Fr. Leo Patalinghug You Tube Video addresses the HHS Mandate in a very distinct manner.  Please know that Fathers target audience is for a younger audience, so the editing is geared along those lines.  It is well worth watching.

Note: Email Subscribers must click HERE to watch the video.

HT to Father Z:

Obama Notre Dame Speech

“Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women.” Those are things we can do.”

By: Father Michael Rodriquez

(www.Remnant Newspaper.com)

On the verge of being condemned to death, Jesus Christ responds to Pontius Pilate, “For this I was born, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth.”  (Jn 18:37)  Jesus Christ was not born for “freedom of conscience” or “religious liberty”; He was born to bring the truth, and hence salvation, to a fallen world.  Erat lux vera . . . He was the true light.   Only adherence to the truth nurtures our God-given freedom and allows it to thrive and prosper properly.  Listen carefully to our Savior’s own words, “the truth shall make you free.” (Jn 8:32)  Pope Leo XIII, Vicar of Christ, teaches, “the best parent and guardian of liberty amongst men is truth” (Immortale Dei 40, November 1, 1885).

On January 20, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that nearly all employers, including the Roman Catholic Church, will soon be forced to cover the cost of contraceptives, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs in their health insurance plans.  Fortunately, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has spoken out against this brazen and blasphemous assault on the holy law of God, the sanctity of life, and the good of souls.  Unfortunately, their response has thus far been spiritually feeble and morally anemic, i.e. it has revolved largely around the protection of religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and First Amendment rights, while remaining devoid of explicit reference to the absolute moral truths revealed by God and entrusted to the Holy Catholic Church.

Almost all 21^st century Americans, and most modern-day Catholics, mistakenly assume that freedom is an absolute good.  In his 1993 Encyclical Letter, Veritatis Splendor, Pope John Paul II writes extensively about human freedom.  In paragraph #34, he teaches, “there can be no morality without freedom [because] it is only in freedom that man can turn to what is good.”  The raison d’être of freedom is for one to decide in favor of what is true, beautiful, and good.  Our benevolent God has blessed man with free will precisely so that man may freely choose to submit to God’s commandments.

Already at the end of the nineteenth century, Pope Leo XIII was warning us about many who were “perverting the very idea of freedom” with “false and absurd notions.”  In paragraph #1 of his 1888 Encyclical Letter on the nature of true liberty, Libertas Præstantissimum, he wrote, “Man, indeed, is free to obey his reason, to seek moral good and to strive unswervingly after his last end.”  Pope Leo XIII is reminding us that we are to exercise our freedom in order to:  (1) obey reason and accept the truth, (2) do what is morally good, (3) save our souls, which is man’s final end.  “The supreme end to which human liberty must aspire is God.”  (Libertas Præstantissimum 11)  Our Holy Father also alerts us to the obvious danger:  by abusing his freedom and choosing evil, man will “disturb rightful order and fall headlong into the destruction which he has voluntarily chosen.” (Libertas Præstantissimum 1)

In Veritatis Splendor, #32, Pope John Paul II laments that “certain currents of modern thought have gone so far as to exalt freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute.”  In terms of metaphysics, placing freedom “above” truth is a calamitous error.  Morally speaking, freedom and “individual rights” may never be divorced from the truth.  No one can claim a “right” to espouse moral error or a false religion.

I hope and pray that our bishops will respond to the grace offered only to them as Successors of the Apostles.  Behold, dear Bishops, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation!  (2 Cor 6:2)  The Health and Human Services “contraception mandate” is simply the latest manifestation of the pernicious moral relativism that continues to ravage both society and the Church.  In order to truly combat this hideous “smoke of satan,” our bishops must tread in the hallowed footsteps of the Apostles, cast aside false notions of “religious liberty,” and proclaim the truth with valor, “Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all, keep the Catholic Faith.  For unless a person keeps this Faith whole and entire, he will undoubtedly be lost forever.”  (Symbol of St. Athanasius)

With respect to the HHS “contraception mandate,” I urge our nation’s bishops to implement the following ten-point plan.

(1)  Pray to St. John Fisher, plead with him to intercede for you, and beg for the grace to imitate his indomitable example.  John Fisher (1469-1535) was a model bishop of the Diocese of Rochester for twenty-three years in an age when the lives of many bishops were less than edifying.  Under pressure from King Henry VIII, about 95% of the English bishops and clergy betrayed Our Lord and Holy Mother Church, but not Fisher.  On June 22, 1535, St. John Fisher, seventy-one years old and hardly able to walk, was taken from the Tower of London to nearby Tower Hill.  Upon the scaffold, right before he was beheaded, St. John Fisher spoke, “I am come here to die for Christ’s Catholic Church.  And I thank God . . . ”

(2)  Munus docendi:  teach the truth.  According to Apostolorum Successores (Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops, Feb. 22, 2004) 57, “As an authoritative teacher of the faith, the Bishop sets revealed truth at the heart of his pastoral action.”  Central to the bishop’s munus docendi (teaching office) is “to proclaim always and everywhere the moral principles of the social order.” (#120)  U.S. Bishops, please teach with clarity and charity that the following are intrinsic evils:  abortion, homosexual acts, contraception, and direct sterilization (against fertility) (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2271, 2357, 2370, 2399).  Use your full episcopal authority to instruct all Catholics that each of these mortal sins is never acceptable, no Catholic may support anyone else in committing these terrible crimes against God, and every single Catholic must oppose these sins both in the private and public spheres.

(3)  Devotion to Christ the King.  In order to govern with the mind and heart of Christ the Lord, a bishop must “lie prostrate” at the feet of Christus Rex.  U.S. Bishops, please read and study our Holy Father, Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical, Quas Primas (December 11, 1925), which established the Feast of Christ the King.  Pope Pius XI writes, “And we remember saying that these manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and His holy law out of their lives, that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics” (#1); “When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony” (#19); and “Oh, what happiness would be Ours if all men, individuals, families and nations, would but let themselves be governed by Christ!” (#20)

(4)  Munus regendi:  “Catholic” politicians.  U.S. Bishops, please exercise your munus regendi (office of governing) by applying the truths of the Catholic religion, outside of which there is no salvation, to “Catholic” politicians.  It is not at all sufficient to urge the laity to “write to their senators and congressmen.”  You are the Successors of the Apostles!  You are the ones who have been strengthened by the Holy Spirit!  You are the ones who have been blessed with apostolic grace!  For the sake of the purity of our Catholic Faith, you must work diligently and prudently to win over the minds and hearts of so many “Catholic” politicians who have lost, or are on the brink of losing, the Faith.  No Catholic politician may in any way support these sins (i.e. abortion, homosexual unions, contraception, direct sterilization) against God, the truth, human life, and mankind itself.  If a “Catholic” public figure remains obstinate in such sin and persists in giving public scandal, you Bishops must, for the good of souls, issue the necessary excommunication, always with the goal and hope of the sinner’s eventual repentance and conversion.

(5)  Munus regendi:  the lay faithful.  U.S. Bishops, please exercise your munus regendi by applying the truths of the Catholic religion, outside of which there is no salvation, to the lay faithful.  With paternal solicitude, and always bearing in mind the salvation of souls, take the necessary measures to correct and discipline the lay faithful who are obstinate in supporting politicians and public officials who condone or promote abortion, homosexual unions, contraception, or direct sterilization.

(6)  Munus regendi:  the presbyterate.  U.S. Bishops, please exercise your munus regendi by applying the truths of the Catholic religion, outside of which there is no salvation, to your presbyterates.  Out of fidelity to Jesus Christ and His Church, and for the good of souls, insist that every single priest make it a pastoral priority to teach on the intrinsic evil of abortion, homosexual acts, contraception, and direct sterilization.  Be vigilant, as is proper to your office, and provide, as needed, the appropriate encouragement, formation, correction, or disciplinary action with respect to your priests.  Every single Catholic bishop and priest should teach what the Roman Catholic Church teaches.  No excuses, no exceptions, abundant joy, overflowing charity!

(7) Foster true participation of the laity in the life of the Church.  Apostolorum Successores, 110 (b), touches on the importance of participation in politics by the lay faithful, particularly in “addressing fundamental moral principles which do not admit of exception, derogation or compromise” and included in this list are “abortion, euthanasia, and the promotion and protection of the family based on monogamous marriage between a man and a woman.”  Thus, well-aware of our country’s dire need for authentic Catholic politicians, every U.S. Bishop should make it a concern to foster these “vocations.”  It is morally irresponsible to neglect the formation, encouragement, and support of true Catholic statesmen, while demanding that the faithful go out and vote when the only alternative available to them is settling for “the lesser of two evils.”

(8)  Restore Catholic Marriage and the Family.  Apostolorum Successores, 202, states, “As the one primarily responsible for the pastoral care of the family, which is the foundation and original cell of society and of the Church, the Bishop should establish this apostolate as a clear priority within the diocesan pastoral program.”  In order to carry out this apostolate in a manner that is truly faithful to the perennial teachings of Holy Mother Church, I urge the U.S. Bishops to read and study our Holy Father, Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical on Christian Marriage, Casti Connubii (December 31, 1930).  God willing, the core of each diocese’s pastoral program to restore Catholic Marriage and the Family will consist of promoting the following truths:  chastity before and within marriage, the primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children, St. Joseph as the role model for all Catholic fathers, the Blessed Virgin Mary as the role model for all Catholic mothers, the Divine Child as the role model for all Catholic children, modest dress, especially for Catholic women.

(9)  Prayer.  St. Paul writes, “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil.  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.  Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect.”  (Eph 6:11-13).  Dear U.S. Bishops, we are in the midst of an epic spiritual battle, and truth be told, we are currently getting whipped.  Please, lead the priests and faithful of your dioceses as often as possible in Holy Hours before the Blessed Sacrament  and in the recitation of the Holy Rosary.  Sancta Dei Genetrix, ora pro nobis.

(10)  Munus sanctificandi:  the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  I chose to save the most important one for last.  In order to crush the diabolic HHS mandate, and every other evil that is afflicting the Church and society, Bishops must exercise their munus sanctificandi (office of sanctifying) and work tirelessly to restore the Mass of All Ages.  Fr. Philip Wolfe, FSSP, preached very wisely in 2003, “What we do in the Liturgy determines what goes on out in the world.  The most divine thing we can participate in this side of heaven is the Sacred Liturgy.  During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass the floodgates of heaven open up and all the graces come pouring down off the altar, through the congregation, out across to all creation.  The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most important thing in the universe.  When things are properly done, the Liturgy raises earth up towards the level of heaven and it reorders and fixes the damage done by Adam and his descendants.”

Lex orandi, lex credendi:  the Church believes as she prays.  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1124)  If the majority of Catholics no longer believe as the Church believes, e.g. that abortion, contraception, and homosexual activity are intrinsically evil and thus forbidden, this is necessarily a consequence of Catholics no longer worshipping God as the Church has always worshipped God.  U.S. Bishops, please be obedient to the liturgical directives of Pope Benedict XVI.  He refers to the Roman Missal promulgated in 1962 as “a precious treasure to be preserved” (Universæ Ecclesiæ 8, April 30, 2011), and declares that it “must be given due honor for its venerable and ancient usage” (Summorum Pontificum, art. 1, July 7, 2007).  Even more importantly, please be obedient to the venerable Roman liturgical tradition of two millennia, and the “timeless” liturgical truth transmitted by all the Popes in succession.  As the glorious Roman Rite spreads its divine beauty and aroma throughout  U.S. dioceses, the true lex orandi is sure to restore the true lex credendi.

The Son of God did not come down from heaven to “be free” and guarantee “First Amendment rights.”  No, He took flesh from the Immaculate Virgin Mary, in order to die on the cross, vanquish sin, and witness to the truth.  Only the truth safeguarded in the “womb” of the Catholic Church can set us free.

The Vatican Today:  The Bishops of the US states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin are in Rome this week for their ad limina visits. Religious liberty continues to be a major focus of attention for the Holy Father and the various curial offices the bishops are visiting during their stay.

The Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin, Robert Morlino, told Vatican Radio that the bishops themselves are aware of a growing concern among the broader public for the integrity of conscience rights and liberty generally. “Everybody sees that their freedom of conscience is at stake,” said Bishop Morlino, explaining, “it just depends who is up to be curtailed at any given moment for whatever reason.” The Bishop went on to say, “If they can do it to Catholics, they can do it to anybody.”

Bishop Robert Morlino Greets Pope Benedict

Discussion in the United States of the controversial HHS mandate requiring Catholic institutions to provide contraceptives and abortifacients at no cost to the insured employee, continues. Bishop Morlino expressed his own concern with the aims of the Obama administration, saying, “There seems to be an approach that seeks to divide the Church, even more than She is already divided,” along liberal and conservative lines. “We should not be this way,” said Bishop Morlino. “All the ‘liberal/conservative’ bit is an import from the political sphere, which really does us nothing but damage.” Bishop Morlino went on to say:

[T]o take advantage of the fact that this has already happened in our culture, this division, and then to start to pit the bishops – as if they were merely one group within the Church – [against] what other groups might think, is clearly a straightforward attempt to divide and to deepen division in the Church, and to weaken the Church – the old saying, “Divide and conquer!”

Asked about how the bishops are planning to engage the public debate, and to help the Catholic faithful engage it, Bishop Morlino spoke of the need to safeguard and strengthen, where necessary, the Catholic identity of Catholic institutions. He said a centrepiece of any effort to revive Catholic identity must involve a recovery of authentic Catholic worship. “We can create all kinds of structures, and make them universal, so that we look more like a unity,” he said, “but the beginning of that has to be, it seems to me, with regard to our own liturgy.”

By Father Richard Perozich:

Identity Theft

Media advertisements frequently speak of identity theft, and of one solution called Lifelock. A man’s identity is his name and what belongs to him, linked by our social security number in the public forum. Because of attempts to steal identity and all the assets linked to it, we add passwords to all our accounts which are linked to our identity. Still, thieves use lies, deceit, accusation, temptation, and seduction to get us to reveal our information, to abandon our security, and to take what belongs to us, robbing us of our identity, our assets, our lives. Lifelock and similar programs are advertised to watch over and to protect our identity when we may not be able to do so or when we are unaware of unscrupulous tactics of thieves.

My physical identity is God’s gift to me. I am a man, oriented toward woman for procreation and mutual support toward eternal life. My spiritual identity is Christian given to me by my baptism. The assets that come with this are divine faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance; also the presence of the Holy Spirit in my soul to form my conscience by telling me to “do this and shun that”, so that I am not guided by my own thoughts or emotions or those of others. My identity is being nurtured by the Bible, the Church as its authentic teacher and interpreter, by the sacraments, particularly penance and Eucharist, by my prayer in which I life up my heart to God for healing, attention, affection, approval, and love.

There Are Thieves In The World Trying To Steal Our Identity

There are thieves in the world trying to steal my monetary assets by appropriating my identity and presenting themselves as me. They try to get my social security number, my bank account number, my passwords, my signature and other things associated with my identity. They use seduction, lies, temptation, deception, and accusation to move others or me in order to defraud me of my identity and all that is attached to it. In the business world, companies such as Lifelock promise to help me to guard my identity and all the assets that accompany it for the protection of my power, possessions, and the prestige of my identity.

There are thieves in this world trying to steal my soul, that animating force, which gives me life, which is my identity given to me by God. The devil is the thief of souls. Jesus calls the devil the “Father of lies”. He is called “Satan” which means tempter. He is called the “accuser of our brothers” in Job and in Revelation. He is the seducer of Eve, and the deceiver of all. It is through his envy that death entered into our human existence (Wisdom 2:28). He wishes to rob us of our identity as children of God and our inheritance of eternal life.

Satan has tempted, deceived, lied to, accused, and seduced others to follow him while at the same time they claim to be following God. Jesus tells us that we know others by their fruits, which are the results of their work and the means that they use to obtain their goals.

Identity theft of the soul often is done slowly so that the victims, you and I, ignore the theft until it is too late, and we have lost everything. The devil’s techniques are temptation, lies, seduction, accusation, and deception. In modern socio political parlance, these involve the unscrupulous tactics of theft such as those attributed to Saul Alinsky in syaing anything is fair to destroy the victim in order to steal what I want. Three common techniques that have stolen spiritual identities from Catholics are desensitization, jamming, and conversion.

Desensitatization

Desensitization is a constant presentation of the deception through television, radio, magazines, school indoctrination, victimhood, rights, fairness, equality, and justice. Catholics have had their identities threatened through the presentation of abortion, sexual license, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia in news, talk shows, legislatures, using the parade of “victims”, a woman’s right to choose, “reproductive rights”, women’s health, right to control her own body, born that way, right to “marry the one you love”, sex parades, political – social – academic indoctrination, sex clubs at schools and even Catholic universities, television characters. After showing so much of this, the thief lies, deceives, and seduces the person into signing over his identity to support the lies and deceptions. Evil becomes commonplace, and the identity begins the slow transfer of loyalty away from God to conversion to the devil and support of the evils.

Jamming

Jamming is the technique of bigotry which demeans the dignity of a person, his statements, his right of self expression through accusation in order to make the person feel bad, to feel he has wronged or offended another and thus reduce him to silence so that the opposition can continue stealing the identity through the transfer of spiritual assets away from God over to a new god and new beliefs. Some words that reduce us to silence are: bigoted, homophobic, unthinkingly conservative, far right, patricarchal, medieval, hateful, misogynistic, etc. An honest person so accused reacts with horror at himself and shuts down logical thinking at that moment.

Conversion

Conversion is the final result of desensitization and jamming done through seduction, temptation, deception, accusation, and lies. The victim has lost his created identity and his spiritual one as well. It has been stolen from him with the cooperation of his surrender.

The thief must first present himself as a victim, unfairly marginalized by the majority for a behavior or trait which is claimed to be inborn and the thief’s given identity which cannot be changed without doing violence to him. Men and women with same sex attraction have their masculinity and femininity stolen from them by practicing or promoting homosexuals to convince them that they are born that way with no hope of change. Once converted, they become thieves of others’ souls.

Women with unwanted or difficult pregnancies are seduced and lied to into thinking that the new life in their womb is theirs to dispose of, only tissue, not a baby or human, without a soul. With enough pressure from legislators, medical staff, the women are converted and lose their identities as women, wives, and mothers. Some repent; others become thieves of souls themselves.

People who do not have the same economic assets as others are tempted to think that others got it from illegal advantage or gain, and that all should have the same assets by stealing from those who have more, giving it to the state who will then apportion it according to the thieves’ will. They are converted to envy, occupy movements, and live perpetually as victims in unhappiness over others’ good fortune.

The HHS mandate forcing the Church to provide for birth control and abortion only has power because self proclaimed Christians such as President Obama and those Catholics in name only such as HHS director Sebelius, congresswoman Pelosi, vice President Biden, numerous senators and congressmen have lost their Catholic and or Christian identities, have been converted, and now hold power.

The Life Lock

Where is Lifelock? It is in Jesus Christ and in His Holy Catholic Church’s magisterium where in the bishops united with the Holy Father teach, guide, and sanctify their flock. Holding fast to the church when one has doubts and seeking her teaching to clarify, the presence of Jesus in word and sacrament will keep safe the Catholic from identity theft. It is not a passive purchase like the business model of life lock, but demands humility, vigilance, faithfulness, and obedience. Let Jesus and His Church be the Lifelock for your Catholic identity against Satan and those he has converted who steal souls.

Dear friends in the Lord,

I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the 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.

As you are aware, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced two weeks ago 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. In so ruling, the Administration 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 either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.

Fictitious Picture Used To Illustrate A Point

“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. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. 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.

And therefore, I would ask you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience, to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Administration’s decision.

With prayerful best wishes, I am,
Faithfully in Christ,
Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York

Catholic Insight.com

By: Father Joseph Hattie (with some editing for length and content)

July 25, 1968, was a day that etched itself into my memory. That day, Pope Paul VI issued his prophetic document Humanae vitae (Of human life). I was in South Bend, Indiana, on that bright sunny day. I can clearly see myself returning to the campus of Notre Dame University, where I was studying that summer. As a fellow priest and I walked on to the campus, it seemed that the air was crackling with emotional electricity. We were soon told the reason why. The Pope had issued his long-awaited encyclical Of human life, and he had not approved the contraceptive Pill, as the world had expected. In fact, he had strengthened and deepened our understanding of the Church’s constant teaching that the contracepted act in conjugal love is intrinsically evil.

Among those who rejected the encyclical, many focused their ridicule on section 17 of the encyclical. In the three paragraphs of this section, Paul VI had prophetically spoken about some of the grave consequences that would follow from the approval of methods of artificial birth control.  To help you in this, this article will present the text of section 17 and a brief commentary on it.

Section 17
As an introduction to section 17, please keep in mind two elements.

First, the context of the text of the encyclical: in sections 7 through 16, Paul VI outlines and proclaims the beauty of God’s plan for conjugal love and responsible parenthood, as well as affirming and clarifying the moral meaning of contraception and natural family planning.

Second, the faith context: the encyclical was being received at a time when there was a growing crisis of faith. This crisis was draining many people of the courage needed to proclaim the beauty of God’s plan for marriage and family. The Pope responded to this crisis of faith by first, presenting the positive truths of God’s plan for conjugal love, responsible parenthood, and the dignity of husband and wife, which these truths celebrate and protect; secondly, he appealed to people of good will-many of whom were weak in their faith or lacked it altogether-to reflect on the inner logic of the consequences that would flow from the approval of contraception.

The opening sentence of section 17 tells us: “Responsible individuals will quickly see the truth of the Church’s teaching (about contraception), if they consider what consequences will follow from the methods of contraception and the reasons given for the use of contraception” (1)

Separate the unitive and procreative aspects
The Pope is saying that people of goodwill can see and understand the inner logic of what he will say about the grave consequences, which logically follow from separating the unitive and procreative dimensions of conjugal love. The contracepted act creates this separation by its very nature. These are theological terms, which speak of the special bonding that the complementary fertility of the husband and wife makes possible: between themselves, between them and their children, and as a marriage in Christ.

Dr. John Billings, a husband, father and a physician, expresses the truth of this special bonding with great clarity in his booklet The Gift of Life and Love: “We cannot command ourselves always to feel affection, but we can command our wills to love. When the husband and wife enter into marriage they take upon themselves two serious responsibilities- there is the responsibility involved in the gift of oneself to the spouse; and acceptance of the gift of the other is a separate responsibility, which helps to identify and at the same time enlarge the first. The responsibility of the married couple is to work in fidelity to the conjugal love in order to bring the other and oneself to perfection.

“Fertility is a vital element of the human organism. The biological differences which exist between male and female irrevocably determine their earthly roles within the whole of humanity, providing for a creative partnership between men and women which extends beyond genital communication into the whole meaning of their sexuality. A man is a man-person, and a woman is a woman-person. In marriage the fertility of the husband and the wife bind themselves to each other and to their children, and an intended removal of the fertility of one or both of them separates them from each other and from their children. It is the knowledge that they share, a power by which a new human life may be brought into existence, that establishes and perpetuates a special, exclusive bond, which gives meaning to the whole concept of the family. It is a tragedy of modern times that so many men and women have been willing, even eager, to destroy their fertility, that a husband or wife will not grant to the other, even to themselves, an acceptance that includes acceptance of their fertility. This moral attitude has produced in our own time an anti-child society” ( p. 9, 10).(2)

When that special bond which a married couple’s fertility brings to their marriage and family is intentionally broken, through contraception and/or sterilization, the following grave consequences can be expected.

Humanae vitae unfolds the inner logic of the consequences in the following way:
“They should first consider how easy it will be (for many) to justify behaviour leading to marital infidelity or to a gradual weakening in the discipline of morals. Not much experience is needed to understand human weakness and to comprehend that human beings, especially the young, are so susceptible to temptation that they need to be encouraged to keep the moral law. It is wrong to make it easy for them to violate this law”(3).

Many of us, in our own life times, have seen the increase in marital infidelity in our society since the contraceptive pill was accepted in the 1960s. Engaged couples who take my marriage and family preparation course are quite aware of the marital infidelity that takes place in their respective work places. Many have been targets of that activity. I myself was shocked some years ago when a sting operation in New Westminster, B.C., resulted in the arrest of a dozen men seeking the services of a prostitute: eleven were married.

We have also seen the gradual weakening of the discipline of morals, not only among adults, but also especially amongst the young. According to Stats Canada, already in 1981, 6% of all couples in Canada lived common-law that year. By 1996, the proportion had risen to 12%, or about one in 8 couples.(4)

Also, it is no longer assumed that a couple has to be married to have a child. In fact, 30% of Canadian children were born outside of marriage in 1993-1994.(5) All of this certainly indicates “a gradual weakening in the discipline of morals.”

Abortions
Once society rejected Humanae vitae and accepted contraception, it did not take long for this prophetic statement to be fulfilled. It was fulfilled even in respect to teenagers.

Two articles appearing in the British medical journal, Linacre Quarterly in 1979 and 1982 document how quickly young people learned to violate the moral law. The first article entitled, “Birth Control for Teenagers-Diagram for Disaster”, was published in the February issue of 1979 and its follow-up was published in the May 1982 issue. On page 143 of the second article we read: “Abortions among teenagers increased fivefold in less than a decade from perhaps 90,000 in 1970 to almost half a million by 1978. The total number of premarital pregnancies more than doubled during this time span, from 300,000 to 700,000!”

Would it not be valid to say that this represents “a gradual weakening in the discipline of morals”, as the Pope warned in section 17?

On the other hand, when young people are encouraged to keep the moral law, many respond in a positive way, as illustrated by movements such as “Wait Until Marriage” or “Second Virginity”. Uganda provides a modern-day illustration of this positive response. In its fight against AIDS, Uganda has been promoting abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage for some years. Abstinence education encourages the young to keep the moral law, which protects them from harm. A Harvard study, published last year, found that this kind of education has shown significant effectiveness in reducing AIDS in Uganda, with the HIV infection rate dropping 50 percent between the years 1992 and 2000. Another point is that among women 15 and older, those reporting many sexual partners dropped from 19.4 percent in 1989 to 2.5 percent in 2000.(6) Pope Paul VI was right:

“The young do need to be encouraged to keep the moral law. It is wrong to make it easy for them to violate this law”.

The general acceptance of contraception, and also its promotion, has made it easy, especially for the young, to violate the moral law. How many young people today are living together in relationships of convenience? How many high-school students have been encouraged to become sexually active, because they have been told that using contraception will prevent pregnancy and in so doing they are being responsible?

Let us return to the encyclical:
“Indeed, it is to be feared that husbands who become accustomed to contraceptive practices will lose respect for their wives. They may come to disregard their wives’ psychological and physical equilibrium and use their wives as instruments for serving their own desires”.

As Dr. John Billings, the Australian champion of Natural Family Planning, has reminded us, when the special bond of fertility is intentionally denied or removed from the conjugal act, it removes “a vital element” of who the spouse is. It says, non-verbally, “I cannot accept, therefore respect, the total gift of who you are at this time, because to do so would interfere with my desire to relate to that part of you which provides sexual pleasure for me.” Such an attitude diminishes a man’s overall respect for his wife, and vice versa.

Adverse effects of the pill
It is well documented that the contraceptive pill has adverse physical and psychological effects on women. One need only read the report published by Health & Welfare Canada in 1978 to be aware of these effects. It is titled “Report 1978, Oral Contraceptives” and indicates over 40 adverse effects the pill has on women. How many husbands, as protectors of their wives and families, stepped forward to say NO to the Pill in their marriages? Many have disregarded these adverse effects because the Pill is convenient for serving their own sexual desires.

The ultimate adverse effect of the Pill on some women is death. The 1978 Report states, “There is also a small but significant increase in fatal risk of pulmonary embolism in women who use oral contraceptives” (p.7). How many there have been we do not know, but one indication is a study published in the British Medical Journal in January 1999 which looked at 945 “contraceptive pill-related deaths” occurring during a 25-year period from 1968 to 1993.(8)

“Consequently, they will no longer view their wives as companions who would be treated with attentiveness and love.”

It should be noted that contraception gives the impression that one’s spouse should always be available to the other for sexual intercourse. Physiologically, it means that one never has a reason to say “No”. An astute husband has observed, “To always have to say yes is never to be free.” Respect is enhanced when one is respected as a free agent, who is a gift, and who is loved and respected as a gift, and allowed to make a free gift of self to one’s spouse. Contraception strikes at the heart of married love.

The prophet continues:
“And then (let reasonable individuals) also carefully consider that a dangerous power will be put into the hands of rulers who care little about the moral law. “Would anyone blame those in the highest offices of the state for employing a solution (contraception) considered morally permissible for spouses seeking to solve a family difficulty, when they strive to solve certain difficulties affecting the whole nation? Who will prevent public authorities from favouring what they believe to be the most effective contraceptive method and from mandating that everyone must use them, whenever they consider it necessary?”

The Pope continues

“And clearly it will come about that men who desire to avoid the difficulties that are part of the divine law, difficulties that individuals, families, or society, may experience, will hand over to the will of the public authorities the power of interfering in the most exclusive and intimate mission of spouses. “Therefore, if we do not want the mission of procreating human life to be conceded to the arbitrary decisions of men, we need to recognize that there are some limits to the power of man over his own body and over the natural operations of the body, which ought not to be transgressed”(10).

Pope Paul VI was warning us that contraception would lead human beings into thinking that they had unlimited power over their own bodies. This false sense of freedom would lead them to do to his or her body whatever was thought convenient to accomplish their desired goals. In our day, this has gone even further into in-vitro fertilization, cloning, genetic manipulation, and embryonic stem cells for research. As Archbishop Chaput of Denver, CO, has observed, these “are all descendants of contraceptive technology.”(11)

Extra-marital technology
We have observed that contraception separates sex from procreation. This in turn has opened the door for technology to bring children into existence apart from the conjugal embrace. Here again, the authenticity of the prophet’s words has been confirmed:

“No one, neither a private individual nor a public authority, ought to violate these limits. For these limits are derived from the reverence owned to the whole human body and its natural operations, according to the principles acknowledged above and according to a proper understanding of the so-called principle of totality, as explained by Our Predecessor, Pius XII”.(10)

In conclusion, these reflections are not meant to be a finger-pointing exercise. They are meant to encourage us to think. Paul VI was right in his prophetic service of warning us about the dangers of accepting contraception. Should we not, therefore, be even more willing to recognize how right he was in proclaiming the truth about God’s plan for conjugal love, responsible parenthood, and the moral meaning of contraception and natural family planning?

Set free by these truths, let us proclaim the good news which, all these years later, many still need to hear and to be helped to live. Where should we start? I would suggest that it be with that large group of good, kind, and well educated, but misinformed Catholic couples who are very opposed to abortion, but do not recognize that contraception and abortion are linked. Being morally misinformed, they are often comfortable with contraception in their marriages, and with small families. They consider themselves good Catholics, contribute to the Church’s charitable works, and go to Mass regularly, but they do not have an informed conscience that recognizes that contraception not only cuts off the flow of life in a marriage and family, but also the flow of grace from their Sacrament of Matrimony. This group of people needs to understand the point that Dr. Billings made that marriage is about growing in holiness, “in order to bring the other and oneself to perfection.” What a force for good they would be if they walked away from the contraceptive mentality, and fully embraced the teaching of Humanae vitae, so they could walk more closely with Christ on the path of holiness.

It is vitally important that we help them to do so. As Archbishop Chaput has observed, “The Church will not be renewed without the renewal of family life. And the family cannot be renewed without a return to the truth taught in Humanae vitae. Ignoring this issue cannot be an option. In the long run the cost is too high. Therefore we should make every effort to better understand the importance of Church teaching in this regard, and witness to it boldly and with confidence.”(11)

These are the comments of K. Leigh are on this article: Bishop O’Brien Admonishes Governor Over Same-Sex Marriage. Below are some highlights of the article and the K. Leigh’s full coment.

Here is your chance to charitably sound off.   What Comments Do You Have?  The best comments will be featured on the site.

Here are some of the Bishop O’Brien’s highlights of the article.

• “I write to urge you to refrain from using the power of your office to promote the redefinition of marriage in Maryland,” Archbishop O’Brien wrote in a letter to the governor, calling it “a goal that so deeply conflicts with your faith, not to mention the best interests of our society.”

• “Our voices are not motivated by hate or ignorance, but by a faithful adherence to the nature of men and women and their unique capacities as mothers and fathers,” the archbishop noted. “Nor do we speak solely from religious principles.”

• “We urge you not to allow your role as leader of our state to be used in allowing the debate surrounding the definition of marriage to be determined by mere political expediency. The people of Maryland deserve no less.”

• The governor told Archbishop O’Brien that he had “a public obligation” to try to change what he called an “injustice.”

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California Catholic Daily: When Sonoma County Pro-Life advertised its annual Rally for Life held last Sunday, it promised that its keynote speaker — Santa Rosa Bishop Robert Vasa — “is sure to challenge and inspire us all.” Bishop Vasa did not let them down.

“Any government leader, particularly those who claim to be Christian, who claim to be pro-choice, is unworthy of public office,” Bishop Vasa told the rally at Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa on Jan. 22. “Absolutely unworthy and absolutely unfit for public office.”

Politicians who support abortion are “as guilty of abortion as those who choose it themselves,” he said. And Roe v. Wade, said Bishop Vasa, was an “illicit and invalid” decision.

Because of its pro-abortion policies, said Bishop Vasa, the U.S. is no longer “the land of the free and the home of the brave. It’s a land of the imprisoned and the home of the cowards.”

The bishop’s remarks, reported the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, brought cheers from a crowd of about 100 people who gathered in the afternoon rain to hear his speech.

“Vasa suggested such leaders who publicly hold such a position shouldn’t accept communion at Mass,” reported the Press Democrat. “He also said they could be excommunicated, or banished from the church through their actions.”

“In some ways, they excommunicate themselves,” the Press Democrat quoted the bishop as saying in an interview following his speech.

“If he learned a politician expressed a position so out of line with Catholic beliefs, then he would first try to have a ‘face-to-face’ with that person and urge them to recant their remarks,” said the Press Democrat. “If they did not, then that person would be ‘on thin ice.’”

According to the Press Democrat, Bishop Vasa conceded that the Church “tends to resist” the explicit excommunication of pro-abortion Catholics, but in an apparent reference to automatic self-excommunication, the bishop was quoted by the newspaper as saying, “I, for one, if someone wants to put hot coals on their own head, I say fine.”

By Bishop David A. Zubik

It is really hard to believe that it happened. It comes like a slap in the face. The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, “To Hell with you!” There is no other way to put it.

Bishop David A. Zubik

In early August, the Department for Health and Human Services in the Obama administration released guidelines as part of the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The guidelines mandated that by Summer 2012 all individual and group health insurance plans, including self-insured plans, cover all FDA-approved contraception, sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals that even result in abortion.

A million things are wrong with this: equating pregnancy with disease;  mandating that every employer pay for contraception procedures including alleged contraceptives that are actually abortion-inducing drugs; forcing American citizens to chose between violating their consciences or providing health care services; mandating such coverage on every individual woman without allowing her to even choose not to have it; forcing every person to pay for that coverage no matter the dictates of their conscience.

Let’s be blunt. This whole process of mandating these guidelines undermines the democratic process itself.  In this instance, the mandate declares pregnancy a disease, forces a culture of contraception and abortion on society, all while completely bypassing the legislative process.

This is government by fiat that attacks the rights of everyone – not only Catholics; not only people of all religion.  At no other time in memory or history has there been such a governmental intrusion on freedom not only with regard to religion, but even across-the-board with all citizens. It forces every employer to subsidize an ideology or pay a penalty while searching for alternatives to health care coverage. It undermines the whole concept and hope for health care reform by inextricably linking it to the zealotry of pro-abortion bureaucrats.

For our Church this mandate would apply in virtually every instance where the Catholic Church serves as an employer. The mandate would require the Catholic Church as an employer to violate its fundamental beliefs concerning human life and human dignity by forcing Catholic entities to provide contraceptive, sterilization coverage and even pharmaceuticals that result in abortion.

There was a so-called “religious exemption” to the mandate, but it was so narrowly drawn that, as critics charged, Jesus Christ and his Apostles would not fit the exemption. The so-called exemption would only apply to the vast array of Catholic institutions where the following applied:

• Only Catholics are employed;
• The primary purpose of the institution or service provided is the direct instruction in Catholic belief;
• The only persons served by the institution are those that share Catholic religious tenets. (Try to fit this in with our local Catholic Charities that serve 80,000 every year without discrimination according to faith. It would be impossible!)

Practically speaking under the proposed mandate there would be no “religious exemption” for Catholic hospitals universities, colleges, nursing homes and numerous Catholic social service agencies such as Catholic Charities. It could easily be determined that the “religious exemption” would not apply as well to Catholic high schools, elementary schools and Catholic parishes since many employ non-Catholics and serve both students and, through social outreach, many who do not share Catholic religious beliefs. Such a narrow “religious exemption” is simply unprecedented in federal law.

Last September I asked you to protest those guidelines to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, and contact your political leadership in the federal government. I asked that you request that this flawed mandate be withdrawn because of its unprecedented interference in the religious liberty and freedom of conscience of the Catholic community, and our basic democratic process.

You did. And you were joined by Catholics throughout the country (and many others as well) who raised their voices against the mandate, raised their voices against a meaningless religious exemption.

On January 20, 2012, the Obama administration answered you and me. The response was very simple:

“To Hell with You.”

Kathleen Sebelius announced that the mandate would not be withdrawn and the religious exemption would not be expanded. Instead, she stated that nonprofit groups – which include the Catholic Church – will get a year “to adapt to this new rule.” She simply dismissed Catholic concerns as standing in the way of allegedly respecting the health concerns and choices of women.

Could Catholics be insulted any more, suggesting that we have no concern for women’s health issues? The Catholic Church and the Catholic people have erected health care facilities that are recognized worldwide for their compassionate care for everyone regardless of their creed, their economic circumstances and, most certainly, their gender. In so many parts of the globe – the United States included – the Church is health care.

Kathleen Sebelius and through her, the Obama administration, have said “To Hell with You” to the Catholic faithful of the United States.

• To Hell with your religious beliefs,
• To Hell with your religious liberty,
• To Hell with your freedom of conscience.

We’ll give you a year, they are saying, and then you have to knuckle under. As Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responded, “in effect, the president is saying that we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.”

As I wrote to you last September, with this mandate the democratic process is being ignored while we are being ordered to ignore our religious beliefs. And we are being told not only to violate our beliefs, but to pay directly for that violation; to subsidize the imposition of a contraceptive and abortion culture on every person in the United States.

It is time to go back to work. They have given us a year to adapt to this rule.  We can’t! We simply cannot!

Write to the president.

Write to Secretary Sebelius.

Write to our Senators.

Write to those in Congress.

Use the PA Catholic Advocacy Network to send an email message, too.

I have included the addresses in a box accompanying this article. Here’s what you can write:

“Dear (Representative):

“In early August, the Department for Health and Human Services released guidelines that would force Catholic institutions to subsidize through their health care plans contraception, sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals that even result in abortion.

“It was announced on January 20^thby Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, that this mandate is affirmed and that non-profit institutions, including the Catholic Church, have one year to adapt to the mandate.

“This is a direct threat to the religious liberty of Catholics, freedom of conscience and the social service ministry of the Catholic Church. The so-called ‘religious exemption’ in the mandate is no exemption at all as it would require any Catholic institution (that serves non-Catholics or employs non-Catholics) to violate Catholic belief, discontinue to provide health care, or close its doors.

“I ask that you do all possible to rescind the ‘Preventive Service Mandate’ as an unprecedented federal interference in the right of Catholics to serve their community without violating their fundamental moral beliefs.”

This mandate can be changed by Congressional pressure. The only way that action will happen is if you and I take action.

Let them know that you and I will not allow ourselves to be pushed around (or worse yet) be dismissed because of our Catholic faith.

Let them know that you and I will not allow our religious freedom to be compromised.

Let them know that you and I will not allow our religious liberty to be rescinded.

Nobody, not even the president of the United States or anyone who represents him, has the right to say to you and to me as U.S. citizens, as Catholics, or as both: “To Hell with You.”

The president and our elected leaders need to hear from you and me and to listen to us NOW.

And if NOT now, HOW can we get the president to listen to us???

Contact your political leaders

By: Father George Rutler

God so loved the world that he spared us the indignity of making us feel good about ourselves. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). If utopians indulge the dangerous sentimentality that thinks Satan is a mythic cipher to explain the problem of evil, Jesus does not. He knows the origin and character of Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning. When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

Satan hides behind the plural: he pretends to be more than he is, intimidating others by celebrity and popular support. “What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” But in the presence of the Truth, even Satan cannot lie. He drops the plural and confesses what no mortal yet knew: “I know who you are — the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24). Our Creator knows more about the problem of evil than we do. Logically, if God did not exist, evil would not be a problem. It would be just an energy equivalent to good. In every age, those who have cooperated with Satan have solved the problem of evil to their satisfaction by saying that it is good. Many of these figures have had a seductive power over people that cannot be explained by simple human charm and persuasiveness.

Satan hates not being God. He is only a creature. His hatred refracts into a hatred of the Church, which is the only power against him in this world. He does not waste his time on false religions, heretics and braggarts. He hates the Sacrament of Reconciliation and tears down Confessionals because he wants to separate man from God. “Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries — of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature — to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #395).

Satan never looks like Satan. He drapes himself in celebrity and humor and humanitarianism, using celebrity to mislead, humor to mock, and humanitarianism to de-humanize. One hatred in him always exposes him for what he is. Because our Lord said that we must become like little children to inherit the Kingdom of heaven, Satan hates babies. With great wisdom, the older Rite for the Baptism of a Child begins: “I exorcise you, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Come forth, depart from this servant of God, for He commands you, accursed and damned spirit, He who walked upon the sea and extended His right hand to Peter as he was sinking.”