Catholic Fire

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is urging Catholics to contact their representatives in support of the Health Care Conscience Rights Act. “The Obama Administration’s contraceptive/abortifacient/sterilization mandate will begin to be enforced against nonprofit religious schools, charities and health care providers on August 1,” according to the USCCB action alert. “In the days to come, Congress must decide whether to address this problem through must-pass legislation before that deadline. Members of the House should be urged to include the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (H.R. 940) in the next bill needed to keep the federal government operating.” The USCCB action alert includes telephone and e-mail contact information, as well as suggested language to use in contacting representatives. ~ Via Catholic World News.

This morning, Friday, October 2nd, in Castelgandolfo the Holy Father received the Letters of Credence of three new ambassadors to the Holy See: Mercedes Arrastia Tuason of the Philippines; Henriette Johanna Cornelia Maria van Lynden-Leijten of the Netherlands, and Miguel Humberto Diaz of the United States of America. Peace, economic ethics and the role of religion in public debate were the themes that Benedict XVI addressed. In his audience with the new ambassador from the United States, the Pope referred to the need for "a model of globalisation inspired by an authentic humanism, in which the world's peoples are seen not merely as neighbors but as brothers and sisters.". "Genuine progress, as the Church's social teaching insists, must be integral and humane; it cannot prescind from the truth about human beings and must always be directed to their authentic good", he said. "Religious vision and religious imagination do not straighten but enrich...

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has ruled that a small Catholic college must include coverage for artificial contraceptives in its employee health insurance plan, raising new concerns about the need for conscience protections and religious exemptions in America’s health care policies. T he Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) today sent a letter to EEOC acting chairman Stuart Ishimaru, noting that “it is ironic that the federal agency responsible for protecting against discrimination has so blatantly engaged in an inexcusable violation of religious liberty in its Belmont Abbey ruling.” CNS also is sending a letter to all Catholic bishops in the United States, informing them of the EEOC action against Belmont Abbey College and highlighting the dangerous precedent this ruling sets to force Catholic employers to included contraceptive coverage in employee health plans. “No Catholic college or other institution should be required by government to violate the Catholic Chu...