Religious Sisters File First Class-Action Lawsuit Against Controversial HHS Mandate

Catholic Lane ^ | September 25, 2013 | The Becket Fund

[NYer]

Today, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious order of Sisters dedicated to caring for the elderly poor (see video). Without relief, the Little Sisters face millions of dollars in IRS fines because they cannot comply with the government’s mandate that they give their employees free access to contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. The Little Sisters are joined by their religious health benefits providers, Christian Brothers Services and Christian Brothers Employee Benefits Trust, and a class of other religious organizations facing similar fines, in the first class action lawsuit against the Mandate.

The Little Sisters of the Poor are an international Roman Catholic Congregation of women Religious founded in 1839 by St. Jeanne Jugan. They operate homes in 31 countries, where they provide loving care for over 13,000 needy elderly persons. Thirty of these homes are located in the United States.

“Like all of the Little Sisters, I have vowed to God and the Roman Catholic Church that I will treat all life as valuable, and I have dedicated my life to that work,” explained Sister Loraine Marie, Superior for one of the three U.S. provinces in the Congregation. “We cannot violate our vows by participating in the government’s program to provide access to abortion inducing drugs.”

Although the Little Sisters’ homes perform a religious ministry of caring for the elderly poor, they do not fall within the government’s narrow exemption for “religious employers.” Accordingly, beginning on January 1, the Little Sisters will face IRS fines unless they violate their religion by hiring an insurer to provide their employees with contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs.

“The Sisters should obviously be exempted as ‘religious employers,’ but the government has refused to expand its definition,” said Mark Rienzi, Senior Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead counsel for the Little Sisters. “These women just want to take care of the elderly poor without being forced to violate the faith that animates their work. The money they collect should be used to care for the poor like it always has—and not to pay the IRS.”

The lawsuit is the first of its kind both because it is a class-action suit that will represent hundreds of Catholic non-profit ministries with similar beliefs and because it is the first on behalf of benefits providers who cannot comply with the Mandate.

The lawsuit was filed in federal District Court in Denver. There are now 72 lawsuits challenging the mandate.

[Elsie]

They have swallowed Luther’s scheme of salvation ...

Uh; you guys should have KILLED him when you had the chance!

[Elsie]

They have swallowed Luther’s scheme of salvation ...

 

John 6:28-29

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

[Elsie]

That’s a fact, but if they are spiritually alive then they are not “dead.”

Disclaimer noted.

[Elsie]

Surely the sleep of the dead must be quite different since they are deprived of those senses because they have no body.

One might think...

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Psalm 13:3
Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

 

Psalm 90:5
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— they are like the new grass of the morning:

 

Daniel 12:2
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
 
 
John 11:12-13
His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”
Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

 

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Listen, I tell you a mystery:

We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

 

Ephesians 5:14
This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

 

 
1 Thessalonians 4:13
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
 

[Elsie]

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Dang!

 

THIS is what happens when I'm away from FR for just a little bit!!

[Elsie]

That looks like a Catholic in a canoe; NOT a West Virginia expert!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zJmJftv8wU

[Alex Murphy]

Of every stripe, I also have gay and lesbian friends as well as quite a few minority friends.

You have striped friends?

[Elsie]

I see Rome has instituted NEW instructions for the REQUIRED baptism needed for Salvation!

[Elsie]

How DARE you bring up a few old stories from the OT to make your point!

[Elsie]

...I also have gay and lesbian friends as well as quite a few minority friends.

Do you treat THEM as well as your PROTESTant FR ones?

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I'm reminded of the old saw: "With friends like this; who needs enemies!?"

[WVKayaker]

[AnAmericanMother]

"I sent Moses and the prophets."

- Our Lord

"I sent you an ambulance, a rowboat, and a helicopter. What were you waiting for?"

- St. Peter

"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken."

- Oliver Cromwell

[Tax-chick]

From the usage in the final quote, we get that ultimate passive-aggressive Southern lady phrase, “Bless your bowels, honey!”

[Elsie]

?