Posted on 03/08/2012 2:13:03 PM PST by NYer
March 8, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) White House staff members have told U.S. bishops that the administration will not consider further revision of the mandate forcing religious employers to pay for birth control, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs, and that the religious leaders should listen to “enlightened” Catholics who accept the president’s terms, reports Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
In a letter sent to fellow Bishops last week, the New York archbishop revealed some of what had transpired in a recent meeting involving staff members from the White House and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
“Our staff members asked directly whether the broader concerns of religious freedom – that is, revisiting the strait-jacketing mandates, or broadening the maligned exemption – are all off the table. They were informed that they are,” wrote the cardinal, who is the current president of the USCCB.
According to the letter, White House staff also exhorted the USCCB to “listen to the ‘enlightened’ voices of accommodation,” and cited a recent editorial in the liberal Catholic publication America which lauded Obama’s revised mandate.
The March 5th editorial had claimed that the “compromise,” which has been rejected by Church officials as insufficient, “fundamentally did what Catholic social teaching expects government to do.”
Dolan lambasted the White House’s mention of the editorial, accusing the Administration of “nominat[ing] its own handpicked official Catholic teachers.”
With the President refusing to budge, the cardinal indicated that Church officials would be looking in the direction of legislative and judicial remedies. And while an attempt to nullify the mandate by adding a conscience protection amendment to the federal health care law was recently defeated in the Senate, Dolan said that the bishops’ commitment to a legislative remedy “remains strong.”
However, he added, the courts may “offer the most light.” The letter cited the recent Hosanna-Tabor Supreme Court ruling which held that churches were exempt from employee discrimination laws when choosing their religious leaders, a ruling Dolan called “a dramatic rebuff to the administration.”
“Our bishops’ conference, many individual religious entities, and other people of good will are working with some top-notch law firms who feel so strongly about this that they will represent us pro-bono. In the upcoming days, you will hear much more about this encouraging and welcome development,” the cardinal wrote.
“Some, like America magazine, want us to cave-in and stop fighting, saying this is simply a policy issue,” he said, adding that the Bishops were committed to “tirelessly defend the timeless and enduring truth of religious freedom.”
The worst part was that the American Catholic hierarchy was quite content to let their flock be forced into this nonsense, and only made noise when THEY were forced into it. As a Roman Catholic, I think I can safely say there are no future saints or doctors of the Church in this group; they have led the Church into a forty-year decline from which it will unlikely recover. The Church will always survive, because Christ said so Himself, but it will never recover to it’s prior strength - it has already shed millions of souls through the bureaucratic bumbling.
>Enlightened Catholic = non-Catholic. Period.
If the stories that 98% of catholic women use contraceptives that some point in their lives is true... then there aren’t enough “true” Catholics to make a difference when it comes time to vote.
Personally, I want to beat Obama and this issue is going to drive a lot of women into his camp. Face it, it’s better to cut our loses now and revisit this issue after the election.
Cardinal Dolan:
It is time to call these enlightened Catholics what they are.
Episcopalians. A religion founded by a man who beheaded a number of his wives for failing to bear a son.
Thank you.
Poor catechesis ... call it what you will ... many catholics shun the teachings of their church as outdated and/or antiquated. The church, in her great mercy, attempts to educate them through whatever means are available. You know the expression: "You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink" So it is in all churches, including the Catholic Church. The approach is one of charity towards members in general until they recognize contraception as a sin and bring it to confession.
In a sense, the HHS mandate has provoked a moment of awakening for many catholics who have contracepted for many years. The eyes of some will be opened while the others, like Sebelius & Pelosi, will remain shut. At best, we can only pray for all of them.
I’m sure that most Catholics aren’t against contraceptives. In fact, the day of the large Catholic family has gone the way of the dinosaur. I have many Catholic friends, and their arguments against the Church teachings on the use of contraceptives is valid. Many have said it isn’t the church who has to feed, clothe and educate these kids. Neither is it the church who has to put up with stair-step kids, which doesn’t allow for parents bonding with each child because they have too many to care for. This is logical, and should be each person’s decisions - not the church - nor the government.
Having said that - the Bible is very plain on many subjects, and abortion is one of them. Jesus said “suffer the little children unto me, and suffer them not.” Of course, I know that aborted babies are in heaven, but, these little tykes have never had the chance to know the Lord through their faith - I’m not even sure where I stand when it comes to rape and incest. I’ve never had to face that decision, nor know anyone who has -so, I guess I would say that adoption would be the best scenario - murder is murder, and the pro-choice people will one day answer to someone other than the government for this.
The fact that they tend to vote D is true and it drives me crazy!
Is that your determination and, if so, please cite the scripture on which it is based?
Actually, large families with "stair-step" kids have an advantage. There is more "bonding" and love to go around.
Catholic teaching on this issue is logical. God is the author of life.
"There is another reason why contraception actually leads to more abortions. There is an underlying link, or mentality, between the two. This mentality views human life as something that is not always welcome and, when unwelcome, can be disposed of".
http://nccbuscc.org/prolife/programs/rlp//Schu05.shtml
Cardinal Dolan, you have more power over many of these politicians than anyone. Excommunication! Otherwise, I’m not impressed.
I am not sure I totally agree with you, but I do admit the Church is too much interested in social engineering by the Government and not enough interested in saving the souls of the members it has.
Pelosi and Sebelius should be first, since they tout themselves as "enlightened Catholics". And then the bishops should point out that while they personally have mostly been wimps, they are now called to lead, which means, "get out in front, or resign".
At the same time as they oppose this unconstitutional usurpation of the First Amendment, they need to instruct people who still consider themselves Catholics that this contraception business, despite what the "98%" think, is just a handy baseball bat that Obama is using to bludgeon the Church into accepting that his version of The State is supreme over everything on earth and in heaven. Also, that he picked the Catholic Church as a fat, dumb, and slow-moving high-value target. A reasonable choice, based on past performance.
Every American should realize that this is really an assault on every American's conscience, regardless of religion, along with all religions, even those that have blessed birth control and abortion. Obama put the frontal assault back under the radar after the first day, when he saw news conferences with Protestants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and other religions pointing out that their religions, and personal conscience in general, are in the crosshairs, too.
So Plan B became reframing this as merely an "insurance issue", and the state will consult with its house CINOs for something that doesn't sound so blatantly threatening to everyone's freedom. But the message is still plain, the Obama regime will not submit to any claim of religious or conscientious freedom, or any piece of parchment. When published in the Federal Register, this "simple" piece of rulemaking becomes another one of his supreme forces of the universe.
He's offering a tiny fig leaf of cover to these pesky theocrats, but only because his word is still supreme, and he's got bigger fish to fry than just the First Amendment.
Or a bad Catholic. To Maobama and his fellow libs the only good Catholic(or Protestant for that matter) is a bad Catholic or bad Protestant..
The 98% number comes from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the "research arm" of Planned Parenthood. It's hardly an unbiased source.
The 98% includes women who have used contraception at any point in their lives, and it also includes as "contraception" NFP and calendar rhythm, both of which the Catholic Church views as morally acceptable in some circumstances. A woman could obey Catholic teaching perfectly through her entire life, and still be counted as part of the "98%".
In other words, it's pretty much a meaningless number.
Face it, it’s better to cut our loses now and revisit this issue after the election.
For some of us, Obama's penchant for ignoring the Constitution and ruling like a strutting tinhorn dictator isn't an "optional" issue we can just sort of ignore until after the election.
Actually, the USCCB opposed Obamacare before its passage for the same reasons as now.
My exhusband came from a large Catholic family, and, while there were pockets of bonding - depending upon the ages - the older ones did not bond well with the younger ones, and his poor mother was overwhelmed. So, I talk from my own experiences. There is also a lot of jealousy to go around. I saw it all.
“Enlightened” means “doesn’t actually believe”. The libs don’t mind “identity” Christians and Jews, who make no attempt to walk the walk. But, for those Christians and Jews who really believe scripture and believe they must live by it the libs have only contempt and murderous thoughts.
That's very unfortunate, but these types of problems can exist in families of any size, human nature being what it is.
If you're suggesting that some of the people in the family you refer to shouldn't have been born so that family life might possibly have been more pleasant for everyone else in the house, I doubt a single one would volunteer to be the person who was nonexistent for the convenience of the others.
And more to the point, God obviously intended their existence, since HE created them, body and soul.
"Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee..."
I’m not suggesting anything of the sort. I still have a great rapport with my ex’s family. I was merely pointing out some of the things I saw - nothing more, nothing less. Yes, some of the same things do take place in smaller families, but, I was commenting on my experience. Don’t try to put words in my mouth that weren’t intended.
Then what was the point of your post?
After your comment: "I have many Catholic friends, and their arguments against the Church teachings on the use of contraceptives is valid.", you relate an anecdote that portrays a large Catholic family in a negative light.
Put the two statements together and the implication is that contraceptives are an antidote to the problem.
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