Posted by John Jansen (August 1, 2012 at 11:09 am)
TODAY, August 1st, at 1:30 pm Eastern Time, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and WebMD are conducting a live online forum on “women’s preventive services,” and they’re calling for questions from the public.
We need to get our voices into this discussion taking place today at 1:30 pm Eastern/12:30 pm Central.
Let’s crash Kathleen Sebelius’ online forum and let the Obama Administration know exactly what we think about the HHS Mandate’s assault on religious freedom.
You can submit questions via Facebook, and you can watch the discussion live at 1:30pm Eastern here.
Lawsuits were filed by 43 Catholic institutions in federal court today against the Obama Administration over the HHS Mandate.
Among the plaintiffs, the University of Notre Dame is the most significant.
In announcing its lawsuit, Notre Dame’s president, Father John Jenkins, CSC, sent an email to university employees in which he wrote:
Today the University of Notre Dame filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana regarding a recent mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). That mandate requires Notre Dame and similar religious organizations to provide in their insurance plans abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization procedures, which are contrary to Catholic teaching. The decision to file this lawsuit came after much deliberation, discussion and efforts to find a solution acceptable to the various parties.
Let me say very clearly what this lawsuit is not about: it is not about preventing women from having access to contraception, nor even about preventing the Government from providing such services. [Continue reading …]
The Archdiocese of Washington has sharply criticized Georgetown University’s decision to invite HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to address its School of Public Policy’s upcoming diploma ceremony.
A recent the editorial in Catholic Standard, the Archdiocese of Washington’s official newspaper, notes:
Founded in 1789 by John Carroll, a Jesuit priest, Georgetown University has, historically speaking, religious roots. So, too, do Harvard, Princeton and Brown. Over time, though, as has happened with these Ivy League institutions, Georgetown has undergone a secularization, due in no small part to the fact that much of its leadership and faculty find their inspiration in sources other than the Gospel and Catholic teaching. Many are quite clear that they reflect the values of the secular culture of our age. Thus the selection of Secretary Sebelius for special recognition, while disappointing, is not surprising.
Monsignor Charles Pope, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, comments thusly on the importance of the preceding paragraph: [Continue reading …]
It’s hard to not sound over-the-top in describing how much of an outrage it is that the speaker at Georgetown University’s School of Public Policy diploma ceremony on May 18 will be none other than Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The fact that the nominally Catholic architect of the HHS Mandate — which has been publicly denounced by every single bishop who leads a diocese in the U.S. — is being granted this honor by America’s oldest Catholic university is hard to believe.
Yet at the same time, given the history of the choice of commencement speakers at some other reputable Catholic universities in recent years, it isn’t hard to believe at all.
A “Direct Challenge” to the U.S. Bishops
Clearly, as the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) observes, Georgetown’s invitation to Sebelius “can only be interpreted as a direct challenge to America’s Catholic bishops.” [Continue reading …]
TODAY, August 1st, at 1:30 pm Eastern Time, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and WebMD are conducting a live online forum on “women’s preventive services,” and they’re calling for questions from the public.
Lawsuits were 
The Archdiocese of Washington has sharply criticized Georgetown University’s