Administration's Attack on the Church

If you haven't heard or read about the Obama administration's recent decision to require Catholic organizations -- schools, colleges, hospitals, etc. -- to provide what are euphemistically called "women's health services" to all employees in their health-care plans, then you must have spent the past few weeks hiding in a cave. These services, which include artificial contraception, abortifacients, sterilization, etc., are, of course considered  morally abhorrent by the Catholic Church. President Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have decided to set aside the First Amendment of our Constitution and grossly infringe on the religious freedom of Americans in general and the Catholic Church in particular. This should disturb all Americans, regardless of their religious affiliation, but I'm particularly pleased to see our bishops rise up and condemn this decision.

I had intended to write more about this issue, but this morning, while checking of few of my favorite websites, I came across a wonderful video of Fr. Robert Barron addressing the subject. I've included it below and hope you'll take a few minutes to watch it.

In case you aren't familiar with Fr. Barron, he produced the magnificent video series, Catholicism, which I recommend highly both to Catholics who want to learn more about their faith and to others interested in the Catholic Church. Here's a direct link to his website: www.wordonfire.org.


I also suggest you watch the video of New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan addressing the same subject. Archbishop Dolan is also the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. For some reason I was unable to embed the video in this post, but here's a link: Conscience Protection

Archbishop Dolan on Religious Freedom

Responding to recent initiatives by the Obama administration and a number of state governments that threaten the religious freedom of American citizens, the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has formed an ad hoc Committee on Religious Liberty designed to secure and promote the religious freedom of all. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the bishops' conference, has led the charge to awaken Catholics to the threats to their religious liberty and to enlist them in the battle to defend the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment of our Constitution.

At the U. S. bishops' semi-annual meeting in Baltimore, Archbishop Dolan clearly defined the nature of the struggle for religious freedom in our increasingly secular culture:

"Our world would often have us believe that culture is light years ahead of a languishing, moribund Church. But, of course, we realize the opposite case: The Church invites the world to a fresh, original place, not a musty or outdated one.

"It is always a risk for the world to hear the Church, for she dares the world to 'cast out into the deep,' to foster and protect the inviolable dignity of the human person and human life; to acknowledge the truth about life ingrained in reason and nature; to protect marriage and family; to embrace those suffering and struggling; to prefer service to selfishness; and never to stifle the liberty to quench deep down for the divine that the poets, philosophers and peasants of the earth know to be what makes us genuinely human."

Archbishop Dolan wasn't alone in this effort to defend religious freedom, and stated that he was impressed by the unanimity of support expressed by his brother bishops. Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, chairman of the Committee on Religious Liberty, argued that by defending religious liberty the bishops will protect the many Catholic social services that do so much good in our society. Bishop Lori stated that, "In the dioceses that we serve, the Church is the largest non-governmental source of education, social, charitable, and health-care services."

Summing up the bishops' position, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia threw down the gauntlet by stating that religious freedom "should become an election-year issue, because our identity as Catholics is under threat."

Pray for our nation...

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