Catholics Care. Catholics Vote.

Tuesday, November 8

Read the Guide

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.

Year of Faith Begins October 11

Click on the logo to learn more about the design

 

 

A “Year of Faith” begins October 11, 2012.  What is the “Year of Faith,” and why?  Read here and here.

 

 

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

Our Champion

Cardinal Dolan on CBS News

Roman Catholics in America have a true champion in USCCB President Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who lays out the case for how government interferes with "the free exercise of religion" by defining the scope of Catholic ministries.  Watch the video.

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.

Deeply Gladdening

Can a university be both Catholic and American?  While too many Catholic universities in the United States have failed the test of late, the answer is surprisingly simple:

Is not a big part of our gladness and pride this happy morning of graduation a grateful recognition that this university does indeed exude such “ecclesial communion and solidarity?” That this university is both CatholIic and American, flowing from the most noble ideals of truth and respect for human dignity that are at the heart of our Church and our country? That a university’s genuine greatness comes not from pursuing what is most chic, recent, or faddish, but what is most timeless, true, good, and beautiful in creation and creatures? That the true goal of a university is to prepare a student not only for a career but for fullness of life here and in eternity?

123rd Annual Commencement Address

  Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

  East Portico, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

  May 12, 2012

In his moving commencement address, Cardinal Timothy Dolan also speaks of marriage in the context of "the law of the gift."

Read the full commencement address here.

Deeply Saddening

John 2:1-11

However, we cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of marriage, the very cornerstone of our society. The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better. (Read full text from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, USCCB President)

Good Company



Most Reverend Daniel Jenkey, Bishop of Peoria
(click picture for text of homily)

We must marvel--too often these days, it seems!--how the Acts of the Apostles, chapters from so long ago, eloquently speak to our modern times. Peter and John, then, and Daniel, now, will not be silenced. (Acts 4:18-20.)

“The days in which we live now require heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism.”

(Bishop Daniel Jenkey, Peoria) 

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.

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

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.

Moral Authority

On questions of faith and morals, the Bishops need not be listened to, the argument goes, because, after the child abuse scandal (or name your example), the Church has lost its "moral authority."  Assuming, for sake of argument, a working definition of "moral authority" is "suasion," that is, the ability to influence or persuade another, how does the "no moral authority" argument fare?  Not well when you dig into it.  The underlying premise of the "no moral authority" argument assumes the applicability of the old adage, Do as I say, not as I do.  But the moral authority of the Church, the Truth it proclaims, draws its power not from human conduct or example but from the Word itself.   In denying the reality of the Truth, we take the stage as Pilate does this Holy Week:  "What is truth?" (Jn.18-38)

Where Do You Stand?

DAY 9 of the Novena

To Make Our Voices Heard

From DAY 8 of the Novena:

Enable us, then, to speak up
and educate our fellow citizens,
and to make our voices heard to our elected officials.

Just weeks ago, then Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops, spoke in plain terms about the need to make our voices heard.

Faithful Servants

In speaking out on the subject of religious freedom, the U.S. Bishops are faithfully serving in their role as priest, prophet, king - as must we all!

Not familiar with the Catholic teaching about “priest, prophet, king”? Read more here and here.

DAY 5 of the Novena

Support Our Catholic Bishops

U.S Bishops to Speak at Religious Freedom Rally

RCIA  blog sent this “thank you” to the U.S. Bishops on March 15, 2012:

Heartfelt thanks to the U.S. Bishops for their united voice and continued pastoral, courageous leadership on the question of religious liberty, as recently evidenced in the USCCB March 14 Statement on Religious Freedom and HHS Mandate.

Encourage our Shepherds, send your own message of support today!

***

For Day Three of the Novena, click here.