Catholic Fire

Thanks be to God! So very happy to share the good news: In a procedural vote, the United States Senate decided not to consider the “Protect Women’s Health From Corporate Interference Act of 2014,” a bill that would curtail religious freedom in response to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. Fifty-six senators-- four shy of the number necessary-- voted to consider the bill, while 43 opposed it. “While the outcome of today’s vote is a relief, it is sobering to think that more than half the members of the US Senate, sworn to uphold the laws and Constitution of the United States, would vote for a bill whose purpose is to reduce the religious freedom of their fellow Americans,” said Jayd Henricks, director of government relations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We need more respect for religious freedom in our nation, not less.” Via Catholic World News.

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty O God our Creator, from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ. Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society. We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith. Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so ...

Religious liberty is present, said the Pope, when people can express their faith publicly and not just in private. POPE FRANCIS "The fact that religious persecution still exists and that it provokes war is unacceptable. This damages our rationality, it's an attempt against peace and it belittles the dignity of men and women.” The Pope addressed an international conference on religious liberty, welcoming the group to the Vatican. He said that, nowadays, Christians are persecuted more than in the early days of the Church. There are also more martyrs now, he explained,  than centuries ago. POPE FRANCIS "It pains me a great deal to know that Christians, from around the world, suffer the most from this discrimination. This is happening more than 1,700 years after Constantine signed the Edict of Milan, granting Christians the right to express their faith freely.” The International Conference was carried out by Rome´s LUMSA University and St. John´s University Sch...

MESSENGER OF THE TRUTH, the award-winning documentary on the story of Blessed Father Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish martyr and 21st century hero of human rights, who was the chaplain of the Solidarity movement in Poland will air Sunday, June 1 and Monday, June 2 in numerous cities throughout the United States. The official MESSENGER OF THE TRUTH website features the full list of times and dates when the documentary will be airing: http://www.messengerofthetruth.com/.  PBS stations, via public television’s WORLD channels, will broadcast the documentary across the country, including in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and St. Louis. The official MESSENGER OF THE TRUTH website features the full list of cities and stations scheduled to air the documentary: http://www.messengerofthetruth.com/. Narrated by Catholic activist and actor Martin Sheen, MESSENGER OF THE TRUTH chronicles Father Jerzy’s opposition to Poland’s oppressive...

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) provides this helpful guide to help guide and focus our prayers: God wants people to be free to seek him and to serve him (Acts 17:24-28) . Pray for a favorable outcome. The cherished principle of religious freedom should receive the strongest constitutional protection it deserves. God is Lord of the conscience, not government (Acts 5:29 ). Pray that the justices of the Supreme Court will understand the importance of the separation of the state from the church. God can give understanding to make sound decisions (Prov. 2:6-8) . Pray for those who disagree with us, that God would help them understand and respect the consciences of people of faith. God can turn the hearts and minds of the justices to do his will (Prov. 21:1). Pray for the Supreme Court justices, that they would be receptive to the arguments being made passionately before them. God can guide the mind and speech (Exod. 4:11-12). Pray for lead attorney, Paul ...

Is this a women's issue? Of course it is! It is about religious liberty, something all women are entitled to be concerned about. Do we want our religious beliefs to be trampled on by the government? The government needs to stop discriminating against us! Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2014 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Women supporting employers challenging the government's contraception spoke out in support of a vision of women's equality that supports fertility and women's role as employers, as the case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday. "All issues are women's issues" said Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association, quoting an earlier statement by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R- N.H.). "Women are just as entitled to religious liberty as any man, and women have as much of a stake in the outcome of this case as any man." McGuire was speaking at a March 25 demonstration in front of the Supreme Court building, as the high court heard o...

I missed this edition of EWTN News Nightly yesterday and it is certainly worth watching, so I am posting it for all of you who didn't get a chance to view it. This involves out religious liberty, which is something we all need to be concerned about. Read more about the latest news on this issue: Will the Owners of Hobby Lobby Have to Check Their Faith at the Door?. . .  March 25, 2014, OnFaith by Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz  WASHINGTON—Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has asked President Obama to temporarily exempt religious institutions from crippling fines if their insurance plans exclude sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives. Archbishop Kurtz also asked the President to consider that the U.S. Supreme Court already has agreed to hear two cases related to the mandate created by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). At least 90 cases have been brought to federal courts by individuals and institutions objecting to the imposition of the HHS mandate. Most of the decisions to date have favored those bringing suit. Archbishop Kurtz’s request comes as the Administration has offered exemptions to numerous people and organizations having difficulty in implementing the ACA. Individuals who faced penalties for not meeting deadlines for enrollment have had deadlines extende...

South Bend, Ind., Dec 5, 2013 / 12:06 am (CNA).- Lawsuits from the University of Notre Dame and the Fellowship of Catholic University Students are challenging the HHS mandate for forcing them to violate Catholic teaching or face crippling fines. Notre Dame's president Father John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., said the university's lawsuit is about the freedom to “live out a religious mission” with broader significance than a debate about contraception. “For if we concede that the government can decide which religious organizations are sufficiently religious to be awarded the freedom to follow the principles that define their mission, then we have begun to walk down a path that ultimately will undermine those institutions,” Fr. Jenkins said in a Dec. 3 statement. Continue reading.

Historically today is the feast of St. Edmund Campion, Jesuit martyr, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, also called "the Pope's Champion". Edmund Campion was born in London on January 25, 1540. He was raised a Catholic and had such a powerful intellect that at the age of only 17 he was made a junior fellow at Saint John’s College at Oxford University. On visiting the university, Queen Elizabeth I was so taken by Edmund’s brilliance, as were a few of her dignitaries, that she bid him to ask for anything he wished. The exaltation of so many fed his vanity and led him away from his Catholic faith. He took the Oath of Supremacy, thus acknowledging the Queen as head of the church, and became an Anglican deacon. However, his brilliant intellect and his conscience would not allow him to be reconciled to the idea of Anglicanism for too long, and after a stay in Dublin he turned back to his faith and returned to England. He was at this point suspected of bein...

The Catholic Bishops are in agreement to RESIST the HHS Mandate as it stands. Their full statement is below. This is GREAT news for religious freedom! Praise God! The bishops of this country have just concluded their traditional fall meeting in Baltimore and have spent time on issues important to them and their people: help to those suffering from Typhoon Haiyan; an update on the situation in Haiti; matters of worship and teaching; service to the poor; and comprehensive immigration reform. Among those priorities is the protection of religious freedom, especially as threatened by the HHS mandate. Pope Francis has reminded us that “In the context of society, there is only one thing which the Church quite clearly demands: the freedom to proclaim the Gospel in its entirety, even when it runs counter to the world, even when it goes against the tide.” We stand together as pastors charged with proclaiming the Gospel in its entirety. That Gospel calls us to feed the poor, heal the ...

During the first day of their fall meeting in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops discussed themes and priorities for their work as a whole, including evangelization, the family and Catholic education. The bishops listened on Nov. 11 to remarks from apostolic nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and conference president Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan on the importance of Christian witness and international religious freedom. They heard a report from the conference’s National Advisory Council, a 48-member group of laity, clergy and religious of various ages, locations, ethnicities and occupations, who meet to offer input on topics discussed by the bishops. The council supports a continued focus on evangelization and education, the development of a formal statement on pornography, a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict, and an extension of the bishops’ “Call to Prayer” for life, marriage and religious liberty. Read the full story

This morning, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before a key House committee on the disastrous implementation of Obamacare. Research shows that it is nearly impossible for consumers to tell which Obamacare plans cover abortion, and which do not.  Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) – asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius if she’d be willing to fix the abortion transparency problems in Obamacare. The first words out of her mouth? “Sir, I, I don’t know.” (Of course she knows what she is doing -- forcing Americans to pay for abortions! That is the main focus and primary goal of this legislation. It is the reason that this late-term abortion promoter was assigned to this position. )  This is a jarring admission from the Obama Administration’s top health care official considering that the passage of Obamacare hinged on the abortion issue. Abortion nearly derailed Obamacare until so-called “pro-life Democrats” betrayed their pro-life constituents and handed Obama, Pelosi, and ...

Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 / 01:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of government funding negotiations. “Protection for conscience rights in health care is of especially great importance to the Catholic Church, which daily contributes to the welfare of U.S. society through schools, social services, hospitals and assisted living facilities,” wrote Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley of Boston and Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore in a Sept. 26 letter. The bishops wrote regarding the federal contraception mandate – issued by the Department of Health and Human Services – which requires employers to provide employee health coverage for sterilization and contraception, as well as drugs which can cause early abortions. While the mandate has a narrow exemption for religious employers, many Catholic institutions ...

An Independence Day Message from a genuine  American President:

We are not going away and we will not comply with legislation that violates our conscience. It's that simple.

Monday, April 8 is the deadline for submitting comments to the Obama Administration on the latest version of its HHS contraceptive/abortifacient/sterilization mandate. Please take a moment to submit a short online comment in support of religious freedom . Religious freedom is not just the right to go to church.  It is the freedom to live one’s faith, including the freedom to run a business or charity in accordance with one’s religious beliefs.

In a 24-page response to the Obama administration’s most recent “accommodation” on the HHS mandate, the general counsel and associate general counsel of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that “the mandate continues to represent an unprecedented (and now sustained) violation of religious liberty by the federal government.” “As applied to individuals and organizations with a religious objection to contraceptive coverage, the mandate violates the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act,” Anthony Picarello and Michael Moses continued. They added: The proposed regulation keeps in place a regulatory definition of “preventive” health care which includes items that do not prevent disease , but rather are intended to render a woman temporarily or permanently infertile , and may be associated with adverse health outcomes . Under the proposed regulation, most stakeholders are offered no exemption or accommoda...

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...