From the Desk of the Pastor

Apparently the strong negative reaction these last several weeks by Catholic bishops, leaders in the Church and the Catholic faithful in regards to the Health & Human Services mandate requiring religious institutions to pay for abortion inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization, all in violation of Catholic Church teachings, has gotten the attention of the administration. There is capitulation, but according to Archbishop Dolan, president of the U.S. Bishops, the “capitulation” is nothing more than “manipulation.” Let me once again reiterate what this is really about. If you think this is about free birth control for those who “need it,” even if they are Catholic, you are wrong. The federal government through Planned Parenthood and other agencies already subsidizes free birth control so that it is readily available to anyone who wants it. No. To quote the Archbishop again (soon to be a Cardinal this week), this is about the federal government defining a religious individual’s or religious entity’s very identity. Not my Catholic doctrine, not the Gospel, not the Pope (the vicar of Christ on earth), not the bishops (successors of the Apostles), but the government, the government, is going to tell you and tell me, and tell those institutions who represent our faith how to “define” themselves. Religious freedom is the lifeblood, the cornerstone of the American way of life. When the Founding Fathers determined that the innate rights of men and women should be enshrined in our Constitution, they so esteemed religious liberty that they made it the “first” freedom above all the rest, and related to it, the freedom that no one can be forced to violate their conscience. Let us continue to pray that our President and our elected officials will come to their senses.

God Bless!
Fr. Morgan