Posted on 02/27/2012 9:15:01 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Warning that the Church is being despoiled of her institutions as freedom of conscience and of religion become a memory from a happier past, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago observes that the Catholic Church in the United States is being told she must give up her health care institutions, her universities and many of her social service organizations.
So far in American history, our government has respected the freedom of individual conscience and of institutional integrity for all the many religious groups that shape our society, he continues. The government has not compelled them to perform or pay for what their faith tells them is immoral. Thats what weve meant by freedom of religion. Thats what we had believed was protected by the U.S. Constitution. Maybe we were foolish to believe so.
Cardinal George adds:
What will happen if the HHS regulations are not rescinded? A Catholic institution, so far as I can see right now, will have one of four choices: 1) secularize itself, breaking its connection to the Church, her moral and social teachings and the oversight of its ministry by the local bishop. This is a form of theft. It means the Church will not be permitted to have an institutional voice in public life. 2) Pay exorbitant annual fines to avoid paying for insurance policies that cover abortifacient drugs, artificial contraception and sterilization. This is not economically sustainable. 3) Sell the institution to a non-Catholic group or to a local government. 4) Close downIf you havent already purchased the Archdiocesan Directory for 2012, I would suggest you get one as a souvenir, he continued. On page L-3, there is a complete list of Catholic hospitals and health care institutions in Cook and Lake counties. Each entry represents much sacrifice on the part of medical personnel, administrators and religious sponsors. Each name signifies the love of Christ to people of all classes and races and religions. Two Lents from now, unless something changes, that page will be blank.
Freedom of worship was guaranteed in the Constitution of the former Soviet Union. You could go to church, if you could find one. The church, however, could do nothing except conduct religious rites in places of worship-no schools, religious publications, health care institutions, organized charity, ministry for justice and the works of mercy that flow naturally from a living faith. All of these were co-opted by the government. We fought a long cold war to defeat that vision of society.
The strangest accusation in this manipulated public discussion has the bishops not respecting the separation between church and state. The bishops would love to have the separation between church and state we thought we enjoyed just a few months ago, when we were free to run Catholic institutions in conformity with the demands of the Catholic faith, when the government couldnt tell us which of our ministries are Catholic and which not, when the law protected rather than crushed conscience. The state is making itself into a church.
25% of all hospital beds in the US are in a building with the word Saint on the door.
Closing them would cause a crisis.
I wonder who Obama turns them over to?
If the Church opts to close the hospitals, look for them to be forcibly nationalized rather than allowed to close. And they say Obama isn't a communist...
Christians persecuted in your name and with your dollars. Get ready, it is nearly time.
We could very well be closer to a second American revolution.
I suppose - if I were computer literate enough - I could give a better link but alas, I’m a dummy. Suffice to say, go to the following URL http://barnhardt.biz/ and scroll down to her entry for February 21. She gives a proper response to Mr. Soetero and his mandate.
BTW, this is the same lady who burned a koran on Youtube and when threatened by a muzzie gave him explicit directions to her house. She’s still there though he never showed up.
Re: I wonder who Obama turns them over to? (religious hospitals)
Easy, obamas chief adviser, Satan
Let's see what happens when they close their doors -even temporarily.
The whole thing is scripted anyway, but still, it's weird to see a guy who wants to be The One-Termer.
The Soros-Buffet Healthcare System. Fully equipped by GE with and ALL union staff. Jamie Gorelic is to be the CEO.
That's easy-they will be forcibly nationalized. And the dumb sheep will applaud because the government saved their hospitals.
If this country is dumb enough to re-elect him, he will remove all doubt.
Every remaining GOP candidate has their faults. Rick Santorum (my favorite) needs to spend more time wooing economic conservatives. Ron Paul needs to spend more time convincing people he isn't batsh*t crazy. Newt Gingrich needs to spend more time convincing women (especially) that he won't have another bimbo eruption. Mitt Romney needs to spend more time wooing social conservatives.
But warts and all, not one of them is an America hating Communist. Not even close. Not even if you put together the worst aspects of each.
It is only the genuine goodness of conservatives that has held back the fire this long. Were the left subject to even a tithe of the persecution and provocation that is heaped on us they would have long ago washed the streets with blood.
Then, I guess we'll see who has the cajones to stay in the contest.
A biblical warning for Obama.
Mr Obama, take heed to what you intend to do regarding these Christians. ...keep away from these people and let them alone; for if their plan or their work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if their plan and work are of God, you cannot overthrow itlest you even be found to fight against God.
You have stirred a mighty sleeping giant, Sir. The question is...will you prove to be like Pharaoh...OBSTINATE!
Deacon Francis
No. They will not be sold.
The ones that like to keep eating will. Jobs are scarce and the majority of the staff in these institutions aren't rock-ribbed Catholic stalwarts ready to suffer for the faith. Some surely are, but the government will be confident that they can backfill those positions with HHS staff.
This is going to be a tough fight with a lot of soul-searching and spiritual consequences if we don't get rid of Zero this year.
Yes, someone posted here about a week or two ago that a Head Nun of one of these Hospitals noted on another Issue she had no problem tearing it down. I could see them doing that.....
As a Catholic, I think this is the wrong response. Or at least it appears that way to me.
The leaders of the RC church should tell the Federal government they will not obey the order. The church ought to keep the hospitals open and refuse to pay a fine to the US gov’t. This would force the government to literally assume the ownership by force against a religous group.
Citizens need to call the government’s bluff here and risk going to jail over it. How would the gen’l population feel if the jails were full of Christians of all stripes being arrested and thrown into jails simply because they oppose this Obamacare mandate????
Witnesses for the faith by going to jail are a good tool against imperial edicts coming from our government.
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