Posted by Matt Yonke (March 19, 2014 at 10:44 am)
The Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby, and the Hahn family, owners of Conestoga Wood Specialties, are standing for all of us as they defend religious freedom by challenging the HHS Mandate in court. And now we must stand up with them as their cases are brought before the Supreme Court.
It’s one week till the Supreme Court hears their cases, so let’s keep fighting together by spreading the truth about the Mandate in the world, and by bringing it before the Lord on our knees.
Here’s day 3 of the Novea: [Continue reading …]
Posted in Court Battles, Novena, Prayer Resources | Comments Off on Day 3: Interfaith Novena to Stop the HHS Mandate
Posted by Matt Yonke (March 18, 2014 at 10:00 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.
And so I invite all to join in praying a “Novena to Reverse the HHS Mandate” in the days leading up to the Supreme Court hearing the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius cases on March 25. Here are the prayers for Day 2 of the Novena: [Continue reading …]
Posted in Court Battles, Prayer Resources | Comments Off on Day 2: Interfaith Novena to Stop the HHS Mandate
Posted by Matt Yonke (March 17, 2014 at 2:59 pm)
With the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius cases coming before the Supreme Court on March 25, the Stand Up for Religious Freedom coalition is calling on people of faith to join in a Novena to Stop the HHS Mandate in the nine days leading up to that date, which begins today.
We fight for justice in government with many weapons. We use Rallies like we’ll hold on March 25, we use our power to vote, we use our voices and pens so our representatives in government know our concerns. But we must never forget that the strongest weapon we have is prayer.
Temporal rulers will come and go, but God is the great king over all, so recourse to Him is where our confidence must ultimately lay. It is well within His power to stop the Obama Administration’s pernicious HHS Mandate.
A novena is a nine day prayer sequence [Continue reading …]
Posted in Court Battles, Prayer Resources | Comments Off on Novena to Stop the HHS Mandate Starts TODAY
Posted by Matt Yonke (March 14, 2014 at 4:53 pm)
On March 25, the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the historic Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius cases which challenge the Obama Administration’s HHS Mandate, and the Stand Up Rally Coalition will be there.
These two cases could overturn Obama’s HHS Mandate—the very victory we’ve been seeking since 2012!
The Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby, and the Hahn family, owners of Conestoga Wood Specialties, are standing for all of us as they defend religious freedom by challenging the HHS Mandate in court. And now we must stand up with them as their cases are brought before the Supreme Court.
Here are 3 ways you can help:
1. Join us at the Supreme Court on March 25.
Join us for a prayer vigil and rally at the Supreme Court (Map) from 9:30 to 12:00 p.m. on March 25. Look for the huge “Stand Up for Religious Freedom” banner. We will provide signs, or you can make your own to welcome the Greens and the Hahns as they enter the Supreme Court. [Continue reading …]
Posted by John Jansen (January 10, 2014 at 10:42 am)
Recently Planned Parenthood sent out an email to their supporters highlighting their “Top 5” moments from 2013.
Considering how much time and resources the nation’s largest abortion chain put in to shilling for the Affordable Care Act/ACA/Obamacare, it’s no surprise that the ACA’s provision that employers—regardless of any conscientious objection—provide free contraception made the list.
Notice how Planned Parenthood framed it:
The ACA covers preventive care with no copay under all plans — meaning women get birth control with no out-of-pocket cost. Many women now have access to affordable birth control for the first time ever. There’s really only one response to that:
[Continue reading …]
Posted by Matt Yonke (January 2, 2014 at 4:44 pm)
Over the Christmas holidays, several new breakthroughs emerged in the legal challenges against President Obama’s HHS Mandate.
First, and most notably, on New Year’s Eve Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted a preliminary injunction against the Mandate to the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of Catholic nuns who minister to the elderly. The sisters had appealed a lower court’s decision denying them injunctive relief, so it was a great boon to see Justice Sotomayor reverse that ruling.
Next, Stand Up Coalition members Priests for Life were also granted injunctive relief in their suit against the Mandate, along with other similar groups that are obviously religious, but whose main mission is not providing religious services, like Thomas Aquinas College, a Catholic liberal arts college in California. [Continue reading …]
Posted by Matt Yonke (December 17, 2013 at 12:37 pm)
A group of New York Catholic institutions have scored a huge victory against the Obamacare contraception mandate yesterday.
The ruling from federal district judge Brian Cogan granted permanent relief from the HHS Mandate to Cardinal Spellman High School, Monsignor Farrell High School, Catholic Health Care System and its affiliates, and Catholic Health Services of Long Island on the grounds that it would compel them to perform acts undeniably at odds with fundamental tenets of their religious beliefs.
This, of course, has been the argument of religious institutions and religious business owners since the Mandate was first announced in 2012. Judges have now granted injunctions to both private businesses and religious institutions, and no judge has yet sided with the Obama Administration.
This is extremely good news for all 89 cases still being litigated against the Mandate. The Stand Up Rally coalition will continue to report on these cases as they develop, so stay tuned!
Posted by Matt Yonke (December 6, 2013 at 10:34 am)
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a call for prayer and fasting for religious freedom on the Fridays of Advent this year.
From the USCCB website:
The U.S. Bishops are encouraging the faithful to pray and fast for the renewal of a culture of life and marriage and for protection of religious liberty. In particular, Catholics are invited to make a pledge to fast and abstain from meat on Fridays.
The site features specific intentions for each Friday which you can receive via e-mail or text message. Sign up for the intentions via text message by texting “FAST” to 99000 or via e-mail here. At that page you can also make a pledge to join this effort of prayer and fasting.
Here is today’s intention: [Continue reading …]
Tags: fasting, prayer, usccb. Posted in Prayer Resources | Comments Off on US Bishops Call for Fasting and Prayer for Religious Freedom on Fridays in Advent
Posted by Matt Yonke (December 4, 2013 at 1:59 pm)
In light of the US Supreme Court’s recent announcement that it will hear the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius cases concerning the HHS Mandate, the University of Notre Dame has re-filed their case against the Mandate.
University president Fr. John Jenkins said in a press release:
Our abiding concern in both the original filing of May 21, 2012, and this re-filing has been Notre Dame’s freedom—and indeed the freedom of many religious organizations in this country—to live out a religious mission. We have sought neither to prevent women from having access to services, nor even to prevent the government from providing them.
[Continue reading …]
Posted by Matt Yonke (November 26, 2013 at 12:18 pm)
The US Supreme Court announced today that they will hear two critical cases in the fight against the HHS Mandate.
The two cases represent two sides of the issue. Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, filed by Mennonite cabinet makers, is a case brought by a private business against the government, while Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., regarding the well known craft store chain, is a case brought by the government against a private business.
It is our hope that by taking both of these cases, it is a sign of the Supreme Court’s intention to take a thorough review of the Mandate and its implications. [Continue reading …]
