Free Republic

In 1804 an Ursuline nun in New Orleans asked Thomas Jefferson to clarify in writing her religious community’s right to retain their property and to continue their ministries without government interference following the Louisiana Purchase. As French Catholic Louisiana was being incorporated into the Anglo-Protestant United States, the nuns were concerned about the status of their institutions under U.S. law. President Jefferson assured her that the government would not interfere with the sisters’ property, ministries, and way of life. In a letter dated May 15, 1804, he wrote: “I have received, holy sisters, the letter you have written me wherein...

Members of the United States Congress have voiced their support for the Little Sisters of the Poor before their case is argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. “We talk a lot about public service up here. Well, these are the people who live it,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said of the sisters on the House Floor on Tuesday, noting that they serve the poor in 31 countries. “They are the definition of public service.” On Wednesday, oral arguments for Zubik v. Burwell will take place at the Supreme Court. The case is a bundle of seven cases against...

If you were totally avoiding the internet today, or if you live under a particularly pleasant and comfortable rock, maybe you don’t know that the federal government and a bunch of nuns are duking it out before the Supreme Court over birth control. More to the point, they’re fighting over the Little Sisters of the Poors’ refusal to subsidize contraception and abortion-causing drugs for their employees via their health insurance coverage, all of whom, by the way, are mandated by the President Obama’s signature eponymous government overreach law to purchase their own health insurance. Well, fair’s fair, right? I mean,...

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz  4% said “d***” in front of the Supreme Court building while the Little Sisters of the Poor were there demonstrating. Wasserman Schultz was speaking to a group of Planned Parenthood supporters who were there while the court was hearing oral arguments in the case of Zubik v. Burwell. The Little Sisters of the Poor are one of many plaintiffs who are asking to be exempting from the federal government requirement to cover contraceptives in their health-care plans. “Those rights that we secured must remain in place and while we’re at it this...

Oral argument was heard today in the SCOTUS in the case of Zubik v Burwell. Obama Care regulations are forcing the Little Sisters of the Poor to be complicit in providing abortion inducing contraceptives to their employees. This is profoundly offensive to the Sisters religious beliefs. They are asking for reiief from these obligations. Justice Stephen Breyer said “a religious person living in society may have to accept all kinds of things that are just terrible for him.” The example Breyer uses is the forcing of Quakers to pay taxes which in part pay tor a war which is objectionable...

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the case the Little Sisters of the Poor and 37 pro-life groups, universities and companies have filed against the HHS mandate, which forces them to pay for abortion-causing drugs in their employee health care plans. The case, Zubik v. Burwell, involves 37 religious nonprofits such as charities and universities that say the HHS mandate violates their religious beliefs. They say the religious accommodation the Obama administration put together still makes them complicit in covering the abortion-causing drugs. “Hijacking. It seems to me that’s an accurate description of what the government wants to...

SAN FRANCISCO — Little Sister of the Poor Rose Cantu remembers the first time she saw the women religious who inspired her to embrace the Catholic Church as her spiritual home. “What drew me to the faith was the joy on the sisters’ faces as they cared for the elderly,” Sister Rose told the Register, as she recalled her pivotal visit to the order’s home as a teenage volunteer. “Witnessing their faith in action led me to ask more questions about the God they worshipped.” Almost two decades later, Sister Rose is a registered nurse who serves the elderly poor...

The Obama administration has been unrelenting in its fight to force a group of Catholic nuns to violate their beliefs and pay for abortion-causing drugs and contraception, arguing that they are essential health care services. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal from the Little Sisters of the Poor and 37 other religious groups to stop the Obama administration from forcing them to comply with ObamacareÂ’s abortion mandate. The mandate compels religious groups to pay for birth control, drugs that may cause abortions and sterilization. Without relief, the Little Sisters would face millions of dollars in IRS fines....

Update: In 2014, we told you about a challenge to Obamacare's contraception mandate filed in Denver by Little Sisters of the Poor, an organization jointly based here and in Baltimore; we've incorporated elements of our previous coverage into this post. The Sisters lost that case, but they haven't given up their fight. Today, the matter is being heard at the U.S. Supreme Court. Among the groups that have supported the Little Sisters of the Poor is the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which describes itself as "a non-profit, public-interest legal and educational institute with a mission to protect the free...

Outside the Supreme Court this morning, pro-life advocates are rallying for the Little Sisters of the Poor, who are challenging Obama’s HHS mandate today at the Supreme Court. In the next major battle in the pro-life fight against the HHS mandate, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Little Sisters of the Poor’s challenge to the Obama HHS mandate. The nation’s highest court will hear debate from attorneys representing the Catholic religious order and the Obama administration on Wednesday. The Little Sisters of the Poor are asking the nation’s highest court to ensure they do not have to comply...

The Planned Parenthood abortion business is supporting the Obama administration’s push today to force a group of Catholic nuns to pay for abortion-causing drugs in their employee health care plans. In the next major battle in the pro-life fight against the HHS mandate, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Little Sisters of the Poor’s challenge to the Obama HHS mandate. The nation’s highest court will hear debate from attorneys representing the Catholic religious order and the Obama administration on Wednesday. The Little Sisters of the Poor are asking the nation’s highest court to ensure they do not have...

(Mother Teresa's missionary order) VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was “shocked and profoundly saddened” by the murder of four Missionaries of Charity and 12 other people at a home for the elderly in Aden, Yemen. Gunmen entered the building on Friday and went room to room, handcuffing victims before shooting them in the head. A message signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the Holy Father “sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of senseless and diabolical violence.” The message...

The practitioners of the Religion of Peace have been at it again.From FNC: Gunmen execute 16 people, including 4 nuns, in Yemen retirement homeA team of gunmen unleashed a massacre at a retirement home run by Catholic nuns in Yemen Friday, killing 16 people including four nuns, Yemeni security officials and witnesses said.The gunmen then moved from room to room, handcuffing the victims before shooting each of them in the head. A nun who survived said that she hid inside a fridge in a storeroom after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting “run, run.”Missionaries of Charity, an organization established by Mother...

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is announcing a new website specifically dedicated to explaining the Little Sisters of the Poor’s ongoing legal battle with the Obama Administration and setting the record straight on the government’s claims against the charitable Catholic order. As Live Action News has covered, the Little Sisters have been one of the most high-profile targets of the Obama Administration’s efforts to force religious groups to provide contraceptive coverage. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them last summer, but the US Supreme Court agreed in November to hear their case, as part of a consolidated...

Six cloistered Catholic nuns, living nearly their entire lives praying behind the walls of an Alaska monastery, have embraced a new pro-life initiative. The Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Anchorage recently completed an inaugural batch of tiny handcrafted baby booties for a local crisis pregnancy center. The center will give the miniature shoes to women facing unexpected pregnancies. Just before Christmas, the nuns were approached with the project by a member of Catholic Men For Life, a pro-life men’s group based out of Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage. Earlier, Peter Knox and several other members of Catholic Men for Life...

The Supreme Court has set the date for oral arguments for Little Sisters of the Poor’s challenge to the Obama HHS mandate. The nation’s highest court will hear debate from attorneys representing the Catholic religious order and the Obama administration on Wednesday, March 23 at 10 a.m. The Little Sisters of the Poor are asking the nation’s highest court to ensure they do not have to comply with Obamacare’s abortion mandate. The mandate compels religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions. Without relief, the Little Sisters would face millions of dollars in IRS fines...

President Barack Obama is disrespecting the deeply-held religious views of the Little Sisters of the Poor by forcing them to pay for abortion-causing drugs under the HHS mandate. But the Planned Parenthood abortion business thinks what is really disrespectful is pro-life Speaker Paul Ryan inviting them to attend Obama’s State of the Union address. As LifeNews reported, Ryan hosted the very Catholic nuns Obama is attempting to force to pay for abortion drugs under the HHS mandate. The Little Sisters of the Poor are asking the nation’s highest court to ensure they do not have to comply with Obamacare’s abortion...

Two members of the order of Catholic nuns waging a court battle against President Obama’s signature health-care reform law will attend his final State of the Union address Tuesday as guests of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis). The Little Sisters of Poor are challenging the health law’s requirement that group insurance plans offer contraceptive coverage at no additional cost.

FULL TITLE: 100 years of prayer: The Pink Sisters work in shifts to continue a nonstop prayer lasting over a century LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The cloistered nuns, known as the Pink Sisters, have seen their already small group dwindle in past years, leaving a second century of prayer uncertain. In an attempt to gather more members, the Pink Sisters hung a banner outside their chapel and convent to advertise daily public Masses. They have also been interviewed several times and have invited Catholic women's organizations and schools to visit. All conversations take place through the grill in...

PHILADELPHIA — For more than 100 years, the cloistered nuns known as the Pink Sisters have worked in shifts to ensure nonstop prayer in Philadelphia’s Chapel of Divine Love. Now, to address their shrinking numbers and ensure their prayers continue for another century, the Roman Catholic Holy Spirit Adoration sisters have begun quietly reaching out...