Catholic Bishops Reject Obama’s New HHS Mandate Rules… Via USA Today: The nation’s Catholic bishops on Thursday rejected the Obama administration’s latest proposals to broaden accommodations for religious groups in regulations that require insurance companies or employers to provide free birth control coverage. The administration last week released a long-awaited compromise for faith-based employers that have religious objections to offering health insurance that could be used by employees to access contraceptives and sterilization. Yielding to demands by the bishops and other critics, the new accommodation contained a more expansive definition of what constitutes a religious group. It also detailed how faith-based institutions that may not be exempt — especially religiously affiliated hospitals and universities — would be shielded from any involvement in providing contraceptive coverage; under the new rules, the insurance companies themselves would arrange that with the individual employee. But New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the proposals fail to address or ease all of the hierarchy’s concerns, and said the bishops would continue to press ahead with efforts to overturn the mandate in court.
NY Daily News: “An Immoral Imperative”- Catholic Bishops Should Be Supported In Their Defense Of Religious Freedom Against Latest Obama Administration Scheme Chinese are celebrating the Year of the Snake in this Lunar New Year. It is considered a time of great change. Perhaps that explains Liberal media making sense in a few stories today, whole lot of pigs up in the air. The New York Daily News actually calls out the Obama “scheme” (their words) for violating the rights of Catholics (and others). Via NYDN: America’s Catholic bishops have rejected the Obama administration’s latest attempt to require religiously affiliated organizations to provide health coverage for contraception and abortion services. The bishops’ stance demands respect, and President Obama should recognize at long last that so-called accommodations are impossible where matters of conscience are concerned. A little more than a year ago, the Department of Health and Human Services issued Obamacare regulations ordering the church and its many organizations to give employees those benefits — never mind that the benefits ran counter to Catholic moral belief. The administration attempted to finesse the conflict by announcing that health insurers would provide contraception coverage for free. The concept was patently silly and offered no relief to Catholic institutions, such as the University of Notre Dame, that are self-insured. Now, the administration has proposed another runaround that would enable church employers to pretend they are not delivering the objectionable benefits by using the mechanism of a separate insurance policy. Led by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops politely said no good. In this matter, they are the final arbiter. The fact that most Americans, including many Catholics, have no moral qualms about contraception is irrelevant. In his determination to have uniform coverage, even by religious organizations who comprise a minuscule percentage of U.S. employers, Obama is sacrificing the much higher principle of religious freedom. And the courts will no doubt see it that way.
Even Though He Was Sued By Catholic Church For Attacking Religious Freedom, Obama Boasts Of His “Work Together” With Pope Benedict… Something tells me Obama’s name isn’t held in the highest regard around the Vatican. (CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama–whose administration is being sued by multiple Roman Catholic dioceses and organizations for violating their free exercise of religion–issued a statement today about retiring Pope Benedict XVI, boasting of his “work together” with the pontiff. “On behalf of Americans everywhere, Michelle and I wish to extend our appreciation and prayers to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Michelle and I warmly remember our meeting with the Holy Father in 2009, and I have appreciated our work together over these last four years,” Obama said. “The Church plays a critical role in the United States and the world, and I wish the best to those who will soon gather to choose His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI’s successor. Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he was retiring effective Feb. 28, citing his advanced age.
Whenever the Pentecosts and Baptists here complain about this clear 'modern secularist' attack on religion, I tell them that at some point in time they have to stop hating Catholics... and make no mistake, they hate Catholics (at least here and from my experience, even in MN to an extent). This is where the Evangelical nature of 'our way or no way' meets the breaking point. You can't covert the world to your religion if there's no religion to convert to. Love them, hate them or be indifferent about them, the Catholic Church (for now) still has the resources to be both the tip of the spear and the shaft in this battle. Although I am not particularly religious at all, I think that a world without faith is a bad place. The various faith organizations are in such a rush to conquer each other, they don't realize the very real threat of the 'modern secularist' push that is really nothing more than a socialist agenda. Jesus Christ, I feel like I should be wearing a tin foil hat typing that..but it's true. What these people do not understand is that if you manage to abolish religion, if you manage to abolish the boy scouts, if you manage to abolish (insert whatever boogeyman you perceive as being wrong with humanity here), this will still be a world in which pedophiles, thieves, murderers and monsters exist. They'll just all be in the government which will now have all the power. Good luck rooting them out then.
I served Mass for five years and been mauled by Franciscan nuns wielding rulers, pointers and key chains. I made my bones before holy water ever touched Corey's forehead. I'm calling for a holy war; a Crusade. We'll sweep through those Pentecostals like crap through a goose. Amen. Now who's with me?
Count me in, George. I also bear the scars of 8 years being taught by nuns (except for my 4th grade teacher, Miss Bowman, on whom I had a crush).
Obama Admin Tells Federal Judge They Can Force His Wife To Violate Her Religious Beliefs… Thugs. (CNSNews.com) – While presenting an oral argument in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last fall, a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department told a federal judge that the Obama administration believed it could force the judge’s own wife—a physician—to act against her religious faith in the conduct of her medical practice. The assertion came in the case of Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius, a challenge to the Obama administration’s regulation requiring health-care plans to cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs. Tyndale is a for-profit corporation that publishes Bibles, biblical commentaries and other religious works. Tyndale House Foundation, a religious non-profit organization, owns 96.5 percent of the corporation’s stock and receives 96.5 percent of its profits. The foundation’s mission is “to minister to the spiritual needs of people, primarily through grants to other religious charities.” As a matter of religious principle, the foundation believes that human life begins at conception and that abortion is wrong. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/doj-federal-judge-we-can-force-your-wife-violate-her-religion
Pope Francis In 2007: No Communion For Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians… And what is Obama doing? Sending a pro-abortion Catholic politician to his installation as Pope. Via LifeNews: [T]he document, which the new Pope presented on behalf of his colleagues at the time and signed of on, referred to abortion and communion, said “we should commit ourselves to ‘eucharistic coherence’, that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive holy communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.” Archbishop Bergoglio said then that “the most mentioned word in the Aparecida Document is ‘life’, because the Church is very conscious of the fact that the cheapest thing in Latin America, the thing with the lowest price, is life.”
Obama Likens Catholic And Protestant Schools To Racist Segregation System… Proving once again Obama is a raging buffoon. (CNSNews.com) – Likening religious schools to segregation–a racist system that forced blacks to attend different schools and use different facilities than whites in the American South–President Barack Obama told a town hall meeting for youth in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Monday that there should not be Catholic and Protestant schools because such schools cause division. “Because issues like segregated schools and housing, lack of jobs and opportunity–symbols of history that are a source of pride for some and pain for others–these are not tangential to peace; they’re essential to it,” said Obama. “If towns remain divided–if Catholics have their schools and buildings, and Protestants have theirs–if we can’t see ourselves in one another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden, that encourages division. It discourages cooperation. “And I know, because America, we, too, have had to work hard over the decades, slowly, gradually, sometimes painfully, in fits and starts, to keep perfecting our union,” said Obama. “A hundred and fifty years ago, we were torn open by a terrible conflict. Our Civil War was far shorter than The Troubles, but it killed hundreds of thousands of our people. And, of course, the legacy of slavery endured for generations.
I would like to think the admin at ND is suitably ashamed of themselves at this point for their knee-jerk fawning over this bum.
Let the record show that the University of Tennessee didn't give this bum anything but the middle finger. 8)
Obama: I Won’t Make Churches Conduct Gay Marriages . . . For Now… From the man who is trying to force the Catholic church to cover birth control and abortifacients. Via Washington Examiner: President Obama, in his statement hailing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, promised that he wouldn’t try to force religious institutions to conduct gay marriages. “On an issue as sensitive as this, knowing that Americans hold a wide range of views based on deeply held beliefs, maintaining our nation’s commitment to religious freedom is also vital,” Obama said. “How religious institutions define and consecrate marriage has always been up to those institutions. Nothing about this decision — which applies only to civil marriages — changes that.” Here’s guessing that the Roman Catholics and other religious groups that are in the midst of fighting the contraception mandate are skeptical of that pledge. “[T]he administration believes that this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious beliefs and increasing access to important preventive services,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said when the mandate was first unveiled last January. http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-i-wont-make-churches-conduct-gay-marriages/article/2532418
Vatican Confirms Syrian Rebel Jihadists Beheaded Catholic Priest; Catholic Online: “Make No Mistake Catholics And Christians Are Under Dire Threat” RIP Fr. Murad, martyr and hero, who was seized after trying to defend nuns and others at his monastery. Update to this story. The President can deny we are in a war. But we will still be made war upon. Why are we helping those who will kill us? Via The Blaze: Syrian Catholic priest Francois Murad killed last weekend by jihadi fighters was beheaded, according to a report by Catholic Online which is linking to video purportedly showing the brutal murder. As TheBlaze reported last week, Murad, 49, was setting up a monastery in Gassanieh, northern Syria. Last Sunday, on the Christian leader’s Sabbath, extremist militants trying to topple President Bashar Assad breached the monastery and grabbed Murad. While earlier reports suggested Murad may have been shot to death, Catholic Online reported Saturday: “The Vatican is confirming the death by beheading of Franciscan Father, Francois Murad, who was martyred by Syrian jihadists on June 23.” The Catholic news service quotes local sources who report that the radical Al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, or Al-Nusra Front, was behind the savage killing. In video posted by Live Leak purporting to show the execution, dozens of men and boys are seen cheering on as three men are seated on the ground awaiting their grisly fate. The men are methodically beheaded one at a time by men holding what appears to be a simple kitchen knife after which the heads are placed on top of the bodies. According to Catholic Online, the first victim was Murad. A frenzy ensues, with dozens drawing out their smartphones to capture the bloody scene, as a chorus of Allahu Akbar (“Allah is the greatest”) are sung with jihadi rapture. Several observers are seen moving within inches of the bodies in an effort to capture close-up photos. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/30/catholic-priest-beheaded-in-syria-by-al-qaeda-linked-rebels-as-men-and-children-take-pictures-and-cheer/
Islamist Gunmen Attack Protestant Church In Pakistan, One Killed… Merciless persecution that goes almost completely unreported in the American press. Islamabad (AsiaNews) – This morning two Islamic fundamentalists attacked a Protestant church, the Assembly of God Church, in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, shooting at a policeman on guard several times. Before they fled the scene, they took the dead officer’s weapon and fired at the church. Two clergymen were inside the building at the time of the incident. Civil society groups and the Catholic Church condemned the action. Meanwhile, police have registered the incident and are in pursuit of the gunmen. Tensions had been running high in the area after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Kharrak said that Muslims could not be street cleaners or janitors, who are in short supplies, “only minorities could do those jobs.” Minority groups reacted with outrage calling for his resignation. Kharrak is a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Movement for justice), led by former cricket star Imran Khan. Following this statement, the church that was attacked received threats from Islamic extremists and asked for protection from local authorities, who responded by deployed two police officers to guard the church. This morning two fundamentalists tried to enter the church, which had two clergymen inside. They opened fire when one of police guards on duty tried to intercept them, hitting him in the neck, chest and near the heart. He died immediately.