Catholic Fire

The saint of the day is St. Jeanne Jugan (1792 – 1879) , also known as Sister Mary of the Cross. During the 19th century, she founded the Little Sisters of the Poor with the goal of imitating Christ's humility through service to elderly people in need. Born on Oct. 25, 1792 in a port city of the French region of Brittany, Jeanne Jugan grew up during the political and religious upheavals of the French Revolution. Four years after she was born, her father was lost at sea. Her mother struggled to provide for Jeanne and her three siblings, while also providing them secretly with religious instruction amid the anti-Catholic persecutions of the day. Jeanne worked as a shepherdess, and later as a domestic servant. At age 18, and again six years later, she declined two marriage proposals from the same man. She told her mother that God had other plans, and was calling her to "a work which is not yet founded." At age 25, the young woman joined the Third Order of St. John ...

By John-Henry Westen on Jan 24, 2014 Despite the best efforts of the Obama Administration, the Supreme Court of the United States decided on Friday afternoon to temporarily block enforcement of the Affordable Care Act on behalf of the Little Sisters of the Poor. The new ruling allows the religious order to avoid the crushing penalties of failing to adhere to the mandate while their legal challenge proceeds by informing the HHS in writing that they are a non-profit group “that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services.” The ruling comes after lawyers for the nuns pointed out that in order to claim their exemption, the administration is requiring the nuns to sign a “permission slip” that would allow their insurance company to offer coverage of contraception, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization over the nuns' objections. The Sisters argue that participating in the process in any way would make them ...

Thank you USA Today for your ongoing support for the Little Sisters of the Poor. God bless you! Washington D.C., Jan 14, 2014 / 04:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The editors of USA Today have urged the Obama administration to stop trying to require the Little Sisters of the Poor to abide by the federal contraception mandate in violation of their religious beliefs. “When the Obama administration picked a fight with Catholics and other religious groups over free birth control coverage for employees, sooner or later it was bound to end up doing battle with a group like the Little Sisters of the Poor,” the USA Today editorial board said. In a Jan. 12 editorial entitled “Obamacare overreach tramples Little Sisters,” the publication's editors argued that the administration's move is “a political loser,” “constitutionally suspect” and “ultimately unproductive.” The Little Sisters of the Poor have worked for 175 years to care for the low-income elderly and dying in communities thr...

Battle over religious freedom heats up...

Obama seems to think he can dictate to the Catholic Church: Thou shalt pay for abortions. But I have news for him. There is no way we're going to comply. These Little Sisters of the Poor will certainly not comply. He is not God and has no control over our religious beliefs. He also has no authority over the decisions of the Supreme Court. He is the President -- the servant of the people -- not the dictator. The Obama administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court not to exempt Catholic groups from an ObamaCare requirement to offer contraceptive coverage, after the high court gave them a temporary reprieve earlier this week. The court filing comes in response to a surprise order -- issued shortly before coverage under the law went into effect -- by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The justice issued a stay late Tuesday preventing the government from enforcing the so-called contraceptive mandate against the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. The group o...

Only hours before the law was to take effect, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has blocked implementation of part of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. The legislation in question would have forced religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees covering a range of preventive care, free of charge, including contraception.  Failure to implement Obamacare coverage by the January 1 deadline would have resulted in substantial penalties.   Since the Catholic Church prohibits the use of contraceptives, lawyer Mark Rienzi argued that the mandated insurance was not acceptable. Sotomayor’s stay follows a late-afternoon request to President Obama from Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, archbishop of Louisville and president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.  Archbishop Kurtz had asked President Obama to grant Catholic organizations temporary relief from penalties for noncompliance with the requirements of the HHS Mandate. ...

The Little Sisters of the Poor are an international Roman Catholic Congregation of women Religious founded in 1839 by St. Jeanne Jugan. They operate homes in 31 countries, where they provide loving care for over 13,000 needy elderly persons. Although the Little Sisters' homes perform a religious ministry of caring for the elderly poor, they do not fall within the government's narrow exemption for "religious employers." Accordingly, beginning on January 1, the Little Sisters will face IRS fines unless they violate their religion by hiring an insurer to provide their employees with contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. I am continuing to pray for the defunding of Obamacare and its horrific HHS mandate, which threatens to punish so many innocent people -- like these Sisters, who care for the poor and elderly and the people they serve. This is so wrong. I agree with Helen Alvare who states:  It’s beyond ridiculous for any government to bel...