Posted on 01/28/2012 12:05:11 PM PST by NYer
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix has become one of the first Roman Catholic bishops in the nation to openly defy the Obama administration over new rules forcing employers to include access to contraceptives and sterilization procedures in health-insurance coverage.
Although the Catholic Church itself is exempt from the proposed regulations, Olmsted believes the federal government’s decision is an attack on religious liberty. He is encouraging church members to actively oppose it.
Rob DeFrancesco, spokesman for the Phoenix Diocese, said that even though the diocese, its parishes and its schools will likely all be exempt from the rule, the bishop is concerned about “many other organizations,” such as charities and hospitals, that are Catholic in belief but may not fall under the diocese’s administrative umbrella.
Olmsted, who was not available for comment, was among a handful of bishops to release letters late this week expressing opposition to the mandate. The Phoenix bishop went further than some others by saying Catholics should not comply with the law.
“This is an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the church in the United States directly and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty,” Olmsted wrote in the letter, which is expected to be read this weekend at Catholic Masses.
Read the Full Story here:
Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted: Defy feds on birth control
Ping!
Orthodox Catholics will be the scapegoat for our national, socialist leader.
Bishop Zubic of Pittsburgh wrote this letter in our diocesan paper
http://www.diopitt.org/hhs-delays-rule-contraceptive-coverage
I wrote this e-Mail reply
Dear Bishop Zubic,
Regarding your “To Hell with You” letter, you have advised us to contact our political representatives. I maintain that this is fruitless. They didn’t listen when they passed the Health Care Law and they won’t listen to us now.
So, instead, I am contacting you.
Use your authority as Bishop to EXCOMMUNICATE every Democrat Congress person who participated in the passage and/or support of this abominable legislation.
In particular, excommunicate our Pittsburgh Rep. Doyle. He was instrumental in convincing Bart Stupak and his “pro-life” group to support the law.
I am sorry to say, but until YOU use your authority to take the Church’s responsible action against these so-called “Catholic” (Democrat) Congressmen and women, your words will ring hollow and the evil legislation will become deeper and deeper ingrained into our society.
The article mentions that operations like Catholic charities and hospitals will be adversely affected by the new ruling—and might even have to shut down.
I would add that there are probably quite a few businesses of various kinds that are owned by Catholics. Why they hell should they be forced to violate their consciences and subsidize contraception and abortion—or go out of business.
It’s up to the owner to choose a health plan, and if the employees don’t like it, they can work somewhere else, with a health plan more to their liking. Mandating abortion as a “health benefit” is truly evil. Killing babies isn’t a health benefit.
Not to mention the responsibility to stand up to this is going to be squarely around the necks of these Apostles successors so if they believe what they preach they better do something, and if they don’t, well, I guess they will find out at that whole last breath moment. God will not be mocked, and thousands upon thousands of christians have been martyred for much much less.
Finally!
I wrote the same proposal here last week.
In the course of defying the rule, officials should invoke Obama’s own blatant refusal to obey federal law and the constitution.
The diocese as a legal institution and the parishes *might* be exempt under the law, but there's no way an exception for the schools will stand, unless they're entirely staffed by religious. One non-Catholic teacher who wants the "free" morning-after pill, tubal ligation, or vasectomy, and ZOT.
Good. Here's a bishop who cares for our salvation -- and his own.
Now, I am not a bishop, but in my humble opinion, a Catholic does not need a nod from his bishop to disobey a law written in the interest of death. Civil disobedience may yet restore this nation.
Excellent point! The bishops remained silent for too long; now, like a pack of wolves, they begin to howl. There was a news article the other day suggesting that Obama's decision was predicated by the silence of the bishops. If I find it, I will post the link.
Use your authority as Bishop to EXCOMMUNICATE every Democrat Congress person who participated in the passage and/or support of this abominable legislation.
Not positive but I believe a bishop can only excommunicate within his own diocese. For the most part, those congressmen who participate in such practices self-excommunicate themselves.
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