Posted on 01/30/2013 5:26:02 AM PST by NYer
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 29, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the Obama administration and the U.S. Bishops remain locked in battle over the HHS mandate, the question on the minds of many observers is: what lengths are the bishops willing to go to to oppose the mandate?
The prelates LifeSiteNews spoke to after the Vigil Mass for Life in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 24th indicated that they intend to do everything they can to oppose the mandate, including risking imprisonment if necessary.
"I would be willing to go to jail in defense of religious liberty,” said Bishop Alexander Sample of Marquette, Michigan, who was appointed Archbishop of Portland, Oregon on Jan. 29th.
He stressed that the bishops are exploring all of the options with the assistance of “sound moral theologians” to “see what is the most practical but effective way to oppose the mandate.”
“We will not simply roll over and accept the mandate,” he insisted. “We have to fight for our religious liberty and we'll take it as far as we can."
Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh also said he is willing to go to jail if need be. "We can't compromise on the principles,” he told LifeSiteNews.
If it gets rough “all we have to do is look back at our history. Take a look at the saints who defended our faith and that's what it's about,” he said.
Bishop Zubik explained that he has been praying for "a conversion of heart on behalf of our president," but said “if that doesn't happen then I think it's imperative that I accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”
“We have to be strong, we can't compromise, we have to stay firm on our values because I believe that this is a slippery slope,” he continued. “This is a point where we have to be ready to maintain a stand. I've taken a very strong stand on this position ever since all of this began over a year ago, and I don't intend to back down.”
Archbishop Samuel Aquila, the recently installed bishop of Denver, told LifeSiteNews after the Vigil Mass that he and many other bishops will simply refuse to cooperate if the government tries to force their hand.
“Certainly we as bishops are still considering what the options will be if it does go through,” he explained. “Many of us have already stated that we will not and cannot cooperate with the mandate.”
“There will be implications on it, whether it means narrowing some of what we do, or continue what we do and not cooperate with the mandate,” he added. “But it's a very real concern and grave concern in terms of religious freedom and freedom of conscience.”
Archbishop Aquila encouraged lay Catholics who are threatened by the mandate to follow the bishops’ lead, noting that Denver has a Catholic-owned company, Hercules Industries, that was one of the first to file suit against the Obama administration.
“I just really try to encourage Catholics: stay strong, stay firm, and continue to do what you're doing,” he said. “Continue to fight, because we as bishops can only do so much and it's going to be important for the laity to follow and to respond.”
Though all the bishops across the country have opposed the mandate, which forces employers to cover abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and sterilizations, many are reluctant to speculate on how they will respond going forward.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. is one who instead has stressed that the bishops hope they can reach an agreement with the administration.
LifeSiteNews asked the Cardinal about the mandate during a media availability before the Mass for Life at the Verizon Center on Jan. 25th, the day of the March for Life.
“We are very hopeful that as time goes on and our conference continues to work with the administration, that something will allow us to continue to function as we always have, as a free entity freely exercising our ministry in our country,” he said.
Pressed about what the bishops will do if the mandate goes forward, he said, “We take this one day at a time, and I'm hopeful that we're going to be able to resolve this.”
The question of jail time in connection with the HHS mandate was raised in the national media earlier this month when Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said he had advised his bishop to “go to jail” if need be. The 2013 gubernatorial candidate said if citizens were jailed it would “provide an example of what tyranny means when it’s played to its logical conclusion.”
You would think somewhere between suing the federal gov’t and going to jail they would entertain the possibility of using public discipline on public Catholics who publicly supported and continue to publicly support these things.
I mean, I’m thinking it would be handled a little bit differently 300 years ago.
Freegards, thanks for all the pings on FR
If they're not willing to die for their faith they shouldn't be bishops.
You are doing what all of your leftist comrades do try and silence those who dare voice thoughts they don't like. Sorry tootsie roll but with the exception of reproductive issues, the ACCB is at least as far left as the democratic party and your hero 0bama.
Fr is full of people like you, full of sound and fury about things that they don't like, but lacking the wit to actually address the issues. In the unlikely event you come up with an intelligent thought let me know - otherwise try and hide the liberal left stance of the catholic church under a cloud of meaningless drivel. I'm done wasting my time on you you're not worth any further effort.
I should have added, maybe those wimpy bishops could get teaching jobs at Notre Dame or some other secular college.
When is the last time the Catholic Church excommunicated someone? I suggest they do so to all the “Catholics” in Congress that profess to be Catholic but vote otherwise. And make it a very public announcement.
I have no idea which, if any, bishops are actually willing to die for the faith.
The point is, they're not going to have to. Not over Obamacare. The regime isn't going to put anyone in jail over failure to comply with Obamacare.
For one, it's not a criminal violation of law, just a civil violation. You don't put folks in jail for civil violations of law. You just take their money and their stuff.
Once you take their money and their stuff, they have nothing with which to pay their employees. At that point, their employees are no longer employed. They're volunteers! The various church institutions that are destituted through civil seizures and forfeitures will no longer have to worry about Obamacare, as, having no money with which to pay wages, they will no longer be employers, and thus will not be covered by any laws regarding employer obligations.
sitetest
For nearly 40 years European countries have been providing not only universal contraception but tax-financed abortions, up to and including the third trimester.
Guess that’s why all the Cardinals in Europe are languishing in jail, eh?
As a devoted Catholic, I have to say that too many priests have failed their flock when they refuse to teach the morals properly. They are afraid to discuss abortion and divorce for fear of offending someone. They have their backs to the wall now, much like the frog placed in warm water with the heat turned up slowly, they are just now facing the consequences of their betrayal. It will be an interesting time in our history.
I do believe that if one bishop takes the lead in condemning Obamacare, that Obama will silence him with jail. NO ONE criticizes the king...NO ONE. What about that poor martyr who made a film offending Islam. He sits silently in jail, still the scapegoat for Benghazi. Oh, yeah, I believe Obama would go that far.
They won’t through them in jail, just attack the financial side of things.
That will make the bishops go quiet. Not bashing them, because most churches and synods will do the same thing. Kind of like the “Catholic” hospital in Colorado arguing that a fetus is not a person according to the law.
Martyrdom is great. Being stripped of the churches property is not. They will move to protect that property. Just like most Christian churches will with they are forced to marry gays.
“’It will be more like huge fines, confiscation of property, withdrawal of federal and state funding, etc. etc’
“That isn't much different than a photo-op of a bishop going to prison.”
Actually, it's entirely different from a photo-op of a bishop going to prison. Because, IT'S NOT A PHOTO-OP.
A photo or a video of a bishop being dragged off in handcuffs is dramatic, stirs emotions, is graphic and visceral.
A verbal report that money was taken out of a diocese's bank account isn't.
The fact is that the Church has already seen its activities curtailed, loss of funding and eligibility to participate in adoptions, in caring for women caught in human trafficking, and in other areas.
Hispanic Catholics have shown no sign that they care about these anti-Catholic actions. Catholics generally don't seem too worked up.
The attack will be framed that the Church, with all its great wealth, already exposed as a bunch of morally-bankrupt pedophiles, is refusing to pay for the health care for its badly underpaid employees, and the government is merely forcing them to obey the law and pay their fair share for near-poverty level ordinary folks working for Catholic organizations.
Plenty of Catholics will buy in, especially when the regime produces advertisements of Hispanic janitors, maids and laborers whose young children would be covered by Obamacare if only the Church were willing to part with some small part of its wealth.
sitetest
“They wont through them in jail, just attack the financial side of things.”
Yes, that's what I've been saying.
As to the rest of your post, you may very well be right. Especially when the bishops realize that few people will rally to the cause when the regime starts seizing assets. I don't sense that many bishops will do the right thing if it's also the lonely thing. That's hard for any of us.
sitetest
“I don't think this is false bravado at all.”
Certainly it is. No bishop is going to be put in jail by the regime for refusing to pay for Obamacare.
“’Federal Government Siezes Assets and Bank Accounts of Several Churches’”
If that's how the lamestream media frames it, you might have a point.
But I think the headline will be:
“Federal Government imposes fines on Catholic Church for failing to pay for healthcare for Underpaid Catholic Workers.”
sitetest
“when you can just take the dioceses stuff with little or no effort?”
Well, you can and you can’t. You can take what they have NOW in assets but you can’t touch the Faithful behind the Bishops and any support that they may render after the fact. It’s the same lack of vision behind the observation that the Pope has no military Divisions.
The bishops have never understood that they need to pick a side. They want a lot of things that liberal Dems want like social spending and amnesty for illegals, but then when liberal Dems turn around and have federally mandated abortion, the bishops are shocked. They have never realized that when you get in bed with statists, you are buying into their entire immoral agenda. There is no such thing as moral Socialism. The sooner the bishops understand that, the better. But some never will. They will support the Dems’ expansion of the state and then whine when things like this happen but ultimately do nothing about it.
As I said, you’d rather tear down your allies than fight our common enemy - Obama.
Why exactly are you here?
I wasn't going to respond further to you, but the unintentional irony is your post is too good to pass up.
Obama, at least, knows what he is doing. Do you?
That is why a second American civil war is coming, mark my words.
Nice they say this AFTER the election, when they could have increased the pressure before it instead...
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