The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”)
intends to implement a rule that mandates that coverage for
sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception be
included in virtually all health plans, regardless of whether
the employer or the insured individual has a moral objection
to such drugs and procedures.
The Bishop of Peoria wrote:
January 24, 2012
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In the history of the United States, Friday, January 20, 2012
will certainly stand out as a moment of enormous peril for
religious liberty. On that day the Obama administration
announced regulations that would require Catholic institutions
to offer insurance programs providing abortifacients,
sterilization, and contraceptive services. If these
regulations are put into effect, they could close down every
Catholic school, hospital, and the other public ministries of
our Church, which is perhaps their underlying intention. What
is perfectly clear is that this is a bigoted and blatant
attack on the First Amendment rights of every Catholic
believer. Under no circumstances, however, will our Church
ever abandon our unshakable commitment to the Gospel of Life.
I therefore call upon all the faithful of this Diocese to
vigorously oppose this unprecedented governmental assault upon
the moral convictions of our Faith. Under the Constitution, no
president has the authority to require our cooperation with
what we consider to be intrinsic evil and mortal sin. We must
therefore oppose by every means at our disposal this gross
infringement upon the rights of Catholic citizens to freely
practice our religion. This country once fought a revolution
to guarantee freedom, but the time has clearly arrived to
strongly reassert our fundamental human rights. I am honestly
horrified that the nation I have always loved has come to this
hateful and radical step in religious intolerance. I hope and
pray that all people of good will would support the faith
based resistance of us their Catholic neighbors.
While it is primarily the laity who should take the leading
role in political and legal action, as your Bishop, it is my
clear responsibility to summon our local Church into spiritual
and temporal combat in defense of Catholic Christianity. Have
faith! Have courage! Fight boldly for what you believe! I
strongly urge you not to be intimidated by extremist
politicians or the malice of the cultural secularists arrayed
against us. Always remember that the One who is in you is
greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Until
these grave issues are favorably resolved, I ask that every
parish, school, hospital, Newman Center, and religious house
in this Diocese insert the Prayer to Saint Michael ( January
24, 2012 Page two) the Archangel into the Sunday General
Intercessions just before their concluding prayer. It is God's
invincible Archangel who commands the heavenly hosts, and it
is the enemies of God who will ultimately be defeated. This
prayer should be announced as: a Prayer to Saint Michael the
Archangel for the freedom of the Catholic Church in America.
May God guide and protect his Holy Church.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C. BISHOP OF PEORIA
Archishop Vlazny ,Portland Oregon:
Letter January 25, 2012 from Archbishop John G. Vlazny on
the matter of freedom of conscience and decisions by HHS
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
It is important for you to know that the federal
government has just dealt a heavy blow to the Catholic
population and to the millions more who are served by the
Catholic faithful.
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.
By this ruling, the 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. Unless the rule is
overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to violate our
consciences or drop health coverage for our employees (and
suffer the penalties for doing so). The Administration’s sole
concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.
We cannot and 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.
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.
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 recommend visiting
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 Administration’s
decision.
Thank you for all you do to build the Church and society.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend John G. Vlazny
Archbishop of Portland in Oregon
Decision unchanged on HHS exemptions
HHS Edict Will Force Catholics to Violate Conscience
‘To Hell With You’
By Bishop David A. Zubik, Pittsburgh
It is really hard to believe that it happened. It comes like a
slap in the face. The Obama administration has just told the
Catholics of the United States, “To Hell with you!” There is
no other way to put it.
In early August, the Department for Health and Human Services
in the Obama administration released guidelines as part of the
implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act. The guidelines mandated that by Summer 2012 all
individual and group health insurance plans, including self-
insured plans, cover all FDA-approved contraception,
sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals that even result
in abortion.
A million things are wrong with this: equating pregnancy with
disease; mandating that every employer pay for contraception
procedures including alleged contraceptives that are actually
abortion-inducing drugs; forcing American citizens to chose
between violating their consciences or providing health care
services; mandating such coverage on every individual woman
without allowing her to even choose not to have it; forcing
every person to pay for that coverage no matter the dictates
of their conscience.
Let’s be blunt. This whole process of mandating these
guidelines undermines the democratic process itself. In this
instance, the mandate declares pregnancy a disease, forces a
culture of contraception and abortion on society, all while
completely bypassing the legislative process.
This is government by fiat that attacks the rights of everyone
– not only Catholics; not only people of all religion. At no
other time in memory or history has there been such a
governmental intrusion on freedom not only with regard to
religion, but even across-the-board with all citizens. It
forces every employer to subsidize an ideology or pay a
penalty while searching for alternatives to health care
coverage. It undermines the whole concept and hope for health
care reform by inextricably linking it to the zealotry of
pro-abortion bureaucrats.
For our Church this mandate would apply in virtually every
instance where the Catholic Church serves as an employer. The
mandate would require the Catholic Church as an employer to
violate its fundamental beliefs concerning human life and
human dignity by forcing Catholic entities to provide
contraceptive, sterilization coverage and even pharmaceuticals
that result in abortion.
There was a so-called “religious exemption” to the mandate,
but it was so narrowly drawn that, as critics charged, Jesus
Christ and his Apostles would not fit the exemption. The so-
called exemption would only apply to the vast array of
Catholic institutions where the following applied:
Only Catholics are employed;
The primary purpose of the institution or service provided
is the direct instruction in Catholic belief;
The only persons served by the institution are those that
share Catholic religious tenets. (Try to fit this in with our
local Catholic Charities that serve 80,000 every year without
discrimination according to faith. It would be impossible!)
Practically speaking under the proposed mandate there would be
no “religious exemption” for Catholic hospitals universities,
colleges, nursing homes and numerous Catholic social service
agencies such as Catholic Charities. It could easily be
determined that the “religious exemption” would not apply as
well to Catholic high schools, elementary schools and Catholic
parishes since many employ non-Catholics and serve both
students and, through social outreach, many who do not share
Catholic religious beliefs. Such a narrow “religious
exemption” is simply unprecedented in federal law.
Last September I asked you to protest those guidelines to
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department for Health
and Human Services, and contact your political leadership in
the federal government. I asked that you request that this
flawed mandate be withdrawn because of its unprecedented
interference in the religious liberty and freedom of
conscience of the Catholic community, and our basic democratic
process.
You did. And you were joined by Catholics throughout the
country (and many others as well) who raised their voices
against the mandate, raised their voices against a meaningless
religious exemption.
On January 20, 2012, the Obama administration answered you and
me. The response was very simple: “To Hell with You.”
Kathleen Sebelius announced that the mandate would not be
withdrawn and the religious exemption would not be expanded.
Instead, she stated that nonprofit groups – which include the
Catholic Church – will get a year “to adapt to this new rule.”
She simply dismissed Catholic concerns as standing in the way
of allegedly respecting the health concerns and choices of
women.
Could Catholics be insulted any more, suggesting that we have
no concern for women’s health issues? The Catholic Church and
the Catholic people have erected health care facilities that
are recognized worldwide for their compassionate care for
everyone regardless of their creed, their economic
circumstances and, most certainly, their gender. In so many
parts of the globe – the United States included – the Church
is health care.
Kathleen Sebelius and through her, the Obama administration,
have said “To Hell with You” to the Catholic faithful of the
United States.
To Hell with your religious beliefs,
To Hell with your religious liberty,
To Hell with your freedom of conscience.
We’ll give you a year, they are saying, and then you have to
knuckle under. As Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop
of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops responded, “in effect, the president is saying that we
have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.”
As I wrote to you last September, with this mandate the
democratic process is being ignored while we are being ordered
to ignore our religious beliefs. And we are being told not
only to violate our beliefs, but to pay directly for that
violation; to subsidize the imposition of a contraceptive and
abortion culture on every person in the United States.
It is time to go back to work. They have given us a year to
adapt to this rule. We can’t! We simply cannot!
Write to the president.
Write to Secretary Sebelius.
Write to our Senators.
Write to those in Congress.
Use the PA Catholic Advocacy Network to send an email message,
too.
I have included the addresses in a box accompanying this
article. Here’s what you can write:
"Dear (Representative):
“In early August, the Department for Health and Human Services
released guidelines that would force Catholic institutions to
subsidize through their health care plans contraception,
sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals that even result
in abortion.
“It was announced on January 20thby Kathleen Sebelius,
secretary of the U.S. Department for Health and Human
Services, that this mandate is affirmed and that non-profit
institutions, including the Catholic Church, have one year to
adapt to the mandate.
“This is a direct threat to the religious liberty of
Catholics, freedom of conscience and the social service
ministry of the Catholic Church. The so-called ‘religious
exemption’ in the mandate is no exemption at all as it would
require any Catholic institution (that serves non-Catholics or
employs non-Catholics) to violate Catholic belief, discontinue
to provide health care, or close its doors.
“I ask that you do all possible to rescind the ‘Preventive
Service Mandate’ as an unprecedented federal interference in
the right of Catholics to serve their community without
violating their fundamental moral beliefs.”
This mandate can be changed by Congressional pressure. The
only way that action will happen is if you and I take action.
Let them know that you and I will not allow ourselves to be
pushed around (or worse yet) be dismissed because of our
Catholic faith.
Let them know that you and I will not allow our religious
freedom to be compromised.
Let them know that you and I will not allow our religious
liberty to be rescinded.
Nobody, not even the president of the United States or anyone
who represents him, has the right to say to you and to me as
U.S. citizens, as Catholics, or as both: “To Hell with You.”
The president and our elected leaders need to hear from you
and me and to listen to us NOW.
And if NOT now, HOW can we get the president to listen to
us???
Contact your political leaders
from the Bishop of Marquette:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
+Alexander K. Sample
Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample
Bishop of Marquette
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