Posted by Eric Scheidler (June 5, 2012 at 5:45 am)
There are only 3 days to go until the huge Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom! Help spiritually prepare the soil for Friday’s outpouring of support for religious freedom from Portland, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii; Seattle, Washington, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and all points in between.
This is Day 7 of the Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate. Find the previous days’ novenas here.
Novena to Reverse HHS Mandate: Day 7
Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
We thank you, Father,
for the grace of repentance
and the power of conversion at work in Your people.
We thank You for Your Holy Spirit,
Who convicts us of sin and enlightens us
about how to please you.
Lord, enable Your people,
in the midst of current persecution and danger,
to live the spirit of repentance
ever more deeply and effectively.
For every moment we lacked courage in the past,
give us the grace to repent.
For every time we were silent when we should have spoken,
give us the grace to repent.
For every time we could have witnessed to life but did not,
give us the grace to repent.
Made strong by the spirit of repentance,
may Your people rise up
and reverse the tide of evil in our midst.
Enable us to defend our freedom
and to build a Culture of Life.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (June 4, 2012 at 5:45 am)
We’re now in the final days running up to the big June 8 Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom, taking place in over 150 cities across the United States.
Please join me in praying this special “Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate,” now on day 6. If you’ve missed the previous 5 days of this 9-day prayer sequence, go ahead an join in now—remember the workers in the vinyard!
Scroll down for the previous days’ prayers, or find them listed here.
Novena to Reverse HHS Mandate: Day 6
Father, You unite the human family
through the blood of Your Son Jesus Christ
and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
At this time of need,
when Your Church and all Your people
are called to stand firm against injustices
inflicted on us from our government,
we ask You to strengthen us in the bond of unity.
Strengthen the unity of Your Church,
that none of Your faithful may be on the sidelines,
but that everyone may be active in this battle.
Give Church leaders the grace to discern
the many varieties of the working of Your Spirit
that they may fan into flame the gifts that the Spirit
bestows freely on Your people.
And give us the wisdom to know
that no group has a monopoly on the defense of life and freedom.
May we work in an ecumenical and inter-religious spirit
and welcome the efforts of all people of good will
who believe in freedom of religion and conscience.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (June 3, 2012 at 5:45 am)
Today is the last Sunday before the Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom.
As we attend our services today, let’s all offer prayers for the success of the over 150 Rallies that will take place this week and for the defeat of the HHS Mandate.
And let’s all join together today in praying Day 5 of the Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate.
Novena to Reverse HHS Mandate: Day 5
Lord God,
You are Light, and in You there is no darkness.
You sent Your Son Jesus Christ
as the Light of the World,
and You sent Your Holy Spirit
to enlighten the hearts and minds of all.
Lord, we pray today
that we may always experience
the light of Your truth,
informing our conscience
of what is right and what is wrong.
We pray that this light
will reach all of our fellow citizens,
that they may recognize the dangers of evil
which are often hidden along their path.
Open the eyes and minds of all
to the threats that currently exist
to our religious freedom,
to the health and well-being of women,
and to the good of our nation.
Give us the grace not only to recognize evil,
but also to reject it with the unwavering strength
that comes from you.
We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Posted in Novena | Comments Off on Day 5: Interfaith Novena to Stop the HHS Mandate
Posted by Janell Harbaugh (June 2, 2012 at 4:25 pm)
Livingston County MI. Nearly 500 people gathered March 23, 2012 to protest the HHS mandate that violates the Constitutional right of religious freedom.
In this small town, organizers were stunned at the passion and number of protestors. One speaker, Robert Muise, co-founder of the American Freedom Law Center, captivated the enthusiastic crowd with his passion to support and defend the U.S. constitution from both foreign and domestic enemies. “This administration has forced upon us an unprecedented mandate. Never before in our nation’s history did our government ever think that it could exercise such power or assume they have the authority to do so.” Hear his talk:
June 8, Noon – 1 pm at the Historic Howell Courthouse amphitheater in Downtown Howell, 200 E. Grand River, Howell 48843 (map). [Continue reading …]
Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally Co-Chairman Eric Scheidler just had an article entitled, “Nationwide Rally June 8 Demands Health Care Laws Respect Religion” posted on the Manhattan Declaration blog, spreading the word to thousands about the June 8 Nationwide Rally.
Here’s an excerpt:
When President Obama moved forward with health care reform in 2009, he made a critical error. He chose to partner not with the Catholic hospitals and other faith-based charities that for centuries have been meeting the health care needs of poor and disadvantaged, but with Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion chain.
From that partnership came the HHS Mandate, which considers fertility — a marker of good health — to be a kind of disease requiring mandated preventive care, and places the imagined “right” to free contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs above our most basic freedoms of religion and conscience.
That is the Planned Parenthood vision of health care, and it’s got to go.
Back in March the first Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally took place. Over 63,000 concerned citizens protested the HHS Mandate in 145 cities coast to coast, calling for the restoration of religious freedom.
On Friday, June 8, at noon local time in all six time zones, we return to the public square with the second Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally. But now we’re demanding more than the mere toleration of our religious convictions by America’s health care laws.
We’re calling on our leaders in Washington to give Christian health care institutions their rightful place when health care reform is on the table — as it will likely be in the next Congress.
It’s one week till the Rally and we’re still adding Rally cities—the list is now over 150! Let’s keep fighting together—both in our Rallies, and on our knees.
One of the great things about the media coverage of the March 23 Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally was seeing the samesigns held by rallyparticipantsnationwide.
For that rally, we shipped 4,000 signs to rally captains in well over 100 cities, because we knew the signs were essential to keeping our message simple and conveying it in an unmistakably clear way: We are for religious freedom, and we are against the HHS Mandate.
This time around, we’ve upped the ante considerably. In preparation for the June 8 Stand Up Rally, we had 30,000 signs printed.
We started shipping signs last week, and as new cities have come on board just in the past few days, we’ve been packing them up and shipping them out as fast as we can.
Posted by Eric Scheidler (May 31, 2012 at 5:45 am)
Prayer is the foundation of all our efforts to fight President Obama’s HHS Mandate, which forces all employer health plans to provide free contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, without regard to objections of conscience.
There are only 3 days to go until the huge Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom! Help spiritually prepare the soil for Friday’s outpouring of support for religious freedom from Portland, Maine, to Honolulu, Hawaii; Seattle, Washington, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and all points in between.
We’re now in the final days running up to the big June 8 Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom, taking place in over 150 cities across the United States.
Today is the last Sunday before the Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom.
Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally Co-Chairman Eric Scheidler just had an article entitled, “Nationwide Rally June 8 Demands Health Care Laws Respect Religion” posted on the 
One of the great things about the media coverage of the March 23 Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally was seeing the 
We started shipping signs last week, and as new cities have come on board just in the past few days, we’ve been packing them up and shipping them out as fast as we can.
Prayer is the foundation of all our efforts to fight President Obama’s HHS Mandate, which forces all employer health plans to provide free contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, without regard to objections of conscience.
