Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
Virtually every Catholic bishop in the United States who heads a diocese has spoken out against the Obama administration’s regulation that will force employers to provide insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs. Many have stated that they will not comply with the law. [ See Map of institutions resisting the HHS ‘contraceptive’ mandate]
Rick Warren, a prominent Evangelical Christan pastor, has published a “tweet” stating, “I’m not a Catholic but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure.”
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who is in charge of Catholic chaplains in the U.S. military, asked them to read to their congregations at mass a pastoral letter protesting the Obama administration’s plan to force employers with over 50 employees to provide insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives, and embryocidal drugs. The letter, like many of those from other US Catholic bishops read from pulpits across the country, stated, “We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law.”
The Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains sent an e-mail ordering Catholic chaplains not to read the letter, directing them to mention it in bulletins and have printed copies available. A number of chaplains are reported to have disobeyed the order, while others contacted the Archbishop. The Archbishop spoke to the Secretary of the Army, who confirmed that the Chief of Chaplains had acted improperly. As a result of the discussion with the Secretary, a censored version of the letter was read to congregations. The original is available on the military archdiocese website. [CNS News]
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Matt Smith (202) 521-9828
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Catholic Advocate, a leading grassroots organization in Washington, D.C., today launched a nationwide campaign providing resources for faithful Catholics wanting to speak out against the recently announced Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) final rule affecting conscience protections in health care coverage. The ruling forces organizations providing health plans to cover contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization regardless of their religious beliefs.
“One of the options to address this attack on people of faith is to directly contact our elected officials in Congress to let them know our dissatisfaction with this decision,” said Catholic Advocate President Matt Smith. “Our goal is to have at least 100,000 faithful Catholics participate each month until Congress acts.”
On the day of the HHS announcement, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) called the laity to this action when he said, “Let your elected leaders know that you want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored and that you want the administration’s contraceptive mandate rescinded.”
Catholic Advocate is asking for at least one leader per parish in this country to sign up at www.ProtectOurConscience.org. There they will have access to a grassroots toolbox to answer the call to rally faithful laity to reinstate our conscience rights.
“There are 17,782 parishes in the United States,” added Smith. “If faithful Catholics were able to average 115 letters per parish to their Representative and each Senator, Capitol Hill would receive over six million contacts on this issue. We would send a powerful message that cannot be ignored.”
A primary focus of this nationwide grassroots campaign is building additional support for H.R. 1179/S. 1467 – the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act introduced by Representative Jeff Fortenberry (Nebraska, 1st District) and Senator Roy Blunt (Missouri) respectively.
The legislation amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) “to permit a health plan to decline coverage of specific items and services that are contrary to the religious beliefs of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan or the purchaser or beneficiary (in the case of individual coverage) without penalty.” It also applies similar guidance to state health insurance exchange programs and becomes retroactive to when PPACA was signed into law by President Obama.
Catholic Advocate | 2100 M Street, NW Suite 170-358 | Washington, DC 20037 (202) 521-9828 | info@catholicadvocate.com
According to a Catholic blog, over half of the Catholic bishops who are in charge of dioceses in the United States have spoken out publicly against the Obama administration’s regulation that will force employers with 50 or more employees to pay for health insurance for contraceptive, and embryocidal drugs and devices. Catholic Vote has identified 116 bishops to date, and is keeping an updated list. It appears that a number have repeated the statement that they “cannot – . . .will not – comply with this unjust law.”