifacients, surgical sterilizations, abortion factories during the time that Christ spent time on earth. If there were, he’d be the first to condemn them.
Commencing with the book of Genesis, the Bible strongly prohibit the use of contraceptives. There is an excellent article that you should read at http://www.catholic.com/tracts/birth-control.It is very well written and I think you would profit from it.
I think that many would agree that the pill paved the way for “free love”. Patrick Archbold authored a very insightful blog entitled; “Contraception Is The Key”. He hits the nail on the head with these powerful words:
“…the foundation of modern sexual liberation relies upon denying or removing any of the consequences of that sinful behavior, even to the point of killing. They also know that the contraceptive mentality underpins the entire culture of death. The contraceptive and utilitarian view of life and of procreation is the “mitochondrial Eve” from which all the horrors of the culture of death are descended. Abortion, ESCR, and euthanasia all call contraception “mother.”
That is why any acknowledgment, no matter how trivial, obvious, or scientific, that calls into question the magic consequence-erasing power of contraception must be attacked with all vigor.
The Catholic Church’s consistent and unbending opposition to the contraceptive culture makes it the perennial target of promoters of the culture of death.”
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/pat-archbold/contraception_is_the_key#ixzz1viwtTAQ2
“Birth control is so far down the list of issues that true Christians should be focused on…” that its simply absurd that this is now the centerpiece of Catholic propaganda in America. When the Catholic Church gets its priorities straight and starts acting like a true “christian church…”
Your notion that birth control is so far down the list of issues that we should focus on is, in your words, “simply absurd”! It is a huge priority for many Christians to defend the Right to Life and defeat the “Culture of Death”. I think that many would agree that the pill paved the way for “free love”. Patrick Archbold authored a very insightful blog entitled; “Contraception Is The Key”. He hits the nail on the head with these powerful words:
“…the foundation of modern sexual liberation relies upon denying or removing any of the consequences of that sinful behavior, even to the point of killing. They also know that the contraceptive mentality underpins the entire culture of death. The contraceptive and utilitarian view of life and of procreation is the “mitochondrial Eve” from which all the horrors of the culture of death are descended. Abortion, ESCR, and euthanasia all call contraception “mother.”
That is why any acknowledgment, no matter how trivial, obvious, or scientific, that calls into question the magic consequence-erasing power of contraception must be attacked with all vigor.
The Catholic Church’s consistent and unbending opposition to the contraceptive culture makes it the perennial target of promoters of the culture of death.”
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/pat-archbold/contraception_is_the_key#ixzz1viwtTAQ2
Jennifer Fulwiler, another blogger on this website, discusses a very timely homily from her parish priest:
‘But things are changing now. Just as the tide has turned on the issue of abortion, I see it turning with contraception too. Even non-Catholic publications are conceding that that the Church may not be totally crazy when it says that artificial birth control is neither good for the individual nor for society. More and more couples are realizing that contraception does not make marriage easier; they’re coming to see that, while Natural Family Planning has its challenges, the grass is just as complicated on the other side. After forty years of collective experience, it is dawning on people that contraception does not give women freedom over their bodies. Rather, it takes it away, as we see when we consider the data that over half of women who seek abortions were using contraception at the time they conceived. And while it may or may not be true that 98 percent of people sitting in the pews at Mass use contraception, I’m willing to bet that 98 percent of them also know someone who has ended up in an abortion clinic because of failed contraception.
The society-wide experiment of artificially severing the sexual act from its life-giving potential has been going on for four decades now, and people have had time to see that it’s not the cure-all solution they were told it would be. The tension is building as more and more men and women are disappointed by the “solution” of contraception, and the time is ripe for the message that there’s another way. I’m not naive enough to think that one homily would be enough to inspire everyone in the pews to throw out their birth control pills the moment they get home; but I do think it could get them to consider it.”.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jennifer-fulwiler/father-were-ready-for-that-homily-on-contraception-now#ixzz1vj75eX00
I recommend that you read one of these non-Catholic publications. Here is the link to a great article: http://www.businessinsider.com/time-to-admit-it-the-church-has-always-been-right-on-birth-control-2012-2 .
Tom, I pray that your heart will soften and that the scales will fall from your eyes.
@Patty Praus, you are well intentioned but the problem remains many lay Catholics and even priests claim membership in the church while the truth is that they are walking in spiritual darkness. Jesus is not Lord to them and never has been.
Where is California?
@Ann Marie
“We have to shed the rationale that capital punishment solves anything.
State-sponsored killing only teaches killing.”
I disagree with this new faux “prolife” belief that capital punishment is part of the culture of death. It is distractions such as this that allow the culture of death to continue unheeded. 52,000,000 innocent human beings have been murder because of the Democrat Party; that’s the REAL culture of death. Remember, the word ‘pro-life” was coined to counter the pro-aborts calling themselves “pro-choice.” Capital punishment has nothing to do with pro-life. There is a difference between killing innocent human beings and guilty human beings. The difference is murder of innocent human life vrs taking the life of convicted murderers. Before the Church proceeds with trying to end capital punishment, she better come up with a solution to the question of those murdered victims condemned to hell because their souls were unprepared to being murdered when they were and they had no time to even think about a perfect contrition. Furthermore, it is false to think holding capital offenders behind bars in solitary confinement will keep the public safe from any further harm by them. A $5,000,000 investigation of the most high tech, high security prison in California by federal prosecutors, state director of corrections and CA police chiefs proved there is no way to stop criminal minds from finding ways to continue their evil doings. Thirteen such prisoners were indicted for murders, drug running, and robberies. The federal prosecutors said 100s of people on the outside have been murdered by prisoners locked up in solitary confinement. Wardens said such prisoners have nothing to do and nothing but time on their hands. The public has a right to be protected from such criminals and capital punishment is the only full proof way of providing that protection, besides the fact that it is justice for what those convicted murderers have done.
Ann Marie ***We have to shed the rationale that capital punishment solves anything. State-sponsored killing only teaches killing*** Capital punishment solves permanently and ensures a child rapist who commits murder will no longer have future victims.
“The federal prosecutors said 100s of people on the outside have been murdered by prisoners locked up in solitary confinement.”
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stilbelieve, this sounds like an indictment of our prison system or a belief that magic is real. Is it yet another example of poor government performance that in this case is solved by the death penalty?
I’ve heard disgruntled rumblings as to why the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is not on the esteemed list of litigants in this case. Well, unfortunately, the RCAB has been at the front line of the culture wars, the secular movement against faith and religion, for longer than the rest of the country. Have pity on us. Cardinal Sean has had to deal with unprecedented undermining of church principles, and he is a wonderful shepherd in difficult times, (not to mention having to lead a heartbroken Body of Christ after the 2002 clergy sexual abuse scandal.)
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The RCAB has been under assault on so many fronts, for so long; for example, we ‘caved’ on adoption services - gave up the business - after the dictate to place kids with homosexual couples a few years back, ending almost a century of beneficial adoption placement services under the auspices of the Catholic Church. We were the first Catholic agency attacked, and we were picked off by the early snipers in this anti-religion movement. Next, our hospitals were in the gunsights of the ‘reproductive freedom’ guerillas after the Commonwealth of MA demanded that all hospitals provide ‘morning after’ abortion pills. Undercover ‘plants’ called the hospitals to check on whether we were ‘complying’ with the mandate to abort on demand.
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Thank God our country is waking up to the assaults on religious freedoms foisted upon us by this disgraceful administration. If we remain united, we will win, (and we know, as Christians, that righteousness will ‘win out’ in the end.)
@EileenG: [not to mention having to lead a heartbroken Body of Christ after the 2002 clergy sexual abuse scandal. The RCAB has been under assault on so many fronts, for so long] Eileen, put into perspective, hasn’t this problem been self-inflicted? And sorry to say, but we are not in a post-2002 period. In case you missed it, story is continual. The lead story on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley yesterday is the criminal trial of Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia. The cornerstone of his defense is that he was only following orders of the Cardinal. Only? Since Lynn considers Peter to be the first pope, I suppose the Monsignor must have been sick that day in seminary when ACTS 5:29 was covered. Peter stated correctly to the “then” church leadership at that time: “We must obey God rather than men.” Apparently Lynn had a problem distinguishing his Cardinal from the person of Christ.
“Skyryder.” You have crept into our NCR to pose your hateful comments and I recall you from several other NCR comments you’ve made. You are no friend of any Christian religion especially the Catholic religion and why do you waste your energy on such hate? Hate is what drives you and this current Obama Administration for the Catholic church. If I were you, I would put your hatred of the Catholic church to better use like feeding the hungry or clothing the naked. One of the deep seeded hatreds that “HITLER” had, was of the Catholic church. You seem to be following in his footsteps. But, on the other hand, you might turn out like St. Paul who also had a deep seeded hatred of Christians, got literally knocked off his high horse by Jesus Christ Himself and was even martyred for God’s church on earth. You too, will eventually become a follower of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic church!
Kudos to the engaged .... but where are the rest of our dioceses??
These organizations are a righteous beacon for everyone else to follow. Government intrusion into individual religious liberties, as with every other unconstitutional issue it has imposed on citizens needs curtailment and reversal. What the progressives seek is a society where the “chronic poor” will feel comfortable with their de-facto mandate to destroy preonate life through the secular sacrament of abortion. At the same time, those resources of the poor can now be freed up to feather the economic nests of the gay and lesbian community with spousal marriage benefits. Someone needs to protest even if we hear calls for loss of tax exemption. Someone needs to point out that parishioners and other persons of faith pay a substantial amount of tax money and that does not belong to the progressives to deny to those who disagree with them.
A standing ovation for the 43 Catholic Dioceses and Catholic Organizations. On the other hand, WHY only 43?? Where are the rest of the nation’s dioceses??
@vance, that’s the problem. Where are the other organizations and remaining Bishops? Why are they not speaking out? One risks being called disloyal at the mention of this but so many current Catholic Bishops were appointed by John Paul II. Many seem to be weak leaders and were ill prepared for a shepherd’s title. The sex abuse scandal validates they neither had the character or integrity to stand for holiness in the face of sin and moral corruption. So why aren’t all the Bishops signed on? These failures point to ill-advised appointment to their leadership. Based on this, does John Paul II really deserve this fast track to canonization? I don’t think so.
And once again my Bishop makes me proud!
God Bless Bishop Alexander Sample!
(Michigan Conference of Catholic Bishops)
In the pew -
My husband is a prosecutor and heads up the juvenile division at the DA’s office. He has prosecuted many horrendous sex abuse crimes
He would tell you the same - capital punishment solves nothing and it certainly does not act as a deterrent. Putting the criminal behind bars (for life) is a far more effective punishment. Child sex offenders do not fare well with other inmates…
@Howard
“stilbelieve, this sounds like an indictment of our prison system or a belief that magic is real. Is it yet another example of poor government performance that in this case is solved by the death penalty??
It is not that. It’s the “rights” prisoners have to communicate with their lawyers and with the outside world. It is also the genius of evil such prisoners have who “have nothing to do and nothing but time on their hands.” Locking them up for life, even in solitary confinement, can not stop evil.
@In the pew
“The lead story on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley yesterday is the criminal trial of Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia.”
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)(Tuesday 5/22) had an above-the-fold front page headline story - Catholics Sue Over Health Mandate. The following day, Tuesday, the WSJ lead editorial was - Catholics in Court, the key point highlighted - “The religious liberty lawsuit against ObamaCare is historic.” The editorial was fair, accurate and excellent.
I was disappointed to learn on that same day, Tuesday, that neither NBC or ABC gave any coverage to the Catholics “historic” lawsuit on their evening news Monday, the night before. And CBS only gave it 19 seconds and in a context that it was a lawsuit about birth control, not the First Amendment freedom of religion. Why any Catholics who care about their religion would give any credibility to the Democrat Party being concerned about the poor, I cannot understand. And the mouth piece for the Democrat Party - NBC, ABC, CBS, just to name a few, show their contempt for Catholics by ignoring or misrepresenting this “historic” event.
“It’s the “rights” prisoners have”
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stilbelieve, they are in prison because of the recognition that some rights trump others. Again I say that government is lazy and unwilling to tackle this problem as they are unwilling to tackle the national deficit, hence capital punishment is an easy out.
@stillbelieve, lest there be no misunderstanding, I agree ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and taxpayer funded NPR are nothing but shills for the DNC. The current President (and his people) are deluded with exercising an accelerated abundance of state-controlled policies, regulations and endless bureaucracies in pursuit of a “daddy” government. It is our children who will suffer. I don’t really expect much better from Romney except that his pace will likely be a little slower. No doubt by now our 1776 Continental Congress has turned over multiple times in their graves regarding the withering away of more freedoms each year. —-We could see this coming 40 years ago—— “This used to be a hell of a good country. I can’t understand what’s gone wrong with it.” —from Jack Nicholson’s character in Easy Rider (1969).
Washington politicians talk a lot about Freedom and the values “we” ??? share. Their problem is that they are afraid when people exercise Freedom because then government cannot control a free people.
stillbelieve, regarding Monsignor Lynn, even we Catholics know his defense of “I was only following orders” has no moral standing. Lynn is first responsible to the Lord and not to his Cardinal and the Vatican. We’ve seen this movie before at Nuremberg following WWII. Lynn is giving the same excuse the Nazi’s gave for exterminating the Jews. “I was only following orders.” Ask yourself, how does a man live with himself?”
@In the pew
“lest there be no misunderstanding.”
No misunderstanding, I just used your TV “news” story to express my frustration and irritation with the main stream media’s stiffing the Catholic Church in what the Wall Street Journal editorialized was a “historic lawsuit for religious liberty” against Obamacare.
@Howard
“Again I say that government is lazy and unwilling to tackle this problem as they are unwilling to tackle the national deficit, hence capital punishment is an easy out.”
I’m not sure what you mean by “tackle this problem…hence capital punishment is an easy out.”
@stilbelieve
We are off of the subject but you commented on the Church’s teaching and beliefs.
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“Before the Church proceeds with trying to end capital punishment, she better come up with a solution to the question of those murdered victims condemned to hell because their souls were unprepared to being murdered when they were and they had no time to even think about a perfect contrition.”
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It would be better for you to understand the Catholic Church’s teachings before you criticize and assign her priorities. The Church does not “try to end” capital punishment, it reasons about it. It is presumptuous of you to assume that a soul is automatically “condemned to hell” and to assign moral priorities.
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“I’m not sure what you mean by “tackle this problem…hence capital punishment is an easy out.”
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To tackle a problem means to try and find solutions to a problem. The problem being death and possibility of a repentant soul instead of life with protection for the safety of others - an extra death. Government is not known to exert itself for the betterment of us all except when it is forced to. Government is best at preserving itself and it’s interests once established. To say that you do not see a solution now is giving up or is a clever way to maintain the status quo – angry punishment.
stillbelieve, still more self-inflicted wounds. How would you expect the media to react? Two months ago, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia just had their CFO (Anita Guzzardi) charged with embezzlement of over $900,000.00.
How do the Lynn and Guzzardi matters have anything to do with religious liberty?
I am thrilled that the Bishops and all of these institutions are standing as one against this potential destruction of our religious freedom.
Something else no one seems to be mentioning is that the services in question neither cure nor prevent any disease. THEY ARE NOT HEALTHCARE! If you want to be free to choose these services, you are also free to pay for them yourselves. Obama should have called this HHS mandate the “Planned Parenthood Protection Program” because all it does is funnel money to Planned Parenthood through insurance carriers. It’s an abomination against religious freedom AND against the purpose of health insurance, which is to INSURE and protect people’s health, not their personal lifestyle choices. What’s next, coverage for sex change operations?
Hey “Scotty” (what’s next?) is already here. City and County employees of the City of San Francisco already have “Gender Reassignment” surgery coverage as an employee benefit in their Healthcare Insurance Plan.
@Howard
“It would be better for you to understand the Catholic Church’s teachings before you criticize and assign her priorities. The Church does not “try to end” capital punishment, it reasons about it.”
Surely, you’re joking - aren’t you? What were the bishops of Illinois doing in lobbying the Governor to sign the legislation to end capital punishment in Ill., earlier this year or late last year? (Which the governor did, and some 30 days later a 34 year old Chicago ex-girlfriend of a man from Canada murdered her upon checking on the internet to see if Illinois had the death penalty. When he discovered they didn’t, he traveled to Chicago, put a sensor under her car to track her, went to her work one day and shot her 8 times, point blank, when she came out of work. He was captured and told that story)
What were the bishops of California doing this past Feb/April in endorsing a petition drive to gather signatures to place an initiative to end capital punishment on the ballot this November, and encouraged the faithful to sign the petition after church on Sundays? They said in their announcement they never have endorsed an initiative that had not yet qualified for the ballot before. They got the signatures and the measure is on the November ballot; entitled of all things - SAFE.
No, Howard, the Church is not “reasoning about it,” they are against it and lobbying to end it in the phony belief that that somehow will give credibility to their being consistent in being “prolife.”
If the Church really wanted to “reason about it,” they would talk to those responsible for the criminal justice system to get their views and insight on their ability to keeping the public safe from such convicted criminals. And in California where the bishops want to end capital punishment, they can talk to federal prosecutors, State Director of prisons, and local police chiefs about a $5,000,000, 3 year investigation in the most high-tech prison in CA 12 years ago that resulted in 25 indictments for murder, robberies, and drug trafficking of 13 prisoners each being held in solitary confine. The investigation is called “Operation Black Widow;” I found it in a major newspaper covering half a page and headlined - “Murder from the inside side out.” A copy of the article was hand delivered to the CA Catholic Conference by the Director of Respect Life, Justice, and Peace from the Diocese of Orange during a recent statewide conference meeting. The response I was given upon her return was, “The overwhelming feeling is that society is safe.” Doesn’t sound like they are much interested in “reasoning” since their “feelings” are “overwhelming” that “society is safe.”
It is not unlike Catholics to allow their “feelings” to outweigh their “reasoning.” That explains why so many of them continue to give their name and votes to the pro-abortion party; because, they - that party - are, you know, for the “little guy.” I guess the Church has to accept the fact that the Democrat Party considers them no longer one of “the little guys.” I would have thought the Church would have “reasoned” that sooner than they did when the Democrat Party turned their actions into words in their support for abortion in their party platform. Now the pro-abortion, Democrat Party has turned their attention to the big, Catholic Church, and the bishops don’t like it that the Party is mandating that they abort part of their beliefs and teachings. If reasoning was behind Church actions, you would have thought that she would have known better than to negotiate with the devil.
@Howard
“The problem being death and possibility of a repentant soul instead of life with protection for the safety of others - an extra death.”
As for the “possibility of a repentant soul” - nothing would bring that about sooner than a person knowing the exact date and time of their death. That is something their victims were not given the privilege of having; with some dying in the state of mortal sin, which according to my grade school teachings means going to hell. I never heard or saw any Church teaching on the contrary. Perhaps you know of some Church teaching of absolution given to such sinners who are murdered without time to even think of a perfect contrition.
“Surely, you’re joking - aren’t you?”
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———Stilbelieve, I think you are going to far when you exaggerate to make your point when you attribute to the whole church an effort that is taken up by some, sort of a “conspiracy theory”. For years there has been an anti-death penalty faction, I know of no wide spread effort on part of the people of the American Church it is too busy trying to protect itself from the federal government. The most recent decades involvement has been the abortion question which unquestionably kills an overwhelming number of people.
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“If the Church really wanted to “reason about it,” they would talk to those……”
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———-I think what you mean is “agree with” instead of “talk to”.
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The Catholic Church’s teaching is given here, there is no call to arms, just a position.
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2267 The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor.
“If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
“Today, in fact, given the means at the State’s disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender ‘today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent.’[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.]
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“with some dying in the state of mortal sin, according to my grade school teachings means going to hell”
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——-They are in the same position as the many who die of accidents.
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847 ………Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.
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“It is not unlike Catholics to allow their “feelings” to outweigh their “reasoning.” That explains why so many of them continue to give their name and votes to the pro-abortion party; because, they - that party - are, you know, for the “little guy.” I guess the Church has to accept the fact that the Democrat Party considers them no longer one of “the little guys.” I would have thought the Church would have “reasoned” that sooner than they did when the Democrat Party turned their actions into words in their support for abortion in their party platform
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——-You guess at motivation and try and characterize “The Church” by using a portion of it’s members as ammunition. The Church is vast, it has members who live lives according the it’s teachings to various degrees and not all of what is spoken of by the magisterium is dogma. Above all I resent that you think you know better and should dictate to it.
@Howard
“——Stilbelieve, I think you are going to far when you exaggerate to make your point when you attribute to the whole church an effort that is taken up by some, sort of a ‘conspiracy theory’”.
No “sort of a ‘conspiracy theory’” needed, Howard. See below
USCCB website “Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development – Office of Domestic Social Development” document.
“Death Penalty February 2011”
“In his encyclical The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II challenged followers of Christ to be ‘unconditionally prolife.’ He reminded us that ‘the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. (Gospel of Life, 27)” (Also see CCC2267)
“Catholic Teaching and the Death Penalty.”
“In 2005, the Catholic bishops of the United States issued, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death. In the document the bishops stated that the gift of life must be respected and protected; ‘that every life is a precious gift from God (see Gn 2: 7, 21-23) and that we are all created in God’s image and redeemed by Jesus Christ, who himself was crucified. They acknowledged that sentences such as ‘life in prison without parole’ provided non-lethal alternatives and called for an end to the use of the death penalty in the United States, stating ‘it is time for our nation to abandon the illusion that we can protect life by taking life.’”
“Ending the death penalty would be one important step away from a culture of death and toward building a culture of life.” “(United States Catholic Bishops 2005. A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death)”
@Howard
“-I think what you mean is ‘agree with’ instead of ‘talk to’”.
No, I mean talk to (the professionals) which is something the bishops never did.
@Howard
“They are in the same position as the many who die of accidents.”
“847 ………Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.”
This quote you provided applies to people who never heard the Gospel, or who never accepted Jesus as their Lord after hearing of him, but “try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience.” This is not applying to baptized Christians in the state of mortal sin who die instantly without time to even ask for God’s mercy.
@Howard
“—-You guess at motivation and try and characterize ‘The Church’ by using a portion of it’s members as ammunition.”
No “guessing” on my end - I use to be a Democrat. I’m from the south side of Chicago.
“Before the Church proceeds with trying to end capital punishment, she better come up…”
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Stilbelieve, this death penalty issue has been around as long as I can remember. The same arguments existed 50+ years ago but at a fever pitch. I remember the famous and unknown secularists and Christians who internationally spoke against death for Caryl Chessman at San Quentin. This was a decade long argument that lasted until 1960. Then Governor Brown who was against the death penalty was a minor name in the debate that went international. You have a very aggressive tone and dismissive attitude in your writing and if representative is not conducive to any kind of “talks”. To give instructions the Church or any opponent in this debate is simply arrogant. What existed then is not illustrative of today’s movement at all and is not the focus of the Church as a whole. The writings of JPII have clarified the Church’s position worldwide, he did not appear at a death watch at a state prison. “Professionals” existed in 1960 and were also against the death penalty. DNA testing has changed the argument since then towards the anti side.
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Go Cubs.
@Howard
“You have a very aggressive tone and dismissive attitude in our writing and if representative is not conducive to any kind of ‘talks.’ To give instructions the Church or any opponent in this debate is simply arrogant.”
My apologies. I’m sorry to say that collegiality is not helpful in winning a war against evil as the U.S. bishop have proved - 52,000,000 murdered babies later and still counting, most of whom were murdered AFTER the bishops added so-called “social justice” issues to the definition of prolife in 1984 under Chicago’s Cardinal Bernardin and his “collegiality campaign” as Chairman of the Prolife Activities Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB). Lot of good “collegiality” has done those babies, and for that matter, us, with Obama now President with the help of 54% percent of those Catholic believers (which includes clergy at all levels) who profess to believe in God “as the giver of life” and pray the Our Father for God’s “will to be done on earth” . Now, as I have proved to you that ending CP is a big thing to the U.S. bishops per their 2005 statement, they are spending a lot more time on that then actions to get a Right to Life Amendment passed. Why? - because to get a simple RTL Amendment passed would mean having to stop electing Democrats to federal and state government offices. And too many Catholics, including the clergy are Democrats first, Catholics second.
Doubt me? Want proof? Even the non-religious Wall Street Journal Editorial Board sees the Democrat bias in the U.S. bishops’ legislative actions even while the editors are writing supportive editorials of the bishops and Catholic institutions lawsuit against the Obama Administration for violating Religious First Amendment Rights under the Constitution.
Stilbelieve, the collegiality objections of PPSX may be well founded, but I am not willing to debate that large a issue, even if I was prepared. Yes, I am aware of a great affinity for the Democratic party among Catholics. I doubt if the ones I debated during the last presidential election ever even heard of collegiality. The issues seemed to be the wars and a perceived indifference to ordinary people by the Republican party. A belief that the visible ugliness of war trumped the baby count – irrational I know. The Bishops the prior year, November I think, had publicly stated that abortion should be the non-negotiable sin to consider first. Teaching is there about all evils, the laity is not the best at picking it up.
@Howard
“Stilbelieve, the collegiality objections of PPSX may be well founded, but I am not willing to debate that large a issue, even if I was prepared.”
My knowledge of “collegiality” came from reading the favorable biography entitled Cardinal Bernardin - Easing conflicts - and battling for the soul of American Catholicism, by Eugene Kennedy (1989), a 30 year long friend of the Cardinal. The Cardinal never disclaimed anything written in his biography which was out several years before he passed away. I got the book at a library’s used book sale. It looked brand new, hardly been open. I found it to be a treasure because it took me back into the workings of the U.S. bishops in the crucial years of prolife when the definition of prolife was changed by Bernardin to include so-called “social justice” issues, something I knew at the time would be the end of the prolife movement as we knew it up to that point.
The most important thing I learned in the Bernardin biogrphy was the real reason Bernardin had for wanting to expand the meaning of prolife which he elaborated on to some extent with the president of the National Conference of Bishops before accepting the chairmanship of the biggest and most important NCCB committee, Pro-life. Pages 243,244 “Not only would this move” (expanding “pro-life” to include “social justice” issues) “gain greater support from Catholics and others but it would keep the prolife movement from falling completely under the control of the right wing conservatives who were becoming its dominant sponsors.”
I knew when I first heard of his “Seamless Garment” in the press that was the end of prolife and our fight to overturn Roe v Wade and pass a RTL Constitutional Amendment. It even made more sense realizing Cardinal Bernardin was head of the Archdiocese of Chicago. This wasn’t a spiritual move, it was using non sinful spiritual teachings to make a political move to protect the future of the Democrat Party. His own biographer confirmed the real reason for expanding the definition of prolife years later in this book. And “collegiality” was instituted into the NCCB by Bernardin enabling him to get the bishops to go along with the changes he wanted to make in prolife.
Similar to the document, it’s very useful to all of us.
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