Lord, have mercy on us.
I never thought I’d live to see the day when real persecution of Catholics (let alone any religious group) would occur in the United States of America.
My poor father, an American Veteran… must be rolling over in his grave.
The problem, Ms. Veronica, is that we have several layers here. While honesty compels me to admit that the hierarchy has made mistakes, fidelity to my vows and to my Church also compel me to see the other side.
That other side is that we have a significant number of Catholics who are in conflict within themselves and until they resolve those conflicts they will be unable to defend the right of every citizen in this or any country to freedom of religion. The conflict is simple to describe, but not simple to fix. This group of Catholics hates is bishops, priests, brothers and sisters (male and female religious, not siblings). They would like to see half of us in hell and the other half in some black hole.
However, they also find that they still believe that without the benefit of clergy and religious, their souls may be in peril. They have successfully cornered themselves. They hate the very people whom they believe can help them save their souls. In matters of faith, the man in the pew cannot do for himself what only the clergy and religious can do for him. So you end up having to tolerate being fed by the hand that you hate.
The solution is to use the systems that Canon Law has put in place to resolve such issues, concerns and differences. However, that takes time, effort, and humility on all parts. The only way to solutions is through discernment. We should never choose to live with a heart filled with hatred and anger, blaming and pointing fingers. That does not help achieve inner peace. A simple letter asking for an honest, discrete and respectful conversation with ones religious leader may help a great deal. You don’t have to write much. Just reach out to your bishop and ask to talk.
Excellency:
I humbly request an opportunity to meet with you privately, as I have some concerns that affect my spiritual welfare with which only you can help.
Respectfully yours,
Name
The State may not be wise, but it’s shrewd. It knows that it can bully Catholics, because at the end of the day, many Catholics would prefer to be bullied than seek healing between them and their bishops. Satan knows that other than complaining, there are some people who will live with this violation of their rights rather than work with their bishops to find healing and maybe offer the bishop some good advice. Bishops are not omniscient. Sometimes the man on the street understands something much more clearly than the bishop. The bishop will tell you if your solution is morally acceptable or not.
Then you have the other layer. people who believe that this will only affect religious institutions. They have forgotten the small business person who is a person of moral principles. Under this new regulation, he or she will have to purchase these insurance packages, pay the higher premium or pass the cost on to his employees. Insurance companies are not going to offer these services free of charge and the regulation says that the woman may not be charged a co-pay. How else will the insurance company recover its money if it’s not by raising premiums. The millions of private businessmen who have several employees will have to purchase this product, even though it violates their religious beliefs. We have to think about these people as well. They have a conscience and they don’t have any protection except their fellow citizens.
Finally, you come to that last layer of people, the few who understand what’s at stake here. . When a government suppresses one centimeter of its citizen’s rights its on a slippery slope. It can suppress another centimeter and another and another. Who’s to say where the line is to be drawn. We have seen this happen all too often in other countries. But the number of people who see the danger of allowing even one instance of oppression, may not be big enough to impress upon our political leaders that this is a mistake and that it’s the beginning of religious intolerance and religious persecution.
Even the non believer sees this. There are non believers who have expressed dismay about this issue, because they’re smart enough to know that you begin with one constitutional right and you can work your way through the entire constitution before anyone realizes what happened. It does not take more than one generation to enslave a nation.
Unless, we’re willing to keep our heads on, our souls free of anger and resentment toward our own people, we will be unable to work together to find a solution. I do not believe that one has disrespect the government or assault political leaders with labels and names to solve a problem. One has to convince them that their line of thinking is a grave mistake that will cost them their jobs or will cost the nation a very high price. Name calling and partisan politics have never solved anything.
However, laying down the facts can change things. Basically the point has to be made very clearly. Either the government backs down or come election time, there will be many politicians out of a job, because we will not allow our political leaders to ignore the constitution or to interpret it so that it favors a special interest group and hurts millions for generations to come. Remember, the small businessman is just as much at risk of having his conscience violated as is the big Catholic or Jewish Hospital.
We have to deal with this regulation which makes no sense and we also have to reconcile with each other. If we’re not willing to do the latter, the former is going to be very difficult to fix.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
