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Catholic League on Sebelius’s admission before a Senate committee
WDTPRS ^ | February 16, 2012 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf and Bill Donohue

Posted on 02/16/2012 1:16:41 PM PST by NYer

Sebelius

Yesterday I saw video clips of Kathleen Sebelius, catholic Dem who as Pres. Obama’s patsy is implementing his anti-Catholic agenda, testifying before a Senate committee. She admitted that the Administration did not to any significant degree consult with the US bishops before issuing their mandate. Of course, the Administration didn’t care what the bishops would have said. The President was going to do this no matter what.

From The Catholic League:

OBAMA MANDATE NEVER SCRUTINIZED

February 16, 2012

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Following her testimony yesterday before the Senate Finance Committee, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius was asked whether she spoke to the bishops about the controversial mandate she is pushing. She admitted she did not. Then she said, “I know that the president has spoken to the bishops on several occasions.”

Sebelius is wrong. Bishop William Lori, who heads the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, said this week that administration officials should have sat down with the bishops. “That certainly did not happen,” he said. Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who heads the bishops’ conference, met once with the president, and that was three months ago; the two phone calls he has had since were to inform him that the bishops’ religious liberty concerns would not be honored.

Under questioning from Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sebelius further admitted that HHS never subjected the religious liberty issues to a legal analysis, as requested by 27 senators. She also admitted that she never asked the Justice Department to consider this issue.

It gets worse. Today’s New York Times reports today that the administration announced the Obama mandate “before it had figured out how to address one conspicuous point: Like most large employers, many religiously affiliated organizations choose to insure themselves rather than hire an outside company to assume the risk.” As the Times points out, this is not a slight issue: 60 percent of all workers with health insurance are covered by a self-funded plan, and the figure jumps to 82 percent for large companies. And no one bothered to address this?

So they refused to consult with the bishops; they refused to weigh the First Amendment religious liberty concerns; and they refused to study how the mandate might impact self-insured companies. In other words, with characteristic arrogance, they just “winged it.” Wait until the Supreme Court hears all of this.

Contact our director of communications about Donohue’s remarks:
Jeff Field
Phone: 212-371-3191
E-mail: cl@catholicleague.org

The bishops need to start using can. 915.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Moral Issues; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: obama; sebelius; senate; usccb

1 posted on 02/16/2012 1:16:45 PM PST by NYer
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To: netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; Litany; SumProVita; ...
The bishops need to start using can. 915.

Can. 915 Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.

I read somewhere recently that both bishops have met privately with Sebelius and told her not to present herself for communion. The same source also indicated that Sebelius is no longer a practicing catholic.

2 posted on 02/16/2012 1:19:07 PM PST by NYer ("Be kind to every person you meet. For every person is fighting a great battle." St. Ephraim)
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To: NYer
I can't really believe this administration is this tone deaf. What I think is going on now is they are playing this out to make for PR purposes only.
Their legal people have told them the supreme court will rule against mandatory healthcare and make this argument moot.
They get the win with their base and the issue is off the table in November.
3 posted on 02/16/2012 1:28:22 PM PST by Recon Dad (Gas & Petroleum Junkie)
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To: NYer

I think it’s excellent all this is coming out in advance of SCOTUS ruling. It lets the justices all see the reckless disregard of even the most fundamental tenets of fair play or reasoned, deliberative decision-making in the haste to nail down one more plank of the progressive religion.

The terms “arbitrary” and “capricious” come to mind. It is precisely to avoid subjecting citizens to such the arbitrary and capricious exercise of power that the Framers carefully assembled a Constitution designed to ensure limited government. This mandate exemplifies government run amuck.


4 posted on 02/16/2012 1:33:51 PM PST by DrC
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To: DrC

There are at least 4 Judges who could care less what Obama does.

Dictators don’t have to check about legalities, this one is already serving as President illegally, the Constitution to Obama is something he has to figure a way around——a nuisance.


5 posted on 02/16/2012 1:48:22 PM PST by Venturer
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To: NYer

>>is no longer a practicing catholic<<

Just remove the word “practicing” and you’re almost there. A better term would be “heretic”.


6 posted on 02/16/2012 1:48:57 PM PST by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners)
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To: NTHockey
is no longer a practicing catholic

I would leave out "longer a practicing" and place a "t" with the no and then it would be correct.

7 posted on 02/16/2012 3:47:46 PM PST by mc5cents
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To: NYer

they didn’t consult with the America people, either.


8 posted on 02/16/2012 6:40:41 PM PST by the invisib1e hand (religion + guns = liberty)
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To: NYer

This is from a 2009 Washington Times report:

Earlier this month, Archbishop Raymond F. Burke - formerly the archbishop of St. Louis but now prefect for the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s highest court - declared that Mrs. Sebelius should not approach the altar for Communion in the United States.

“After pastoral admonition, she obstinately persists in serious sin,” he told CatholicAction.org, a conservative Web site.

Archbishop Naumann, meanwhile, has been in contact with Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of the Washington Diocese to inform him of the Kansas City prelate’s discussions with Mrs. Sebelius.

A spokesman for Archbishop Wuerl said church officials in Washington would act in accordance with the admonition from Kansas City.


9 posted on 02/16/2012 8:27:26 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: Recon Dad

I don’t think they’re tone deaf. They get the win you mention, but long term their goal is to neutralize a big enemy, the Church. Their tactic here is ‘contraception’ and the strategy is to separate the lay from the leadership.

As with all atheistic facists, the Church must be dealt with and defeated.

This is not just a short term project.


10 posted on 02/16/2012 9:46:48 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: NYer

IMHO, FWIW, yada yada.

What I think needs to happen is:

- Continued and increased pressure from GOP on the Exec. Branch and HHS on the process and constitutional question.

- Real legal action from states AGs on 1st Amendment grounds

- Real legal action from organizations and individuals (if possible), again on 1st Amendment grounds

- Demonstrations of support for Dolan and Bishop’s stand from laypeople, laygroups, every part of the Church from the bottom up. The important role of the laity emphasized - the regime’s tactic is to split us from the Bishops.

- Strong support from all possible religious leaders and groups on 1st Amendment grounds

- Any discussion in public arena concerning the specifics of the specifics of contraception and abortion drugs be debated on the grounds of natural law as recommended, wisely I believe, by the pope.


11 posted on 02/16/2012 10:01:06 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: mc5cents

Fallen-away is the way we used to put it.


12 posted on 02/16/2012 11:35:16 PM PST by RobbyS (Christus rex.)
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To: D-fendr
The bishops have been disarmed by their failure to uphold the teachings in Humanae Vitae.
13 posted on 02/16/2012 11:38:02 PM PST by RobbyS (Christus rex.)
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To: RobbyS

Please explain what you mean here by ‘failure to uphold’.


14 posted on 02/17/2012 2:24:55 AM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: D-fendr

I mean the response to Humanae Vitae was feeble. Bishops in Canada at first opposed it. It was only after Roe. V. Wade, that the bishops responded strongly. Abortion was denounced, but lacking of preaching about birth control implies it is not a serious matter, that it is a venial sin. There is no other explanation why it is so widepread among Catholics that Catholic don’t see what all the fuss is about.


15 posted on 02/17/2012 9:39:19 AM PST by RobbyS (Christus rex.)
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To: RobbyS

Thanks. I understand. It’s a very good point.


16 posted on 02/17/2012 9:45:40 AM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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