Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 11:10am

See You In Court Mr. Obama

 

 

 

 

By this time I rather suspect that at least some of his campaign strategists, if not President Obama, are beginning to wonder if it was such a bright idea to pick a fight with the Catholic Church in an election year.  Ed Morrissey at Hot Air gives us the details on 43 lawsuits filed simultaneously around the country today attacking the HHS mandate as blatantly unconstitutional:

Today’s Roman Catholic calendar lists May 21st as the feast day of St. Christopher Magallanes, a martyr killed for celebrating Mass during the Cristero War in Mexico. Perhaps Catholics today may want to recall St. Thomas More — the patron saint of lawyers, who was executed for refusing to agree to a mandate that gave Henry VIII the prerogative of defining religious expression in England.  Dozens of Catholic institutions filed lawsuits today against the Department of Health and Human Services over its mandate and its narrow definition of religious practice:

Catholic archdioceses and institutions filed suit in federal district courts across the country Monday against the so-called contraception mandate, claiming their “fundamental rights hang in the balance.”

The plaintiffs include a host of schools and organizations, including the University of Notre Dame and the Archdiocese of New York. The lawsuits, though related, were filed individually.

The schools are objecting to the requirement from the federal health care overhaul that employers provide access to contraceptive care. The Obama administration several months back softened its position on the mandate, but some religious organizations complained the administration did not go far enough to ensure the rule would not compel them to violate their religious beliefs.

Kathryn Jean Lopez posts a brief statement from Timothy Cardinal Dolan, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and one of the chief critics of the HHS mandate:

We have tried negotiation with the Administration and legislation with the Congress – and we’ll keep at it – but there’s still no fix. Time is running out, and our valuable ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance, so we have to resort to the courts now. Though the Conference is not a party to the lawsuits, we applaud this courageous action by so many individual dioceses, charities, hospitals and schools across the nation, in coordination with the law firm of Jones Day. It is also a compelling display of the unity of the Church in defense of religious liberty. It’s also a great show of the diversity of the Church’s ministries that serve the common good and that are jeopardized by the mandate – ministries to the poor, the sick, and the uneducated, to people of any faith or no faith at all.

The institutions filing lawsuits don’t just comprise a few ultraconservative institutions, either.  The University of Notre Dame hosted a speech by President Barack Obama in 2009, but today insists that Obama and his administration are attacking religious freedom in their complaint:

This lawsuit is about one of America’s most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one’s religion without government interference. It is not about whether people have a right to abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception. Those services are, and will continue to be, freely available in the United States, and nothing prevents the Government itself from making them more widely available. But the right to such services does not authorize the Government to force the University of Notre Dame (“Notre Dame”) to violate its own conscience by making it provide, pay for, and/or facilitate those services to others, contrary to its sincerely held religious beliefs. …

If the Government can force religious institutions to violate their beliefs in such a manner, there is no apparent limit to the Government’s power. Such an oppression  of religious freedom violates Notre Dame’s clearly established constitutional and statutory rights.

The First Amendment also prohibits the Government from becoming excessively entangled in religious affairs and from interfering with a religious institution’s internal decisions concerning the organization’s religious structure, ministers, or doctrine. The U.S. Government Mandate tramples all of these rights.

Go here to read the rest.  The Catholic Church in this country did not go looking for this fight.  Obama, for cheap political advantage, imposed the HHS Mandate assuming that he could safely bully the Catholic Church.  Guess again Mr. President!  In her history the Church has repeatedly defeated nightmarish adversaries far more formidable than a hack politician from Chicago.  See you in court and on election day this year.

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Paul W Primavera
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 12:40pm

This affects everyone – Catholics, Orthodox Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, Pentecostal, Southern Baptist, etc.

My older brother – a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (AG) – said that the Superintendent thereof issued a statement condemning the Obama initiatives – HHS mandate, gay marriage, etc. – and ordered all AG pastors to speak on this topic. AG is the largest Pentecostal denomination which historically viewed the Roman Catholic Church with apathy if not outright antipathy. For Obama to unite them in any cause with the Roman Catholic Church means that Obama has done what all the ecumenicalism in the World Council of Churches could never have done.

I couldn’t be happier!

Gail Finke
Gail Finke
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 1:16pm

People have been underestimating the Catholic Church for the last 2000 years. Someone is always saying “It’s finished, let’s kick it!” Never a good idea because a) it’s NOT finished, and b) kicking the Church in a low period does indeed mean that a lot of people desert Her, but it also means that some surprising folks stand up and become dauntless champions for Her — sometimes not until after a lot of destruction, and sometimes right away, but nearly always in each particular place, and always if you look at the universal Church.

WK Aiken
WK Aiken
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 1:20pm

Just because it needs to be said, when the dust from this battle is settled (not war, for that will never end, but the battle) we (generically) should be prepared to be more dedicated, more active and more committed to doing the things that The Church has always stood for but that we may have been less intently focused on in the past.

For my part, I am going deeper into the Christ Renews His Parish and Cursillo processes, having done the first one twice and second once. I’ll be on a seed team for CRHP, going from my central Indiana parish to Sarasota to help a parish there rev up its commitment to Christ and The Holy Spirit. My Cursillo groups are active but not terribly “pro”-active, and I’m taking it on myself to challenge that. Instead of just talking around the coffee table each week, it’s time for a demonstration of commitment.

We each need to be able to say “Yeah, already there,” when the inevitable challenges come from those individuals and media outlets that will say “OK, Catholics, you won that round, but how about all these injustices and poverties?”

You know the commitment across the country will be scrutinized by the Imperial Propaganda Ministry once the mandate’s been struck down, so we have to be ready. Or, perhaps more accurately, we have to begin yesterday to encourage and motivate our more wishy-washy parishioners to commit and start getting their hands dirty.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 3:13pm

“contrary to its sincerely held religious beliefs. …”

The University of Notre Dame has sincerely held religious beliefs? News to me. Glad they are joining the fight nonetheless.

Between an overbearing government and the recent patent wars, business in law is good these days. I should have been a lawyer. 🙂

If you haven’t clicked the Hot Air link, you should. More updates. I’m trying to find the list of dioceses in the suit.

Pete
Pete
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 6:16pm

Kyle–here’s a list of plaintiffs I found from CatholicVote.org:

http://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=30275

1. D.D.C. Lawsuit
o Archdiocese of Washington
o Consortium of Catholic Academies
o Archbishop Carroll High School
o Catholic Charities of D.C.
o The Catholic University of America

2. E.D.N.Y. Lawsuit
o Diocese of Rockville Centre
o Catholic Health Services of Long Island
o Catholic Charities of Rockville Centre
o Archdiocese of N.Y.
o ArchCare

3. W.D.Pa. (Erie Div.) Lawsuit
o Diocese of Erie
o St. Martin Center
o Prince of Peace Center

4. W.D.Pa. (Pitt. Div.) Lawsuit
o Diocese of Pittsburgh
o Catholic Charities of Diocese of Pittsburgh
o Catholic Cemeteries Association of Diocese of Pittsburgh

5. N.D.Tex. (Dallas Div.) Lawsuit
o Diocese of Dallas

6. N.D.Tex. (Fort Worth Div.) Lawsuit
o Diocese of Fort Worth

7. S.D. Ohio (Columbus Div.) Lawsuit
o Franciscan University of Steubenville
o Michigan Catholic Conference

8. S.D.Miss. (Gulfport Div.) Lawsuit
o Diocese of Jackson
o Catholic Charities of Jackson
o Vicksburg Catholic School
o St. Joseph’s Catholic School
o Diocese of Biloxi
o De l’Epee Deaf Center Inc.
o Catholic Social & Community Services Inc.
o Resurrection Catholic School
o Sacred Heart Catholic School
o St. Dominic Health Services

9. N.D.Ind. (South Bend Div.) Lawsuit
o The University of Notre Dame

10. N.D. Ind. (Fort Wayne Div.) Lawsuit
o Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
o Catholic Charities of Fort Wayne-South Bend
o St. Anne Home
o Franciscan Alliance
o Our Sunday Visitor
o University of St. Francis

11. N.D.Ill. Lawsuit
o Diocese of Joliet
o Catholic Charities of Joliet
o Diocese of Springfield
o Catholic Charities of Springfield

12. E.D.Mo. (St. Louis Div.)
o Archdiocese of St. Louis
o Catholic Charities of St. Louis

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 7:00pm

Wacky Baracky Obumbler is certainly no skilled politician. At best, for him, he was able to do a decent job reading Axelrod’s trash on a TelePrompTer.

Now, really, what kind of an idiot does one have to be to hang out with the Marxists in college? I have written it here before ‘ there is no ideology, no “ism”, no system of government that has caused more misery, more failure and more death of innocent people than Marxism, yet it still pulls in the gullible, the idiotic and the stupid.

Obumbler is a combination of fallen-away Muslim and semi-Marxist. His wife is a golddigger par excellence. Obumbler has treated his presidency as a four year vacation and even if he loses to the Windsock, Obumbler would get a lifetime pension, a paid-for funeral, ten years of Secret Service protection and money for a presidential library. Obumbler will never pay for his errors – not in this lifetime.

As for our Catholic hierarchy in the USA, it took this “mandate” to get them to wake up. Decades of abortion, Planned Parenthood taxpayer subsidies, restrictions on Nativity scenes, gay marriage and the like and the USCCB has been mostly asleep. The USCCB sill will not confront so called Catholic politicians who support abortion by excommunicating them. I have heard more about immigration reform (amnesty) and the USCCB’s continued support of “universal health care” was no small contributor to Obumblercare.

Obumbler is a terrible President and quite a lousy politician. Sadly, it took Obumbler and the Democrat control of Congress to light a fire under the Catholic Church in the US.

Mike Tefft
Mike Tefft
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 8:10pm

I wonder if this is the tip of the iceberg. Will we see another few dozen suits next month, and again the month after, and so on? 43 plaintiffs is a good start, with good attention, but the true scope of the government’s violation is far more than this.

Clinton
Clinton
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 8:25pm

It’s not clear to me if the list of plaintiffs is a list of all suits filed thus far, or if it is
just a list of plaintiffs with a Catholic connection. Where are the lawsuits being filed by
Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim organizations? Are Catholics going to do all of the
heavy lifting on this?

Gail Finke
Gail Finke
Monday, May 21, AD 2012 8:41pm

Clinton: Several months ago about 11 suits were filed by a variety of organizations, some Catholic and some not. These 12 are all Catholic, and were filed simultaneously and seem to be very similar so I would imagine there was some heavy-duty planning. Are Catholics going to do all the work? They haven’t so far. Are they going to do all the “heavy lifting”? Remains to be seen! So far yes. But we will see.

Mary@42
Mary@42
Wednesday, May 23, AD 2012 6:07am

Penguins Fan, you say : “and the USCCB has been mostly asleep. Christ’s Apostles”. Remember, Christ’s Apostles were asleep as He agonized in Ghestemany, they fled when He was arrested. He died on the Cross with only young John and His Mother at the foot of the Cross. The Apostles had to lock themselves in the Upper Room after his death with fear and trembling believing all was lost. But Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to them, reassured them and this Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of the Pentecost which woke up the Apostles with Divine Power and they courageously proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Penguins Fan, the Catholic Church rises up from the ashes like the Phoenix when under attack – whether from within or from without – and emerges victorious no matter how powerful the Adversary may be. She has done so these 2,000 years+ and She will do it again. Jesus will crush Satan whom you, Americans enthroned with your “Gospel of Death”. Obama may have gambled that he will divine the Church in America, but let us all remember, this One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, with Christ as Her Spiritual Head, guided by the Holy Spirit is just about to defeat Satan yet again. And She will continue doing so Until the End of Time.

The American Bishops may have been asleep when Satan was edging on the Throne, when Obama, his High Priest entered your While House, and he has now risen against Jesus Christ Himself.

Valentin
Valentin
Wednesday, May 23, AD 2012 9:04pm

Yes Mary 42 but now that we know Christ is the lord the only Son of God the bishops have to make sure that fake Catholics don’t burn their souls for not repenting. Not to mention they give a false image of what the Church is.

Fred
Fred
Monday, May 28, AD 2012 10:08pm

The Democratic Party today , under Obama, is NOT the Democratic Party of JFK, the only US Catholic President to date. It has become radicalized, severely. JFK would have NEVER considered such a strangulation on American’s freedoms. If we lie down without a fight, it will be very fast coming that more and more freedoms go by the wayside. Our constitution is just a piece of paper if not fought for, and used as the proper tool, in the courts.

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