What Our Tithes Will Fund

Since most of my blog readers presumably are Catholic, I will take a moment to share three accurate representations of orthodox Catholic concerns about the changes being dictated by the presidential administration to have our tax monies funding what is for people of our faith a grave evil (and what was considered by all Christian denominations a grave evil for about 1930 years). The first is a sermon from our brave and bold pastor and the second two are letters given by faithful bishops.

No Constitutional scholar am I, but . . . when I have to start outright paying for others' contraception, sterilization, and abortion, it seems to me that the Founding Fathers' freedom from having a state religion established (forced upon citizens) has become a "freedom" from American citizens' ability to practice their own freely chosen religion in their private lives.

Sermon by Fr. Timothy Reid, St. Ann Catholic Church, Charlotte, NC, source here

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time – B 29 January 2012

You’ll notice that our beautiful statue of St. Clare – here on my right – depicts this heroic

virgin holding a monstrance with our Eucharistic Lord. This is to commemorate a most

daring moment in the life of this extraordinary woman.

In September 1240 a band of Saracen soldiers, in the employ of Emperor Frederick II of

Sweden, laid siege to the picturesque town of Assisi in the Umbrian mountains of Italy.

Not content to pillage only the town, the Saracens broke into the cloister of San Damiano,
where St. Clare of Assisi lived with her newly formed community of women religious, whom we now know as the Poor Clares.

Terrified at the invasion of the Saracen soldiers, the sisters cried for help to St. Clare, who at

the time was deathly ill.

Despite her illness and the natural fear that anyone would feel in such a situation, St. Clare
summoned her daughters to courage and faith in the Lord.

With a look of steely resolve and unwavering trust in our Lord’s goodness, she took up the
monstrance with the Eucharist inside and met the Saracens at the wall of the cloister, all the
while praying to our Lord for deliverance.

Though merely a defenseless and sickly woman, St. Clare possessed an authority that made

her stronger than all the soldiers in her midst: the authority of Christ Himself. With the authority of Christ, she struck fear into the hearts of those brutish men without uttering a

word, and they turned away and fled.

Interestingly, the name Clare means “light that stands against the darkness,” and so she is a
natural patron for all who fight the darkness of evil.

While this story in the life of St. Clare is recounted as one of her miracles, the truth is that we

are all called to this same type of prophetic witness. We are all called to face evil head on by

calling on the authority of Christ, just as St. Clare did.

Our readings today speak of this prophetic witness and the authority of Christ, especially

over evil. And as we consider the current state of affairs in our country, I think it’s especially

important that we all understand the necessity of being a prophetic witness in our world

today.

Truly, now more than ever, our dear country needs people to stand up as prophetic witnesses

to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is only through Jesus Christ and by the power of His

grace and mercy that any of us will ever be saved.

The culture wars that have plagued our country (and all of western civilization) for the past

several decades are not merely political issues. They are moral issues.

And the fights that we see taking place in our country are not simply disagreements between

opposing political forces. There is truly a fight between good and evil, and souls are at stake.

Last Sunday I mentioned briefly the new mandate from Health & Human Services that

beginning this August, virtually all insurance plans must cover contraceptives, sterilization

procedures, and even abortifacient drugs free of charge. I’ve also written about it in this

week’s bulletin.

Despite the massive protests and lobbying by our Catholic bishops, our Catholic agencies,

institutions, and Catholic for-profit companies will be required to provide this type of

insurance coverage, even though it violates our consciences and most deeply held principles.

The exemption clause is so narrow that even the Diocese, which is staffed primarily by

Catholics and serves primarily Catholics, will have to comply.

This is not simply a religious issue; this is a constitutional rights issue – for Catholics in the

United States are now being denied the right to practice their faith fully in the public square.

Last Sunday I spoke about the need to do reparation for the sins of our country, most

especially for the sin of abortion. But we must also be willing to fight the evils of our society

by other means too.

Whether we want to face the truth or not, our country is now reaping the fruits of widespread

acceptance and usage of contraception. Contraception promises the joy of the conjugal act

without consequence and without responsibility.

Contraception and sterilization change the very nature of the conjugal act by rendering void

its life-giving quality. Over time this had led to the widespread belief that the conjugal act is

not primarily about procreation, but rather about recreation.

What was designed by God to be an act of sacrifice and self-gift leading to new life has now

become an act of selfishness that often leads to death for an unborn child. We have distorted

one of God’s most precious gifts to satisfy our own selfish desires.

And now our country sees fit to enshrine contraception, sterilization, and abortion as rights so

sacred that all who want them must have unfettered access to them through their insurance

plans, at the expense of us all.

Our government is now telling us that the right to contracept our children into oblivion, to

maim ourselves through sterilization, and to take pills that induce the abortion of unwanted

babies is so sacred that it trumps even the consciences of those who object to these evil

practices.

Truthfully, we cannot be surprised, for we cannot distort the natural law and the God-given

order of creation for selfish reasons and expect there to be no serious consequences.

But brothers and sisters, if we are anything as Catholics, we are people of hope. Moreover,

we know by faith that when we preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with courage and

integrity, we speak with the very authority of Christ Himself.

It is not too late for us to be a prophetic witness to our society that seems hell-bent on

destroying itself.

So in addition to doing reparation for the sins of our country, as I mentioned last Sunday, we

must also convert! If we want our country to change, we must change by refusing to

cooperate with the culture of death in our country.

We must say no to any practices that close the conjugal act to the gift of new life, such as

contraception and sterilization.

We must say no to anything that mocks or tears at the fabric of traditional family life, such as

cohabitation and same-sex unions.

And we must say no to anything that violates our God-given human dignity or destroys

innocent life, such as in-vitro fertilization, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, and

especially abortion.

These things are not freedoms that should be protected and enshrined within our laws. They

are evils that lead to selfishness and spiritual bondage, and we must oppose them both

privately within our own lives, and publicly as well.

Like good St. Clare, we must arm ourselves with Christ Himself, which we do through prayer

and by living our Catholic faith with integrity and in its fullness. And then we must be

willing to speak out against these evils and to share the good news of the Gospel.

May God bless our country and save us from our sins. St. Clare of Assisi, pray for us.



Letter from Bishop Jugis to the faithful of his Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, source here.

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 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 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 either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so).

The 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 Administration's decision. Take action through CatholicVoiceNC.com.

Bishop Peter Jugis leads the Diocese of Charlotte. Read more about the HHS mandate and Bishop Jugis' call to action.


The January 26 letter from Bishop Bruskewitz to the faithful of his Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, can be found here (it is in a pdf format which I cannot copy and paste).