The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, working under the Obama administration, has passed an anti-Christian, Orwellian "preventative services regulation" to the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." On February 10th of this year, President Barack Hussein Obama signed the rule into law "without change.1" These regulations mandate that all employers (with just a few exceptions), must provide health insurance coverage that includes subsidized contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs.
After the explosion of disgust and outrage from many Christian authorities, the administration added an "accommodation" that in reality is nothing but a manipulation of the language that gives the same end result: that Christians will have let go of their religious rights in favor of following an unethical and unjust bill that goes against their First Amendment rights.
What does this mean for Catholics, and indeed all institutions that do not support an anti-life mentality? Catholic colleges, hospitals, and other Christian organizations will be forced to go against their conscience. The White House has issued a statement saying that religious institutions have one year (date) to comply with the new bill. "In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences," said New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan (then archbishop).
The entire body of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has officially declared their opposition to this mandate; the USCCB is comprised of 271 bishops. They sent a warning letter to the faithful to be read at all the Masses in their dioceses. In hundreds of thousands of parishes during the past month or so, parish priests have transmitted this important message.
"In so ruling, the Obama Administration [through this bill] has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so)," reiterated Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample, Bishop of Marquette, Michigan.
The Sisters for Life from New York issued a statement expressing their support for the USCCB and their disgust in regards to the mandate enforced by the Obama administration, saying: "Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act each of us will be required by law to obtain health insurance, or face fines. Since this HHS mandate will require every insurer to include abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and artificial contraception, we will not be able to obtain any coverage that is free from these'services,'and we will be forced to pay for them directly. Since we are neither employers, nor employees, or any religious institution, we cannot even take advantage of the'religious exemption'contained in the new regulations or'compromise.'As a result, this mandate would coerce each and every individual Sister of Life to betray her religious vows." (The chrism of the Sisters for Life is such that they take a special fourth vow, to work to protect and defend human life.)
Over 400 Catholic institutions, and these numbers are growing, have also officially spoken out against the bill. The percentage of Protestant groups who are against this diabolical bill is outstanding as well, and letters have already been signed by over 2,500 pastors and leaders. In fact, polls show that 50% of Americans oppose the mandate.
On the opposite side of the coin however, there are several Catholic institutions who have voted in favour of the new regulation (and therefore in favour of the abortion ideology) in order to continue receiving fringe benefits; notably the Catholic Health Association (CHA) with Sr. Carol Keehan (Daughters of Charity) as chief executive. Sr. Keehan receives $962,467 per annum in salary and benefits from her position as chief executive of CHA. Several Catholic schools, universities and colleges are also coming to the forefront, namely; Georgetown, Fordham and De Paul. These institutions admit that they have been providing contraceptive services to their students for years. On top of this, a study by Sandra Hapenney Ph.D, shows that 173 Catholic hospitals in seven states have conducted 20,073 sterilizations over the past 3 years.2
Politicians who consider themselves Catholic but collaborate in "the assault against their faith, should remember they will one day have to give an account of their acts before God," said Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Illinois. "There is a last judgment. There is a particular judgment. May they change their minds and may God have mercy on them," he told Catholic News Agency during his recent visit to Rome. "Determined secularists see the Catholic Church as the largest institutional block to a completely secularized society and not for the first, and probably not for the last time, we're under assault."
As for the United States, "it is always difficult to predict the future but the intensity of hatred against Catholic Christianity in elements of our culture is just astounding." Bishop Jenky believes the present White House administration is also motivated by a "determined secularism," while Communist dictator Joseph Stalin would "admire the uniformity of the American press." In conversation, he quoted the stark 2010 prediction of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, "I will die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square."
So is Bishop Jenky prepared for prison or worse? "I hope I would always prefer Christ to anything so, if it came to it, yes but I would be one of the trembling martyrs."
Unfortunately the majority of Catholics, especially in the United States, have compromised for many years on the issue of contraception, ever since it was promoted in Margaret Sanger's Birth Control Review in 1917.3 It is frightening to note that today; Sanger's eugenics'agenda is almost universally accepted. What will be the consequence for these crimes committed against humanity, either through ignorance or caprice?
The Catholic Church teaches that contraception is inherently wrong. Catholics are taught to shun the use of contraceptives not because of some private in-house rule, but because contraception violates the natural law and degrades the marital act. People today think of birth control as a "Catholic issue," but the natural-law argument applies with equal force to everyone, Catholic or not.
The severity of the upcoming religious persecution is happening because of the world implementation of the culture of death. As Catholics, we should have been fighting against the imposition of a eugenics culture, against contraception and abortion on demand, against using our tax dollars to finance contraception, sterilization, abortion, etc. Instead, people have blindly followed a path that was planned for them by those with an evil agenda, thinking that they could live according to their own desires, without assuming any responsibility or compromising themselves outright. However, in so doing, Catholic's also assume a part of this responsibility in the crimes against human life, from birth to natural death.
If Catholic's take decisive action and stand behind their bishops, perhaps the change so urgently needed can be implemented. The bishops of the United States have taken a firm and determined position against the diabolical agenda enforced by the Obama administration. The bishops have already stated that under this bill, all Catholic hospitals and institutions will close within two years and it is commonly known that what happens in the United States will have an effect in Canada, indeed on the whole world.
Christians everywhere should recognize that their religious freedom is being taken away in a very methodical and systematic way by the treacherous enemy of Christ, Satan himself; there is no more room for compromise. We must adhere strongly to our faith in Christ, knowing that only He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." We must make whatever sacrifices are necessary to preach "unpopular" truths, even to the point of the ultimate sacrifice; that of shedding our blood for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Will Catholics in the United States wake up from their deep sleep and respond to the call of their bishops? We must learn to follow the example given to us by the early Christians, who sang hymns to God as the lions devoured them in the arenas of ancient Rome. Let us be like David when he fought against Goliath, let us shout with one voice the ringing battle cry of St. Michael the Archangel, "Who is like unto God?"
Henrietta Markdale
1.) Federal Register 2/15/12, 8725.
2.) Appeal to Conscience Clauses in the Face of Divergent Practices among Catholic Hospitals by Sandra S. Hapenney, Ph.D., www.catholichosptials.org
3.) MICHAEL Journal, May-June-July 2011