Wall Street Journal WSJ.com. President Obama just may have lost the election The president signed off on a Health and Human Services ruling that says that under ObamaCare, Catholic institutions—including charities, hospitals and schools—will be required by law, for the first time ever, to provide and pay for insurance coverage that includes contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization procedures. If they do not, they will face ruinous fines in the millions of dollars. Or they can always go out of business. In other words, the Catholic Church was told this week that its institutions can’t be Catholic anymore. I invite you to imagine the moment we are living in without the church’s charities, hospitals and schools. And if you know anything about those organizations, you know it is a fantasy that they can afford millions in fines. There was no reason to make this ruling—none. Except ideology. The conscience clause, which keeps the church itself from having to bow to such decisions, has always been assumed to cover the church’s institutions. Now the church is fighting back. Priests in an estimated 70% of parishes last Sunday came forward to read strongly worded protests from the church’s bishops. The ruling asks the church to abandon Catholic principles and beliefs; it is an abridgment of the First Amendment; it is not acceptable. They say they will not bow to it. They should never bow to it, not only because they are Catholic and cannot be told to take actions that deny their faith, but because they are citizens of the United States. If they stay strong and fight, they will win. This is in fact a potentially unifying moment for American Catholics, long split left, right and center. Catholic conservatives will immediately and fully oppose the administration’s decision. But Catholic liberals, who feel embarrassed and undercut, have also come out in opposition. The church is split on many things. But do Catholics in the pews want the government telling their church to contravene its beliefs? A president affronting the leadership of the church, and blithely threatening its great institutions? No, they don’t want that. They will unite against that. The smallest part of this story is political. There are 77.7 million Catholics in the United States. In 2008 they made up 27% of the electorate, about 35 million people. Mr. Obama carried the Catholic vote, 54% to 45%. They helped him win. They won’t this year. And guess where a lot of Catholics live? In the battleground states.
How embarrassing to the administration of a noted Catholic university which against the opinion of many of its alumni and followers granted Obama an "honorary" degree. Maybe now they finally get it. ( But I doubt it)
In my perfect fantasy, the Democrats will get hammered this year and then have a massive reassessment of their own party and it's policies. In the good old days, people like Obama and his Chicago crowd would never have been allowed within miles of the levers of power. Even I was a Democrat back then. It was a majority and it worked. Now the Dems have every hair-brained lefty with a socialist ax to grind threatening entire states, religions and ethnic groups. Anyone who disagrees with the government is called a "racist" and now all Christian churches are being threatened to follow the government's policies or be closed down. Is there anyone so crazy in this country that they honestly believe that America would be better off without it's Catholic schools, hospitals and charities? Thousands upon thousands of exemptions from Obamacare and it's rules have been handed out to those goon sqauds who support him and give money to him. I have one: I belong to the Teacher's Union. My son Eric has one too: he's a Teamster. Meanwhile, organizations like Notre Dame, Catholic Charities, St. Mary's Hospital and Boy's Town will all be forced to bow down or close down? If this isn't fascism, then what is it?
Here, here Jim! And the nation's first Catholic, Joe Biden, sits idly by, mute. Is there anyone out there who still doubts Obama's Muslim leanings?
Catholic League Readying For War With Obama Over Birth Control Mandate… NEW YORK (CBS NY) — Catholic leaders upped the ante Monday, threatening to challenge the Obama administration over a provision of the new health care law that would require all employers, including religious institutions, to pay for birth control. As CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reports, it could affect the presidential elections. Catholic leaders are furious and determined to harness the voting power of the nation’s 70 million Catholic voters to stop a provision of President Barack Obama’s new heath car reform bill that will force Catholic schools, hospitals and charities to buy birth control pills, abortion-producing drugs and sterilization coverage for their employees. “Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church,” said Catholic League head Bill Donohue. Already Archbishop Timothy Dolan has spoken out against the law and priests around the country have mobilized, reading letters from the pulpit. Donohue said Catholic officials will stop at nothing to put a stop to it. “This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions, and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets,” Donohue said.
Oh My: Catholic Archbishop Tells U.S. Troops, Obamacare Regulation “A Blow To Freedom For Which You Have Seen Your Buddies Fall In Battle”… The gloves are finally off. (CNS News) — Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who leads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, wrote a letter to be read at all Sunday Masses for U.S. military personnel around the world that said that a regulation issued by the Obama Administration under the new federal health care law was “a blow” to a freedom that U.S. troops have not only fought to defend but for which some have recently died in battle. “It is a blow to a freedom that you have fought to defend and for which you have seen your buddies fall in battle,” the archbishop wrote. Another line in his letter said: “We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law.” The message from the archbishop touched off a controversy both in and outside the military when the Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains told the service’s senior chaplains that Catholic priests serving as Army chaplains should be told not to read the archbishop’s letter from the pulpit. The Archdiocese for the Military Services has described that move as a violation of the archbishop’s First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of the Catholic chaplains involved and their congregations. The regulation the archbishop spoke about was finalized by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Jan. 20. It mandates that all health-care plans in the United States cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions. A “religious” employer exemption included in the regulation only applies to organizations that primarily focus on inculcating the tenets of the church in question, primarily employ members of the church, primarily serve members of the church, and is organized under the section of the Internal Revenue Code used by actual parishes. Catholic hospitals, universities and charitable institutions would not be exempt from the regulation, nor would Catholic individuals, business owners, or insurers. Archbishop Broglio’s letter minced no words in telling Catholics in the Armed Forces that the federal government was not only violating their constitutional rights through the new Obamacare regulation but was also violating the constitutional rights of all Catholics, while harming the freedom of religion generally. “It is imperative that I call to your attention to an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith,” wrote the archbishop. “The federal government, which claims to be ‘of, by, and for the people,’ has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people—the Catholic population—and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faith,” wrote the archbishop. “And, as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to choose between violating our consciences or dropping health care coverage for our employees (and suffering the penalties for doing so),” said the archbishop.
How Bad Is Obama’s Contraception Mandate? So Bad Even Head Cheerleader Tingles Calls It “Frightening” <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XYg1ywwLoX4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Here's the problem and the reason that Obama isn't going to back down likely. If you aren't catholic, what he's doing is going to make sense. I mean if you aren't catholic there is no moral issue for you so why should you be denied an insurance benefit that everybody else gets because you happen to work for a catholic organization or school. The presence of birth control pills in the insurance formulary won't cause catholic to deviate from the teachings of the church, in fact the truth is that birth control teachings of the church are largely ignored by catholics. I don't know the stats, but I would be surprised if it was a very large % of catholics who actually follow the teachings in this area. The church will and has make the argument that they shouldn't have to be forced to pay for something they feel is immoral. But if the majority of the catholic population and probably 100% of the non-catholic population disagree with that teaching...then Obama wins. They will have a hard time making a case to the avg american that this is interference with the Churches teaching and that the 'right' of women to have access to birth control trumps all.
Terry, that's a well thought out scenario which may reflect the reality of the situation. I don't doubt that Obama considered all the possible options and opted to take action based on his perception that something similar to your scenario will be the outcome. He is gambling that the Catholics who oppose the move are conservative and would not have voted for him anyway, and that those who favor the move, as you suggest, were liberal-leaning Catholics or non-Catholics whose votes he has locked up. The gamble is that the church leadership's protests will not sway voters from their traditional positions. It's a calculated gamble, but it could backfire. There is a large number of Catholics who tend to vote democratic but who also follow the Church's teachings. The twofold question is, how large is that segment and to whom will they listen, their leaders or Obama? We'll see.
:!: It's an incredible gamble by Obama and one that was NOT supported by the Catholics in his inner circle... http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72612.html This is a well-planned, calculated attack on America's largest Christian church. If Obama can get away with it, you can bet that attacks on smaller Christian churches will follow. He's demanding that Christians modify their faith to suit the whims of government dictates or face crippling fines. If Obama and the Far Lefties win this one, the long term consequences for Christians in America will be catastrophic...
I think this is the crux of the situation. It will be pitched as a women's rights issue and that women who work for catholic organizations and aren't catholic shouldn't be denied their constitutional right (you bet your bottom dollar they will say it's a a right) to birth control. Obama Weighed Politics Like the Keystone XL pipeline deal this is being done to give his liberal supporters something to get behind him on.
After graduation, I taught 5 years in a Catholic school in Queens. Our salaries were half of what public school teachers got and our health insurance was pathetic. We had no maternity coverage. (I used to joke that was their economic birth control.) We got less because our employer had less. So maybe you should get less because you're employer can't afford to pay what everyone else gets.
Cardinal-Designate Timothy Dolan Feels “Betrayed” By Obama… He should have never trusted him in the first place. NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan says President Barack Obama hasn’t kept his promise, when it comes to the new White House policy on contraception. Sources told CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer that Archbishop Dolan feels betrayed after his meeting with the president on the issue late last year. A Catholic group in Alabama filed the first lawsuit against the Obama administration’s new birth control regulations as the controversy got even more heated Thursday. The president ducked questions about the contraception controversy that is bedeviling his administration. The reason may be the latest attack from Dolan, who, sources told CBS 2, feels he was stabbed in the back by the president after the two met to discuss the issue. “He was worried about being at odds with the Church, especially when it came to health care and education and charitable outreach,” Dolan told Kramer. Kramer: “He made promises to you that he apparently hasn’t kept?” Dolan: “Well, yeah. I’m honest in saying I feel a bit let down.” Sources close to Dolan told Kramer that the archbishop felt betrayed after a November meeting with President Obama to discuss the contraception issue. Sources said the president promised Dolan that he would “get most of what he wanted.”
Obama Chief of Staff: No More Compromise, No More Negotiating, Contraception Mandate Rule Is Done Deal… Emperor Obama has spoken. (Fox News) — Despite renewed statements of concern by Catholic leaders and lawmakers, the Obama administration is done negotiating and will finalize its plan requiring insurance companies to provide free contraception to women working and studying at religious institutions, President Obama’s chief of staff said Sunday. Jacob Lew told “Fox News Sunday” that the compromise offered last week to address objections by the Catholic Church is clear and consistent with the president’s “very deep belief that a woman has a right to all forms of preventive health care, including contraception.” “We have set out our policy,” Lew said. “We are going to finalize it in the final rules, but I think what the president announced on Friday is a balanced approach that meets the concerns raised both in terms of access to health care and in terms of protecting religious liberties, and we think that’s the right approach.” But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the conversation isn’t over yet. “If we end up having to try to overcome the president’s opposition by legislation, of course, I’d be happy to support it and intend to support it,” McConnell said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Archbishop Charles Chaput: Obama HHS Mandate “Insulting, Dangerous”… Via Life News: Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia is one of the most highly regarded Catholic bishops because of his ability to passionately defend the pro-life position. A new statement he released about President Barack Obama’s pro-abortion, anti-conscience mandate is drawing rave reviews. Chaput’s statement follows in its entirety: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refused on Jan. 20 to broaden the exception to its mandate that nearly all Catholic employers must cover contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization in their health-care plans. An “accommodation” offered Friday by the White House did not solve the problem. Instead, it triggered withering criticism from legal scholars such as Notre Dame’s Carter Snead, Harvard’s Mary Ann Glendon, Princeton’s Robert George, and Catholic University of America president John Garvey, along with non-Catholic scholars including Yuval Levin, the religious liberty law firm the Becket Fund, and numerous Catholic and other organizations. Many Catholics are confused and angry. They should be. Quite a few Catholics supported President Obama in the last election, so the ironies here are bitter. Many feel betrayed. They’re baffled that the Obama administration would seek to coerce Catholic employers, private and corporate, to violate their religious convictions. [...] Critics may characterize my words here as partisan or political. These are my personal views, and of course people are free to disagree. But it is this administration – not Catholic ministries, or institutions, or bishops – that chose the timing and nature of the fight. The onus is entirely on the White House, which also has the power to remove the issue from public conflict. Catholics should not be misled into accepting feeble compromises on issues of principle. The HHS mandate is bad law; and not merely bad, but dangerous and insulting. It needs to be withdrawn – now.
I didn't know this but the Catholic Church already pays for birth control in some states that have mandated it. Here's a good summary from a debate over on InsideTexas.
Here's a very interesting piece discussing the history of the Catholic Church in America and its complicity with the Democratic party. ND folks, make sure you read the last paragraph of the article. http://ricochet.com/main-feed/American-Catholicism-s-Pact-With-the-Devil/(page)/2
That was a pretty interesting article, I haven't read anything related to the Magna Carta since High School to tell you the truth. But Obama has offered up a supposed compromise that says that Catholic or Religous institutions can opt out of providing birth control but the insurance companies that underwrite the policies for those organizations can't and have to offer them free of charge with no-copay. Archbishop (soon to be Cardinal) Dolan, doesn't think it's much of a compromise.