Free Republic

July 23, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Campaign for Human Development” paid a young Barack Obama’s airfaire to a training program on community organizing given by the Industrial Areas Foundation, an organization founded by leftist radical Saul Alinsky, according a book to be released tomorrow on the subject. No Higher Power, by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and journalist George Neumayr, reports that “In the 1980s, the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago contributed to the training of Obama in the very Alinskyite radicalism that would culminate in such anti-religious measures as the HHS mandate,” according to an...

Shortly before he died in Oxford in 1988, the Jesuit retreat master and raconteur, Bernard Bassett, in good spirits after a double leg amputation, told me that the great lights of his theological formation had been Ignatius Loyola and John Henry Newman, but if he “had to do it all over,” he’d only read Paul. “Everything is there.” There is a temptation to think that God gave us the Apostle to the Gentiles in order to have second readings at Sunday Mass, usually unrelated to the first reading and the Gospel. But everything truly is there. Paul was one of...

WASHINGTON (USCCB) —The U.S. bishops greeted with hope and caution the June 25 Supreme Court decision to strike down provisions of an Arizona immigration law that would have allowed warrantless arrests of people suspected of an offense that is deportable, that would have made it a crime to seek work in the state and that would have made undocumented presence a state crime. The bishops found hope in the decision in Arizona vs. United States and said it reflects the bishops’ call for humane and just immigration laws and concern for laws that could tear families apart. Their caution lay...

For three years now, Compañeros, a small nonprofit organization in rural southwestern Colorado, has received thousands of dollars from the Roman Catholic Church to help poor Hispanic immigrants with basic needs including access to health care and guidance on local laws. But in February, the group was informed by a representative from the Diocese of Pueblo that its financing from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops devoted to ending poverty, was in danger. The problem, the diocesan liaison explained, was Compañeros’s membership in an immigrant rights coalition that had joined...

The bishops released a statement a short time ago: Today the United States Supreme Court issued a decision upholding as a tax the provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires individuals to purchase a health plan—the so-called “individual mandate.” For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been and continue to be consistent advocates for comprehensive health care reform to ensure access to life-affirming health care for all, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable. Although the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) did not participate in these cases and took no position...

Bishops Renew Plea To Congress And Administration To Repair Affordable Care Act June 28, 2012 Supreme Court decision does not address fundamental flaws in the law Legislation still needed to fix conscience, abortion funding, immigration problems WASHINGTON—Today the United States Supreme Court issued a decision upholding as a tax the provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires individuals to purchase a health plan—the so-called "individual mandate." For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been and continue to be consistent advocates for comprehensive health care reform to ensure access to life-affirming health care for...

May 31, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Catholics in the United States should be prepared to engage in civil disobedience if the HHS mandate requiring employers to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs is not rescinded, says a new document from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB released the one-pager as a bulletin insert to be distributed in Catholic Churches during June, in preparation for the Fortnight for Freedom, a two week period of prayer and fasting for the rescinding of the mandate. “Some unjust laws impose such injustices on individuals and organizations that disobeying the laws may...

STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA, May 24, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A California-based bishop is concerned that the lawsuits to overturn the HHS mandate filed by the leading dioceses and institutions of his Church may be used to underscore political criticism of the Obama administration. Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton told America magazine that, while the bishops he knows in California “are strong supporters” of these religious liberty lawsuits, “I think there are different groups that are trying to co-opt this and make it into political issue.” Forces “very far to the Right” may be tempted to make the legal challenge a part of...

On Monday, May 21, Cardinal Dolan, President of the USCCB, applauded 43 dioceses, hospitals, schools and church agencies for filing 12 lawsuits around the nation saying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contraception coverage mandate violates religious freedom. The Boston Archdiocese was not one of those dioceses. St. Anthony of Padua said, “Actions speak louder than words” and the actions of Cardinal O’Malley make it increasingly obvious that our Cardinal is lacking in courage. Here is an excerpt from the AP report on the news: NEW YORK – Roman Catholic dioceses, schools, and other groups sued the Obama...

Do the American Catholic bishops think it’s morally acceptable to bounce checks? Because that’s what will happen, you know, if Congress follows the bishops’ advice on federal spending. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has repeatedly criticized proposed budget cuts in federal spending, without suggesting alternative ways to balance the budget. Although in these statements the bishops occasionally mention in passing that they recognize deficit spending might be a problem, those disclaimers are never very convincing. There is no sign that the US bishops, as a body, recognize the enormity of the central problem here: The US government is spending...

In March the US bishops’ conference (USCCB) announced that “we will not rest” until Congress ensures that religious freedom is protected in the federal health-care reform program. The USCCB followed up that clear and forceful message a few week later with a new, statement announcing a major offensive in defense of religious liberty. These powerful statements seemed to indicate clearly that religious freedom would be the focus—the focus—of the bishops’ political efforts this year. The USCCB issued a clarion call to the Catholic laity, asking for help with this campaign. Cardinal Dolan called out President Obama; Bishop Lori challenged Congress....

If a decree like the HHS contraception mandate was issued during the Medieval era, Archbishop Dolan would probably have declared Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “anathema” and excommunicated her from the Church (see this famous scene from the movie Becket for an example). If President Obama was a tyrannical monarch in that era, he would be muttering the same words as King Henry II when challenged by the Catholic hierarchy, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”The church’s relationship with government has changed since the 12th century; nevertheless, the Catholic Church is again facing off with civil authority over their...

Pope Benedict XVI today has named Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, as a member of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The congregation is the oldest of the Curia's nine congregations. The wide ranging mission of the congregation is to promote and safeguard the doctrine on faith and morals throughout the Catholic world. The congregation is now headed by Prefect Cardinal William Joseph Levada and has 23 members. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 until his election as the 265th successor to...

As the Church throughout the world prepares for the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, led by Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, has issued a 31-page statement entitled “Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization.” “The New Evangelization seeks to invite modern man and culture into a relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church,” the document states. “The New Evangelization strives to engage our culture and to help us draw our inspiration from the Gospel. The New Evangelization calls all Catholics first to be evangelized and...

The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto has a fascinating interview with New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, in which the president of the US bishops’ conference discusses the interactions he’s had with President Barack Obama over the last several months regarding the birth-control mandate handed down by the Department of Health and Human Services. Dolan describes the 45-minute meeting he had with Obama last November, at which he understood the president to say that the Catholic Church’s religious freedoms would be protected as the health-care law was implemented: “I said, ‘I’ve heard you say, first of all, that you have immense...

Siding with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a federal judge has declared that grants made to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to assist human-trafficking victims are unconstitutional because the grants represent a government endorsement of Catholicism. In 2005, the Department of Health and Human Services solicited grant applications to assist victims of human trafficking. In its application, the USCCB declared: As we are a Catholic organization, we need to ensure that our victim services are not used to refer or fund activities that would be contrary to our moral convictions and religious beliefs … Specifically, subcontractors...

New York Archbishop at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican last month when he was installed as a cardinal. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)Editor's Note: The leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week issued a statement reiterating the conviction of the Catholic Church in the United States that President Barack Obama's mandate that all insurance plans--including those that are purchased by and provided by Catholics and Catholic institutions--must provide free coverage for sterilizations, contraceptives and abortifacients is an "unjust and illegal mandate."The Administrative Committee of the conference, led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, declared the mandate...

I have little to add to Kathryn’s excellent summary of the U.S. Bishops’ statement “United for Religious Freedom.”I do want to register my disappointment with Reuters, however, which attempted to muddy the waters of the bishops’ crystal-clear resolve the day before they issued their statement — while presenting absolutely no evidence to support that narrative: “Facing small but clear signs of discontent within their own ranks, U.S. Catholic bishops may be poised to rethink their aggressive tactics for fighting a federal mandate that health insurance plans cover contraception, according to sources close to influential bishops…… dozens of bishops, meeting this...

Statement of the USCCB on HHS Mandate The following press release was issued today by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Mandate. BISHOPS PROMISE TO CONTINUE ‘VIGOROUS EFFORTS’ AGAINST HHS VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN HEALTH CARE REFORM MANDATEDeclare government has no place defining religion, religious ministrySeek protection for conscience rights of institutions, individualsStress action with the public, White House, Congress, courtsWASHINGTON—The U.S. bishops are strongly united in their ongoing and determined efforts to protect religious freedom, the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said...

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the statement [click here] just released by the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:The statement, “United for Religious Freedom,” is the clearest exposition of contemporary Catholic thought on religious liberty in America. It leaves nothing on the table.It speaks directly to the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that seeks to force Catholic non-profits to cover services it deems objectionable in its insurance plans. Mincing no words, the statement declares the HHS edict to be “unjust and illegal.”It debunks many myths about this issue: it is not about contraception;...