Posted on 02/13/2012 7:12:20 PM PST by neverdem
The American bishops have, with alacrity, rejected President Obama's proposed "accommodation" on the contraception mandate in no uncertain terms. Their response came before the sun had set on the very day of his announcement.
Noting that the "proposal continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions," the Catholic hierarchy virtually guaranteed more political hemorrhaging for the White House.
The bishops indicated that they were not consulted in advance of the President's announcement and had just received information about it "for the first time this morning [Friday]."
"The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services," stated the bishops in their statement released through the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCB).
President Obama's proposal for an "accommodation," not a compromise, claimed to shift the costs of the contraceptive services to the insurance carriers of the religious institutions as if they would provide such services for free for an indefinite period of time.
The proposal is really no accommodation at all since, as the Wall Street Journal opined in a lead editorial ("Immaculate Contraception," February 11-12, 2012), prices will eventually find an equilibrium, i.e., the carriers will eventually price their policy premiums accordingly which, in turn, means their customers, the religious institutions, will still be footing the bill.
"So you almost have to admire the absurdity of the new plan President Obama floated yesterday: The government will now write a rule that says the best things in life are 'free,' including contraception," wrote the Journal. "Thus, a political mandate will be compounded by an uneconomic one -- in other words, behold the soul..."
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
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As a Catholic, dare I hope that the hierarchy has found their backbone (I would say gonads, but I might be struck down, lol) and are finally going to stand up to the Neo-Commie, Fascist, who most assuredly, 95%+ no doubt supported?
I'll reserve my Hallelujahs and "Attaboys" until I read the fine print.
GOOD ON THEM!!!!
A Pox on Zer0Care!
FUBO
Ain’t it a shame?
Thanks neverdem.
BLEED, BLEED, BLEED!!!
There, in the most barbaric of circumstances, the Cannibal King will not only force those he has conquered to go under the yoke, he will have them dip the spears in the blood of their dead children and elders.
He will roast victims and feed them to their mothers and fathers.
For a variety of not entirely accountable reasons this sort of behavior induces deep depression in the survivors and allows the Cannibal King to reduce them to slavery.
Once there, the Cannibal King keeps those he will and sells the rest for shipment to distant lands.
Yesterday we saw Mr. Lew, an Orthodox Jew who belongs to a Potomac MD synagogue (there are only 3 possible where he's a member), bow down and tell us what Obama wants.
There is no way any Orthodox Jewish synagogue tolerates the sort of message delivery Mr. Lew engaged in unless it is understood that he is truly one of the Cannibal King's slaves.
Obviously Lew is not in tune with the main thrust of American law either ~ but he does make a striking house servant. One is forced to wonder if there are modern psychoactive drugs he could be given to save him from this quite obvious path of self destruction.
For some reason I doubt Mr. Lew is a candidate for salvation. He's gone over. He belongs to Obama ~ he belongs to a Luo ~ and that's not the first slave the Luo have made of a Jew who wandered into their grasp. Be nice to know it's the last, but that may not be in the cards either.
As I observed on another thread, if one suffers from any two of the delusions
1. There is such a thing as a free lunch.
2. Money is not fungible.
3. You are not doing evil if you get someone else to do it for you.
one might actually believe the “accommodation” represented HHS backing down. The understanding of economics and state of moral reasoning on the left is such that I suspect Obama and Sibelius both suffer from all three of those delusions.
Pardon me.
I am not Catholic and not a close follower of Catholic news and events.
But it seems to me the Bishops have been asleep and have recently awakened with this contraception controversy.
My question: where have they been? Why have they not raised Hell with popular Catholic politicians (Pelosi, Kerry, et al) for their stand on abortion and contraception.
Like I said, I don’t follow Catholic goings on. I don’t understand why, all of a sudden, the Bishops are taking a stand? They’ve had plenty of missed opportunities in the past.
Excuse me if I have offended any Catholic FReepers. I’m just trying to understand this.
I can't believe Fox News didn't pick up on the point all weekend that premiums are paid by religious institutions, insurance companies pass on the cost of things they cover to consumers, and, therefore, the Catholic religious organization consumers will still be funding contraception and abortion. I was yelling at my TV all weekend, when even the conservative commentators didn't talk about this.
My pastor raised this issue at the end of Mass on Sunday, calling Obama's accommodation, "no compromise at all", reminding parishioners of the Church's position on contraception, and warning them that this is just the start of increasing infringements of our religious freedom, if we allow Obama to do this. God bless him!
This is pretty fundamentally clear. Is it not?
Well, pardon my attitude, but as a Catholic who watched the Catholic Church sell out the tenants of the religion a long time ago, I find it difficult to get worked-up thinking the Bishops will finally stand up against secularism and government intrusion when they were lock-step in line supporting ObamaCare socialism before the President turned against them as was just too predictable from the start!
I suspect that he thinks he can drive a wedge between Catholic leadership and members. We will see if the Bishops can deliver an anti-0bama vote in November.
Don’t apologize, we pre-Vatican II Catholics find a lot of what the heirarchy of the Church has allowed to go on without challenge rather disheartening.
Well, yes, but let’s just be glad that the bishops appear to have woken up.
The Catholic Church made a wrong turn when they decided that government “aid” to poor people could replace private charity. This happened mainly under FDR during the Great Depression.
But the Catholic Church wasn’t alone in this. Protestant pastors made the same mistake, actually starting back in the 1890s, when they decided that it was less embarrassing for the poor to receive handouts from the government than from soup kitchens and from rich members of their congregations.
It took a long time for the consequences of this mistake to become apparent. You could see it coming for a long time, but finally it has arrived in full force.
In any case, it’s not just the Catholic bishops. It’s Christian pastors and lay people of all kinds, who under a false sense of compassion have supported these government handouts. And probably most of them still do.
Universal still means today what it has always meant.
I am not a Catholic, but I have observed some of its members up close and personal over these past 35 years and they are liberal democrat first in the Catholic tradition.
AND lest any think these people are Christmas/Easter Catholics, nothing is further from the truth. I know some of the Christmas/Easter Catholics as well and they would be call Reagan Democrats.
This is a ‘war’ inside the church and Obama with a liberal Congress decided they would re-cut ‘Peter's’ keys once again.
From CNA:
Rome, Italy, Feb 11, 2012 / 01:46 pm.- Politicians who consider themselves Catholic but collaborate in “the assault against their faith” should remember they will one day have to give account for their acts before God, Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Illinois said Feb 10.
“There is a last judgment. There is a particular judgment. May they change their minds and may God have mercy on them,” he told CNA during his visit to Rome.
When asked specifically about recent actions of Democratic Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Bishop Jenky replied “I am utterly scandalized.”
“The Lord once said ‘if you deny me at the end, I will deny you,’ this from our most merciful, good Savior. And so if it is a choice between Jesus Christ and political power or getting favorable editorials in leftist papers, well, that’s simply not a choice.”
[For full story...]
So who will pay the insurance company?
Kudos to the first elected American office holder willing to publicly call Obama an “Economic Dunce.”
Which is the least of his many faults.
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