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Wonder where this post will end up
grumpygy
Member Posts: 48,464 ✭✭✭
I have not seen this on the Main stream news yet. But have heard rumors of it.
quote:The Obama Administration just announced that Catholics MUST pay into insurance policies that cover abortion, contraception, and sterilization -- NO conscience clauses will be accepted. Archbishop Dolan just released this statement: "In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences." Click like to support Archbishop Dolan and stand for religious freedom!
quote:The Obama Administration just announced that Catholics MUST pay into insurance policies that cover abortion, contraception, and sterilization -- NO conscience clauses will be accepted. Archbishop Dolan just released this statement: "In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences." Click like to support Archbishop Dolan and stand for religious freedom!
Comments
Somehow I have a feeling after a little note from the Vatican, it will be just a huge misunderstanding.[;)]
page 1, 2, 3.......and so on
They will need to exempt ALL Christians, not just Catholics.
BINGO!!!!
quote:Brushing aside concerns about religious liberty and respect for individual consciences, the Obama administration has announced that Church-related institutions will be required to provide contraceptive coverage for employees in their health-care plans.
The decision, announced on January 20 by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, guarantees a confrontation between the Obama administration and the US Catholic bishops. The bishops, along with a number of Catholic universities, had argued strenuously against including mandatory contraceptive coverage in health-care plans.
Ironically, the administration's decision was announced just a day after a speech in which Pope Benedict XVI told visiting American bishops that religious freedom is under attack in the US. The Pontiff specifically mentioned government initiatives that would "deny the right of conscientious objection" by forcing individuals and institutions to partiipate in activities they regard as intrinsically immoral. The US bishops' conference had warned that the imposition of mandatory contraceptive coverage would be a clear violation of the conscience rights and an assault on religious freedom.
Calling the administration's decision "literally unconscionable," Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, the president of the US bishops' conference, said that the ruling "has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand." He promised that the US bishops would fight against implementation of the administration's plan. "In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences," he charged.
In a token response to the conscience-clause appeals, Sebelius announced that religious institutions would be given a one-year reprieve from the rule. While all other institutions will be required to carry contraceptive coverage by August 1 of this year, church-related institutions that apply for an extension will have until August 1, 2013 to comply. However, those institutions will be asked to refer their employees to other sources of contraceptive coverage. Sebelius announced:
This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to this new rule. We intend to require employers that do not offer coverage of contraceptive services to provide notice to employees, which will also state that contraceptive services are available at sites such as community health centers, public clinics, and hospitals with income-based support.
The one-year extension could also serve political purposes: delaying a confrontation that could provoke severe tensions between the Obama administration and church-related groups during a presidential election year; and postponing the inevitable court challenge to the regulation until after the campaign season.
The new rule confirmed on January 20 does not apply directly to houses of worship, but does affect church-related institutions such as schools, hospitals, and charitable organizations. Sebelius said if they already offer some contraceptive coverage, these institutions do not qualify for the one-year extension. Institutions seeking that exemption "must certify that they qualify for the delayed implementation," she said.
"This decision was made after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty," Sebelius claimed. "I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services."
quote:SPRINGFIELD - Catholic adoption and foster-care agencies threatened Wednesday to halt their services if the state forces them to place children with gay and lesbian couples, a move that could affect thousands of kids.
The threat represents an attempt to build support for legislation, which stalled in the Senate, to carve out an exemption in the state's new civil-unions law so churches morally opposed to homosexuality could re-refer gay and lesbian couples to secular adoption and foster-care services.
"This is an expression of a religious practice, and what we want to do is have the discretion in law to place children with married couples and single individuals," said Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois.
Catholic Charities has more than 3,000 children in their foster and adoption services, which represents 20 percent of all Illinois adoption and foster-care services. The state pays Catholic Charities $30 million annually for its services.
Critics argued the charities are attempting to roll back the civil-unions law that takes effect July 1 and are unfairly discriminating against gays and lesbians.
The chief architect of the civil-unions bill, Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), said that law prohibits a faith-based organization from discriminating against a gay or lesbian couple if the charity accepts state money to provide child-care services.
"If you are allowed to turn away someone at your door based on the fact that you don't like some characteristic of them . I think that goes against the public policy of the state of Illinois," Harris said.
Gilligan countered that President Obama and other presidents have protected faith-based groups to allow their ideals to guide their child-care policy. A prohibition against that would violate the First Amendment, he said.
Gilligan said his group is pressing to revive the legislation that stalled in the Senate and believes it has the votes to pass that legislative chamber.