{"id":11918,"date":"2012-01-30T07:55:10","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T12:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=11918"},"modified":"2012-01-30T07:55:10","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T12:55:10","slug":"the-catholic-church-stands-up-for-its-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=11918","title":{"rendered":"The Catholic Church Stands Up For Its Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sunday the Business Insider<\/a>\u00a0posted a copy that was read Sunday in almost every Catholic Church in America.<\/p>\n

This is the letter:<\/p>\n

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts\u00a0the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to\u00a0religious liberty for all citizens\u00a0of any\u00a0faith.\u00a0The federal government, which\u00a0claims to be\u00a0\u201cof, by, and for the people,\u201d has just been dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those\u00a0people\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the Catholic population\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and to the millions more who are served by the\u00a0Catholic faithful.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that\u00a0almost all employers,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

including Catholic employers,\u00a0will be\u00a0forced to offer their\u00a0employees\u2019 health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and\u00a0contraception.\u00a0Almost all\u00a0health insurers\u00a0will be\u00a0forced to include those \u201cservices\u201d in the\u00a0health policies they\u00a0write.\u00a0And almost\u00a0all individuals will\u00a0be\u00a0forced\u00a0to buy that coverage\u00a0as a part of their policies.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0In so ruling, the Obama Administration<\/a> has cast aside the First Amendment to\u00a0the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation\u2019s first and most\u00a0fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty.\u00a0And as\u00a0a result, unless\u00a0the rule is\u00a0overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop\u00a0health coverage for our employees (and\u00a0suffer the penalties for doing so).\u00a0The Obama\u00a0Administration\u2019s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>We cannot\u2014we will not\u2014comply with this\u00a0unjust law.\u00a0People of\u00a0faith cannot be\u00a0made second class citizens.\u00a0We are already joined by our\u00a0brothers and sisters of all\u00a0faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious\u00a0freedom.\u00a0Our parents and grandparents did\u00a0not come to these shores to help build\u00a0America\u2019s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

only to have\u00a0their posterity stripped of\u00a0their God given\u00a0rights.\u00a0In generations past, the\u00a0Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred\u00a0rights and duties.\u00a0I hope and\u00a0trust she can count\u00a0on this generation of Catholics to\u00a0do\u00a0the same.\u00a0Our children\u00a0and grandchildren deserve\u00a0nothing less.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0And therefore, I would\u00a0ask of you two\u00a0things.\u00a0First, as a community of\u00a0faith we\u00a0must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and\u00a0religious liberty may be restored.\u00a0Without God, we can do\u00a0nothing; with God, nothing is\u00a0impossible.\u00a0Second,\u00a0I\u00a0would\u00a0also recommend\u00a0visiting\u00a0www.usccb.org\/conscience<\/a>,<\/a>to\u00a0learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress\u00a0in support of legislation that would reverse the Obama Administration\u2019s decision.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Sincerely yours in Christ,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

+Alexander K. Sample\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Bishop of Marquette<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are not a member of the Catholic Church you may be wondering how this matters to you. It does! First of all, this provision to require the Catholic Church to provide medical care that violates its conscience is not the result of an actual law that was passed through Congress–this was enacted by the Department of Health of Human\u00a0Services–unelected people not accountable to the voters. That alone is unconstitutional. Secondly, the law violates the right of the Catholic Church to freely practice their faith. The Catholic Church provides adoption services (now eliminated in some states due to being forced to allow homosexual couples to adopt children–against the Catholic faith), hospitals and many other charities. All the employees of those organizations will be included in this law.<\/p>\n

The attack on the Catholic Church by the Obama Administration will spread to people of other faiths who believe in the Bible. If you are one of those people, it’s time to pay attention–your right to practice your religion is\u00a0about to be violated.<\/strong>
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday the Business Insider\u00a0posted a copy that was read Sunday in almost every Catholic Church in America. This is the letter: Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: \u00a0I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1989,746,1990,735,1991,1823,135,285,133],"class_list":["post-11918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholic","tag-catholic-church","tag-catholicism","tag-congress","tag-conscience-clause","tag-first-amendment-to-the-united-states-constitution","tag-obama-administration","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-department-of-health-and-human-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11920,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11918\/revisions\/11920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}