It's About a Bishop and a King Thing

Dear America,

We are all Catholics now.

can you just imagine it?

just imagine the looks on their faces...

picture a few Catholic bishops sitting around a White House conference table, being the wayward audience of the "enlightened" ones, when they tell you something to the effect of 'we got this.'

In a letter to his flock, the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, had much to say with regard to what it is like being 'in relationship' with this administration.  Estranged doesn't say the half of it.


Here's a good paragraph that sort of sums it all up (as it is four pages long):

"At a recent meeting between staff of the bishops’ conference and the White House staff,
our staff members asked directly whether the broader concerns of religious freedom—that is,
revisiting the straight-jacketing mandates, or broadening the maligned exemption—are all off the
table. They were informed that they are. So much for “working out the wrinkles.” Instead, they
advised the bishops’ conference that we should listen to the “enlightened” voices of
accommodation, such as the recent, hardly surprising yet terribly unfortunate editorial in
America. The White House seems to think we bishops simply do not know or understand Catholic teaching and so, taking a cue from its own definition of religious freedom, now has nominated its own handpicked official Catholic teachers."

oh but first, let's go back to page one, briefly:

"We have made it clear in no uncertain terms to the government that we are not at peace with its invasive attempt to curtail the religious freedom we cherish as Catholics and Americans. We did not ask for this fight, but we will not run from it."

amen brother. and you are not alone.


tying in the now famous Mike Huckabee line, "in this matter, we are all Catholics now," Dolan adds,

"We are grateful to know so many of our fellow Americans, especially our friends
in the ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, stand together in this important moment in our
country. They know that this is not just about sterilization, abortifacients, and chemical
contraception. It’s about religious freedom, the sacred right of any Church to define its own teaching and ministry."

and no, it's not just about Sandra Fluke; it's the continuous assault on religious liberty that this administration doesn't seem to think twice about.

for a moment, let's go back to the story out of Michigan, and the Lutheran teacher with a bad case of narcolepsy, also recognized as the Hosanna-Tabor School case...Dolan cites in this letter the unanimous decision by the Supreme Court to serve in favor of our Constitution and Religious Freedom over the secular world of fair work standards and employer obligations.  For the Church is different, isn't it.

Just as this case was heating up, I went back to find an article framing the major points, but here's the bottom line:

"Leaders of Roman Catholics, Mormons, Presbyterians, United Methodists, Seventh-day Adventists, Hindus, United Sikhs, Muslims, Episcopalians, Reform Jews and Orthodox Jews are united,” writes Peter Smith of the Louisville Courier-Journal. ”So are the conservative National Association of Evangelicals and its liberal counterpart, the National Council of Churches. So are devotees of Santeria, Yoruba and other religions you may not know. Even the various Baptist denominations are all on the same side.

They all support the right of religious groups to hire and fire teachers who could be construed as ‘ministers’ on grounds that would be otherwise discriminatory, whether due to race, gender and disability or other reasons. The case could affect hundreds of thousands of teachers and other employees in faith-based schools and organizations."

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2011/10/obama-administration-tells-supreme-court-there-should-be-no-ministerial-exception.php#ixzz1ncqI5fZX

And yet, this Administration was basically performing a hostile takeover on the church -- and when I say 'the church', I mean to say all churches -- which you would think would be mainstream news.  but no.  not so much.

but details, schmetails, right?   let's get back to Dolan:

"For one, there was not even a nod to the deeper concerns about trespassing upon religious
freedom, or of modifying the HHS’ attempt to define the how and who of our ministry. Two,
since a big part of our ministries are “self-insured,” we still ask how this protects us. We’ll still
have to pay and, in addition to that, we’ll still have to maintain in our policies practices which
our Church has consistently taught are grave wrongs in which we cannot participate. And what
about forcing individual believers to pay for what violates their religious freedom and
conscience? We can’t abandon the hard working person of faith who has a right to religious
freedom. And three, there was still no resolution about the handcuffs placed upon renowned
Catholic charitable agencies, both national and international, and their exclusion from contracts
just because they will not refer victims of human trafficking, immigrants and refugees, and the
hungry of the world, for abortions, sterilization, or contraception. In many ways, the
announcement of February 10 solved little and complicated a lot. We now have more questions than answers, more confusion than clarity."

 

oooh color me surprised.

"We will continue to accept invitations to meet with and to voice our concerns to anyone
of any party, for this is hardly partisan, who is willing to correct the infringements on religious
freedom that we are now under. But as we do so, we cannot rely on off the record promises of fixes without deadlines and without assurances of proposals that will concretely address the concerns in a manner that does not conflict with our principles and teaching.

Congress might provide more hope, since thoughtful elected officials have proposed
legislation to protect what should be so obvious: religious freedom. Meanwhile, in our recent
debate in the senate, our opponents sought to obscure what is really a religious freedom issue by maintaining that abortion inducing drugs and the like are a “woman’s health issue.” We will not let this deception stand. Our commitment to seeking legislative remedies remains strong. And it is about remedies to the assault on religious freedom. Period. (By the way, the Church hardly needs to be lectured about health care for women. Thanks mostly to our Sisters, the Church is the largest private provider of health care for women and their babies in the country.) Bishop William Lori, Chairman of our Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, stated it well in a recent press release: “We will build on this base of support as we pursue legislation in the House of Representatives, urge the Administration to change its course on this issue, and explore our legal rights under the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

yeah, and 'by the way...'  I just love that little line when the saints go marching in.   take that!   
it's in pink just to make it easier to read it, believe it and revel in it.

you know -- I might as well as cut and pasted the whole darned letter in here; but since I didn't, go here to read the entire thing.   really.  you should.  it's quick and very well done.  seriously.  it might very well be the first time I felt this proud about any of my country's Catholic bishops.  ssssh

just before I go away for the day -- here is Dolan's final thought...

"Brothers, we know so very well that religious freedom is our heritage, our legacy and our
firm belief, both as loyal Catholics and Americans. There have been many threats to religious
freedom over the decades and years, but these often came from without. This one sadly comes from within. As our ancestors did with previous threats, we will tirelessly defend the timeless and enduring truth of religious freedom."

who'd a thought?  from within of all places...geeze louise...what's next?  

oh but thank God we have a self-proclaimed believer and Christian soldier in the White House.
right..thank God for that.
thank the Lord Almighty
thank ya Jesus
thank ya
and can I get an Amen?

But --  does he believe we are all Catholics now?

it's a good question.

make it a good day, G

Free Exercise thereof.  

Free Exercise thereof.  

Free Exercise thereof.  

there's no place like home. 

we are all Catholics now.