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Religious Sisters File First Class-Action Lawsuit Against Controversial HHS Mandate
Catholic Lane ^ | September 25, 2013 | The Becket Fund

Posted on 09/29/2013 2:30:59 PM PDT by NYer

sisters-of-the-poor

Today, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious order of Sisters dedicated to caring for the elderly poor (see video). Without relief, the Little Sisters face millions of dollars in IRS fines because they cannot comply with the government’s mandate that they give their employees free access to contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. The Little Sisters are joined by their religious health benefits providers, Christian Brothers Services and Christian Brothers Employee Benefits Trust, and a class of other religious organizations facing similar fines, in the first class action lawsuit against the Mandate.

The Little Sisters of the Poor are an international Roman Catholic Congregation of women Religious founded in 1839 by St. Jeanne Jugan. They operate homes in 31 countries, where they provide loving care for over 13,000 needy elderly persons. Thirty of these homes are located in the United States.

“Like all of the Little Sisters, I have vowed to God and the Roman Catholic Church that I will treat all life as valuable, and I have dedicated my life to that work,” explained Sister Loraine Marie, Superior for one of the three U.S. provinces in the Congregation. “We cannot violate our vows by participating in the government’s program to provide access to abortion inducing drugs.”

Although the Little Sisters’ homes perform a religious ministry of caring for the elderly poor, they do not fall within the government’s narrow exemption for “religious employers.” Accordingly, beginning on January 1, the Little Sisters will face IRS fines unless they violate their religion by hiring an insurer to provide their employees with contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs.

“The Sisters should obviously be exempted as ‘religious employers,’ but the government has refused to expand its definition,” said Mark Rienzi, Senior Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead counsel for the Little Sisters. “These women just want to take care of the elderly poor without being forced to violate the faith that animates their work. The money they collect should be used to care for the poor like it always has—and not to pay the IRS.”

The lawsuit is the first of its kind both because it is a class-action suit that will represent hundreds of Catholic non-profit ministries with similar beliefs and because it is the first on behalf of benefits providers who cannot comply with the Mandate.

The lawsuit was filed in federal District Court in Denver. There are now 72 lawsuits challenging the mandate.


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Moral Issues; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: abortion; deathpanels; hhs; lawsuit; obamacare; zerocare
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To: Tax-chick

Oh my goodness. Maybe it is the fact that it’s late and I should be in bed or maybe you truly are just that hilarious. Your bleep bleep blankety blank expletive made me laugh so hard I cried. Such an excellent response! :0)


41 posted on 09/29/2013 7:22:27 PM PDT by samiam1972 ("It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."-Mother Teresa)
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To: WVKayaker
Cute lemmings, but beside the point.

You really don't understand the strategic issue here. If your brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church are defeated, your denomination will fall and will not even be noticed in the general wreckage.

" . . . and if you cut them down – and you're just the man to do it – do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?"

Two small points in the general misinformation:

If you really think all the saints are just dead people, then when Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ at the Transfiguration, they were just dead people?

And you cannot be blasphemed against - you are not God (whatever you may think.)

42 posted on 09/29/2013 7:35:36 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: Tax-chick

Jefferson and even Madison were more Jacobin that we like to remember. They thought all the horror stories about the Revolution was British propoganda. Jefferson would not believe even a friend of his who had remained in France and, I think, had married a Frenchwoman. His attitude toward France was a bit like that of the Trotskites in America with regard to the USSR. It was all Napoleon’s fault. Never mind that the lopping off of aristocratic heads was not the whole of it. Three hundred thousand are supposed to have died in the civil war in the Vendee. And that was only the biggest of the uprisings.


43 posted on 09/29/2013 8:14:36 PM PDT by RobbyS (quotes)
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To: AnAmericanMother
You really don't understand the strategic issue here.

I understand everything that is at stake. I'm not the one preaching church, church, church...

Ephesians 6: 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

*****

... and you're just the man to do it – do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?"

Ephesians 6: 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

*****

blasphemy
early 13c., from O.Fr. blasfemie "blasphemy," from L.L. blasphemia, from Gk. blasphemia "a speaking ill, impious speech, slander," from blasphemein "to speak evil of." Second element is pheme "utterance" (see fame); first element uncertain, perhaps related to blaptikos "hurtful,"

They're dead, Jim. You can't show Scripture that refutes that statement, just "traditions of men"! For reference, please read my previous posts on this thread.

Sorry, but you are not a winner this time. Try again later.

44 posted on 09/29/2013 8:20:05 PM PDT by WVKayaker ("The only place that the left hasn't placed the blame is on their agenda..." -Sarah Palin)
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To: AnAmericanMother

They have swallowed Luther’s scheme of salvation but are not even aware that they are accepting this theory because they do not call themselves Lutheran and/or reject his form of religiosity..


45 posted on 09/29/2013 8:21:25 PM PDT by RobbyS (quotes)
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To: NYer

The kayaks are drowning in their own sewage.


46 posted on 09/29/2013 8:22:07 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: WVKayaker

They are physically dead. That’s a fact, but if they are spiritually alive then they are not “dead.” If they were saints on earth, they remain saints in heaven.


47 posted on 09/29/2013 8:26:16 PM PDT by RobbyS (quotes)
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To: verga
I hope all of our protestant FRiends are taking careful note of this

You have protestant friends?

48 posted on 09/29/2013 8:46:55 PM PDT by Alex Murphy (Just a common, ordinary, simple savior of America's destiny.)
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To: RobbyS
I am a saint on earth, does that mean I am alive in heaven?

How can you not understand Scripture? It clearly says they are ASLEEP and will only come awake when Christ returns. I won't repeat the same Scripture already posted twice.

Your Catholic teachers tell you that we are all saints according to Scripture, but some "saints' are better than others, so they are "beatified"! That is blasphemous on it's face, and heretical at it's core.That site makes the claim that it is better to pray to those saints, since they are physically closer to God. Haven't they heard about the Holy Spirit? Don't they know that when two or three are gathered together, he is among us? Don't you understand that God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient? God is a spirit, Scripture tells us, and those that worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth... You can look that up yourself!

We do not seem to be worshiping the same God, if your God has such limitations. I am wasting my time here, so I won't bother you again. Feel free to keep in your faith, but it is your faith in a manmade organization that you think will save you...

They're dead (sleeping), Jim! They aren't out walking in the streets of Heaven just yet! 1 Thess 4

49 posted on 09/29/2013 9:23:36 PM PDT by WVKayaker ("The only place that the left hasn't placed the blame is on their agenda..." -Sarah Palin)
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To: mlizzy
Thanks, Liz...

It's already over here. It's Monday 12 hours before the east coast of the USofA. But, I enjoyed the day.

50 posted on 09/29/2013 9:26:27 PM PDT by WVKayaker ("The only place that the left hasn't placed the blame is on their agenda..." -Sarah Palin)
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Comment #51 Removed by Moderator

To: NYer; alphadog; infool7; Heart-Rest; HoosierDammit; red irish; fastrock; NorthernCrunchyCon; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

52 posted on 09/29/2013 9:28:14 PM PDT by narses
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To: WVKayaker

You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me. You are blaspheming me.

ROTFLMAO!


53 posted on 09/29/2013 9:29:31 PM PDT by narses
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To: WVKayaker

You seize on a single word? All right what does that mean in practical terms? Am I dead when I am asleep? But while I am asleep, I am to a degree made aware of things by my senses, and even my dreams are still affected by them as well as by my memories. Surely the sleep of the dead must be quite different since they are deprived of those senses because they have no body.


54 posted on 09/29/2013 9:29:32 PM PDT by RobbyS (quotes)
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To: NYer

60 posted on 09/29/2013 9:45:32 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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