This past Friday, Kathleen Sebelius, Director of Health and Human
Services, announced….
“Nonprofit
employers who, based on religious beliefs, do not currently provide
contraceptive coverage in their insurance plan, will be provided an additional
year, until August 1, 2013, to comply
with the new law. Employers wishing to take advantage of the additional year must certify that they qualify for the
delayed implementation. 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. We
will continue to work closely with religious groups during this transitional
period to discuss their concerns.”
This
statement is a totalitarian mandate to religious organizations that they are
required to act against their consciences, forcing them to choose between going
out of business or acquiescing to the dictates of an elitist regime whose
apparent agenda has been the systematic dismantling of what they consider to be
the greatest threat to our country, those whose religious beliefs stand in the
way of their “community organizing.”
We
must not let this happen in our country. This new “law” will have a devastating
effect on the non-profit sector, especially those who are Catholic. If all
insurance companies are forced to act against conscience or fold, the only
insurance options available to Catholic non-profit institutions to cover their
workers will be morally objectionable. Workers will be forced to buy their own insurance (also against THEIR consciences),
which will put enormous strain on families. This is an anti-Catholic law,
designed to challenge the Church’s consistent teaching on contraception,
sterilization, and abortion.
Thankfully,
the Church’s outrage to this announcement has been unanimous and swift. We
should pray for our Bishops who are leading the charge against this unjust
legislation again religious liberty and for the good people who are no doubt
strategizing about how to challenge this atrocity against freedom in the court
system.
Mary,
Mother of the Church, pray for us!
