We live in amazing times.
I’m thinking the gloves are off.
(CNSNews.com) – The archdiocese of New York, headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., headed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the University of Notre Dame, and 40 other Catholic dioceses and organizations around the country announced on Monday that they are suing the Obama administration for violating their freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.
The dioceses and organizations, in different combinations, are filing 12 different lawsuits filed in federal courts around the country.
The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has established a special website–preservereligiousfreedom.org–to explain it lawsuit and present news and development concerning it.
“This lawsuit is about an unprecedented attack by the federal government on one of America’s most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one’s religion without government interference,” the archdiocese says on the website. “It is not about whether people have access to certain services; it is about whether the government may force religious institutions and individuals to facilitate and fund services which violate their religious beliefs.”
How about Notre Dame stepping up? I think that’s the most pleasant surprise of all in this.
May 21, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Notre Dame did indeed step up. Our Lady's University filed a federal law suit today…
http://president.nd.edu/communications/a-message-from-father-jenkins-on-the-hhs-lawsuit/
May 21, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Patrick,
I have been wanting to ask you this for a while, and I not trying to be sarcastic in any way: Have you ever been to Notre Dame?
Because I have, and in spite of two scandals in the past few years (the Obama commencement honorary degree debacle and the board of trustee member who was also a major donor to Emily's list), I still consider it to be a very Catholic school. Nuns and priests live in the dorms as rectors, single sex dorms with curfews, daily mass and rosary, crucifixes in the classrooms, chapels in every dorm, Theology on Tap, a commitment to service and volunteering, theology requirements, etc. They announce Mass times during the third quarter of every home football game so that people visiting campus know where they can attend Mass.
I am not surprised at all that they joined in the lawsuit. I think part of the reason those two big scandals were so darned scandalous was that ND does have such a Catholic identity.
May 21, 2012 at 7:29 pm
I knew Our Lady wouldn't allow her University to stray too far.
May 21, 2012 at 7:47 pm
@anonoymous: I often ask myself that very question when I hear people question the Catholic bona-fides of my alma mater. And quite often, when I respond as you have, the response is, "Wow, I had no idea."
At Alumni Senate this year, when asked what we, as alumni can do to help our Alma Mater in this regard, Fr. Jenkins simply said, "Tell the truth."
May 21, 2012 at 8:29 pm
The amish are suing to keep from having smoke detectors in their houses too. Don't want "the devil" in their houses. If people die in a fire, gods will.
Rover.
May 21, 2012 at 8:39 pm
ND: Show us some real guts. Revoke that Doctor of Laws degree. Affirm a CATHOLIC Notre Dame in the process. We in the Bishop Jenky Society are rejoicing. Give us reason for more of the same. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.
May 21, 2012 at 8:48 pm
Bishops Jenky and Rhoades: Thank you for all you did(directly or indirectly) to bring about this much-awaited response. I pray for your continued courage and leadership.
May 21, 2012 at 9:06 pm
Insert clapping hands emoticon here. Bravo to our bishops for standing up to this.
And to the Anonymous who invoked the Amish – I'm not clear on the comparison. Contrary to the Obama admin's opinion, pregnancy is not a disease. Prevention of it is not health care. I know that this is hard for some people to get, but pregnancy is the perfectly natural end result of sexual relation between a man and a woman. If said man and woman don't want that end result then there is a perfectly natural and healthy (WAY more healthy than chemical manipulation of the body) way of preventing it – DON'T HAVE SEX!!!!!
May 21, 2012 at 10:54 pm
I did a happy dance in my kitchen today as I listened to my bishop, Kevin Rhoades, give a press conference aired live on our local Catholic radio station.
It's a great day to be a Catholic in line with the Pope and Magisterium!
May 22, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Thank God for these bishops and the zeal in their hearts. Now we the people of God need to support and defend them. The battle has just began and this administration has shown itself to be fond of brass knuckles. It has money and goons, lawyers and politicians, sluts and "evolved" men with a single purpose of keeping Obama in power – come hell or high water.
I think there is another rally planned for June. I hope we call come out and make a stand to show the unions and their thugs, the muslims and commie fogs that we are not afraid.
May 22, 2012 at 8:06 pm
You know, Rick and Ann, if the bishops didn't support the Obama health-care plan before they opposed it, then the Church wouldn't be in this situation. The only reason — the only reason — that the bishops oppose it now is because their own interest in running their dioceses by fiat is threatened. These false shepherds care for Catholic doctrine about as much as Calvin did….if not less.
May 22, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Joseph. The bishops never supported Obamacare.
And the reason of their opposition has nothing to do with a tiny Italian car.
It is the opposition to tax funded abortion, euthanisia , coercing institutions to sin as a means to shut down the medical and educational ministries of the Church.
May 22, 2012 at 10:40 pm
Rick, I suggest you read the following:
http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/rick-santorum-catholic-bishops-should-not-have-supported-obamacare/
http://www.usasurvival.org/ck01.27.10.html
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/catholic-bishops-help-pass-pelosicare/
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/02/well-heres-another-nice-mess-youve-gotten-me-into/
BTW, Rick, do you know what "fiat" means? And, no, I'm not talking about the Italian car…
May 22, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Also, Rick, read this:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/obamacare-vs-catholics_620946.html?nopager=1
The USCCB would love to have you believe that they never supported Obamacare before this HHS mandate controversy. That would be an outright lie. Then again, they've been good at lying all these centur…er, years.
Obama is a Leftist tool and an arrogant bastard. But the USCCB is a far greater threat to Catholic teaching than Obama ever could be. The bishops are wolves in sheep's clothing. They shear the sheep, save the wool and get fat upon the carcasses (Ezekiel 34). God will judge them as such, you can be sure.
May 23, 2012 at 12:00 am
Joseph D'Hippolito, you are confusing the issues. The bishops may have supported universal healthcare, as articulated by Pope John XXIII in Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) in 1963 and per the Catechism (n. 2288). However, the Obama administration lied to the bishops about not forcing Catholic religiously affiliated businesses and organizations to provide health care coverage that runs counter to core doctrinal beliefs.
The HHS Mandate does not allow religiously affiliated businesses and
organizations to provide these procedures only in these limited circumstances of medical necessity. If it did, this conversation might be different. In fact, Catholic universities that exist in states where coverage is mandatory, such as the Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of Dallas, and University of Notre Dame, provide that coverage only when medically necessary. The HHS mandate makes no exception to allow for the Church to freely exercise its religious beliefs by making this distinction (but the HHS Mandate does make exception for Amish and Muslim).
Also, to call the USCCB as "a far greater threat to Catholic teaching than Obama ever could be. The bishops are wolves in sheep's clothing." and claiming that they have lied for centuries without any facts is simply untrue.
May 23, 2012 at 12:09 am
Obama lied to the bishop abut HHS Mandate:
http://www.courageouspriest.com/cardinal-dolan-obama-told
HHS Mandate Amish exempt:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/03/catholic-bishops-cry-foul-amish-are-exemptfrom-
obamacare-but-catholics-are-not/
Muslim exemption from HHS Mandate:
http://libertyandpride.com/muslims-exempt-from-obamacare/
May 23, 2012 at 2:34 am
President Obama is hoping that Catholic hospitals and social welfare agencies will close. Such misfortune and tragedy will open the door for an executive order to nationalize the closed facilities for the welfare of the impacted communities. Secularism will triumph again. My fellow Catholics: WE CANNOT LOSE THIS FIGHT!
May 23, 2012 at 8:46 pm
Van Pham, I'm not confusing the issues. No doubt, Obama lied to the bishops but the bishops were stupid enough to believe him in the first place without performing due dilligence on his views. If they wanted to fight him, why didn't they fight him then? Because the bishops are more interested in maintaining their political connections than in teaching truth. If you think Cdl. Dolan is such a hero, just do some research on his flaccid response as the New York State Legislature contemplated (and eventually approved) same-sex marriage.
Besides, if you don't believe that the bishops are a far greater threat to Catholic teaching than Pres. Obama, then you know nothing about what the church has been going through for the past 40-50 years. If you don't believe that the bishops have been lying for centuries, then you know nothing about the history of the Papacy.
As I said before, I hold no candle for the current occupant of the White House. Nevertheless, he is not responsible for the spiritual welfare of American Catholics. The USCCB is. If it were possible to sue bishops for spiritual malfeasance, the USCCB would be the poorest organization on Earth. Serves the blighter right, when it comes down to it.