Bishops rip HHS mandate That Forces Coverage of Birth Control, Abortion Drugs

  • Thread starter Thread starter juliee
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Incomplete said:
If hormone treatments are necessary for health problems, nobody is denying them. If you want to use birth control, nobody is denying that, either. The Church is just saying we cannot be forced to pay for it. That is what violated freedom of religion; forcing us to pay for it.

In fact, there are lots of medications people have to pay for out-of-pocket, or at least have a co-pay. Funny that the HHS isn’t worried about some of those medications. There are people who can’t afford life-saving drugs, but the government is worried about paying to prevent births.

And no, we aren’t free to practice religion…not when we are forced to give people what we believe is against what God wants. It becomes a choice of God or complying with the law.
Click to expand...
👍

I wouldn’t consider Birth Control medication or sterilization “life saving.”

Wouldn’t the money for this be better spent elsewhere?
 
JimG said:
It should be noted that this was not a matter of voting for or against legislation. Legislation is passed by Congress. This mandate was NOT passed by Congress. This is a mandate solely determined by regulation writers at HHS, headed by firmly pro-abortion appointee Kathleen Sebelius. No congressperson voted for this mandate. This is mandate by regulation. This is a result of giving over power to regulatory agencies. Before the final rule was passed, the department received thousands of comments and protests stating why the regulation should not be implemented. Those public (name removed by moderator)uts were all ignored, and the HHS went ahead and did what it wanted to do anyway.

A regulatory agency such as HHS, having received regulatory jurisdiction of the health care law, could in theory mandate anything it wants as required coverage–abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, medical marijuana, whatever.
Click to expand...
We need to get our Representatives in Congress to impeach Sebelius.
 
This letter was read to Church congregations this weekend. It was personalized by each Bishop, here is the letter sent out by Bishop of Marguette, Michigan:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Click to expand...
Code: 
I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just been dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people — the Catholic population — and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.
Click to expand...
Code: 
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers,
including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees’ health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.
Click to expand...
Code: 
In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.
Click to expand...
Code: 
We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture,
only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.
Click to expand...
Code: 
And therefore, I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting [www.usccb.org/conscience,to](www.usccb.org/conscience,to) learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Obama Administration’s decision.
Click to expand...
Code: 
Sincerely yours in Christ,
+Alexander K. Sample
Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample
Bishop of Marquette
Click to expand...
 
Bubba_Switzler said:
I am consoled to see that I am not alone in observing this. I have been pointing this out for years.

Before Catholics attack these new regulations, perhaps they should search their own conscience first to see whether they were part of the mob that led to them, even if unintentionally.

At a minimum, you would think that the USCCB would revisit their commitment to socialized health care, oops, I mean “comprehensive, life-affirming reform to the nation’s health care system”.

Alas, I don’t think any lesson has yet been learned.
Click to expand...
Yep. Socialization of things, even with good intention at the outset, has rarely, if ever, not led to a decrease in liberty.

To be fair, I understand the temptation to try to socialize things and make them better for the poor and disadvantaged. However, to date, it seems to always come with a decrease in liberty. In addition, allowing the government to take over and help the poor is, in my humble opinion, a violation of our own personal obligation to help others. The person responsible for helping the poor is ME, period. And I must not pawn that off in an attempt to let the government do it for me. When we do, two things happen: 1) I am abrogating my own personal obligation to help others and to see Christ in them; 2) the government does things with my money that I don’t want them to (this could be waste and inefficiency; or it could rise to the level which we are now seeing of outright hostility to our beliefs).

As Dorothy Day put it: “The Church must REFUSE to abandon the poor to Holy Mother the State”.

I hope, really really hope, that our bishops are now seeing the truth of this…
 
scipio337 said:
I hate to sound cynical, but we deserve it. You can’t expect to take your 30 pieces of silver, and avoid the consequences.

old.usccb.org/healthcare/faqs.shtml

A painful lesson to learn.
Click to expand...
But have they learned one? USCCB is a largely lay organization that is virtually a subsidiary of the Democrat party. It isn’t “the bishops”; certainly not my bishop and certainly not Dolan. Are the tears the USCCB bureaucrats are now shedding crocodile tears, perhaps? Are they protesting only because they think it too embarrassing not to protest?

I’m not a particularly clever fellow, but even I could see that Obamacare would result in things like this, precisely because it would allow the odious Kathleen Sebelius (Obama’s sock puppet) make insurers cover anything at all. How could all of those “wise” people at USCCB or the Catholic Health Care Association (both of which, I am sure, have plenty of lawyers and others who know the ins and outs of legislation) fail to see it?

For my money, they didn’t fail to see it. They are no more to be trusted now than they were before.
 
Ridgerunner said:
But have they learned one? USCCB is a largely lay organization that is virtually a subsidiary of the Democrat party. It isn’t “the bishops”; certainly not my bishop and certainly not Dolan. Are the tears the USCCB bureaucrats are now shedding crocodile tears, perhaps? Are they protesting only because they think it too embarrassing not to protest?

I’m not a particularly clever fellow, but even I could see that Obamacare would result in things like this, precisely because it would allow the odious Kathleen Sebelius (Obama’s sock puppet) make insurers cover anything at all. How could all of those “wise” people at USCCB or the Catholic Health Care Association (both of which, I am sure, have plenty of lawyers and others who know the ins and outs of legislation) fail to see it?

For my money, they didn’t fail to see it. They are no more to be trusted now than they were before
Click to expand...
Thank you for your candid post and for verbalizing what we are all probably thinking, but were too timid to say!!
 
Ridgerunner said:
How could all of those “wise” people at USCCB or the Catholic Health Care Association (both of which, I am sure, have plenty of lawyers and others who know the ins and outs of legislation) fail to see it?
Click to expand...
I’m with you. I too think they knew was was coming down the pipe. But they, like many on the Catholic left, think the good the reform might do outweighs any harm. I think they are either being intentionally blind to life issues or just don’t think it that big of a deal.
 
_Abyssinia said:
This letter was read to Church congregations this weekend. It was personalized by each Bishop, here is the letter sent out by Bishop of Marguette, Michigan:
Click to expand...
I’ve seen a list of dioceses and archdioceses that had this letter (see www.catholicvote.org) read this weekend. For Texas, there were several, but not in San Antonio, except for the military bases.

For the military, I understand that the letter was sent out to be read by Archbishop (of the Armed Services) Broglio, but then an “auxiliary” sent out another letter saying “not to read it to the congregrations”. I’m told that as a compromise, the letter was included in the Church Bulletin, at least at one Army Base. 👍
 
Suudy said:
I’m with you. I too think they knew was was coming down the pipe. But they, like many on the Catholic left, think the good the reform might do outweighs any harm. I think they are either being intentionally blind to life issues or just don’t think it that big of a deal.
Click to expand...
Even I have a hard time believing this. I suspect that they thought they had become partners in the socialization of health care and would have some say in how it was done and that they were betrayed by their secularist comrades, the way useful idiots so often are.

Only God really knows what is in their hearts.

But we all now know the fruits of their efforts.
 
Bubba_Switzler said:
Even I have a hard time believing this. I suspect that they thought they had become partners in the socialization of health care and would have some say in how it was done and that they were betrayed by their secularist comrades, the way useful idiots so often are.
Click to expand...
Meh…perhaps. Perhaps the administration promised these groups they’d preserve conscience exemptions. And if these groups believed such a promise, they were extremely naive. And even if the administration made such a promise, it wouldn’t be binding on future administrations.

No, I’m with Ridge on this one. I don’t see how they thought this kind of regulation would never affect Catholic institutions.
 
Suudy said:
Meh…perhaps. Perhaps the administration promised these groups they’d preserve conscience exemptions. And if these groups believed such a promise, they were extremely naive. And even if the administration made such a promise, it wouldn’t be binding on future administrations.

No, I’m with Ridge on this one. I don’t see how they thought this kind of regulation would never affect Catholic institutions.
Click to expand...
I would love to see an investigation into this question. It is more than academic.
 
Suudy said:
Meh…perhaps. Perhaps the administration promised these groups they’d preserve conscience exemptions. And if these groups believed such a promise, they were extremely naive. And even if the administration made such a promise, it wouldn’t be binding on future administrations.

No, I’m with Ridge on this one. I don’t see how they thought this kind of regulation would never affect Catholic institutions.
Click to expand...
Bold lettering mine

Ya think!??
 
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government, lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” Patrick Henry

“By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending.” Centesimus Annus, 48, John Paul II, 1991

The above are two quotes that I like quite a bit which are related to this issue, at least tangentially.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top