Why Yes, the Government is Out To Get the Church.

Today has been set aside by our parish as a day of special prayer and fasting for the recension of the HHS mandate that makes us pay for contraceptives (against our religion to pay for), sterilizations (against our religion to pay for) and abortificients (against our religion to pay for).   Fasting and praying for this is also fasting and praying for our religious liberties, as this is the most egregious attack on the liberty of Catholics by the Federal Government, ever.  It is the most serious attack on our rights since the first quarter of the twentieth century, when the Klan was rampant, and Oregon passed a law making Catholic schools illegal and implementing a curriculum that was Anti-Catholic in intent, outline and detail.  The Federal courts ruled Oregon's law unconstitutional, and thus extended protection to the all parents' right to educate their children, and the Klan was broken by the FBI and other law enforcement.  I have no hope for such support this time around.

That this is an attack on the Catholic Church specifically is easily demonstrated by fact.  The first item to be considered is Obama's favorite "Catholic" group--"Catholics United".  This group is not a Catholic organization.  In fact, is is so not a Catholic organization that the USCCB flatly stated that it was a Non-Catholic group in 2008.  But by having this group as a front and a rubber stamp Obama and his minions can point to it and say they have the support of Catholics.  This constitutes the President, and his godless, modernist minions trying to say who is, and who is not, Catholic.  That is a blatant intrusion of the Executive ranch of the Government into our internal affairs, and a step--a big step--towards a strategy of divide and conquer.  Likewise citing such groups as "Catholics for Choice", NCAN and other groups that claim to be Catholic but that are actually heretical and schismatic. 

Another thing to be considered is the 'compromise" that was put forth.  The original HHS edict--and it is an edict--said that Churches per se, and grandfathered plans would be exempt.  The "compromise" said that insurance companies wouldn't charge premiums for contraception, sterilization or abortaficients.  That was piece of slight of hand so bizarre as to impress Dr. Goebbels with the size of the "Big Lie".  The insurance companies won't itemize the cost of these things in the premiums, they will simply increase the premiums across the board to cover the expense.  And under this, even insurance for those within Church and Rectory walls will be charged.  This alleged "compromise" expands the intrusion further than the original edict, and ensures that we will be forced, if we comply, to pay for the immoral and murderous predilections of our Satanicly inspired regime amoral technocratic bureaucracy at every turn.

The Fascist Gauleiter Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius,  has said  that they will be announcing a finalized version of the Edict shortly.  This is another example of the attack upon the Catholic Church, when one considers the details.  Yesterday she told reporters that "We intend to propose a rule in the near future that I think do exactly what the president (sic) says--which is make sure women have preventative health services... ." She went on to say that they intend to respect religious freedom.  Uh-Huh.  I flat do not believe her, for is demonstrably a liar, having lied in the past.  It's telling that she lists the groups they have consulted with to formulate the new rule:  "I have talked to Catholic health leaders. I'm reaching out to priests [Who, if you are familiar with the Faith, you will immediately recognize as having no magesterial authority.]  We're also talking to union leaders, we're talking to our partners at labor who run the self insured plans to figure out a strategy."  You will notice, glaringly conspicuous by it's absence, any  mention of the Catholic Bishops who actually hold the authority in this mater, and the authority over any Catholic activity.  "Where the Bishop is, there is the Church" is a saying that dates far back in our history, to The Fathers of the Church, specifically John Chrysostom.  They have not consulted with the Church at all, merely with those they think can give the impression that they have.  Likewise they have not spoken with the Missouri Synod Lutherans, the Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, with the Evangelicals, or with the Catholic and other Christian Schools that have registered their opposition on religious grounds.  In fact, they have ignored their existence.  Were I a member of one of these ecclesial bodies, I'd be angry at that alone.  As to speaking with the unions, how on earth can they claim that unions have any sort of authority or credibility to decide what is or is not against anyone's religion?  And for one branch of the government, especially a regime that is hostile to religious freedom ( do not forget Obama's famous quote about us clinging bitterly to guns and religion!) and that constantly seeks to redefine it as "freedom of worship" to consult with the Department of labor to decide what protects our religious liberties is at best obfuscation, and more likely conspiracy to violate the Constitutional limits of Federal power.  Least you take umbrage at that statement, I suggest you remember Obama writing that progress in the US depends on "getting past constitutional limits on government power".

My final facts in support of my thesis that this is an attack aimed at fragmenting and silencing the Catholic Church are these:  There have already been exemptions granted for religious reasons, the Amish, the Mennonites, the Muslims, the Seventh Day Adventists, all are exempted.  But we Catholic are told to get over our conscience and pay for violations of the Fifth Commandment.  What's even stranger is the fact that Thirty-six union funds have been exempted, along with Twenty-five major businesses.  The union and business exemptions leave over one million workers with out this coverage, which is deemed so important that our Constitutional right to Freedom of Religion must be trampled. 

Gestapo Chief and Fascist Enforcer Attorney General Eric Holder has held forth that the new edicts that force us to abjure our religion or face ruinous fines is constitutional. ( I said ruinous fines, as in computed to be just under 650K.  Per Parish. With the parish school a separate entity. Per soup kitchen.  Per university facility with it's own separate identity.  Per homeless shelter.  Per convent that has a hired handyman. We Catholics have seen this before, in the Recusant Fines levied against us by the British Crown.)  Oddly enough, the Attorney General doesn't get to make theses decisions--the supreme court does, and somehow he has decided that he does, just as he decided not to enforce Federal Laws, such as the DOMA act.  Do we trust him?  Can we?  Since he's neck deep in the gun running scandal, and is actively trying not to answer questions from congress, I think we can safely assume he is one of the Satanic Operatives  Fascist Minions  Administration Lackeys Cabinet Level Officials trying to establish precedents to subvert the constitution, and render the Church ineffective and marginalized in American life.

I will close with a length quote from Father Robert Baron, which comes from a column he wrote for the February 8 edition of  National Review Online.

The secularist State wants Catholicism off the public stage and regulated to a private realm where it cannot interfere with secularism totalitarian agenda.  I realize that in using that particular term, I'm dropping a rhetorical bomb, but I am not doing so casually.  A more tolerant liberalism allows, not only for freedom of worship, but also for real freedom of religion which is to say; the expression of religious values in the public square and the free play of religious ideas in the public conversation.  Most of our founding fathers advocated just this type of liberalism. But there is another modality of secularism--sadly on display in the current administration--that is actively aggressive toward religion, precisely because it sees religion as its primary rival in the public arena.