Here is your Catholic Outrage...the HHS Mandate
This is the most appropriate forum I could find for what I need to say.
The HHS Mandate
What I think:
1. PREGNANCY IS NOT A DISEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! End of story. Stop treating it like one. It has been stated over and over again that this is a women's health issue and about providing affordable care. It is a women's health issue, and no one knows better than a woman that pregnancy is not a disease but a state of being for 9 months, that yes is uncomfortable, but it is also joyous. A disease does not end in the joyful delivery of a blessing to the world. A diseases IS something to be treated, a pregnancy is not.
It is also more expensive than not being pregnant, but if the expense is something you can not handle guess what? You have the choice to not have sex. People do not choose to have a disease, such as cancer, but people do choose to be pregnant, by choosing to have sex (there are very few exceptions to this rule)
2. This is not a matter of public opinion. So what if 98% of catholic women use contraception anyhow? That is not the point. 100% of people could choose to steal in their lifetime and it would still be morally wrong. Wrong is wrong in this case, and if you are a Catholic institutional conscience dictates that contraception is morally wrong. If you want an explanation of why. Comment and I will tell you why. That's a promise!
3. Part of being catholic IS institutional conscience. That is an essential part of what it means to be catholic. To assume you have a monopoly on the truth is the height of hubris. Catholics practice the VIRTUE of humility in submitting to a higher authority, the Church. We have been told time and again in our current culture that humility is a negative and pride is a positive, but having the ability to be humble and submit has value, it demonstrates the values of patience and perseverance.
In addition, the individual conscience is not paramount. Individual consciences can be malformed due to experiences and influences. The church exists so that the malformed conscience is not an issue, if there is one conscience formed by the successors of Jesus Christ and his apostles, we are much less likely to get it wrong in making a decision on What would Jesus Do? They know, they are his voice on earth. If you are not willing to accept that then you do not belong in the catholic church. It is not a good fit for you, go elsewhere. I mean it. We don't need one more person misguiding the consciences of the faithful.
4. Many are arguing that the bishops are fighting a battle over a single issue, contraception, when they should have been fighting the battles of bigger problems in comparison such as poverty, unjust war, and corruption in their own church, and expressing verbal outrage over these moral violations.
Well my friends the church has been fighting those battles. Ever heard the phrase actions speak louder than words? The church has been acting instead of writing letters of outrage. We have served the poor rather than complain that there is poverty, we have served the refugees from unjust wars and the soldiers commanded to fight them, and we have cooperated with authorities in bringing clergy that violate the law to justice. Actions speak louder than outrage and we have acted with dignity and morality.
5. This is not about sex and contraception, this is about religious freedom. The government of the United States of America has required that Catholic people violate the institutional conscience of their Church. If a catholic KNOWINGLY pays for contraception for themselves or another they are supporting an immoral act plain and simple. Catholic employers would be paying for contraception knowingly if they themselves provided it as part of their required insurance plan or if they paid for an insurance plan that gave it away for free. They are still being forced to provide that which their religion states is wrong. This would be no different than if the government required a kosher deli to serve ham, because it would create equality among delis. Religious freedom is being violated by the HHS Mandate, by not making the religious exemption wide enough for catholic institutions.
So in short, please support the bills going through congress that would create a wide enough religious exemption and protect our 1st amendment rights. They are dear to all, catholic or not, democrat or republican. We need to stop the HHS Mandate.
The HHS Mandate
What I think:
1. PREGNANCY IS NOT A DISEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! End of story. Stop treating it like one. It has been stated over and over again that this is a women's health issue and about providing affordable care. It is a women's health issue, and no one knows better than a woman that pregnancy is not a disease but a state of being for 9 months, that yes is uncomfortable, but it is also joyous. A disease does not end in the joyful delivery of a blessing to the world. A diseases IS something to be treated, a pregnancy is not.
It is also more expensive than not being pregnant, but if the expense is something you can not handle guess what? You have the choice to not have sex. People do not choose to have a disease, such as cancer, but people do choose to be pregnant, by choosing to have sex (there are very few exceptions to this rule)
2. This is not a matter of public opinion. So what if 98% of catholic women use contraception anyhow? That is not the point. 100% of people could choose to steal in their lifetime and it would still be morally wrong. Wrong is wrong in this case, and if you are a Catholic institutional conscience dictates that contraception is morally wrong. If you want an explanation of why. Comment and I will tell you why. That's a promise!
3. Part of being catholic IS institutional conscience. That is an essential part of what it means to be catholic. To assume you have a monopoly on the truth is the height of hubris. Catholics practice the VIRTUE of humility in submitting to a higher authority, the Church. We have been told time and again in our current culture that humility is a negative and pride is a positive, but having the ability to be humble and submit has value, it demonstrates the values of patience and perseverance.
In addition, the individual conscience is not paramount. Individual consciences can be malformed due to experiences and influences. The church exists so that the malformed conscience is not an issue, if there is one conscience formed by the successors of Jesus Christ and his apostles, we are much less likely to get it wrong in making a decision on What would Jesus Do? They know, they are his voice on earth. If you are not willing to accept that then you do not belong in the catholic church. It is not a good fit for you, go elsewhere. I mean it. We don't need one more person misguiding the consciences of the faithful.
4. Many are arguing that the bishops are fighting a battle over a single issue, contraception, when they should have been fighting the battles of bigger problems in comparison such as poverty, unjust war, and corruption in their own church, and expressing verbal outrage over these moral violations.
Well my friends the church has been fighting those battles. Ever heard the phrase actions speak louder than words? The church has been acting instead of writing letters of outrage. We have served the poor rather than complain that there is poverty, we have served the refugees from unjust wars and the soldiers commanded to fight them, and we have cooperated with authorities in bringing clergy that violate the law to justice. Actions speak louder than outrage and we have acted with dignity and morality.
5. This is not about sex and contraception, this is about religious freedom. The government of the United States of America has required that Catholic people violate the institutional conscience of their Church. If a catholic KNOWINGLY pays for contraception for themselves or another they are supporting an immoral act plain and simple. Catholic employers would be paying for contraception knowingly if they themselves provided it as part of their required insurance plan or if they paid for an insurance plan that gave it away for free. They are still being forced to provide that which their religion states is wrong. This would be no different than if the government required a kosher deli to serve ham, because it would create equality among delis. Religious freedom is being violated by the HHS Mandate, by not making the religious exemption wide enough for catholic institutions.
So in short, please support the bills going through congress that would create a wide enough religious exemption and protect our 1st amendment rights. They are dear to all, catholic or not, democrat or republican. We need to stop the HHS Mandate.
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