Catholic Resistance Must be the Response to the Unjust HHS Edict to Violate Conscience

By Deacon Keith Fournier
2/7/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The claim that such an edict is an unjust law is rooted in the western understanding of the very nature of law

The Catholics Bishops of the United States have asked the faithful to pray, fast and engage in Catholic Action. This is in response to the unjust edict demanding that Catholic hospitals and institutions dispense contraceptives (some of which are abortifacients) and offer sterilization under the so called "Affordable Care Act".

Religious Freedom is a fundamental human right

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WASHINGTON,DC (Catholic Online) - On Sunday, January 29, 2012, Catholics around the Nation heard from the ambo - or read in their parish bulletins- individual statements and letters from numerous US Bishops calling them to rise up in prayer, fasting, Catholic Action and resistance. This response has been triggered by what they called in a group letter an unjust edict issued by Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

This Edict demanded that Catholic hospitals and institutions dispense contraceptives (some of which are abortifacients) and offer sterilization under the so called "Affordable Care Act". They have been given thirteen months to comply. This is an unjust law in the clearest sense. The Federal government of the United States is trying to force the Catholic Church to violate conscience. Failure to do so will bring punitive measures upon the Church and her instituions.

The claim that such an edict is an unjust law is rooted in the western understanding of the very nature of law. It is the same firm foundation upon which the American founders grounded their insistence that there are inalienable rights, endowed upon us all by a Creator, which cannot be taken away by a civil government. Positive law must reflect the Natural Law or it is unjust.

Saint Augustine said of an unjust law, "For it seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all." Saint Thomas Aquinas explained, "Human law is law only in virtue of its accordance with right reason: and thus it is manifest that it flows from the eternal law. And in so far as it deviates from right reason it is called an unjust law; in such case it is no law at all, but rather a species of violence." In doing so, they echoed Cicero, Aristotle and Plato and the entire Natural Law Tradition.

Martin Luther King, Jr., in his 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail, gave a this explanation of how one determines whether a law is unjust, "How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law."

This unjust Edict from Secretary Sebelius came one day after Pope Benedict XVI addressed a group of US Bishops during their ad limina visit. He warned them of the growth of radical secularism in the United States and the accompanying threats to the fundamental Right to Religious Freedom.

In a January 25, 2012 article for the Journal First Things entitled "A Time for Catholic Action and Catholic Voices" Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, commented on Pope Benedict's address:

"Last Thursday in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a remarkable address to a group of visiting American bishops. He praised America's founders for their commitment to religious liberty and their belief that Judeo-Christian moral teachings are essential to shaping citizens and democratic institutions. The Holy Father warned that our heritage of religious freedom faces "grave threats" from the "radical secularism" of political and cultural opinion leaders who are "increasingly hostile to Christianity."

Archbishop Gomez is one of many heroic Bishops in the United States who have stood up and raised a prophetic voice of resistance. They are being led by Cardinal - designate Timothy Dolan, the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Archbishop Gomez summarized the effects of this Edict, "Last Friday, the day after the Pope's address, our federal government issued a ruling that confirmed his worst fears about our country's anti-religious and anti-Christian drift. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a final decision to mandate that every U.S. employer must provide health insurance coverage that makes birth control, sterilization, and even abortion-causing drugs available to its employees free of charge.

"The government rejected the U.S. bishops' efforts to negotiate an exemption for faith-based employers-including Catholic hospitals, charities and colleges-that are morally opposed to abortion and contraception. Instead, the government is giving us until August 2013 to obey or suffer the consequences-fines so large they could drive some Catholic employers out of business. It is hard not to see this new mandate as a direct attack on Catholic consciences and the freedom of our Catholic institutions."

"The mandate does not promote any civil liberties and it does not advance any significant public health goals. The government justifies the mandate by arguing that employers who do not provide these services are discriminating against women. But access to free contraception has never been a basic human right. And there is no evidence that birth control has any effect on women's ...

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1 - 10 of 72 Comments

Clare
1 year ago
Rob,

I get your point to Theresa but we have the right to choose not to use those services that are covered by the health insurance our employers provide for us. We have the right to choose to practice what we preach. With this edict, Catholic employers do not have the right to choose to practice what they preach. That right is taken away from them and if they choose to practice what the preach, they will be punished with heavy fines. It is estimated that Catholic Charities alone, which employs about 70,000 people would be fined in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

What's the alternative if this thing isn't stopped? All of our Catholice institutions would close their doors and this high and mighty administration would have hundreds of thousands of more unemployed, not enough room in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, etc to accomodate the millions serviced by these closed Catholic institutions and so everyone suffers in the end...not just Catholics. On top of that, once you remove the right to religious freedom, all other rights will come toppling down one after the other in rapid succession. Won't we be ripe pickings for our advesaries then?
truthseeker2
1 year ago
How easy it is for the many to claim the "right to choose" when it comes to contraception and abortion and how quickly these very people would deny the "right to choose" we as Catholics have to practice what we preach and teach.

Pray, call your elected representatives, vote. We must stop being the Silent Majority. There are enough of us to change the outcome of this election if we all get on the same page and stand up for what we know is right.

It frightens me to think what this country will become if this stepping stone to the destruction of our Constitution is implemented. The Catholic Church will stand and survive until the end of time. No one and nothing will destroy her and that is a fact. Unless we act now, the United States of America, as we once knew her, will not!
Bulbajer
1 year ago
LWR, he's exempted Muslims? Does anyone have a source for that? Thanks.
Rob
1 year ago
I agree Theresa. But are we as practicing Catholics willing to pass on the health insurance provided by our employers if they offer these services? There is a lot we need to do in regards to abortion, but so long as we put all our eggs in the political basket, it's not getting done. Too much money to be had supporting abortion or fighting it. But the status quo remains.
LWR
1 year ago
Obama is intentionally attacking Christians. This is obvious because he has exempted Muslim's from this ruling. His agenda is quite clear. Let us rise up and show the world that American Christians are strong in their faith and will not be forced from our moral beliefs. Let's pray that our representatives will support us.
Theresa
1 year ago
You are correct, Rob....But with this new "edict" all employers and healthcare insurance providers have to provide for contraceptives and abortion. As it stands right now, no insurer is exempt from the "edict." We must get this Obamacare Rule overturned--and then support healthcare lifetime insurers who do not offer abortions, etc..... We really need to get Roe v. Wade overturned...! Since when is killing human life at any stage not murder? Since when does a government have the "right" to say "murder" is okay--other than on occasions of individual "self-defense," and/or when the citizenry is under attack? No government has the "right" to allow, let alone endorse a "business" (Medicaid, etc.) in what is "always and everywhere wrong/immoral. No doubt about it, our modern world with it's modern science...has become much more complicated. But we, the laity, must get better at thinking through these "matters of faith and morals" and seek assistance in our evaluation of "the times" via the teaching Church (CCC Vat 2nd Ed.). No one is excused, no nation is excused from the Natural Law--also expressed in the Ten Commandments.
Rob
1 year ago
How many of you are on plans right now that offer contraception services? Have you declined the plan? What are you doing to encourage your employer to change course?
parrehe
1 year ago
vance and j - i think this is this is what you are referring to he ordered?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiz4tfjSuPc
(get ready to weep)
Marianna
1 year ago
Yes, we're all very angry, but what are we doing with that anger? It feels great to vent, I must admit, but we have also got to fight this with action.

Please go over to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops web page and send letters to your senators and congresspeople. The website makes it so easy for you to do -- they fill in the addresses and names of those whom you need to contact, and they even have a pre-written letter that you can add to, which I did. There is also a petition for signing at [url]https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/rescind-hhs-dept-mandate-requiring-catholic-employers-provide-contraceptivesabortifacients-their/lBxr7SdP?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl[/url]

My grandparents came to the US from the Russian empire to escape oppression which included a lack of religious liberty. Many of you here, too, have ancestors who came to this country for freedom. They helped build this country's infrastructure, and made this country great. Please, let us honor their memories and fight this government's attempt to meddle with Catholic doctine!
Theresa H
1 year ago
Paul, doesn't the gov. take money out of everyone's paycheck? Could we stop the government from doing this? I don't think so; but it would be good if we could choose our own Healthcare Plan to contribute to--instead of the government just taking it from our paychecks!

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