The Great Obama Blunder

President Obama and his wife, the health nanny in chief, obviously don't know when they've gone too far in their crusade to socialize and Obamatize America.

They couldn't stop pushing for the Obamacare mandate that would force religious organizations to pay for coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization for their employees regardless of the institution's moral or religious objections.

Now the Obamas are sorry. They've awakened the sleeping giant -- the Catholic Church. And they're going to pay the political price.

Last week the University of Notre Dame and 42 other Catholic institutions sued the administration to overturn the mandate, which would also apply to all employees of a church's social services, such as schools, hospitals and food banks.

It's not just a bureaucratic fight over who Barack and Michelle think should be forced to provide contraception for their employees -- without fees or co-pays.

The mandate is an attack on the First Amendment's protection against federal meddling in religion. As Notre Dame President Father John Jenkins wrote, what's at issue is the freedom of a religious organization to "live its mission."

In addition to the lawsuits, U.S. bishops have called for all Catholics to engage in 14 days of "prayer, study, catechesis and public action" on religious liberty from June 21 to the Fourth of July.

The Obama campaign, which didn't count on such a forceful response by the Catholic Church, has managed to give Republicans a huge gift in the middle of a presidential campaign.

By standing up to the Obama administration on moral grounds and engaging it on an important social issue, the church has in effect joined forces with Romney. It keeps him from being distracted by issues designed to make him look anti-women and allows him to concentrate on what ultimately will make or break his campaign -- economic issues.

The Obama Blunder is also going to hurt him with Democrat voters. It'll only make it harder for him to recapture the votes of all those working-class Catholics in Ohio and western Pennsylvania, where the Obama thrill is already gone.

Meanwhile, the blunder also greatly helps Romney with Hispanics, who are predominately Democrats and virtually all socially conservative Catholics.

Hispanic voters usually focus on a single issue -- immigration reform -- and that is never good for Republicans. But the church's revolt against one of Obamacare's most oppressive rules has taken immigration off the table and given Hispanics a principled reason to vote for a Republican president.

Mr. and Mrs. Obama still don't get it. Only hours after the Catholic bishops announced their legal challenge, the first nanny was stumping in Cleveland and talking tough about Obamacare.

"You can tell people how, because we passed health reform, insurance companies will now have to cover preventive care -- have to. Things like contraception, cancer screenings, prenatal care -- and they have to do it at no extra cost. People have to understand that's what that fight was for."

That's what the Obamacare fight was all about -- promising voters that companies and organizations will "have to" provide health care to their employees "at no extra cost." The Catholic Church, which hasn't exactly been a good ally in the war against big government liberalism, has learned that Obamacare's rules about employees being provided with "free" contraceptives apply to them too, and they don't like it

The Catholic Church was established nearly 2000 years ago. In that time it has faced evil more times than I know enough to count. It has faced brutal tyrants, insane tyrants, reckless tyrants, and now a lazy golfing tyrant-wannabe. The Church has survived every enemy that God's enemy has thrown at it throughout those twenty centuries.

Indeed.

Abandonment to Divine Providence

Section XII. The Triumph of Humility. Next »

SECTION XII.—The Triumph of Humility.

To the souls which are faithful to Him, God promises a glorious victory over the powers of the world and of hell.

If the divine action is hidden here below under the appearance of weakness, it is in order to increase the merit of souls which are faithful to it; but its triumph is none the less certain.
The history of the world from the beginning is but the history of the struggle between the powers of the world, and of hell, against the souls which are humbly devoted to the divine action. In this struggle all the advantage seems to be on the side of pride, yet the victory always remains with humility. The image of the world is always presented to our eyes as a statue of gold, brass, iron, and clay. This mystery of iniquity, shown in a dream to Nabuchodonosor, is nothing but a confused medley of all the actions, interior and exterior, of the children of darkness. This is also typified by the beast coming out of the pit to make war, from the beginning of time, against the interior and spiritual life of man. All that takes place in our days is the consequence of this war. Monster follows monster out of the pit, which swallows, and vomits them forth again amidst incessant clouds of smoke. The combat between St. Michael and Lucifer, that began in Heaven, still continues. The heart of this once magnificent angel, has become, through envy, an inexhaustible abyss of every kind of evil. He made angel revolt against angel in Heaven, and from the creation of the world his whole energy is exerted to make more criminals among men to fill the ranks of those who have been swallowed up in the pit. Lucifer is the chief of those who refuse obedience to the Almighty. This mystery of iniquity is the very inversion of the order of God; it is the order, or rather, the disorder of the devil.
This disorder is a mystery because, under a false appearance of good, it hides irremediable and infinite evil. Every wicked man, who, from the time of Cain, up to the present moment, has 92declared war against God, has outwardly been great and powerful, making a great stir in the world, and being worshiped by all. But this outward semblance is a mystery. In reality they are beasts which have ascended from the pit one after another to overthrow the order of God. But this order, which is another mystery, has always opposed to them really great and powerful men who have dealt these monsters a mortal wound. As fast as hell vomits them forth, Heaven at the same time creates fresh heroes to combat them. Ancient history, sacred and profane, is but a record of this war. The order of God has ever remained victorious and those who have ranged themselves on the side of God have shared His triumph, and are happy for all eternity. Injustice has never been able to protect deserters. It can reward them only by death, an eternal death.
Those who practise iniquity imagine themselves invincible. O God! who can resist You? If a single soul has the whole world and all hell against it, it need have no fear if, by abandonment, it takes its stand on the side of God and His order.
The monstrous spectacle of wickedness armed with so much power, the head of gold, the body of silver, brass, and iron, is nothing more than the image of clay; a small stone cast at it will scatter it to the four winds of Heaven.
How wonderfully has the Holy Spirit illustrated the centuries of the world! So many startling revelations! so many renowned heroes following each other like so many brilliant stars! So many wonderful events!
All this is like the dream of Nabuchodonosor, forgotten on awaking, however terrible the impression it made at the time.
All these monsters only come into the world to exercise the courage of the children of God, and if these are well trained, God gives them the pleasure of slaying the monsters, and sends fresh athletes into the arena.
And this life is a spectacle to angels, causing continual joy in Heaven, work for saints on earth, and confusion to the devils in hell.
So all that is opposed to the order of God renders it only the more to be adored. All workers of iniquity are slaves of justice, and the divine action builds the heavenly Jerusalem on the ruins of Babylon.

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SECTION XII.—The Triumph of Humility.