Doug Lawrence's Catholic Weblog

New Obama policy galvanizing national opposition to his contraceptive mandate.

Doug Lawrence — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:42:16 +0000

by Doug Lawrence

The new Obamacare contraceptive mandate is serving to effectively unify various factions within the American Catholic Church in a way we haven’t seen in quite a while. The bishops are stepping up and the laity is backing them, virtually one hundred percent.

We have Barack Obama, the Abortion President, and his chief hatchet woman, Kathleen Sebelius, to thank for this very promising turn of events!

God certainly does work in mysterious ways. I doubt if anyone in the Obama administration could have imagined this type of response … probably because they are a bunch of shameless, godless, Marxist ideologues. But I digress…

Here’s the text of one pastoral letter, versions of which were read at Catholic churches across the nation, this past Sunday:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just been dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people — the Catholic population — and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees’ health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.

In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.

We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

And therefore, I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience, to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Obama Administration’s decision.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

+Alexander K. Sample

Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample

Bishop of Marquette

If a similar letter hasn’t yet been read at your parish, there’s no need to wait. The time to get behind our Catholic bishops is now. You know the issue. You know the right thing to do. We can’t let these corrupt, tin horn politicians trample on our constitutional rights!

Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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Official website

Former Planned Parenthood employee explains how abortion pills are dispensed over the internet.

Doug Lawrence — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:32:53 +0000

Each patient is first examined by a staff member at the remote clinic, then interviewed for a few minutes by a big-city doctor using a video link. Once the doctor determines that the medication would be appropriate, he or she pushes a computer button that opens a drawer in front of the patient. The patient withdraws the pills from the drawer and takes the first dose while the doctor watches. The patient then takes the rest of the pills at home, where she aborts her pregnancy.

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Editor’s note: Killing babies in the womb is not nearly as simple as it might appear. While the abortion pill is typically always fatal for the baby, various complications may also threaten the life of the mother.

Striking similarities between Islam and Communism/National Socialism

Doug Lawrence — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:57:48 +0000

Scholar Ibn Warraq notes that diverse figures, including Czeslaw Milosz, Carl Jung, and Karl Barth have spotted striking similarities between Islam and Communism or National Socialism; atheist Bertrand Russell felt, for example, that “Bolshevism is to be reckoned with Mohammedanism rather than with Christianity and Buddhism.”

The estimable Theodore Dalrymple has also referred to Islam as the Marxism of our times, though he feels its totalitarian tendencies are borne of an inherent weakness: its inability to withstand philosophical scrutiny.

What St. Thomas Aquinas said about Islam

Bad fruits of Iraq war: Catholic population of Iraq fell from over 800,000, to less than 150,000 now.

Doug Lawrence — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:52:25 +0000

Archbishop Broglio believes Catholicism suffered after the invasion because of a perceived closeness to its previous ruler. He said Saddam Hussein tended “to trust Catholics, and gave them positions of responsibility.” One prominent Iraqi Catholic was Hussein’s Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz.

And even if Catholics “weren’t particularly part of the regime, they became identified with the regime,” Archbishop Broglio said.

“Before, they were a minority that was protected, but now they are a minority that is not protected.”

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Speak Out Illinois hosts reformed Planned Parenthood employee, Abby Johnson.

Doug Lawrence — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:55:04 +0000

The event, organized around the theme “Reclaim America for Life,” brought together members of more than 35 anti-abortion groups to work toward renewing and continuing efforts to end abortions.

“My prayer for all of us today is that we leave here recharged … and we keep that love of life going all year long,” said keynote speaker Abby Johnson, a former employee of Planned Parenthood’s clinic in Houston, Texas. “Babies are depending on it, moms are depending on it and clinic workers, just like me, are depending on it.”

Johnson left her job as an abortion counselor after watching an ultrasound-assisted abortion in 2009 and seeing “that baby recoil and then try to flee from that abortion instrument,” she said.

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