Posted on 02/27/2012 9:59:56 AM PST by marshmallow
Warning that the Church is being “despoiled of her institutions” as “freedom of conscience and of religion become a memory from a happier past,” Cardinal Francis George of Chicago observes that “the Catholic Church in the United States is being told she must ‘give up’ her health care institutions, her universities and many of her social service organizations.”
“So far in American history, our government has respected the freedom of individual conscience and of institutional integrity for all the many religious groups that shape our society,” he continues. “The government has not compelled them to perform or pay for what their faith tells them is immoral. That’s what we’ve meant by freedom of religion. That’s what we had believed was protected by the U.S. Constitution. Maybe we were foolish to believe so.”
Cardinal George adds:
What will happen if the HHS regulations are not rescinded? A Catholic institution, so far as I can see right now, will have one of four choices: 1) secularize itself, breaking its connection to the Church, her moral and social teachings and the oversight of its ministry by the local bishop. This is a form of theft. It means the Church will not be permitted to have an institutional voice in public life. 2) Pay exorbitant annual fines to avoid paying for insurance policies that cover abortifacient drugs, artificial contraception and sterilization. This is not economically sustainable. 3) Sell the institution to a non-Catholic group or to a local government. 4) Close down ...
Freedom of worship was guaranteed in the Constitution of the former Soviet Union. You could go to church, if you could find one. The church, however, could do nothing except conduct religious rites in places of worship-no schools, religious publications, health care institutions, organized charity, ministry for justice and the works..........
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
I hope the Church keeps that promise if it comes down to a choice of murdering the unborn or abandoning their role in 25% of the hospital capacity for our country. I hope they will also start excommunicating those who flagrantly violate or advocate government compulsion to violate the basic teaching that innocent life is sacred.
The war that those who name the name of Christ should have fought 50 years ago, an that we have avoided all these years, is being brought to our very doorstep.
What you said and AMEN!
Or 5) Stay open, refuse to comply, and FIGHT! Forget to stock the drugs and constantly tell people that you’ve run out. If the gummint ships some in, “lose” them immediately or take action to spoil them so they can’t be distributed.
Use the tactics of the Left against them. This is a war and we better start fighting and getting arrested and even being martyred, if necessary. There are plenty of liberation theology priests and bishops. Ask them for advice on what to do when faced with an immoral government and laws. Ask them “what would you do if Bush or Nixon mandated this?”
Items 1 and 3 are essentially the same thing.
Go secular and perform objectional practices, or
sell the facilities to a secular organization that will perform objectional practices.
Which is, of course, what Obama wants.
The Bishop needs to go nuclear. Notify the public that if they are forced to close Catholic facilities, THEY WILL NOT BE SOLD.
No Catholic Hospitals in 2 Years Unless HHS Mandate is Rescinded.
That’s part of the Obamacare plan.
Cardinal George hasn’t considered the fact that Obama’s crowd sees nothing wrong with nationalizing private property and institutions.
>> The Church should fight back,starting with the excommunication of all Catholic politicians who voted for this travesty.
I wonder how many of them would really care.
It’s hard to understand how one could be a lib/’Rat and also be a true Christian.
These bums use their church identity to get votes.Beyond getting those votes they don’t have a clue.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
I agree. Don't surrender!
Make Zero and his possessed minions call out the National Guard to shut down the hospital - Intensive Care patients and all, out into the street! Make them use troops to shut down your food pantry, homeless shelter, or university because you won't pay for abortions and sterilization instead of real medical care. Make them take the heat and infuriate a lot of voters!
The ramifications of nationalization of Church hospital property would make every church or parish in this country vulnerable to eminent domain if they disagree with government policy. It would effectively be nuclear war on religion.
I can’t even fathom it. “You need to marry homosexuals in your churches, or we will take your land.”
Staying open and fighting will be a powerful witness but a short-term solution. The IRS is empowered by Obamacare to levy fines and I’m sure there are provisions for imprisonment somewhere in that monstrosity of a bill.
There is no long-term solution aside from reclaiming Constitutional government, and making the current dictatorship get into a shooting war with a substantial portion of the citizenry could help with that.
Abandoning all works of charity to the government is apostasy from our Christian faith, and is simply not a choice. If Cardinal George is truly contemplating this abject surrender to evil, I'm deeply disappointed in him.
And before someone brings up the issue of taking government funds, that's no longer relevant. The current regulations require all employers to cooperate in evil through the "free abortion pills" mandate.
Absolutely! These wishy-washy “if they make us give out contraceptives, we’ll have to close our doors” complaints sound like the typical liberal response to everything: “if you cut x, that’s the same as throwing (insert victim constituency) into the street.”
I say, Bull!
As you say, make the Imam Obama call out US troops to close US hospitals for not handing out morning-after pills. Make him cut power to ICUs. Make him perp-walk nuns and nurses before the cameras of the liberal media and the eyes of angry patriots!
We’re going to have to fight and defeat this wannabee tyrant in the only way that is appropriate to depose a tyrant.
It's not a "complaint" but a statement of intent. That said, there's a lot to like in your proposal:
As you say, make the Imam Obama call out US troops to close US hospitals for not handing out morning-after pills. Make him cut power to ICUs. Make him perp-walk nuns and nurses before the cameras of the liberal media and the eyes of angry patriots!
How did Catholic institutions handle it when Romneycare made the same demands?
George Soros was exactly right when he said there’s no difference between Romney and Obama. Neither one of them respects the Constitution.
>>I can’t even fathom it. “You need to marry homosexuals in your churches, or we will take your land.”
Let him take it! We can take Christianity underground and it will prosper in a way that this nation has never seen. Buildings and land and assets separate us from Christ. I will not take the Mark for a building. Obama and his unholy masters will not win.
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