Archbishop: Obama Needs To Stop 'Intruding Into Internal Life Of Church'

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Judging by comments from the White House press spokesman and the ferocious attacks by various leftist congresspersons and organizations, it doesn’t seem that the administration plans any compromise on this issue.

The plan to declare war on the Catholic Church over the issue of contraception, basically, you’re wrong and we’re right, and so we can mandate our vew into federal law. They will avoid entirely the fact that that eliminates freedom of religion for Catholic and other religious institutions.

They don’t think they can win the abortion wars, but they’re hoping to win the contraception wars, figuring the Church is weak on this issue, and most Catholics won’t care about the loss of religious liberty.

I’m reminded of the Arian controversy, when an Arian emperor thought that the Church was so weak on the issue that he could topple it and institute Arianism officially. The emperor lost.
 
My concern over this topic stems from the usccb.org article which came out January 20:
usccb.org/news/2012/12-012.cfm [bold emphasis mine]

“The cardinal-designate continued, “To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable.It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of our religious liberty.”"

It seems the Church is saying an employee’s soul or good standing in the Church would be at risk if they were forced to have their wages contribute to a mandatory health plan that provides sterilization, contraception, etc. That conscientious Catholics faced with that situation would have to forego having healthcare coverage at all. What does that mean if they chose to keep the coverage?
 
pnewton said:
I would like to repost this link to the passage in the Bible on spiritual warfare, as the other thread closed:

I have been thinking. I do not think President Obama is exercising his agenda here. I think the problem runs much deeper and as Christians we may be missing the point.

There is a strategy here that transcends politics. The president himself is being used by the forces of evil arrayed against the Kingdom of God. While political action is needed, I think it is far less important than spiritual action. Rather, we should heed the voice of St. Paul in Ephesians 6:101-20, and realize that this battle is not against flesh and blood. I encourage everyone to read this again in light of the current events, meditate upon the weapons we are to use, and join the real battle. I will link the chapter to make it easier.

usccb.org/bible/ephesians/6

Ephesians 6:10-20
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BINGO!!! I think your have stated the actual root of all of this. Prayer is the weapon of choice.
 
“Although it is far removed from the severity of Britain’s old recusancy measures, Obama’s policy bears an uncomfortable similarity to them. Catholics will not be directly forced to repudiate their moral principles, but some of their most important institutions will be fined handsomely for refusing to do so.”
Source: Catholic World Report: Twenty First Century Recusants
catholicworldreport.com/Item/1096/twentyfirst_century_recusants.aspx

Does the administration intend to penalize Catholic institutions enough to run them out of business, or merely to force them to abandon their Catholic moral principles through financial pressure?
 
The issue has also exploded on the campaign trail and in Washington. Carney made the unusual move of calling Mitt Romney by name, charging it is “ironic” for him to be against the policy, since as Massachusetts governor he presided over a similar one.
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I’m so glad this article points out his hypocrisy.
 
JimG said:
from the article: “The federal government should do what it’s traditionally done since July 4, 1776, namely back out of intruding into the internal life of a church,” Dolan told CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer."

The issue is not whether Catholics may or may not use contraception. Nobody in the Church is following them around to check up on them.

The issue is whether the government can force a Catholic institution, hospital, or charity, to violate its own religious beliefs.

Constitutionally, the answer is clear. It cannot.

That is why this mandate must be fought. If the government can force a Catholic institution to reject its own Catholicism, religious freedom is dead in this nation.
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BINGO. THAT is exactly the point.

Not only that: If the Army can tell priests they can’t read a statement by their own bishop in Mass, then the constitutional right of free speech is also dead. It that’s not what it means, then it doesn’t mean anything at all and never did.
 
Free expression of religion with the 1st amendment, well not in Obama’s world.
 
DeoSalvatoreMeo said:
I don’t see DePaul University on the Cardinal Newman Society’s list of faithful Catholic colleges:

thenewmanguide.com/TheCatholicColleges/tabid/506/Default.aspx

Catholic colleges & other Catholic institutions should not be forced by the government to pay for something that our faith teaches us is gravely immoral. The motherjones article is actually just a new spin on the old argument that because the majority of Catholics use contraception, we don’t have a right to conscience protections. This is about religious freedom, not contraception. The left is really having a difficult time responding to this issue with authority because they still haven’t grasped what the issue is. It’s not about contraception people, it’s about freedom of conscience.
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Yes, exactly.

This is not about contraception, this is about freedom of conscience. And the freedom to practice our religion of choice without interference by the federal government.
 
CatholicMedic said:
I like the sentiment.

However, how do we answer the opposition when they simplly say that the Church interferes in politics all of the time and now is just getting upset when the tables are turned?
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We have the right to meddle in politics all we want. This country is a democracy and we have every bit as much right to self-determination as any other group or any other individuals.

HOwever there are constitutional freedoms that guarantee freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

Do you agree with the mandate, Catholic Medic?
 
_Abyssinia said:
When an article starts with ‘The right…’ says… you know it is going to be biased.

The way it works right now, if you work for the Catholic Church or Catholic Institutions the federal government does not force birth control to paid for by the Church or Catholic institutions, there was a way for employers that were not willing to offer contraception, abortificants, sterilization in their health care package to not offer it.

But what HHS Mandate wants all health insurance providers to cover contraception, abortificants, and sterilization all free of charge and there is no religious exemption, while currently there is one.
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Correct. This is why there was a ruling by Health and Human Services. This is why there is a date for complaince, August 1st.
 
pnewton said:
I would like to repost this link to the passage in the Bible on spiritual warfare, as the other thread closed:

I have been thinking. I do not think President Obama is exercising his agenda here. I think the problem runs much deeper and as Christians we may be missing the point.

There is a strategy here that transcends politics. The president himself is being used by the forces of evil arrayed against the Kingdom of God. While political action is needed, I think it is far less important than spiritual action. Rather, we should heed the voice of St. Paul in Ephesians 6:101-20, and realize that this battle is not against flesh and blood. I encourage everyone to read this again in light of the current events, meditate upon the weapons we are to use, and join the real battle. I will link the chapter to make it easier.

usccb.org/bible/ephesians/6

Ephesians 6:10-20
Click to expand...
I think it’s true that the forces of evil are operating through Obama. But in order for that to happen a person has to consent for the forces of evil to operate through him. The forces of evil are not omnipotent. They need a conduit, a consenting human path. Obama is not an innocent bystander. BY FAR.
 
iloveangels said:
Yes, exactly.

This is not about contraception, this is about freedom of conscience. And the freedom to practice our religion of choice without interference by the federal government.
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I think of it in these terms.

My freedom of conscience is that I am against killing. Someone comes along and tries to force me to buy a gun to give it to someone else who will in all likelihood go out and kill someone with the gun that they are trying to force me to not only buy but give to a person who can use it to kill. This is the way I see this situation.
 
JimG said:
Judging by comments from the White House press spokesman and the ferocious attacks by various leftist congresspersons and organizations, it doesn’t seem that the administration plans any compromise on this issue.

The plan to declare war on the Catholic Church over the issue of contraception, basically, you’re wrong and we’re right, and so we can mandate our vew into federal law. They will avoid entirely the fact that that eliminates freedom of religion for Catholic and other religious institutions.

They don’t think they can win the abortion wars, but they’re hoping to win the contraception wars, figuring the Church is weak on this issue, and most Catholics won’t care about the loss of religious liberty.

I’m reminded of the Arian controversy, when an Arian emperor thought that the Church was so weak on the issue that he could topple it and institute Arianism officially. The emperor lost.
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Of course he lost. We survived Arius, all the Roman Caesars, the French Revolution, Stalin and Hitler. Obama is a joke, but we’ll survive him too. He doesn’t realize that he has a very large tiger by the tail…and it just woke up.
 
lakotak said:
I think of it in these terms.

My freedom of conscience is that I am against killing. Someone comes along and tries to force me to buy a gun to give it to someone else who will in all likelihood go out and kill someone with the gun that they are trying to force me to not only buy but give to a person who can use it to kill. This is the way I see this situation.
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It’s a lot simpler than that. The government is trying to tell us all whether we can be a Catholics or not. And moreover they’re trying to tell us to shut up and kneel down in awe of the stupid federal government.
 
Obama administration struggles to contain uproar over birth-control rule - The Hill
Code: 
 "In a rare show of political force, House Speaker John A. Boehner took to the House floor to criticize the Obama administration's new rules on contraceptives and vowed the GOP-led chamber will work to overturn what he characterized as an attack on religious freedoms." - [LA Times
](http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-john-boehner-contraceptive-rules-20120208,0,3346978.story)
“[A]n intraparty values rift — likely to be most pronounced in battleground states with large numbers of Catholic voters, like Pennsylvania — can’t be helpful to Obama as he heads into the general election. … Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who’s up for reelection this year and has called the Obama edict “un-American” and a “direct affront to the religious freedoms protected under the First Amendment.”” - Politico

The Obama administration must be forced to back all the way down - National Review
 
JimG said:
“Although it is far removed from the severity of Britain’s old recusancy measures, Obama’s policy bears an uncomfortable similarity to them. Catholics will not be directly forced to repudiate their moral principles, but some of their most important institutions will be fined handsomely for refusing to do so.”
Source: Catholic World Report: Twenty First Century Recusants
catholicworldreport.com/Item/1096/twentyfirst_century_recusants.aspx

Does the administration intend to penalize Catholic institutions enough to run them out of business, or merely to force them to abandon their Catholic moral principles through financial pressure?
Click to expand...
I think that’s what Obama would call a heads I win, tails you lose situation. He’d be happy with either outcome. (And by “he” I mean, of course, all those who support him.)
 
JimG said:
Judging by comments from the White House press spokesman and the ferocious attacks by various leftist congresspersons and organizations, it doesn’t seem that the administration plans any compromise on this issue.

The plan to declare war on the Catholic Church over the issue of contraception, basically, you’re wrong and we’re right, and so we can mandate our vew into federal law. They will avoid entirely the fact that that eliminates freedom of religion for Catholic and other religious institutions.

They don’t think they can win the abortion wars, but they’re hoping to win the contraception wars, figuring the Church is weak on this issue, and most Catholics won’t care about the loss of religious liberty.

I’m reminded of the Arian controversy, when an Arian emperor thought that the Church was so weak on the issue that he could topple it and institute Arianism officially. The emperor lost.
Click to expand...
This the sort of clear-eyed realism that has been so lacking in this debate so far. Catholics should not underestimate the enemy but must take up this cross with courage and hope, not engage in wishful thinking. We’ve had quite enough of that already.
 
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