Bishops Keep Up the Fight Against the HHS Mandate
Posted by Matt Yonke (March 15, 2012 at 5:28 pm)
In a courageous statement released today, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have vowed to continue their vigorous efforts to stop President Obama’s HHS Mandate.
The statement, released by the USCCB’s highest body, the Administrative Committee, said the bishops are “strongly unified and intensely focused in [their] opposition to the various threats to religious freedom in our day.”
Concisely stating the crux of the issue which the media routinely and seemingly willfully refuses to acknowledge, the bishops said:
This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive, even when it is not provided by the Church’s hand and with the Church’s funds. This is not about the religious freedom of Catholics only, but also of those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block. This is not about the Bishops’ somehow “banning contraception,” when the U.S. Supreme Court took that issue off the table two generations ago. Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church—consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions—to act against Church teachings.
After stating what the problem is not, they made clear the threefold nature of the problem: The HHS Mandate is an unwarranted government definition of religion, a mandate to act against the Church’s teachings and a violation of personal civil rights in the form of the violation of the consciences of employers and medical professionals.
Finally, the bishops reiterated their intent to keep up the fight against this and all other threats on religious liberty and issued a call to action:
We will continue our vigorous efforts at education and public advocacy on the principles of religious liberty and their application in this case (and others). We will continue to accept any invitation to dialogue with the Executive Branch to protect the religious freedom that is rightly ours. We will continue to pursue legislation to restore the same level of religious freedom we have enjoyed until just recently. And we will continue to explore our options for relief from the courts, under the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws that protect religious freedom. All of these efforts will proceed concurrently, and in a manner that is mutually reinforcing.
Most importantly of all, we call upon the Catholic faithful, and all people of faith, throughout our country to join us in prayer and penance for our leaders and for the complete protection of our First Freedom—religious liberty—which is not only protected in the laws and customs of our great nation, but rooted in the teachings of our great Tradition. Prayer is the ultimate source of our strength—for without God, we can do nothing; but with God, all things are possible.
Be sure to read the entire statement, and send a message to the bishops through the contact form on the website to thank them for their firm stand for religious freedom. And then get to work helping out with your local Rally, since that’s a part of their call to action!
My complete apprecation for the action of our bishops.
March 15th, 2012 at 5:37 pm
I’m encouraged that the bishops are standing firm and am praying that they will continue to oppose proposed abuse of religious freedom in America.
March 15th, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Thanks to the Bishops for standing firm for our religious liberties. I am praying that they and all the faithful will continue to speak out in defense of our religious freedom
March 15th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
thanks to all the Bishops for standing up.
March 15th, 2012 at 8:34 pm
This election in November is the most important in our nation1`s history. I know we can not say vote for any one but the sitting president, but by continuing to voice our opposition to this horrible hhs edit, we will allow the conscience of all Americans to vote to save this great nation.
my own quote
before i am a husband and father.
before i am a u.s. marine.
before i am an american.
before i am a black american
i am a christian, and i will vote my conscience in November.
March 15th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
I thank all the bishops for fighting for their faith. Together in action and prayers, we stand strong in faith. God already won the battle!
March 16th, 2012 at 2:37 am
Thank you Bishops for your strong stand. We need your leadership. Now we Christians must demonstrate in huge, overwhelmilng numbers that we too can lead and support what is right and good, our religious liberty.
And we must vote in overwhelming numbers against the person and persons who have perpetrated this evil on our nation and our faith. If we are not successful in 2012 we will suffer the consequences. Believe! Pray! Act!
March 16th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
[…] • Bishops Keep Up the Fight Agai… […]
March 16th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
I think its time we stood for something, beside voting for the left and being so touchy feely. Modernism is a cancer that has entered our Church and has created this false notion that we are for Revolution Theology and Marxism! We are a FREE Christian Nation!Lets act like it!
LTC
March 16th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Religious freedom comes from being “free in the LORD”. No one can take that away from you but yourself. You choose the right thing or the wrong thing, according to your concious.
No matter what country we live in, we have the Lord within us. We must be deligent and responsible as to what the laws in our country say about Religious Freedom..Our country is a Judeo Christian nation and it needs to stay that way.
March 17th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
To me this is far more than an infringement upon my free “opinions” about religious belief. This is an outright attack on the nature of the God our founding fathers believed in who is the giver of life, the kind of life that is unique to humanity. When God created mankind, into humanity He breathed the breath of life, and mankind became a living soul made in the image of God. This HHS mandate puts our nation
squarely in the middle of the evolution vs. creation debate. Which way will we have it? Either there is a God and we will submit to Him or there is not a God and we will allow our society to make up a god in their own image which will lead us all to destruction and death.
March 17th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Can anyone enlighten me as to why some Catholic Bishops heed the call of the Holy Spirit and vigorously defend against threats to our faith while others appear to graze happily in the field of indifference? Is there any greater good than the defense of unborn life?
Or, has the indelible faith and beliefs of their forebearers so overpowered normal reasoning so as to preclude the possibility of considering merits of alternate ideologies of governance and thus have capitulated under the power of political correctness, into silence? Have they been overtaken with fear in this storm Americas religious are currently experiencing?
It was Jesus that rebuked Peter when fear overcame him during a storm when Jesus said “o ye of little faith why do you doubt me”? Do some of our Bishops lack faith and courage in dealing with evil, head on, in this storm? Somebody please tell me!
March 18th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Somewhere in all this, there is a missing link! Our President was indeed sensitive to Catholic beliefs and changed the original plan. Now insurance companies, not Catholic institutions, will include contraception medication at no cost to ALL employers. Now women can act according to their own beliefs and medical needs. Not all workers in Catholic institutions are Catholic, or even Christian. And some contraceptive medications are used for other problems in female health. THE ISSUE HAS BEEN POLITICIZED AND THAT’S NOT MORAL!!!!
March 22nd, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Courageous? It’s the Bishops job to stand up and fight for the church. Too bad they decided to wait till now to do something. Where’ve they been for 48 years. You’ve failed the very flock you are supposed to protect. 60% of Catholics (in name only), voted for Mr. Obama the same ones the Bishops golf with. Courageous? More like pathetic!
March 22nd, 2012 at 8:38 pm
The Bishops are acting in a very righteous way but are all of the priests in the dioceses following in the same manner. I know of several parishes where the priests have not discussed this issue with the parishioners. Cardinals, bishops priests, lay ministers all need to be on the same page preaching the same message. One cannot be Catholic and have voted for a pro choice administration. Think about, which side of the fence are you on? Jesus said in the bible, on the day of his coming, the sheep will be separated from the goats. I want to be a sheep!
March 23rd, 2012 at 3:35 pm
[…] we are heartened by the Catholic bishops’ courageous statement and resolved to fight even harder alongside them to protect religious […]
June 1st, 2012 at 5:46 am