Mitt Romney Attacks the HHS Mandate: “We’re all Catholic Today”

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Ray Noble

Mitt Romney gave a powerful talk to an enthusiastic crowd in Bowling Green on Wednesday. But what really brought down the House was his response when asked about the HHS anti-religion mandate. Decrying the attack on religious liberty, he repeated his promise to end that Executive branch mandate on his first day in office. See the video: this topic begins just before the 7-minute mark of the video at the end of this Weekly Standard article below:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/romney-ohio-i-feel-were-all-catholic-today_648739.html

Posted in abortifacients, abortion, Catholic, contraception mandate, HHS mandate, Mitt Romney, Romney promise on HHS mandate | Tagged abortion, birth control, Catholic voters, Catholics, contraception, contraception mandate, HHS mandate, Mitt Romney, religious liberty | 1 Comment

TOP TEN REASONS TO HATE MITT ROMNEY

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Ray Noble

Maybe this went viral a long time ago but I just saw it.

Top Ten Reasons To Dislike Mitt Romney:

1. Drop-dead, collar-ad handsome with gracious, statesmanlike aura. Looks like every central casting’s #1 choice for Commander-in-Chief.

2. Been married to ONE woman his entire life, and has been faithful to her, including through her bouts with breast cancer and MS.

3. No scandals or skeletons in his closet. (How boring is that?)

4. Can’t speak in a fake, southern, “black preacher voice” when necessary.

5. Highly intelligent. Graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School…and by the way, his academic records are NOT sealed.

6. Doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol, and has never done drugs, not even in the counter-culture age when he went to college. Too square for today’s America?

7. Represents an America of “yesterday”, where people believed in God, went to Church, didn’t screw around, worked hard, and became a SUCCESS!

8. Has a family of five great sons….and none of them have police records or are in drug rehab. But of course, they were raised by a stay-at-home mom, and that “choice” deserves America’s scorn.

9. Oh yes…..he’s a MORMON. We need to be very afraid of that very strange religion that teaches its members to be clean-living, patriotic, fiscally conservative, charitable, self-reliant, and honest.

10. And one more point…..pundits say because of his wealth, he can’t relate to ordinary Americans. I guess that’s because he made that money HIMSELF…..as opposed to marrying it or inheriting it from Dad. Apparently, he didn’t understand that actually working at a job and earning your own money made you unrelatable to Americans.

…

By the way, speaking of unlikability, how likely is it that America will remain infatuated with the most divisive president in history whose failed policies are destroying us, even as he tries to hide from his train wreck by spewing vicious character assassinations and repeated “four pinocchio” lies?

Posted in Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Mormons, politics, presidential election, Romney, Why Hate Mitt Romney? | Tagged Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Obama, politics, presidency, Top Ten Reasons to Dislike Mitt Romney | 1 Comment

WHY OBAMA IS NOT AHEAD

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Ray Noble

William Galston

Recent polls show that Obama’s $100 million worth of unsubstantiated character assaults on Mitt Romney in ads in key toss-up states have had some effect. He leads Romney by one point, 46 to 45, in the latest Rasmussen poll; by two points, 48 to 46, in the latest McClatchy/Marist poll; and leads in Florida, 46 to 45, in the latest Mason-Dixon poll (though Gallup continues to show the two neck-and-neck, nationally, at 46 all, while Pew has been a consistent outlier on the Obama side, giving him a 7 point advantage, 50 to 43).

Nonetheless, I see this as Mitt Romney’s race to lose. And an article by William Galston in liberal New Republic Magazine,
http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/104955/treading-water-why-the-obama-campaign-doing-worse-it-seems
, hits the nail on the head in explaining why.

Galston was a domestic policy advisor to Clinton. Now a contributing editor at New Republic, he also chairs the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program. In short, to point out that he’s no conservative mouthpiece is a gross understatement. Yet his article on Friday concludes that unless things change noticeably for Obama, “his presidency will be in jeopardy. And they probably won’t [change]—unless the economy perks up noticeably.” I agree — and here’s why.

Gallup’s job approval ratings for Obama — which have proven accurate in past elections — consistently show Obama at only about 45 percent: a very poor showing for an incumbent. George Bush’s averaged above 50 percent when he ran for re-election in 2004. And almost two-thirds of Americans — 63 percent — see the country on the wrong track, compared to about 55 percent in 2004. Obama’s massive ad assault on Romney in key states in the past month have actually produced little return for the money. Significantly, independents — who favored Obama four years ago — now favor Romney. As Galston points out — there is an “astonishing” 20 percent drop in young voters even being motivated enough to get to the polls this time. And while Obama enjoyed a brief uptick among Hispanics this month following his temporary amnesty for certain young illegal residents, that already shows signs of tapering off as Hispanics show that, like all Americans, jobs are their much greater concern.

And there are more Americans who think that Obama’s handling of jobs and the economy is a reason to vote against him rather than for him. Obama’s support from Catholics and Jews has dropped considerably since 2004 and even his support among African-Americans has dropped from 95% to about 88%, with some showing an inclination not to go to the polls on election day.

People have not warmed up to Mitt Romney, finding him far less likeable than Obama. They also find that he has failed to present a convincing economic plan, though they find him more adept at economic matters than Obama. But the fact that Romney has kept the race close despite this is bad news for Obama because the GOP convention hasn’t been held yet and Romney has months to show that he has a worthwhile plan. A wise vice presidential choice could also give Romney a nice uptick.

In short, though the race is close and Obama has managed to divert attention this month from his own poor performance to make Romney the issue, I see this as Romney’s race to lose. And I’m comforted to see that Galston, a staunch Democrat, agrees — and for much the same reasons.

Posted in 2012 presidential campaign, African-American voters, Barack Obama, Catholic, Gallup Poll, general election, Hispanic, Hispanic immigration, Jews, McClatchy/Marist poll, Mitt Romney, New Republic, Obama, Pew presidential poll, Pew Research, politics, possible GOP Vice President picks, possible vice president, presidential election analysis, presidential election polls, Presidential polls, Rasmussen poll, William Galston, Young voters | Tagged African-American voters, Catholic voters, economy, Gallup Poll, Jews, jobs, McClatchy/Marist poll, Mitt Romney, New Republic, Obama, Pew Research poll, politics, possible GOP vice president, presidency, presidential election analysis, Rasmussen poll, William Galston, Young voters | Leave a comment

A Vice Presidential Possibility You Probably Never Heard

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Ray Noble

Governor Luis Fortuño

I’ve said this before but know no one else who agrees. Still, I can’t help mentioning a great GOP vice presidential possibility who is on nobody’s radar screen: Governor Luis Fortuño, Governor of Puerto Rico. A charismatic, conservative Republican, he has turned around an economic mess in Puerto Rico and restored the island’s credit rating. As a student, he pushed for statehood for Puerto Rico when it wasn’t even popular there… thanks largely to him, it now is. He’s transforming the island’s educational system so that classes throughout the island are held in English. He is great on every GOP issue. He graduated from Georgetown School of Foreign Service and the University of Virginia Law School. He’s a convincing, knowledgeable and very likable public speaker who’d tie Biden in knots in a VP debate. He and his wife Lucé have triplets, now all students at mainland universities. He was a strong mainland campaigner for Mitt Romney in the GOP primaries.

And yes — he’s eligible to be President. Those born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens at birth, exactly the same as on the mainland. 8 U.S.C. 1402.

Posted in Luis Fortuño, Luis Fortuño, Mitt Romney, politics, possible GOP Vice President picks, possible vice president | Tagged GOP vice president, Luis Fortuño, Mitt Romney, politics, Possible vice president, presidency | Leave a comment

The Deeper Meaning of the Obamacare Decision

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Ray Noble

Dr. Rebecca Peck has called my attention to the following excellent article by George Weigel:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/304578/roberts-opinion-george-weigel

George Weigel

Weigel thinks Roberts was wrong about the constitutionality of the individual mandate under the federal tax power, but he says that those who merely focused on debating that miss the ”deeper meaning” of the opinion – one that reminds us what we must and can do. At risk of gilding the lily, the following points in the article deserve to be highlighted:

“This is not to suggest that the chief justice got it right in his judgment…. But the chief justice’s opinion contained several dicta that point us to deeper truths about the continuing Obamacare debate, the Congress, the responsibilities of the American people, and the future of our democratic political culture…. [I]rrespective of its finding, the Roberts opinion can be seen as a welcome call to recover an American constitutional order that has been too often forgotten during decades of judicial supremacy.

The first of these “deeper” truths is that the … ultimate constraint on … power… is not the federal judiciary but the people’s moral and political judgments. The chief justice thereby suggests that if “we, the people of the United States,” do not like the way the Congress taxes and spends, it is not only our prerogative but our responsibility to do something about it by electing new representatives who will tax and spend differently.

So [if I object to] a power grab by the federal government over one-sixth of the U.S. economy, and if I disapprove of that on fiscal grounds, constitutional grounds, public-policy grounds, moral grounds, some of the above, or all of the above, then my duty is to help elect someone else, no matter how good “my member” is at delivering the Social Security check on time or straightening out my IRS problems, and no matter what party my grandparents habitually voted for. Thus the chief justice’s bluntly phrased reminder that “it is not [the Court’s] job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices,” far from being a dodge of judicial responsibility, ought to be read… as a summons to a new national political maturity — a recognition that voting is not a glandular exercise but an exercise in moral and political judgment.

[S]econd…, the] majority opinion underscored … that constitutional approval of the individual mandate was not a judgment on the mandate’s soundness as policy. This implies that the policy might, in fact, be a stupid one — stupid policy the Obama administration made worse by an appeal to the Constitution’s Commerce Clause that, upheld, would have destroyed the notion of the federal government as a government of limited and enumerated powers.

There were several barely disguised smackdowns in the chief justice’s refusal to accede to this Commerce Clause argument and to the lax congressional lawmaking it attempted to justify. They included a blunt lesson in elementary English (“the language of the Constitution reflects the natural understanding that the power to regulate assumes there is already something to be regulated”) and a devastating analogy (“Congress addressed the insurance problem by ordering everyone to buy insurance. Under the Government’s theory, Congress could address the diet problem by ordering everyone to buy vegetables”). Beyond this, however, deeper truths were beckoning: the truth that the Obamacare bill was a legislative dog’s breakfast that reflected badly on the competence, honesty, and public-spiritedness of a Congress whipsawed by various interests; the truth that the constitutional order is jeopardized when the Supreme Court becomes a crutch for irresponsible legislators who imagine that their malfeasance can always be fixed by the federal judiciary. Congress demeans itself when it acts irresponsibly, the majority opinion suggested, and such irresponsibility is one factor in the evolution of an imperial judiciary — an aberration that the chief justice seems to regret, to his credit.”

…

The most important immediate question is, “Where do we go from here?” For those who recognize the grave threat to religious liberty and conscience that is embodied in the HHS mandate that Obamacare made possible, our responsibility is to awake the “sleeping giant” of American horror and disgust at what is happening in Washington. We must unite with others who oppose this Administration’s agenda, no matter whether the objections are based, as Weigel points out, “on fiscal grounds, constitutional grounds, public-policy grounds, moral grounds, some of the above, or all of the above….”

In the words of Governor Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate:

“I stand with the Catholic bishops and all religious organizations in their strenuous objection to this liberty-and conscience-stifling regulation.” If elected president, the former Massachusetts governor said, he would eliminate the mandate “on day one.”“Such rules don’t belong in the America that I believe in.”

Yes, America, there is a sleeping giant that can rise up and end tyranny– the American people. Since the HHS mandate was an implementing rule and not part of the Obamacare statute itself, it can be ended without approval of Congress. It is our responsibility to get our family, neighbors and friends activated. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY…. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

Posted in Catholic, Catholic bishops, Chief Justice John Roberts, Department of Health and Human Services, First Amendment, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, George Weigel, Health and Human Services mandate, Mitt Romney, Obamacare | Tagged Chief Justice John Roberts, George Weigel, Mitt Romney, Obamacare, Obamacare decision | 2 Comments

The Supreme Court’s Obamacare Decision and Religious Freedom

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Ray Noble

Chief Justice John Roberts

It’s a sad fact that Americans have gotten so used to judicial activists on the Supreme Court that we get angry when someone like Chief Justice John Roberts refuses to be one. Don’t get me wrong — I, too, desperately hoped Obamacare would be declared unconstitutional — and I’d vote against any legislator who would support it. But the Court was required to apply a very different standard of review yesterday than it must apply when fundamental freedoms are the issue — as will be the case in the many federal cases seeking to have the HHS anti-religion mandate declared unconstitutional. Here’s why.

In reviewing the constitutionality of legislation and administrative rules, a Court must apply one of three tests, depending on the kind of issue involved in the case: a rational basis test, an intermediate test or a strict scrutiny test. Regardless of the issues, Justices are never supposed to base their decision on whether they personally favor or oppose the law. That’s the job of the legislators elected by the voters.

The constitutional issues that were argued in yesterday’s Obamacare case involved the commerce clause and the federal government’s taxation power. Those issues are vitally important, but they do not involve our most fundamental constitutional freedoms – in fact, nobody is even arguing that they do. So in that kind of case, the Court is supposed to uphold the statute’s constitutionality if there is any rational basis for doing so. Justice Roberts rejected the Obama Administration’s argument that government can require people to do pretty much anything the government wants under the commerce clause — in fact, for the first time in almost a century, his decision puts significant limits on what the government can do under that clause. But his opinion for the Court found that Obamacare can be rationally upheld under the Constitution’s taxation power. He didn’t invent that theory — it was the alternate argument argued in the Obama Administration’s brief and oral argument. Of course, that means that the individual mandate’s requirement to buy insurance, as a new tax, breaks President Obama’s own oft repeated promise: “If you earn less than $250,000 per year, you will have no new taxes.” Now his administration admits that was not true, and the Supreme Court has agreed — and voters will have an opportunity to decide if they want to re-elect the President who will continue that tax or if they want to vote against him to demand Obamacare’s repeal.

But the cases brought by religious employers and universities against the HHS mandate are much, much different than yesterday’s case. These upcoming cases address the most fundamental of all First Amendment liberties: our right to conduct our own affairs based on what our consciences and religious beliefs tell us is right, free of oppressive government interference. The HHS mandate imposes a substantial burden on that precious liberty because it forces religious employers either to violate their consciences and beliefs or to violate the law, with staggering adverse consequences in doing so. In deciding whether the government can coerce people to violate their religious beliefs, the assumption that favored the government yesterday will be reversed.

In cases where the government is trying to intrude upon First amendment guaranties of religious liberty, courts must not uphold the government action unless the government can bear a very heavy burden required in such cases, called the strict scrutiny test. The government’s intrusion on religious liberty will be declared unconstitutional unless the government can prove (a) some compelling government need that requires such a great burden on religious liberty and also (b) even if the government could prove such a compelling need, its coercion must still be declared unconstitutional unless the government also proves that there is no other way to meet such a compelling government need that imposes less of a burden on conscience and religious liberty.

In our next post here, we’ll examine the facts to show why the government cannot even come close to justifying its outrageous HHS mandate – coercion that would require employers and universities to violate their consciences and religious beliefs.

Posted in abortifacient, abortion, birth control, Catholic bishops, Chief Justice John Roberts, contraception, contraception mandate, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, Health and Human Services mandate, health care compromise, Health care mandate, Obamacare, ongoing threat to religious freedom, religious liberty, Supreme Court Obamacare decision, Uncategorized, United States Constitution, United States Supreme Court | Tagged abortion, birth control, Catholic Bishops, Chief Justice John Roberts, contraception mandate, healthcare, healthcare mandate, Obamacare, Obamacare decision, rational basis test of constitutionality, religious liberty, strict scrutiny test of constitutionality, United States Constitution | Leave a comment

The Religious Freedom Issue Is As Alive — And More Important– Than Ever

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Ray Noble

What does today’s Supreme Court decision mean for the federal lawsuits and the Fortnight for Freedom and religious freedom rallies that have drawn attention to the HHS mandate’s assault on religious freedom?

1. Today’s decision upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

2. Far from ending the constitutional challenges against the HHS mandate, today’s decision makes the many federal lawsuits challenging the mandate’s unconstitutionality — by 56 plaintiffs, at a recent count – more important than ever. It also puts the religious freedom issue precisely where it belongs: at the very center of America’s focus. The issue that the HHS mandate continues to pose is the right of citizens to conduct their own lives by doing what their conscience and religious beliefs tell them is right, free of oppressive government intrusion.

Let me repeat: the religious liberty concerns were not part of the challenge to the Obamacare statute and these legal challenges are as alive — and as strong — as ever after today’s decision.

Now is the time to re-double our efforts: praying, staying informed, getting angry and acting decisively to end the HHS mandate’s tragic and unprecedented government attempt to usurp our most precious rights. Warn elected leaders that it is also in their own self-interest to rescind the HHS mandate. And if they don’t reverse course, fire them — and replace them in November.

Posted in abortifacients, abortion, after birth abortion, birth control, Catholic, Conference of Catholic Bishops, contraception, contraception mandate, First Amendment, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, Health and Human Services mandate, health care compromise, Health care mandate, HHS mandate, Obamacare, ongoing threat to religious freedom, political effect of the contraception mandate | Tagged abortion, birth control, Catholic Bishops, contraception mandate, religious liberty, United States Constitution | Leave a comment

LOVING THE POOR, HELPING WOMEN AND TRANSFORMING LIVES

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Ray Noble

By RAY NOBLE

Former Mayor Dinkins of NYC once quipped that the programs of the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal might be the most effective anti-poverty program that city has ever seen. I was privileged to serve with them in New York and also to work with the friars, briefly, in Honduras as well. In Honduras, a seemingly hopeless, devastatingly poor and crime-plagued city — Camayagua – is gradually being

transformed. The tools? Prayer, love, a medical clinic, refuge for imperiled women and a sense of hope and possibility are among them. They serve to bring renewal to individual lives, families and neighborhoods. The following article by Fr. John Boughton offers a glimpse at the same kind of miracle that the friars are using to transform hearts and lives in the Fort Apache neighborhood in the South Bronx as well as others in Harlem, Yonkers, Newark, New Mexico, Texas, Nicaragua, England, Ireland and elsewhere. The CFRs are young friars and sisters whose numbers have rapidly grown almost thirtyfold, probably to about 200 … a tangible testimony to God’s love and also to the community’s capacity to attract committed people to a life of faithful service.

Transform a Society
by Fr. John Anthony Boughton, CFR

Over the past few years of walking the dirt streets of the barrio in which we live, here in Honduras, one can see changes taking place. When we first arrived, many of the houses were made of sticks with mud and rocks filled in between. This style of construction is called bajareque.Other homes are made of adobe, a couple of steps above the bajareque in quality.These consist of sun dried mud bricks just as you would often see the South West of the US.Both types, ideally, are usually finished off with a smooth layer of plaster or stucco.But to maintain these takes much work. Most are cracked and crumbling with a lack of care.The other daily needs, such as fire wood to cook, hauling water, and washing clothes by hand, push off house repair until often it is too late.The roofs on these houses vary depending on how much money people were able to scrape together.Some are made of tin over wood slats.These catch all the heat and radiate it inside, and when it rains hard, it sounds like the whir of some fast machine.The more preferable roofs are of tile which insulate from the heat and are quieter, but these are expensive. There are still many types of both kinds of houses in our neighborhood, but the face of the barrio is changing. As people receive money sent from relatives living in the US, cinderblock and concrete homes are becoming more normative. This type of income is the single largest in the country of Honduras, over and above any industry from within.. As has always been the case in countries where banks can fail easily, most people put any expendable cash into the construction of their home or in the purchase other things. A savings account is almost unheard of for the majority of the population. So, one sees many unfinished new houses, with people often “camping out” inside as they await a time when they can move the work to the next step. Yes, the face of our neighborhood is changing. It is beginning to look more prosperous, relatively speaking, though the houses are usually still small, with multiple generations living in one big room just as in the mud and wood homes. I often wonder, what will really change this society and its cycle of poverty?

Houses like this one are all too common. Most of the folks on our food list live in homes that are comparable to this, some a bit better, some a bit worse. But the physical structure is less important if the foundation of the home is on Jesus.

“Without real prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, we would just be social workers in funny suits. The four hours a day spent together in prayer in this chapel fuels all of our work and will be what bears any eternal fruit we may one day harvest. “

Walking down the street behind our Friary one sees mostly the newer cinderblock homes. One of these houses in particular, however, stands out from all the rest, not for its exterior but for what it is from within. It is called Casa Milagro, (Miracle House). The house grew out of our consistent contact with the young people in our barrio. Time and time again we would get to know some of the dreadful living situations and histories of the very bright children. In projecting just a little toward the future, most often it appeared that they would be doomed to falling back into the same cycles of ill-education, broken family structure and poverty that have plagued this country for centuries. Even if one attains a cinder block home, it doesn’t mean the living situations within is any different than one with a mud floor. Some statisticians here say that sexual abuse strike 4 out of 5 young girls before they are of age. Even if it is half of that, it is still outrageous. At one point we became aware of several very serious situations in the lives of a few girls in our neighborhood. We realized we would be accountable to God if we did nothing. So with the help of a trained social worker, and a strongly Catholic woman who had been working as a house mom at an orphanage down the road for 14 years, we decided to rent a multi-room cinder block house to try and change the odds in the futures of a few girls in the neighborhood.

The goal of Casa Milagro, first and foremost, is to form these at risk girls in a family environment built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. They are formed in prayer and work, and they receive an education. If they persevere then they may be given the opportunity to receive a University education. The hope is that they are able to become professional women who can choose whatever vocation God calls them to in life. Sadly, most women don’t get that chance here. Casa Milagro is a home that fills a gap in the society for girls who are too old to enter any of the orphanages around the country and yet too young to be on their own. Each of the girls had no recourse other than to live on the streets, or in physically and psychologically dangerous situations at the homes in which they were raised. The house quickly grew from 3 girls to 6 girls, and it has the capacity for eight. They know that they are free to leave at any time, yet they love to be there. The casa is a place of hope for the future.

The house mom, Doña Luz, has made Casa Milagro a safe refuge for young ladies whose poverty might otherwise make them prime targets of Camayagua’s brutal society. She runs the place and sets the prayer schedule. They eat meals together for a set minimum time. Family meal time is invaluable in forming community, and shaping individuals. The girls share responsibilities around the house. They go to school together and to Mass. They are encouraged to dress modestly. They are required to participate in the faith formation programs run by our lay missioner friends, ‘The Missioners of Christ’. They also have to give a few hours a week of service work. Currently they are all serving at the home for handicapped children and are happily learning sign language. The girls are required to meet regularly with the guidance counselor and a psychologist to help them deal with some of their past and to set them on a good footing for the future. Each of the girls takes the opportunity at Casa Milagro very seriously. They know that they have been given a chance that most will never get. It really is marvelous to see these young ladies brighten up as they begin to have the hope of a real future, often for the first time.

From the outside, this little house doesn’t look much different than the other finished cinder block homes on the street. But what is happening within is very different. A few young lives are being transformed and given a chance to grow in healthy soil. They are coming to know the Lord, being given human formation and getting through school. Looking at the lives of the poor in Honduras, in the States, or anywhere, it is easy to think that throwing money at the situation will change things. Certainly there is a need to cover basic necessities such as putting a roof over someone’s head. But the quickest way to change lives and the society is conversion to Christ, human formation built on Him and education. Please pray for the young ladies at Casa Milagro, and for the beautiful people here in Honduras.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

AS WE URGED LAST WINTER: THE CHURCH ACTS AGAINST DISSIDENT NUN GROUP — WATCH AMERICA’S HOLY, YOUNG GROWING COMMUNITIES OF SISTERS GROW EVEN FASTER NOW!

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Ray Noble

Mary Anne Marks, 2010 Harvard Valedictorian, is now Sister Maria Veritas OP of Ann Arbor, Michigan's Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist. She is one of many, holy, bright young religious vocations in member communities of the faithful Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious.

The Holy Spirit is working overtime these days! On February 26, this website exposed a dissident, aging organization that claims to speak for American nuns: the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). Its member communities include many with so little Catholic identity that some of their members even have made headlines by verbally attacking bishops, espousing radical forms of feminism such as bizarre goddess rituals, providing Planned Parenthood with abortion mill volunteers, praising gay marriage and serving as the Obama Administration’s fifth column within the Church in its attack on First Amendment religious freedom. But besides exposing the LCWR, our article also praised the remarkable growth of the other American “nun organization”, the Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR). Through many of the CMSWR’s 100 or so holy, faithful, communities of American women religious, a renaissance of American Catholicism has been steadily taking place below the radar as large numbers of young, intelligent, personable women have been quietly dedicating their lives to God. The CMSWR is personified by holy young women like Harvard University’s 2010 valedictorian Mary Anne Marks who has now become Sister Maria Veritas, OP of the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

This gospel readiness to go beyond self, leaving everything to follow the Lord, stands in marked contrast to the Carl Rogers psychological distortions, still evident more than forty-five years after he served as the catalyst for the falsehoods still followed among dissident nuns even today, in their navel-gazing, misguided quest for “self fulfillment”.

As the Apostolic Visitation’s report so correctly noted, such non-Christian distortions were evident, for example, in the 2007 LCWR keynote assembly address by Sister Laurie Brink, a sister in an LCWR Dominican community — one that follows a heterodox theology unlike the gospel clarity evident among the Ann Arbor Dominicans. For example, though a supposedly accomplished biblical scholar, Sister Brink must not have been content with gospel truth as she instead chose to propose to the assembly four alternative options for religious life, one of them being described as a “sojourner” – a nun who rejects Christianity itself by moving ”beyond the Church” and “beyond Jesus.”

So we were delighted yesterday when the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued its report about the LCWR that calls for decisive action against LCWR heterodoxy. The statement pointed out that LCWR extremism sometimes even entails a rejection of ”core Catholic beliefs” and “a serious source of scandal” that “is incompatible with religious life.” But most importantly, we see the Vatican response as paving the way for a new renaissance of genuine Catholicism in which religious sisters resume their historic role by serving as the very corporal soul of American Catholicism.

The ongoing investigation of the LCWR for the past three years has not made the LCWR any less heterodox or accepting of their bishops. There is considerable evidence that the very opposite is true.

Here, for your convenience, is our prior article that was posted on February 26. It was written after some LCWR leaders confronted the stand by bishops on the Obama Administration’s HHS mandate:

What America’s REAL Nuns Are Saying (AND THE CMSWR’S NATIONAL CALL TO PRAYER AND FASTING

Some ”gurus” say they foresee the coming of a Catholic Church gender war – nuns against their bishops! They were gloating last Friday: Catholic Nuns File Brief Supporting Affordable Care Act (Think Progress). The reason: the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) is at it again, this time by supporting the Obama Administration in its declared war on religious liberty as well as by continuing to smile on approvingly as many in member communities “express themselves” by opposing the Church on issues ranging from abortion, gay marriage and euthanasia and, most especially, by opposing the Catholic Church’s bishops with obvious delight. In case you don’t know who the LCWR is,

LCWR's Sister Margaret Brennan is one of the many confused dissidents from forty five years ago who make up much of the membership of LCWR communities. They pursued a supposed "spirit of Vatican II" that was rooted in the madness of the 60s and expressed itself in such things as rejection of Church authority. Of course, that was nowhere to be found in either the Council's spirit or its words.

it is a group of mostly octogenarian nuns, most of whom long ago cast off their religious habits (except, maybe, for fund-raising photos). Radical feminists abound at LCWR. Some say liberation theology and the politics of class warfare do, too. Journalist Donna Steichen even documented goddess worship and wicca practices among some influential LCWR members. In any event, the timing of their latest action shows an intent to diss the united front of their bishops against the Obama mandate. And the LCWR, long ago, turned its attention away from the destruction of Catholic education to bigger nemeses — like bishops, Catholic life-and-family values and the U.S. Constitution.

OK, so what are the real Catholic nuns saying about all this? You know who I mean – the young, faithful and growing communities … like those Dominicans in Ann Arbor, the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, who captivated Oprah and her TV audience twice. These are young, brilliant, faithful, holy and witty women… exemplified by Harvard’s 2010 valedictorian Mary Anne Franks: now Sister Maria Veritas, OP. By the way, check out her Harvard valedictory speech — in Latin!– here): Harvard Valedictorian Joins Convent.

It’s one of the best kept secrets in the Catholic Church that there are more than 100 similar communities of holy, faithful, intelligent and committed women — many of them with average member ages in the thirties. They include Mother Teresa’s selfless Missionaries of Charity in the South Bronx, the classy yet never prideful Sisters of Life, Father Benedict Groeschel’s holy and joyous Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal and many more.

None of these thriving communities are members of the LCWR, of course. ALL of them belong, instead, to the dynamic and inspiring Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR). So what is the CMSWR saying about the bishops’ response to the Obama Administration on behalf of religious liberty, freedom of conscience and Catholic faith? Check them at
http://cmswr.org
) and their response calling for a national novena of prayer and fasting: “We beg God for the preservation of our great and beautiful country…. The CMSWR invites you to join with us in a novena of prayer and fasting, asking Mary, Patroness of the United States of America, to implore God’s loving mercy on us at this critical time. The novena will begin March 25 and end April 2, 2012….”

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Posted in Catholic nuns, CMSWR, Conference of Catholic Bishops, Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious, Dissident Catholic nuns, Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, freedom of religion, Health care mandate, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Uncategorized | Tagged Catholic Bishops, Catholic dissidents, Catholic nuns, Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious, Leadershi[ Conference of Women Religious, Mary Anne Marks, OP, Sister Laurie Brink, Sister Maria Veritas | 1 Comment

BISHOPS, THE HHS MANDATE AND ILLEGALS

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Ray Noble

Migrant workers line up on an American street corner to be picked up by those supposedly offering paid work. Churches commonly include illegals as part of their outreach to the poor but some states are now passing laws to prohibit churches from doing so.

Last week I forwarded an email containing a new call to action by US Catholic bishops. The statement called for a “fortnight for freedom” to pray, fast and engage in political action against unprecedented threats to religious freedom. The bishops left no doubt that the principal threat comes from the Obama Administration’s HHS mandate to force employers to violate their religious beliefs:

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/our-first-most-cherished-liberty.cfm
]

Most responses that I received applauded the bishops. However, a few responses criticized the bishops, and some of the criticism came, not on behalf of the Obama administration, but instead from the political right. The writers are angry because the bishops also challenged laws, like one in Alabama, that are now trying to prohibit Church ministries from including illegals in their programs to feed, clothe and help the poor in their neighborhoods. As the statement also points out, “This new Alabama law makes it illegal for a Catholic priest to baptize, hear the confession of, celebrate the anointing of the sick with, or preach the word of God to, an undocumented immigrant. Nor can we encourage them to attend Mass or give them a ride to Mass.”

To some, the Alabama law might seem to make political sense — “We need to discourage illegals.” But the bishops were right to focus on a very different concern: as Jesus taught us, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s but render to God the things that are God’s.

Opponents of the HHS mandate need not worry —- the bishops “get it”. They aren’t reverting to some unfortunate bishop statements in past decades that did more harm than good. Too often, those statements caused the horrendous effect of providing unintended political cover for even the greatest of social evils, including abortion. That was because while they spoke out strongly against abortion, their desire to avoid seeming to take political sides too often made their statements seem to be saying that Congressional defenders of cataclysmic evils like abortion and other moral calamities were no worse than another Congressman who opposed some obscure new regulation on, let’s say, mercury-based paint. There’s plenty of blame to go around but what number of wrongheaded positions on the right could possibly measure up to causing the deaths of more than 50 million brothers and sisters? Because of those statements that failed to consider the magnitude of one threat as compared to another, abortion advocates were able to win the support of millions of pro-life voters by saying: “Sure you might disagree with me about abortion, the defense of the family and a few other issues, but just look at all the many other issues where the bishops are opposing the positions that our opponents are taking!” That was back in a long departed era, before those calling for legalized abortion also were calling, at almost every opportunity, for other programs that undermine moral decency and that also toss out constitutional safeguards based on an arrogant belief that five liberal judges are more astute than the founding fathers and the four conservative judges who uphold the Constitution’s intent.

In any case, the latest statement by bishops leaves no such doubt whatever: the Obama Administration has produced a grave crisis that Catholics are duty-bound to resist. No “moral equivalence” confusion here.

But defense of moral priorities must never prevent bishops — or any of us other believers, for that matter — from addressing other wrongs as well: defending what is just, right and moral no matter whose ox might get gored. If concern that the bishops might help Obama and Democrats because of what they said about immigration this week is our foremost concern, the problem is us, not the bishops. We may be altering our responsibility to God based on political maneuverings straight from some Machiavellian political playbook. At very least, doesn’t this kind of thinking say that religious belief must take the back seat to some perceived “real world” that is ruled by a political agenda?

But let me make a personal disclosure here about work with illegal immigrants. When my wife died eleven years ago, I left the practice of law to become a Franciscan friar for three wonderful years until unexpected family responsibilities called me in a different direction. As a friar in New York, I worked in both the pro-life and the Hispanic apostolates. In the second apostolate, I learned that some scoundrels would often pick up illegal day workers at a street corner in Yonkers to work on lawns and gardens, yet often would not pay them at the end of the day, knowing that the illegals wouldn’t complain because they feared what might happen if they were to draw attention to their legal vulnerability. So I helped organize the Obreros Unidos, not to oppose sound enforcement of immigration laws but to get CBS and other local investigative reporters to go after the thieving employers. We were quite successful.

Yet I favor strong enforcement of immigration laws — massive illegal immigration poses a grave national crisis. But, as the Republican presidential candidates including Romney and Gingrich recognized, answers won’t come easy. We need secure borders and also must discourage illegals in the future, such as by prosecuting those who hire them and by prioritizing deportations, starting with those illegals who persist in criminal activity. But we have neither the money nor the will to deport everybody — and that’s a good thing. Since the presence of illegals is a ubiquitous fact of life, churches should be praised for helping to feed, clothe and help with job training for those who remain. Surely conservatives will recognize that it’s also a lot better for everybody when churches act to relieve the nation’s social ills instead of turning to big government as the sole answer for every problem.

Alabama’s law is seriously misguided because it penalizes churches who do nothing more than the gospel commands. And while such laws don’t pose the grave threat to religious freedom that the Obama HHS mandate does, bishops would have been remiss in their duty and would have seemed partisan if they failed to mention them, especially since bills in other states are now trying to clone Alabama’s bad judgment. This new Alabama law makes it illegal for a Catholic priest to baptize, hear the confession of, celebrate the anointing of the sick with, or preach the word of God to, an undocumented immigrant. Nor can we encourage them to attend Mass or give them a ride to Mass.

Besides the HHS mandate and the Alabama law, the statement by the bishops also focuses on other challenges to religious freedom, all of which come from the political left:

A bill in the Connecticut Legislature has tried to force Catholic parishes to be restructured according to a congregational model, blatantly trying to interfere with the Church’s religious freedom.
University of California Hastings College of Law has denied student organization status to the Christian Legal Society, because it requires its leaders to be Christian and to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage. It is the only group the law school has refused to recognize in more than a century.
Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and the state of Illinois now prevent Catholic Charities from providing adoption or foster care services because those Charities refused to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit.
New York City has tried to bar the Bronx Household of Faith and other churches from renting public schools on weekends for worship services even though non-religious groups could rent the same schools.
The federal government is trying to end the Church’s services for victims of human trafficking by requiring it to provide or refer for contraceptive and abortion services in violation of Catholic teaching.

Like other people of faith, bishops were right to address the need to feed and clothe the poor. That is not inconsistent with sound enforcement of immigration laws. Nor does it signal any blindness to the far more serious threats coming from the Obama administration. The bishops, as good shepherds, must continue to speak out in support of the gospel. That includes distancing themselves from those of any political persuasion who might try to turn the Church into their own political pawn.

Posted in abortion, Alabama attack on religious freedom, Catholic, Catholic bishops, Catholic Charities adoption and foster care services, Catholic Social Services, Christian Legal Society, Conference of Catholic Bishops, Connecticut bill to restructure Catholic parishes, federal government human trafficking requirement of contraception and abortion services, Franciscan friars, freedom of religion, Health and Human Services mandate, Health care mandate, Hispanic, Hispanic immigration, homosexual adoptions, illeagl immigration, New York City religious rental of public school facilities, Newt Gingrich, political effect of the contraception mandate, politics, Romney, Uncategorized, University of California Hastings College of Law, unmarried cohabitation and adoption | Tagged abortion, Alabama attack on religious freedom, Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities adoption and Foster care services, Christian Legal Society, Connecticut bill to restructure Catholic parishes, contraception mandate, federal government human trafficking requirement of contraception and abortion services, Franciscan friars, Hispanic immigration, illegal immigration, New York City religious rental of public school facilities, Newt Gingrich, politics, pro-life, religious liberty, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, United States Constitution | 1 Comment

Yesterday’s Religious Freedom Rallies: Throw Out Those Stereotypes! Look at These Video Clips!

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Ray Noble

Ray Noble

The reports from yesterday’s religious freedom rallies are remarkable in many ways. In Orlando, I stood next to a Jewish rabbi as we joined hundreds in listening to a black minister deliver the opening invocation. A choir of young black schoolchildren led us in singing God Bless America. Hispanic women came, bringing a crucifix that tears at the heart. Strong women leaders, including US Congresswoman Sandy Adams of Orlando, sounded a clear message that was echoed by state office holders, clergy of many faiths and

Orlando's Religious Freedom Rally

other concerned citizens who spoke. Their clarion call: Everyone’s First Amendment liberty – indeed, freedom of conscience itself — is under attack, and it is coming from action of the federal government that has no legal or historic precedent. The HHS mandate would coerce many people of conscience who employ others– even religious entities – to violate those consciences by providing insurance that must, in turn, include coverage for abortifacients, contraceptives and sterilization for their employees . The Orlando rally was one of 150 held yesterday in cities throughout the USA.

And thanks to Chris Slattery on Facebook, just look at these clips from the rally on Wall Street! The MC, Father Agostino Torres of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, introduced Dr. Martin Luther King’s courageous niece, Alveda King. Watch what the most exciting ordained

Wall Street Religious Freedom Rally

Presbyterian minister in America and a leading Orthodox Jewish Rabbi had to say! I guarantee you, this is not what you expect! Some might even say that Pastor Bill Devlin went off message. He didn’t just talk about religious liberty but spoke about his personal religious belief: surprising in fact in some ways, coming from a Presbyterian minister: “Contraception is the mother of abortion” See him here:

And the power of his message was matched by that of Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the founder of Congregation Mevakshei Hashem (Those Who Seek the Lord) Synagogue in Brooklyn (right near the Brooklyn Dodgers’ old Ebbetts Field in the Flatbush section!) . Besides being a charismatic speaker, Rabbi Levin also is the director of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. Hear his disturbing yet inspiring message here, introduced by Fr. Agostino:

The message everywhere: pray and act. Silence is not an option.

Posted in Uncategorized, Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, freedom of religion, contraception, Deus et Patria, contraception mandate, Rally for Religious Liberty March 23, First Amendment, Health and Human Services mandate, Orlando Florida rally for religious freedom, Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Pastor Bill Devlin, Dr. Alveda King, Rep. Sandy Adams | Tagged Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, United States Constitution, contraception, contraception mandate, religious liberty, Rep. Sandy Adams, Pastor Bill Devlin, Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Dr. Alveda King, HHS madate, HHS mandate | 2 Comments

First Things First: Pray to End the HHS Mandate

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Ray Noble

By Ray Noble

Americans are focused right now on paying bills, finding jobs and getting their taxes filed. We also get mad about “those incompetents in Washington” and worry about the debt and the deficit. Oh yes… Iran and Afghanistan look bad, too. What a mess.

Q: “What about the HHS mandate and the bishops’ response?” A: “Oh yeah. I saw that there was an article written about that yesterday:
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/13/the-obama-administrations-many-adversaries-in-its-religious-liberty-wars/
Hope to read it some time. Bye.”

This website is happily out of sync. We’ve been talking since January about the unprecedented threat to religious liberty. And we do need to get those facts straight. But what’s even more important is prayer. A novena is now underway to end the HHS mandate. You can read about it here.
http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/2012/novena/

Posted in abortifacients, birth control, contraception, contraception mandate, Deus et Patria, First Amendment, freedom of religion, Health and Human Services mandate, prayer, religious liberty, Uncategorized | Tagged birth control, Catholic Bishops, contraception mandate, prayer, religious liberty, United States Constitution | Leave a comment

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S DIVERSE ADVERSARIES IN ITS WARS ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY…. Plus A Detailed Review of This Year’s Unprecedented State Vs Church Confrontation

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Ray Noble

By Ray Noble

It was just over seven weeks ago that the Obama Administration began its frontal assault on the religious liberty of the Catholic Church. Yet even before Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled that provocative HHS abortifacient/contraception/sterilization mandate on January 20, an astonishingly broad spectrum of faith communities had filed briefs in the United States Supreme Court to oppose a different threat that Administration policies presented to First Amendment religious liberty.

The issue in that case was whether a Lutheran congregation’s right to decide who is fit to serve in its ministry must yield to the Administration’s EEOC policies. And it was not just Protestants but also Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and even spiritists, Santeristas, animists, Mandaeans and Vaisnavas (“Hare Krishnas”) who rallied to the congregation’s support in those amicus briefs opposing the Administration’s intrusion. And the Court’s answer was no less decisive. All nine Justices, acting with rare unanimity, rebuked the Administration’s assault on that congregation’s First Amendment rights. Read the Court’s opinions in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC at
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-553.pdf

The amicus briefs appear in their entirety at
http://www.americanbar.org/publications/preview_home/10-553.html
.

The Administration’s opponents in Hosanna-Tabor seem to have learned a vital lesson from history: despite the enormous differences that separate them, they had learned that when government attacks anybody’s fundamental rights, it attacks everyone’s.

Martin Niemoller

The poignant words of Martin Niemoller, the heroic anti-Nazi theologian and German patriot, may have been in the minds of some of those who stood up in defense of the Lutheran congregation:

“In Germany they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

Of course, the ink on this Court opinion rebuking the Administration’s violation of the congregation’s religious liberty was hardly dry when, little more than a week later, the Catholic Church and Catholic employers were told when they will be required to change their employee health insurance coverage in violation of their religious principles and personal consciences. Yet the Administration almost certainly did not expect the Church’s response nor the many voices outside the Church who understand that the Administration’s mandate poses a threat to them, too.

First of all, the Catholic bishops have been united, clear, bold, and powerful in their response. Meanwhile, other Catholic groups have been filing lawsuits against the mandate and the Administration, sometimes working together with groups like the Becket Fund and the Alliance Defense Fund.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/10/becket-fund-lawsuit-obama-birth-control-mandate_n_1335467.html
. Among the first Catholic plaintiffs to sue the Administration are Ave Maria University of Florida, Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, EWTN Global TV Network and the Priests for Life.

Seven states also have filed lawsuits against the mandate: Nebraska, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Catholic organizations like Catholic Social Services and some Catholic employers and other individuals have joined in the litigation.

Equally encouraging are the strong protests against the mandate coming from other faiths. Lawsuits have been filed by such groups as Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College and non-denominational Christian colleges including Geneva College in Pennsylvania and Colorado Christian University. Read more:
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/20/obama-faces-more-lawsuits-over-pro-abortion-hhs-mandate/

Other prominent Protestant and Jewish voices are confronting the mandate in the arena of public opinion rather than the courts. Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren, President Obama’s choice to deliver the invocation at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration is speaking out with power:

“I’d go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands.”

Warren also makes clear that the government’s threat targets religious liberty itself: “I’m not a Catholic but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers and sisters to practice their belief against government pressure.”

Prominent talk show host Glenn Beck, a Mormon, is spreading a similar message:

“I am a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but … the state is telling the Catholic Church to violate its principles and teachings…. [W]hen the state comes

Glenn Beck and Cardinal Timothy Dolan

against the Catholics, or the Jews, or the Muslims, or the Pentecostals, or the Mormons or those of any other faith – exotic or familiar – we must all stand up as one….”

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North America also issued a stinging rebuke against the Administration’s mandate, calling it an “infringement of religious liberty” that “poses a grave threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience.”

While some Jewish leaders support the Administration, just as some did in Hosanna-Tabor, those who oppose the mandate are pointing to the grave constitutional threat that the mandate poses to all believers. Nathan Diament, Executive Director of Judaism’s Orthodox Union, has voiced such concerns while pointing out that his concern is confounding ”political commentators [who] expected to see Jewish leaders and their respective constituents on the sidelines….” Rabbi Abba Cohen of Agudath Israel, another leading voice of the Orthodox Jewish community, took specific aim at the Administration’s purported “compromise” revision of its mandate in February that did not rectify the problem in any way. He provides a convincing explanation of why it offers no real solution at all:

Senator Joe Lieberman of Massachusetts and Rabbi Abba Cohen of Agudath Israel.

“Whether or not the White House’s new ‘compromise’ proposal adequately addresses the religious freedom concerns raised by the Catholic Church is for the Catholic Church to say… not the White House…. [N]o religiously sponsored entity and no religiously motivated individual should be forced by government to violate its or his sincerely held religious principles…. [T]he determination of religious propriety must be left to the religious entity or individual, not to the government.” For more discussion of Jewish concerns about the mandate, see
http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?view=article&catid=110%3Anational&id=554%3Abroader-implications-draw-jewish-involvement-in-the-contraception-debate&tmpl=component&print=1&page=&option=com_content&Itemid=293

These strong condemnations of the mandate from religious leaders and other prominent people seem to voice the concerns of the general public as well. A Gallup poll released two weeks ago shows that 72 percent of Americans now think the individual mandate is unconstitutional. In fact, only 37 percent of Democrats think it is constitutional, along with 6 percent of Republicans and 21 percent of Independents.

There is also data to suggest that Democrats seeking elective office may be hurt by the Administration’s threats to religious liberty. The strongest proof of this, surprisingly, comes from liberal Massachusetts. When Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown co-sponsored a conscience exemption two weeks ago in the Senate

Confounding the political pundits and striking terror in the hearts of Democrats, Republiican Sen. Scott Brown is now leading Democrat Elizabeth Warren in the polls since he spoke out in favor of religious liberty and against the Obama Administration's HHS mandate

to exempt employers who would otherwise be forced to violate their principles and their personal consciences, Democrats gleefully predicted that he had committed political suicide. They expected women voters to punish Brown severely for exempting any employer from providing them contraceptives. But the very opposite has happened: while some polls had reported that Brown was losing to Democrat Elizabeth Warren before he spoke out for religious liberty and freedom of conscience, he now is suddenly commanding a respectable lead and even running well among women as well as men. See
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/05/the-lefts-war-on-religious-liberty-is-backfiring/?preview=true&preview_id=971&preview_nonce=f6651b5d45

In short, the constitutional threats posed by the Administration’s assaults on First Amendment religious liberty guaranties seem to be uniting many of America’s diverse faith communities, prompting them to speak out in opposition. And voters seem to be demanding that their elected representatives speak out in favor of religious liberty and conscience protection.

A POSTSCRIPT: A SUMMARY OF DEUS ET PATRIA’S COVERAGE OF THE

MANDATE AND ITS THREAT TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

This website was one of the first to recognize the magnitude of the mandate-induced religious liberty crisis, especially for the Catholic Church and its members. No sooner had HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius disclosed the scope of the Administration’s plan than we expressed concern that Catholic hospitals and other Catholic institutions might be forced to close their doors.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/01/21/will-catholic-universities-and-hospitals-close/
Sadly, our concern proved to be well-founded. Five weeks later, Cardinal George of Chicago told Catholic institutions to prepare to close within two years.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/02/28/cardinal-george-warns-closing-of-catholic-hospitals-universities-in-two-years/
.

We have examined why the Catholic Church must not, cannot, and will not reverse its course by simply complying with Administration demands.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/03/why-the-catholic-church-will-not-comply/
. We reported on the grave fiscal implications that this crisis may pose for this nation and, especially, for our most vulnerable citizens.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/04/from-the-fiscal-times-the-hhs-mandate-would-devastate-the-poor-by-forcing-catholic-hospitals-to-close/
.

Responses from the bishops have been reported and closely reviewed.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/02/29/from-the-national-catholic-register-crossing-the-rubicon/
;
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/04/masterful-confrontation-the-unprecedented-threat-to-religious-liberty/
.

When we reported that some religious sisters dissented from the bishops in favor of the mandate, we went on to present a detailed analysis of the two very different groups of women religious in the United States. We noted that the most dynamic religious communities are in strong support of the bishops.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/02/26/what-americas-real-nuns-are-saying-and-the-cmswrs-national-call-to-prayer-and-fasting/

We have linked to the writings of faithful Catholic scholars about the mandate.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/02/24/father-joe-personal-conscience-and-religious-liberty/
;
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/07/the-unprecedented-marginalization-of-religious-liberty-mary-ann-glendon-sounds-the-warning/
.

We also reported on the concerns being expressed by both Church and civic leaders .
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/02/12/the-obama-mandate-religious-liberty-and-the-gathering-firestorm/
.

The brazen, White House attempt to undermine the leadership of Catholic bishops with the help of Catholic dissidents, a friendly media and White House mailings was exposed and condemned.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/02/10/newsflash-white-house-says-catholics-and-planned-parenthood-now-agree/
;
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/02/10/white-house-as-snake-oil-salesman/
.

The tactics of Catholic dissenters were reviewed, sometimes through links to other commentators.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/01/liberal-catholic-pawns-in-the-obama-religious-wars/

The political fallout from the crisis also was reported and analyzed.
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/02/13/poll-shows-obama-mandate-causes-a-deep-division/
;
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/05/the-lefts-war-on-religious-liberty-is-backfiring/
;
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/02/are-kennedy-catholics-in-massachusetts-returning-to-catholic-beliefs/
;

Finally, we proudly promoted the upcoming religious liberty rallies:
http://deusetpatria.com/2012/03/04/rally-for-religious-freedom-across-america/

In short, the Obama Administration’s confrontations with America’s religious bodies are unprecedented. At Deus et Patria, these unfolding events will be reported, analyzed and discussed from a loyal Catholic perspective. And though we have a point of view, we try to get all our facts right.

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Posted in Abba Cohen, abortifacient, abortion, Agudath Israel, Alliance Defense Fund, amicus briefs, animists, Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North America, Ave Maria University, Baptist, Becket Fund, Belmont Abbey College, birth control, Bishop Lori, Cardinal George, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Catholic, Catholic bishops, Catholic Hospitals, Catholic nuns, Catholic Social Services, Conference of Catholic Bishops, contraception, contraception mandate, Deus et Patria, Elizabeth Warren, Evangelical Lutheran Church, EWTN, First Amendment, freedom of religion, Gallup Poll, Geneva College, Glenn Beck, Hare Krishnas, Health and Human Services mandate, Hindus, Hosanna-Tabor Church v. EEOC, Jews, Joseph Koterski, Kathleen Sebelius, Louisiana College, Mandaeans, Martin Niemoller, Massachusetts Senate Race, Mormons, Muslims, Nathan Diament, Orthodox Union, Pastor Rick Warren, Priests for Life, Protestants, religious liberty, Rick Warren, Santeria, Scott Brown, Sikh, spiritists, sterilization, Uncategorized, United States Constitution, Vaisnavas | Tagged abortion, Agudath Israel, Alliance Defense Fund, amicus briefs, amicus briefs on the contraception mandate, animists, Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North America, Ave Maria University, Baptist, Becket Fund, Belmont Abbey College, birth control, Cardinal George, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Catholic Bishops, Catholic hospitals, Catholic nuns, Catholic Social Services, Catholics, Colorado Christian University, contraception, contraception mandate, Elizabeth Warren, EWTN, Father Joseph Koterski, First Amendment, Gallup Poll, Geneva College, Glenn Beck, Hare Krishnas, Health and Human Services mandate, Hindus, Hosanna-Tabor Church v. EEOC, Jews, Kath;een Sebelius, Kathleen Sebelius, Louisiana College, Mandaeans, Martin Niemoller, Massachusetts Senate Race, Mathan Diament, Mormons, Moslems, Mu, Muslims, Nathan Diament, Orthodox Union, President Barack Obama, Priests for Life, Protestants, Rabbi Abba Cohen, religious liberty, Rick Warren, Santeria, Scott Brown, Sikhs, spiritists, sterilization, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, United States Constitution, Vaisnavas | 5 Comments

Marginalization of Religious Liberty: Mary Ann Glendon Sounds the Warning

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Ray Noble

Prof. Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor at Harvard University Law School. In the following article from the current America Magazine, Professor Glendon examines ongoing and unprecedented government assaults on religious liberty. At the federal level, these include the NLRB’s recent, unsuccessful challenge to the right of the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran congregation to choose its own ministers that was recently blocked by the Supreme Court and, now, the HHS health insurance mandate that would allow federal regulations to co-opt both the First Amendment and an employer’s freedom of conscience. In analyzing how the government threatens religion’s traditionally robust contribution to public dialogue, Glendon warns that these attempts not only pose a fundamental threat to religious liberty but to the unique vitality of American democracy itself.

Mary Ann Glendon, a former U S Ambassador to the Holy See, is Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and currently serves as the first female President of the Roman Catholic Church’s official Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Her expertise is in the fields of bioethics, comparative constitutional rights and human rights in international law. Her many books include: Traditions in Turmoil, A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, A Nation Under Lawyers: How the Crisis in the Legal Profession is Transforming American Society, Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse, and (edited with David Blankenhorn) Seedbeds of Virtue: Sources of Competence, Character, and Citizenship in American Society.

The following links comes from catholiceducation.org:

First of Freedoms?

MARY ANN GLENDON

How religious liberty could become a second-class right.

Until recently the status of religious liberty as one of the most fundamental rights of Americans has seldom been seriously challenged. Despite lively controversy about its precise scope and limits, citizens of all faiths have long taken for granted the unique model of religious freedom that has enabled this nation’s diverse religions to flourish and to coexist in relative harmony. continue here:
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/persecution/pch0298.htm

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abortion, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Catholic Bishops, contraception, contraception mandate, Hosanna-Tabor Church v. EEOC, Obamacare, Professor Mary Ann Glendon, religious liberty, United States Constitution | Leave a comment

Masterful Confrontation: The Unprecedented Threat to Religious Liberty

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Ray Noble

The Jesuits’ America Magazine (which still calls itself “the national Catholic weekly”) published an editorial
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13277
chiding the bishops. Bishop Lori’s reply follows. Responding to the gravest threat to religious liberty in American history, this statement may long be remembered for its urgency, boldness and intelligence as well as its skillful use of well-directed irony and humor almost never seen in past statements of its kind. We are now witnessing US bishops at their finest as they address the Administration’s unprecedented attack on religious liberty.

Bishop Lori’s Reply:

The March 5^th America editorial takes the United States Bishops to task for entering too deeply into the finer points of health care policy as they ponder what the slightly revised Obama Administration mandate might mean for the Catholic Church in the United States. These details, we are told, do not impinge on religious liberty. We are also told that our recent forthright language borders on incivility.

What details are we talking about? For one thing, a government mandate to insure, one way or another, for an abortifacient drug called Ella. Here the “details” would seem to be fertilized ova, small defenseless human beings, who will likely suffer abortion within the purview of a church-run health insurance program.

What other details are at issue? Some may think that the government’s forcing the Church to provide insurance coverage for direct surgical sterilizations such as tubal ligations is a matter of policy. Such force, though, feels an awful lot like an infringement on religious liberty.

Still another detail is ordinary contraception. Never mind that the dire societal ills which Pope Paul predicted would ensue with the widespread practice of artificial contraception have more than come true. The government makes the rules and the rules are the rules. So, the bishops should regard providing (and paying for) contraception as, well, a policy detail. After all, it’s not like the federal government is asking bishops to deny the divinity of Christ. It’s just a detail in a moral theology—life and love, or something such as that. And why worry about other ways the government may soon require the Church to violate its teachings as a matter of policy?

More details come to mind. Many if not most church entities are self-insured. Thus, Catholic social service agencies, schools, and hospitals could end up paying for abortifacients, sterilizations, and contraception. If the editorial is to be believed, bishops should regard it not as a matter of religious liberty but merely policy that, as providers they teach one thing but as employers they are made to teach something else. In other words, we are forced to be a countersign to Church teaching and to give people plenty of reason not to follow it. The detail in question here is called “scandal”.

Then there is the detail of religious insurers and companies that are not owned by the Church but which exist solely to serve the Church’s mission. The new “accommodation” leaves them out in the cold. And if I really wanted to get into the weeds I’d mention the conscience rights of individual employers.

Have I forgotten any other details we bishops shouldn’t be attending to? Well, I guess we’re policy wonks for wondering if the government has a compelling interest in forcing the Church to insure for proscribed services when contraception is covered in 90% of healthcare plans, is free in Title X programs, and is available from Walmart (generic) for about $10 a month. Pardon me also for wondering whether the most basic of freedoms, religious liberty, isn’t being compromised, not by a right to health care, but by a claim to “services” which regard pregnancy and fertility as diseases.

And didn’t President Obama promise adequate conscience protection in the reform of healthcare? But maybe it’s inappropriate for pastors of souls to ask why the entirely adequate accommodation of religious rights in healthcare matters that has existed in federal law since 1973 is now being changed.

Oh, and as Detective Colombo used to say: “Just one more thing.” It’s the comment in the editorial about when we bishops are at our best. Evidently, it’s when we speak generalities softly and go along to get along, even though for the first time in history the federal government is forcing church entities to provide for things that contradict church teaching. Maybe Moses wasn’t at his best when he confronted Pharaoh. Maybe the Good Shepherd was a bit off his game when he confronted the rulers of his day.

But those are just details.

Most Reverend William E. Lori

Bishop of Bridgeport

Chairman, Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty

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Posted in America Magazine, Bishop William Lori, Catholic, contraception, contraception mandate, freedom of religion, health care compromise, Health care mandate, Jesuits | Tagged America Magazine, Catholic Bishops, contraception mandate, Jesuits, Obamacare, religious liberty | 1 Comment

Why The Catholic Church Will Not Comply

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Ray Noble

In the following article from Catholic World Report, a professor of moral theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio discusses why the Catholic Church must refuse to comply with the HHS contraception/abortifacient/sterilization health insurance mandate:

From Catholic World Report:

We Must Not Comply
February 28, 2012 – Catholic World Report
The HHS mandate: Assessing the current situation and looking to the future
Msgr. Kevin T. McMahon, STD
On January 20, 2012, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized its August 2011 mandate requiring ….

Read the rest here:
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/1153/we_must_not_comply.aspx

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Posted in abortifacient, abortion, birth control, contraception, contraception mandate, freedom of religion, health care compromise, Health care mandate, religious liberty, STD, The Catholic Church | Tagged abortion, Catholic Bishops, contraception, contraception mandate, Msgr. Kevin T. McMahon, Obama, Obamacare, religious liberty, STD, United States Constitution | Leave a comment

ARE KENNEDY CATHOLICS IN MASSACHUSETTS RETURNING TO CATHOLIC BELIEFS?

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Ray Noble

WHATS HAPPENING TO KENNEDY CATHOLICS IN MASSACHUSETTS? Scott Brown is my least favorite Republican but he’s been an uncanny political weather vane. After getting elected to Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat with Tea Party support, he then veered far to the left as Senator but that wasn’t working for him. Last September Democrat Elizabeth Warren was beating him by five to ten points in every poll. So what did Brown do? He took a sharp right again on many issues and yesterday voted against the Obama/HHS anti-Catholic mandate and in favor of the unsuccessful Senate vote on the Blunt Amendment and religious liberty. So how’s reborn conservative Brown doing lately? He has risen ten to twenty points, according to most 2012 polls so that he now LEADS Warren by five to ten points! Rasmussen poll yesterday: Brown 49, Warren 44 (Brown +5). And other polls show him faring even better since his four-month old reconversion to the right : Suffolk/7News: Brown 49, Warren 40 (Brown +9); Mass Insight/Opinion Dynamics: Brown 52, Warren 43 (Brown +9).

The reason: Besides an anti-Obama reaction to rising gas prices, a Gallup poll shows that, under the radar, Obama’s anti-Catholic HHS mandate is arousing concerns among many Americans — of every faith and none – about the Administration’s attack on religious liberty. And bishops and priests have been talking to those in their parishes about this issue far beyond that for any issue in the public square within living memory.

By the way, along with Brown’s apparent resurgence, Republicans look well positioned to win control of the Senate. While they’re likely to lose Olympia Snowe’s seat in Maine, they look likely to win over seats in North Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, Virginia and (more likely than not) Michigan and Wisconsin and maybe Florida!

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Posted in Blunt Amendment, Catholic, contraception, contraception mandate, Deus et Patria, freedom of religion, politics, Rasmussen poll, religious liberty, Scott Brown, Senate races | Tagged Blunt Amendment, Catholic voters, contraception mandate, Massachusetts, politics, Scott Brown, Senate races | Leave a comment

Liberal Catholic Pawns in the Obama Religious Wars

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Ray Noble

“The Obama religious wars”: neither words of hyperbole nor an empty epithet but an apt description of an unfolding crisis that encompasses the United States Constitution and fundamental religious liberty. Just last month, in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC, the United States Supreme Court unanimously (yes: 9 to 0!) slapped down the Obama Administration’s attempt to countermand a Protestant congregation’s choice of its own minister. Now the Administration is telling the Catholic Church that it must either compromise its conscience or close its hospitals, universities and tens of thousands of outreaches to the poor and the vulnerable of all faiths and of none. As in Hosanna-Tabor, the Administration even claims for itself the right to intrude upon a most fundamental right of any religious body: to decide who it is who speaks for a church, synagogue, mosque or other religious entity and its members.

By its manipulation of the media message, the Administration has been saying, in effect, that its own dissident Catholic allies — not the bishops — are the legitimate voice of the Catholic Church. And, as a corollary, they even seem to suggest that their collaborators are entitled to impose their views on both the Church itself and also on other Catholics: namely, those whose consciences won’t let them become complicit in the Administration’s mandated health insurance for contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization. Even people of other faiths who don’t share the same Catholic moral objections are sounding the alarm. As in the Hosanna-Tabor case, the Administration’s principal adversary in these religious wars is not the Catholic Church but, rather, First Amendment religious liberty itself.

Despite this developing solidarity among people of diverse faiths against the threat to religious liberty, vocal and well-positioned Catholic dissenters on the left are serving as the Administration’s willing pawns in this war. In the following article in First Things Magazine, George Weigel argues that the credibility of these Catholic collaborators of the Administration is becoming the first casualty in these religious wars, as these Administration apologists reveal the “utter incoherence into which post-conciliar liberal Catholicism in America has tragically fallen”:

George Weigel

The Catholic Diaspora and the Tragedy of Liberal Catholicism

February 29, 2012

George Weigel

In a February 14 note to his people, Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., the archbishop of Chicago, commented on the question of “who speaks for the Catholic Church,” which had become a subject of public controversy thanks to the Obama administration’s “contraceptive mandate”—which is, of course, an abortifacient and sterilization mandate as well. The cardinal noted the administration’s crude attempt to play divide-and-conquer with the Catholic Church in the United States, a ploy to which some nominally Catholic groups quickly acquiesced. . . . Continue Reading »

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Posted in abortifacients, birth control, Cardinal Francis George, Catholic colleges, Catholic Health Association, Catholic Hospitals, Catholic nuns, contraception, contraception mandate, George Weigel, health care compromise, Health care mandate, Hosanna-Tabor Church v. EEOC, John Courtney Murray, Jr., Obamacare, religious liberty, Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2012, Sister Carol Keehan, The Catholic Church, United States Constitution, United States Supreme Court | Tagged Catholic Health Association, contraception mandate, E. J. Dionne, George Weigel, Hosanna-Tabor Church v. EEOC, John Courtney Murray, Jr., Sister Carol Keehan, The Catholic Church | Leave a comment

From the National Catholic Register: Crossing the Rubicon

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Ray Noble

‘We Are Crossing the Rubicon’: House Tackles HHS Mandate Threat (143)

Bishop Lori, legal and policy experts raise concerns; a representative of the Institute of Medicine defends the federal rule.

http://api.tweetmeme.com/button.js?url=http%3A//www.ncregister.com/daily-news/we-are-crossing-the-rubicon-house-tackles-hhs-mandate-threat&style=compact&source=NCRegister&service=bit.ly&o=http%3A//www.facebook.com/%3Fref%3Dlogo&b=1

by JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND02/29/2012 Comments (1)

WASHINGTON — Yesterday a full House Judiciary Committee hearing provided opponents of the HHS contraception mandate with a forum to explain why President Obama’s “accommodation” failed to address

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Posted in abortifacients, abortion, birth control, Bishop William Lori, Catholic, Catholic Health Association, Catholic Hospitals, Conference of Catholic Bishops, contraception, Deus et Patria, freedom of religion, National Catholic Register, Obamacare, politics, pro-life, religious liberty, Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2012, Sister Carol Keehan | Tagged abortion, Bishop William Lori, Catholic Bishops, contraception, contraception mandate, National Catholic Register, Obamacare, politics, pro-life, Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2012, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, United States Constitution | Leave a comment

Scholarly Medical Ethics Journal: Why Not Baby Killing?

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Ray Noble

The GRIZZLY, BRAVE NEW WORLD OF MEDICAL “ETHICS”

The abstract below comes from this month’s Journal of Medical Ethics, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. It embodies the icy, amoral detachment of utilitarian medical ethics. The argument of the Australian authors from the University of Melbourne echoes that made for many years by Princeton University bioethics professor Peter Singer.

Based on utilitarian premises, the article concludes that newborn babies, like infants in the womb, are not fully human persons. Therefore (to use a “nuanced” word) the conclusion is that it is ethical to “terminate” newborns. The professors emphasize that this is true “even if the baby is not disabled.” In the absence of limits, is it then ethical, to use the less nuanced word, for parents to kill the baby if she doesn’t quite look like “the Gerber baby” … or cries annoyingly at night?

Remember: this new article appears in a leading, peer-reviewed “scholarly” journal of medical ethics. It not alarmist conjecture.

The article argues that killing newborn babies is moral whether or not the child is disabled. Of course, if the baby does happen to be sick or disabled, others besides the parents often are affected, especially in a future world of national health insurance. In an amoral, utilitarian society, why wouldn’t the Department of Human Services defend the low cost of health insurance by deciding to end the baby’s life, trumping the pleas of her parents?

Following the abstract, see also the rebuttal by a noted Princeton scholar and opponent of abortion who has long disputed Peter Singer’s utilitarian “logic”:

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS An international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and researchers in medical ethics Journal of Medical Ethicsjme.bmj.com J Med Ethics doi:10.1136/medethics-2011-100411

After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?

Alberto Giubilini, Department of Philosophy, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; Centre for Human Bioethics, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Francesca Minerva, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Oxford University, Oxford, UK Contributors AG and FM contributed equally to the manuscript. Published Online First 23 February 2012

Abstract Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus’ health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.

REBUTTAL: See the analysis by Princeton University’s McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Robert P. George, who is also one of the foremost scholars who opposes abortion:

Mirror of Justice: It’s no longer just Peter Singer

mirrorofjustice.blogs.com

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Posted in abortion, after birth abortion, Alberto Giubilini, Deus et Patria, Eobert P. George, Francesca Minerva, Health care mandate, Journal of Medical Ethics, Obamacare, Peter Singer, politics, pro-life, Robert P. George, Uncategorized | Tagged abortion, after birth abortion, Alberto Giubilini, Francesca Minerva, Journal of Medical Ethics, national health care, Obamacare, Peter Singer, pro-life, Robert P. George | 4 Comments

What America’s REAL Nuns Are Saying (AND THE CMSWR’S NATIONAL CALL TO PRAYER AND FASTING)

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Ray Noble

Continue reading →

Posted in abortifacient, abortifacients, abortion, Catholic, Catholic nuns, Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious, contraception, Deus et Patria, Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, freedom of religion, health care compromise, Health care mandate, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa, Oprah, pro-life, Sisters of life, Uncategorized, United States Constitution, United States Supreme Court | Tagged abortion, Catholic Bishops, Catholic nuns, Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious, contraception, Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Missionaries of Charity, Obamacare, Oprah, politics, pro-life, Sister Margaret Brennan, Sisters of Life, United States Constitution | Leave a comment

Deus et Patria

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How religious liberty could become a second-class right.

Masterful Confrontation: The Unprecedented Threat to Religious Liberty

Bishop Lori’s Reply:

Why The Catholic Church Will Not Comply

ARE KENNEDY CATHOLICS IN MASSACHUSETTS RETURNING TO CATHOLIC BELIEFS?

Liberal Catholic Pawns in the Obama Religious Wars

From the National Catholic Register: Crossing the Rubicon

‘We Are Crossing the Rubicon’: House Tackles HHS Mandate Threat (143)

Bishop Lori, legal and policy experts raise concerns; a representative of the Institute of Medicine defends the federal rule.

Scholarly Medical Ethics Journal: Why Not Baby Killing?

After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?

What America’s REAL Nuns Are Saying (AND THE CMSWR’S NATIONAL CALL TO PRAYER AND FASTING)

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