You Must Straighten Out Your Position With The Church



Pope John Paul II and Ernesto Cardenal

**FILE** MARCH 4, 1983--Pope John Paul II withdraws his right hand and wags a scolding finger at Ernesto Cardenal, the Jesuit who refused the Pontiff's order to resign as Minister of Culture in the Sandinista government as the two met in Managua, Nicaragua. According to Vatican sources, the Pope told Cardenal, "You must straighten out your position with the church." (AP Photo)

The Obama administration has declared war on the Catholic Church and the first battle will be fought over health care. Not since Nazi Germany closed Catholic health care institutions in the 1930's has their been a more serious threat to the Church and the exercise of conscience in treating the sick, the disabled, the elderly, and the unborn. The Church will be put into the position of having to decide whether to close hospitals, clinics, schools, hospice care, adoption services, and charitable organizations, or to violate the Church belief in the sanctity of life. Perhaps the closing of Catholic institutions is the objective of the Obama administration, after all conscience that has been formed without state supervision is a danger to a collectivist state.

Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2012 / 02:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Obama administration announced Jan. 20 that it will not expand an exemption for religious groups that object to its requirement for health insurance plans to cover sterilization and contraception – including abortion-causing drugs – free of charge.

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a Jan. 20 statement that religious employers who object to providing the coverage will be required to comply with the new law by Aug. 1, 2013, one year later than the initial deadline.

In December, a group of more than 60 evangelical, Baptist and Jewish leaders voiced their objection to the mandate in a letter to President Obama. They observed that “religious organizations beyond the Catholic community have deep moral objections” to the proposed mandate.

This action by the Obama administration and Congress is a violation of the First Amendment. There is hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Obama care and especially this provision.

To Catholic politicians I suggest you heed the admonition of Pope John Paul the Second;

"You must straighten out your position with the church." 

There are temporal rewards, and there is the risk of eternal consequences. There are no $3000.00 a plate fundraisers in Hell.

To Catholic voters; if you are thinking of voting for a candidate, Catholic or not, that supports an intrinsic evil, such as abortion nothing else they advocate justifies giving that candidate your vote. The upside for you concerning the risk of eternal consequences are that you might get to share a free meal with your elected representative.

  

 

The Fighting Irish Have Surrendered

The new battle for the Milvian Bridge is underway with the Obama administration concerning mandatory contraception, sterilization, and morning after pills that Catholic institutions have been told they must provide in their health care plans.

Instead of marking their shields with the cross, the board of trustees of Notre Dame are scrubbing their shields clean as fast as they can.

Roxanne Martino has been elected to the board of trustees.

"it turns out that Martino, an accomplished businesswoman and ND alumna, has given more than $25,000 over the years to Emily’s List."

"Emily’s List exists for one reason and one reason only. Click the home page of its website, and it asks you in big capital letters — some in red — to “HELP US ELECT PRO-CHOICE DEMOCRATIC WOMEN.”

Father Jenkins I would hope you understand that in the race to secularize Notre Dame being called the Harvard or Yale of Catholic education is not necessarily a compliment.

Religious Freedom

Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2012 / 02:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).

"The Obama administration announced Jan. 20 that it will not expand an exemption for religious groups that object to its requirement for health insurance plans to cover sterilization and contraception – including abortion-causing drugs – free of charge.

"Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a Jan. 20 statement that religious employers had to comply with the new law by Aug. 1, 2013, one year later than the initial deadline to employers who object to providing the coverage will be required ."

The day before the Obama administration announced that it would not expand an exemption for religious groups that object to the requirement for health insurance to cover sterilization and contraception – including abortion-causing drugs – free of charge, the President spoke at Disney World about his plan to increase tourism in the United States.

It appears that part of the tourism plan is to reduce the number of children born to U.S. parents so that foreign tourists will not have to wait in long lines to access Disney World attractions.

Sebelius noted that “important concerns” had been “raised about religious liberty.”

Kathleen Sebelius only needs to read the First Amendment to understand the basis for these "important concerns".

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I have underlined the statement that Ms. Sebelius needs to know concerning the limitations of government actions concerning religion in the United States. As a Catholic Ms. Sebelius should also read the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

2273

The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."

"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights.

As a Catholic Kathleen Sebelius should understand that her obligation to God and the Church cannot be separated from her role as an adviser or as an executor of legislation for the President of the United States. I was only following orders is not a defense for a Catholic concerning moral issues.


Finally in light of the fact that President Obama wants to increase tourism in the United States Kathleen Sebelius might want to read the words of a former visitor to the United States.   


"One of the most memorable aspects of my Pastoral Visit to the United States was the opportunity it afforded me to reflect on America’s historical experience of religious freedom, and specifically the relationship between religion and culture. At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation’s founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature’s God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such." - Pope Benedict XVI       January 19th, 2012