Our Bishops Met

This week the US Bishops gathered in Baltimore earlier this week. There they heard from apostolic nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò who encouraged them to be witnesses of Christ. He said, "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers."

Also during the week, our Archbishop George Lucas was elected by his fellow bishops to Chair of the Committee on Education.

There are currently 265 active and 180 retired Bishops in the United States. Archbishop Elden Curtiss was among the retired bishops attending.

Bishop Christopher Coyne (@bishopcoyne) tweeted some picture from the conference including the one above and two below. Above he shows his view at the conference.

Here he shows how much space the bishops had at their seats.

Above is the device bishops would use to cast their votes.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley decribed the conference in his blog:

There was also time spent at the conference on the situation in the Philippines and how the Catholics of the United States might assist them, both through prayer and monetary contributions, in relief and rebuilding efforts.

Perhaps one of the most widely anticipated actions we took during our meeting was the election of our new president, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky who will succeed Cardinal Dolan in that position. ...

Of course, the issue of the HHS mandate was also discussed at the meeting, and on the final day of the conference, we released a Special Message on the issue that I want to share with you here:

USCCB & The Vice Presidential Debate

USCCB Responds To Inaccurate Statement Of Fact On HHS Mandate Made During Vice Presidential Debate


October 12, 2012

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued the following statement, October 12. Full text follows:

Last night, the following statement was made during the Vice Presidential debate regarding the decision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to force virtually all employers to include sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion, in the health insurance coverage they provide their employees:

"With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear. No religious institution—Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital—none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. That is a fact. That is a fact."

This is not a fact. The HHS mandate contains a narrow, four-part exemption for certain "religious employers." That exemption was made final in February and does not extend to "Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital," or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served.

HHS has proposed an additional "accommodation" for religious organizations like these, which HHS itself describes as "non-exempt." That proposal does not even potentially relieve these organizations from the obligation "to pay for contraception" and "to be a vehicle to get contraception." They will have to serve as a vehicle, because they will still be forced to provide their employees with health coverage, and that coverage will still have to include sterilization, contraception, and abortifacients. They will have to pay for these things, because the premiums that the organizations (and their employees) are required to pay will still be applied, along with other funds, to cover the cost of these drugs and surgeries.

USCCB continues to urge HHS, in the strongest possible terms, actually to eliminate the various infringements on religious freedom imposed by the mandate.

For more details, please see USCCB's regulatory comments filed on May 15 regarding the proposed "accommodation": by clicking here.

Let My People Go So...

"Let my people go"

This quote from the book of Exodus was often used within the Civil Rights movement and is even within the lyrics of the song "Go Down Moses" (sung by Louie Armstrong and many others.) The quotation gives a sense of God wanting us to have freedom from opression in order that we might do whatsoever we want.

But the quote is incomplete. It actually reads:

"Let my people go so that

 they can worship me."

Exodus 8:1, 9:1 & 9:13

Understanding this in context, we see that the very essense of freedom is our ability to worship. In the case of those whom Moses led out of Egypt, God then explained that the way in which God was to be worshiped was in following the Ten Commandments and the ways we relate to one another.

Today the ways that we worship God certainly includes Mass and Adoration and prayer. It also includes the "Liturgy of Charity" that begins at the end of Mass as the deacon (or priest) announces,

"Go in peace, glorifying

 the Lord by your life."

It is within this Liturgy of Charity that our faith demands that we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the imprisoned. That worship extends to how we treat all of those around us. Matthew 25:31-46

President Obama's administration has put out a mandate that would forbid organizations from following the Catholic faith if they worship God by, for example, feeding the hungry and caring for the sick.

Friday there is a Rally for Religious Freedom from noon to 1:00 p.m. at the U.S. District Court, 111 S. 18th Plaza in Omaha. You can park at St. Peter Church and which will shuttle people between the church and the rally from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

We thank everyone who participate in the last rally.

 

 

 

 

If you tweet about the rally, be sure

to use the hashtag: #Standuprally.

The Ham Sandwich Parable

Once upon a time, a new law is proposed, so that any business that serves food must serve pork. There is a narrow exception for kosher catering halls attached to synagogues, since they serve mostly members of that synagogue, but kosher delicatessens are still subject to the mandate.


The Orthodox Jewish community—whose members run kosher delis and many other restaurants and grocers besides—expresses its outrage at the new government mandate. And they are joined by others who have no problem eating pork—not just the many Jews who eat pork, but people of all faiths—because these others recognize the threat to the principle of religious liberty. They recognize as well the practical impact of the damage to that principle. They know that, if the mandate stands, they might be the next ones forced—under threat of severe government sanction—to violate their most deeply held beliefs, especially their unpopular beliefs.

Meanwhile, those who support the mandate respond, “But pork is good for you. It is, after all, the other white meat.” Other supporters add, “So many Jews eat pork, and those who don’t should just get with the times.” Still others say, “Those Orthodox are just trying to impose their beliefs on everyone else.”

Those proposing the new law claim to hear and understand the concerns of kosher deli owners, and offer them a new “accommodation.” You are free to call yourself a kosher deli; you are free not to place ham sandwiches on your menu; you are free not to be the person to prepare the sandwich and hand it over the counter to the customer. But we will force your meat supplier to set up a kiosk on your premises, and to offer, prepare, and serve ham sandwiches to all of your customers, free of charge to them. And when you get your monthly bill from your meat supplier, it will include the cost of any of the “free” ham sandwiches that your customers may accept. And you will, of course, be required to pay that bill.

Some who supported the deli owners initially began to celebrate the fact that ham sandwiches didn’t need to be on the menu, and didn’t need to be prepared or served by the deli itself. But on closer examination, they noticed three troubling things. First, all kosher delis will still be forced to pay for the ham sandwiches. Second, many of the kosher delis’ meat suppliers, themselves, are forbidden in conscience from offering, preparing, or serving pork to anyone. Third, there are many kosher delis that are their own meat supplier, so the mandate to offer, prepare, and serve the ham sandwich still falls on them.

It is absurd for someone to come into a kosher deli and demand a ham sandwich; that it is beyond absurd for that private demand to be backed with the coercive power of the state; that it is downright surreal to apply this coercive power when the customer can get the same sandwich cheaply, or even free, just a few doors down.

Will our nation continue to be one committed to religious liberty and diversity?

Above are excerpts from Bishop William Lori's testimony before Before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at the United States House of Representatives on February 16, 2012. Obviously he is using this parable to show the injustice of the HHS mandate. You can read his testimony in it's entirety here.