Obama's Assault on The Catholic Church

By now, you have probably heard about this explosive burst of religious persecution that the Obama administration has foisted upon us.  This is the letter that our pastor read to us Sunday from our Bishop regarding the potentially devastating consequences of Obamacare on the Church.  Similar letters were read nation wide to all the Catholic faithful.

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ in the Diocese of Trenton:

As your Bishop, I write to you concerning an alarming matter that negatively impacts the Catholic Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith.  The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people—the Catholic population—and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees’ health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception.  Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write.  And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.

As a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to violate our consciences or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). 

We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law.  People of faith cannot be made second class citizens.  We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties.  I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same.  Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

This is not an attempt by the Church to interfere with anyone’s politics.  It is, rather, an attempt to lift up and live our Catholic faith the way that our nation and our constitution have always guaranteed us the freedom and the right to do.  Please join me and all of those harmed by this legislation in prayer and in an all-out effort to have our freedom restored.  History cautions us repeatedly that once we walk down such a dangerous path, we will get lost in the process. For more information, please go to www.usccb.org/conscience.

Respectfully yours in Christ,
Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.
Bishop of Trenton

This is serious.  If the US Department of Health and Human Services has their way,  many Catholic schools and Churches will be faced with three bad choices:  1- to comply and  sacrifice their moral compass.  2- to stop providing healthcare to their employees. 3- Close down their facility (hospital, school, church etc)  

Catholic Charities has already  been forced to end their adoption services in several states because they would not promote adoption of children into same sex homes.  

There are other religious groups who have been exempted from the healthcare mandate such as the Amish and the believers of Christian Science.  In the case of the Amish they are exempted because purchasing insurance violates their religious beliefs, while for Christian Scientists they are exempted because they don't believe in traditional medicine.  If these two groups are exempted then why can't Catholic institutions be similarly exempted?  After all - doesn't  providing sterilization and abortion treatments violates the Church's core beliefs?

I was outraged and stunned when I heard this.  This is bad. We are in the midst of a persecution. We need to unite and begin to fight for our faith against the nefarious forces of this present administration.  It is my prayer that any of you who read this post pass it on.  Together in Christ we can and will prevail.