Catholics Care. Catholics Vote.

Tuesday, November 8

Read the Guide

One Nation Under God

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

 

(Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776)

Another Man for All Seasons

 

During this Fortnight for Freedom, Cardinal Timothy Dolan reminds us that our religious liberty is foremost among American freedoms and must remain more than a dream or vision.  Here is an excerpt from his June 21 homily, where he invokes St. Thomas More, whose feast day is today.

Our Conscience Cries Out

"I cannot! I must not! I will not!"  At the recent San Franciso "Stand Up" rally, Fr. Keyes explains how this rallying cry of the past intersects with our historical present.  (Click here or photo for video link.)



Fr. Keyes at S.F. "Stand Up" Rally, June 8, 2012

Excerpt from full speech:

We are not imposing our values on anyone. The government has dictated that employees at Catholic institutions are provided with free contraception, and that is the imposition on our faith and on our conscience. The government doesn't want so much to advance the cause of women's health, but rather, they seek to demonize a faith group that has the "audacity of hope," that they might live their faith free from government interference and intrusion.

Beyond Protest: Prayer and Procession

Source:  Diocese of Sacramento

Beyond the witness of protest, there is witness by prayer and procession

Excerpt from the Sacramento Diocese website:

eucharistic procession through the streets of downtown sacramento

Hundreds join Bishop Soto in Sacramento on 'Walk for Religious Freedom' on Feast of Corpus Christi June 9

Bishop Jaime Soto led some 1,000 people on a "Walk for Religious Freedom" on the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 9, in downtown Sacramento. Following celebration of the 5 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, the bishop led a eucharistic procession through the streets of downtown Sacramento, ending at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located at 711 T Street.

The procession included several stops for prayer for Catholic education, Catholic Charities and Catholic health care, all of which could be impacted by the mandate issued earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If the mandate stands, the federal government will force Catholic institutions to provide insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception, including abortion-inducing drugs, even though it violates the religious beliefs of Catholics.

Similar processions took place on June 9 after the 5:15 p.m. Mass at Sacred Heart Church, in Red Bluff, with Father Joyle Martinez, and at St. John the Baptist Church in Chico, following the 5 p.m. Mass, with Father Michael Baricuatro. On Sunday, June 10 there was a procession at St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Vallejo following the 2 p.m. Mass, led by Father Stephen Borlang, pastor.

Dioceses nationwide will highlight religious liberty during the "Fortnight for Freedom" from June 21, the vigil of the feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, to July 4, U.S. Independence Day.

Corpus Christi

(C) 2012 On Being Roman Catholic in America

Appropriately enough, on the weekend of the Feast of Corpus Christi, Sacramento, California, being named for the Blessed Sacrament, the Most Holy Eucharist, was one of many sites across the United States where Americans stood up for religious freedom.  More photos on facebook.

(C) 2012 On Being Roman Catholic in America

Cheer! Cheer!

The University of Notre Dame Sues to Stop HHS Mandate

In a U.S. federal district court complaint by the University of Notre Dame filed today against the Obama administration’s HHS Mandate, numbered paragraphs from the legal pleading outline how the federal mandate violates religious liberty for Catholic institutions:  

271. The Free Exercise Clause and Establishment Clause protect the freedom of religious organizations to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.

272. Under these Clauses, the Government may not interfere with a religious organization’s internal decisions concerning the organization’s religious structure, ministers, or doctrine.

273. Under these Clauses, the Government may not interfere with a religious organization’s internal decision if that interference would affect the faith and mission of the organization itself.

274. Notre Dame is a religious organization under the general control and direction of the Roman Catholic Church.

275. The Catholic Church views abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception as intrinsically immoral, and prohibits Catholic organizations from condoning or facilitating those practices.

276. Notre Dame has abided and must continue to abide by the decision of the Catholic Church on these issues.

277. The Government may not interfere with, or otherwise question the final decision of the Catholic Church that its religious organizations must abide by these views.

278. The Government may not interfere with the Catholic Church’s affiliated religious organizations, including Notre Dame, with regard to their religious beliefs on abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception.

279. In accordance with this Catholic doctrine, Notre Dame has made the internal decision that its employee and student health plans may not cover, subsidize, or facilitate abortifacients, sterilization, or contraception.

280. The U.S. Government Mandate interferes with Notre Dame’s internal decisions concerning its structure and mission by requiring it to either facilitate practices that directly conflict with Catholic tenets or face substantial penalties.

281. As a University with a publicly stated goal to ensure that its Catholic character informs all its endeavors, Notre Dame is an integral part of the Catholic Church.

282. The U.S. Government Mandate and its religious employer exemption interfere with the organizational structure of Notre Dame as part of the Church by requiring Notre Dame to include or facilitate coverage for practices that directly conflict with its Catholic tenets but purporting to exempt the Church.

283. Because the U.S. Government Mandate interferes with the internal decisionmaking and organizational structure of Notre Dame in a manner that affects its faith and mission, the U.S. Government Mandate violates the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

284. The Government is also requiring student health plans, including the one currently offered by Notre Dame, to include abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception, and related education and counseling.

285. Defendants have again violated the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by requiring Notre Dame’s student health plan to include services that violate its religious beliefs, and thereby interfering with the internal decisionmaking and organizational structure of Notre Dame in a manner that affects its faith and mission.

Read the full complaint here.

Storyboard

Picture:  Newman Club Newark, video

A "storyboard" can refer to a series of thumbnail sketches that lay out the essential elements of the storyline. This video does just that, explaining the threat to religious liberty and the need to repeal the HHS mandate.

God or Caesar

Rembrandt:  Stoning of St. Stephen
(source:  http://www.artbible.info/art/large/682.html )

As a Roman Catholic in America, where do you stand?   Notre Dame’s faculty cabal apparently missed the original lecture: “Render unto Caesar . . .” (Mark 12:17.)    Cf. Discourse of first martyr, Saint Stephen (Acts 7) 

Friday "Pop Quiz"

Looking at the years before the enactment of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment (guaranteeing free exercise of religion), which of today’s 50 states can be identified with the following statement:   

“Discriminatory laws, including the loss of political rights, were enacted against those who refused to conform. Catholic chapels were closed and Catholics were restricted to practicing their faith in their homes.”

(a) Alaska
(b) Maryland
(c) New York
(d) California

 The answer is here.

Remembrance

We join in solidarity with the faithful who remember the Holocaust, which began with discrimination on account of faith and the denial of religious liberty.

"In this place of solemn remembrance, I fervently pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people suffered in the twentieth century will lead to a new relationship between Christians and Jews. Let us build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Jewish feeling among Christians or anti-Christian feeling among Jews, but rather the mutual respect required of those who adore the one Creator and Lord, and look to Abraham as our common father in faith."

SPEECH OF JOHN PAUL II, VISIT TO THE YAD VASHEM MUSEUM, March 23, 2000

Fire Upon the Earth



Archbishop Charles J. Chaput (Source: Catholic News Agency photo)

Is modern American culture hostile to religious values?   In a recent Catholic News Agency article, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput outlines the case in "A Heart on Fire":

“Religion is under pressure in the public square because traditional religious faith, and the morality that flows from it, are obstacles to a very different and much more aggressively secular model of American life.” 

 Read more here.

June 8

"On June 8, people of faith will hit the streets again to demand that all our health care laws respect the role of religious faith in the public square."

Read more.

The Writing on the Wall

Art source:  USCCB

Religious liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith? Without religious liberty properly understood, all Americans suffer, deprived of the essential contribution in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that religious Americans make every day, both here at home and overseas. 

from, A Statement on Religious Liberty
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty 

Read more

Fortnight for Freedom

Stop HHS Mandate - San Francisco
(C) 2012 On Being Roman Catholic in America

On July 4, 2012, the fireworks in the night skies over America will have special meaning for those who participated in the Fortnight of Freedom. Find out more, here.

Staying on Message

On the HHS mandate for religious "employers," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, keeps the focus, where it belongs, on religious liberty.  Read the interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Citizen and Believer

Benedict XVI in Cuba (from Denver Post photo gallery)

"The right to freedom of religion, both in its private and in its public dimension, manifests the unity of the human person, who is at once a citizen and a believer. It also legitimizes the fact that believers have a contribution to make to the building up of society.”

Excerpt from March 28, 2012 homily of Holy Father Benedict XVI at Havana's Plaza de la Revolución José Martí  (Source: Vatican Information Service)  Full text here.

A Call to Citizenship

“No, I want my people to be a force in public life!”

Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, on being asked during an interview if he wanted "the Catholic Church" "to be a force in public life."  (See the video.)

From your lips to God's ears, good Cardinal!

Labels

In a recent op-ed piece about religion and politics in America, Michael Gerson, of the Washington Post Writers Group, eventually comes to his point that neither the politics of sectarianism nor the politics of secularism fits the American model of "religious pluralism, humanized by tolerance."  Point taken.  Yet the opinion begins by describing Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum as "(t)he pre-Vatican II Catholic candidate."  The pre-Vatican II Catholic.  An odd phrase.  With this code-laden description, Gerson neatly categorizes Santorum's religious beliefs, labels them--and marginalizes them.  Pre-Vatican II Catholic and other such labels--name calling, in essence--cut against the fostering of a society built upon pluralism and tolerance.  Lacking thought, honesty, or civility, labels serve the lowest form of persuasion, the ad hominum argument.  Why debate ideas when you can attack, label, and marginalize the person?  As such, labels are a first step to intolerance.  As Catholics and Christians, we have a right, as do all Americans, to participate fully in the markeplace of ideas, including religious ideas.  As aptly described by Archbishop Chaput, it is our duty.

Rallying Cries

(C) 2012 On Being Roman Catholic in America

The Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally in San Francisco on March 23, 2012, like the day’s companion events throughout the United States, had memorable speakers and many powerful eloquent moments. While RCIA blog could not capture them all--these and other quotes will likely all be found at other sites-- here is a sampling of the day’s “rallying cries.”

“Catholic Charities not an expression of religion?  . . . Unbelievable!”  [on the Administration’s position on who qualifies as a religious employer] – George Wesolek, Public Policy, Archdioceseof San Francisco

 “Don’t force us: We will not do harm!” [on why conscience protection must be observed] – William B. May, President, Catholics for theCommon Good

 “We keep our mouths shut, and evil triumphs everywhere.” [on why Christians can no longer remain silent] – Gary Wagner, Pastor, Reformed Heritage Church

 “The bell that once rang, is still ringing again:  Let freedom ring!”  [on the growing chorus of voices in support of religious liberty] – Rev. Fr. Enrique Morales, Jr., Iglesia de Cristo Nuevo Pacto, San Francisco

 “Send the National Guard to close our (church-run) elementary schools . . . the answer is still No! [on why conscience cannot be compromised] – Dolores Meehan, San Francisco Walk for Life West Coast

“We are here!”  [on the “stand up” presence of Christians and others of faith united for religious liberty] – Walter B. Hoye II, Founder and President, California Civil Rights Foundation