Obama Tramples on Religious Freedom; Bishop Malone Calls for Protest
Bishop Richard Malone, spiritual head of Maine’s Roman Catholics, said today that President Obama’s decision to implement a contraceptive mandate on all of the nation’s health care plans is a blatant and capricious affront to conscience rights and religious liberty. Beyond this particular mandate is the larger issue of the President’s complete disregard for religious freedom, as guaranteed by the First Amendment.
“Despite intense pleas from thousands of Americans, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, to reconsider this plan, the President has forged ahead and insisted on implementing this mandate,” said the Bishop. “Its consequences will be dramatic and devastating, not only for Catholic institutions, but for the scores of non-Catholics whom we serve through a myriad of programs and services.
“The contraceptive mandate, which goes into effect on August 1, 2012 for most new and renewed health plans, is part of the Obama Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Nonprofit employers who do not currently provide contraceptive coverage based on religious beliefs will be provided an additional year to comply with the new law. The Act requires all private health insurance plans to cover contraception and sterilization prescriptions as “preventative services” for women. Contraceptive coverage includes drugs that are known at times to result in an abortion. Although the Department of Health and Human Services claims the Act exempts religious organizations, the reality is that due to Obama’s strict definition few organizations will qualify. While the administrative
offices of the Church and the parishes likely would be exempt, other Church-related institutions such as Catholic Charities, Catholic hospitals, nursing homes and schools would not qualify since they serve a wider population. The rigid criteria only exempt organizations that serve primarily those who share a common faith. Because our institutions serve those in need regardless of religious affiliation, in essence, the President's mandate unjustly discriminates against those who rely on these services the most.
“The Church, as a matter of doctrine, opposes the use of contraception and particularly the morning-after pill since it often serves to induce an abortion. To mandate that we provide coverage for these services within our institutions forces us to make an impossible choice: either we violate our own moral code of conduct or deny our employees health care coverage. These options are unconscionable. This is a deliberate invasion into the beliefs and practices of faith-based organizations as well as a direct violation of every believer's freedom of conscience.”
The Bishop will be appealing to the clergy and parishioners of the Diocese to take action and protest this injustice.
Source: Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland
Related:
Bishops Will Sue Feds Over Contraception Rule (CatholicMaine)
Catholic leaders criticize ‘profoundly troubling’ contraception mandate (CNA)
HHS mandate on birth control cheered, jeered (The Washington Times)
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PLease keep in formed!
Blatant disregard for the First Amendment...but what should I expect from this president?
Thank you Bishop!
These are truly historic days, when American Catholic Bishops stand up, willing to defend the Truth and call out these threats to freedom for what they are! (How I wish the bishops of 40 years ago had had the guts some of these apostles do - we might be free of all this).
Marxism always meets it's match in the Catholic Church - the law of tyranny vs. the law of love. That is why Communism killed tens of thousands of bishops, priests, and faithful during the last century - and yet the Church remains!
Obama will find this out the hard way. His time is short, regardess of how you measure it.
In the end he and his kind will have no choice but to submit to the Truth, or turn to persecution as a means of getting their way.
Pray for our bishop. Martyrdom comes in many colors...
Hurray. Bishop Malone is taking a stand against Obama's agenda. He deserves praise and support from Maine's Catholics. He must know he's forcing cafeteria Catholics to take a stand they won't like. Some may leave the Church and join the Episcopalians but he's doing it anyway.
Good for him.
Obama is making a political judgement that American Catholics will support him because most ignore the Church's teaching on contraception. That tubal ligations, vasectomies, and morning-after pills are part of the mandate may be Obama's undoing, however. Let's also hope this accelerates the unraveling of Obamacare. Six of nine justices on the US Supreme Court are Catholic.
It should be noted that the Obama administration is not trying to achieve health-plan funded contraceptives here. That is just the easiest tool for their real intentions.
The Obama administration is doing this precisely because they want to force the Catholic Church out of healthcare, and force the bishops out of any positions of power or influence in our society.
This is a setup. Obama is hoping that the already immoral "Catholic" healthcare system we have will simply become secularized in order to protect themselves from the problem. "Catholic" universities will follow suit. They will all be tempted to do whatever is easiest to protect their status quo. Just look at "Catholic" Charities.
That is why it is so great that the bishops recognize the threat here is to religious freedom, which is an INDIVIDUAL right, not a institutional right.
If they fall into the trap of only defending their institutions, and not the freedom guaranteed every Catholic person, family, business owner, etc, then they will have taken the bait, and the secularists will have won, regardless of the outcome of this particular fight.
Obama may be a fool and a puppet, but his agenda is well planned, and has worked well in other countries for over 100 years as the people turned away from Christianity and fell into socialism, Nazism, and Communism.
No, this issue is about destroying the influence of the Church in this country, make no mistake about it.
There is alot more at stake here than most people realize...
Chris, you understand this so well, why is it that so many Catholics, including priests and religious, don't?
A few questions amid the political furor:
1. Are employees of these hospitals etc. being forced to use contraception? I thought it was just being offered by the employers. If it is only offered, one's conscience is still free to opt out. No? So what's the fuss?
2. Is not contraception a useful way to avoid unwanted pregnancy (and, hence, abortions)? If the goal is to decrease abortions, shouldn't contraceptive coverage be applauded? It may not be the best solution, but should the government be faulted for trying to reduce abortions?
3. I assume there were lots of women who had been pregnant on the president's commission. If not, then the president has no real right to make the call one way or another. Reproduction and all its medical concerns is really a women's issue; any guy who's ever had a pregnant wife can attest how much his opinion matters on pregnancy and all that comes with it. As long as both sides are stacked with women making the decisions, then whatever the final outcome will probably be the right one. If men are deciding, it will get screwed up by weird fears, insecurities and general lack of understanding. Sex and babies is messy stuff, but moms make the calls best.