An Archbishop Who Inspires the Faithful: Courageous Charles Chaput Helps Lead the Catholic Resistance

By Deacon Keith Fournier
2/16/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

The HHS mandate is bad law; and not merely bad, but dangerous and insulting. It needs to be withdrawn - now

"Despite all of its public apprehension about "culture warriors" on the political right in the past, the current administration has created an HHS mandate that is the embodiment of culture war. At its heart is a seemingly deep distrust of the formative role religious faith has on personal and social conduct, and a deep distaste for religion's moral influence on public affairs. To say that this view is contrary to the Founders' thinking and the record of American history would be an understatement." (Archbishop Charles Chaput)

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia presiding

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PHILADELPHIA, PA (Catholic Online) - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is one of the preeminent Churchmen of our age. He calls all Catholics to live with what Pope Benedict XVI refers to as "moral coherence". This is not easy under the oppressive boot of what the same Pope properly called "the Dictatorship of Relativism."

The Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput has long challenged all of us who bear the name Catholic to avoid what the Second Vatican Council called the "greatest error of our age...the separation between faith and life". His book "Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by living our Catholic beliefs in Political Life" is already a classic.

The book addresses the duty of integrating our Catholic faith into our obligations of citizenship. It should be read by every Catholic as we enter into the most important Presidential election of our lifetime. It should also be read by all Christians, all people of faith and all people of good will who value the American experiment in ordered liberty and want to see it continue.

The Archbishop is a prophetic voice for our time. On Tuesday, August 24, 2010 he addressed the first session of the 15th symposium for the Canon Law Association of Slovakia. The address, entitled "Living within the Truth: Religious Liberty and Catholic Mission in the new order of the world" is of the stature of historic addresses such as those given by people like the late Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, whose "Men Have Forgotten God", was given upon his receipt of the Templeton Award and still inspires.

His call to "Live within the Truth" and to form a "Catholic Resistance" must be heard loud and clear in the aftermath of the Obama Administrations unconstitutional effort to coerce and compel the Catholic Church to violate deeply held religious convictions or face the punitive boot of an increasingly hostile and secularist Federal government.

In that speech he proclaimed, "The temptation in every age of the Church is to try to get along with Caesar. And it's very true: Scripture tells us to respect and pray for our leaders. We need to have a healthy love for the countries we call home. But we can never render unto Caesar what belongs to God."

"We need to obey God first; the obligations of political authority always come second. We cannot collaborate with evil without gradually becoming evil ourselves. This is one of the most vividly harsh lessons of the 20th century. And it's a lesson that I hope we have learned. . We live in a time when the Church is called to be a believing community of resistance."

Over the last two weeks Catholics have heard letters read at Holy Mass which were written by the Catholic Bishops of the United States. We have been asked to rise up in prayer, fasting, and concerted Catholic Action in response to an unjust Edict issued by Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, on January 20, 2012.

The unconstitutional mandate seeks to compel all employers, including Catholic and other religious employers, to cover sterilization, abortifacients, and contraception in their health care plans. The "exemption" provided for religious employers does not cover hospitals, universities, soup kitchens, outreaches to the poor and many other vital expressions of our Catholic faith and mission. The later "compromise", offered in the face of the extraordinary outcry, was a fraud.

Catholics insist that the Gospel of Jesus Christ demands a response which goes beyond the walls of our Church buildings. We are our brother and sister's keeper. We do not reach out to people in need because they are Catholic. We reach out to people in need because we are Catholic.

This HHS Edict is a violation of the Free Exercise of Religion protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is an unjust law which cannot be obeyed. The Federal Government of the United States is trying to force the Catholic Church to act against its deeply held religious convictions and to violate conscience.

The alleged "compromise" or "accomodation" offered by the Obama Administration pours salt in the wound. Among the voices rising to decry its sophistry is Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia. He recently wrote this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer Feb 12, 2012 entitled "HHS mandate insulting and dangerous." It is set forth in its entirety below:

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HHS mandate insulting and dangerous

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refused on Jan. 20 to ...

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1 - 10 of 25 Comments

Diane
1 year ago
Well said Dawn in Kansas! Everthing you said is exactly how this country got to this point. Thank God for Chaput, Tobin and Dolan! I pray for our Bishops and priests every day and fast on Fridays. I'll follow where they go. Did we not realize when we defended the right to life for the innocent preborn their hate filled murderous enemies would turn that same hatred which desires to kill upon us? Those little martyrs are the best company to be associated with and they are praying in Heaven for we who have been defending them. Pray for courage to keep doing the right thing and God will immediately give courage to us to face whatever we have to face.
marya
1 year ago
We don't take cigarettes away from women. Why should we take away contraceptives? Half the country should be on a diet, but we don't force people to lose weight. These things raise the cost of health care. Why do we focus on the unborn, and not the born to control costs of healthcare? Instead we speak in polite society about legalizing drugs and pot smokers can get prescriptions. Birth control and abortion have side-effects that have an effect on health care down the road for a woman. The government should be paying us for our healthy life-style choices if we are not on them or do them.
Theresa H.
1 year ago
I fear it is too late to get back the "One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." that we once "pledged" to be. There is so much corruption within our government and moral decay reflected in our culture. I have read, and it looks like it is proving to be true today, that no nation has survived more than 200 years. Nonetheless, our Founding was like none other before or since.... Once we were what we "pledged" to be; now that cannot be said from the White House--of all places! Our Bishops are now bringing up the possibility of civil disobedience. Indeed, I dare say: It is time to "March" (like in the days of Martin Luther King) for the freedom to live our religion in our daily life--before it is too late! I also fear that if all people of faith do not "speak up" where it most counts...and vote Obama and his cohorts out of office, we will never be able to get ourselves loose from the chains of a coercive state.
Rob
1 year ago
Rose, I have a question. You stated that the media would try to spin the contraceptive issue by stating that republicans want to ban birth control. You state that this is not true and I recently heard Santorum make a statement that he was personally against contraception as a tenet of his faith, but from a political, social standpoint, he is ok. (Meet the Press Interview 2/12). If we believe the use of contraception if a grave matter (morally wrong), then why are we trying to straddle both sides of the fence with it? This almost sounds like the folks who say I am personally against abortion but I could't tell someone what to do. How is this different? Because I think what you are saying is that short of the mandate, we are ok with the status quo when it comes to contraception, and everything that comes with it.
James Howard
1 year ago
I think its high time and long overdue that the Bishops formally and publicly EXCOMMUNICATE "catholic" politicians who promote abortion and forced birth control as is the case with abortion pushers Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius. The Bishops have put up with this horrible and corrupt behavior, in the case of Ted Kennedy, for 40 years now and this has got to stop. The Bishops have a moral Obligation to Publicly Excommunicate any public official who lies by claiming to be Catholic and yet opposes Catholic teaching and sets a bad example and even assists and cooperates with evil. Just how bad does a lying, phoney, corrupt or criminal "catholic" traitor politician have to be before the Bishops finally get up enough courage and throw them out of the church? It is time to recognize that some people are unrepentant and they are stupid and stubborn and morally corrupt and evil and must be EXCOMMUNICATED. Pelosi and Sebelius are a national EMBARRASSMENT to the Catholic church and all us faithful and loyal believers and to Our Lord. It is time that our Holy Catholic Church leaders taught this simple truth: You CANNOT be Catholic and be pro-abortion or vote for pro-abortion politicians including Obama. Obama is the most pro-abortion, morally corrupt, anti-catholic president ever. No good devoted Catholic can logically and morally justify voting for this extreme moraally corrupt socialist president. Evil people are those that love sin and Obama and the others promote the sin of prenatal infanticide or murder (abortion) and coercive totalitarian government control of the church. He must be voted out or impeached and the others publicly excommunicated. We must clean up our corrupt government and clean up our church and remove the "moles" from the church as well.
Dawn in Kansas
1 year ago
When I was young, there was birth control and then came legalized abortion. Drugs, sex, and rock and roll "death" culture was pushed by the media along with slogans like, "God is dead" and "The devil made me do it". Sometime along the way, taxes were collected to pay for schools but not for Catholic or other religious schools; this then included Seminaries as well. The blue laws were taken away and workers were made to work on Sundays while people replaced the day of worship with shopping and doing other business. All along the family fell apart with divorce and we were forced to redefine "family" thru public schools and the growing "politically correct" way of "believing". Now we are being enslaved by an ever increasing intrusive government with the threat of being arrested. Starting with being silenced in our abortion protests, being called homophobes if speaking out against homosexuality, being sexually oppressed if not buying into having multiple sexual partners, overruled when voting that marriage should be between one man and one woman; just to name a few. We have "addictions" ever increasing and fed and they never make a better person.... just one more enslaved. Now, our public schools have gone from teaching evolution to wanting to sexualize our children before they are even out of gradeschool. We mess with creation and make Chimeras in the name of science to come up with a "cure" for all the people we are trying to kill off anyway. We harvest cells from little embryos that are constantly brought back to life just to be used and stripped of life again. Dr. Death and others make our old and disabled feel like throw aways. Suicide for teens is pushed. Gangland life is pushed. NOW DON'T YOU THINK IT's ABOUT TIME all of us make a stand! Otherwise, man will be left to his own devices..... and those haven't been very "good" yet!
Larry
1 year ago
How is it we can afford to give young "working age" women free pills but must keep cutting services to "retired, past working age" women? How backward thinking is that? Geez, I wonder if the pharmecuticals are lobbying Obama for this favor?
j
1 year ago
How sad that what many of us on this site and others foretold has come to pass! I am referring to several endorsements offered yesterday to the president's changes made in the HSS ruling. Approval by the president of Notre Dame as well as that of the sister(s) of major orders and organizations is truly scandalous to say the least. They, it seems to me, have played right into the hands of the calculus shown by this administration. Although I cannot judge them because only God can judge any of us, I can discern their actions and judge those. If I as a layman am scandalized, isn't it time for their bishops to issue a strong rebuke? With their abdication of leadership when it is most needed, isn't it time for someone in leadership to set them straight? Tell me what you think Deacon Fournier?
Emma
1 year ago
I said this over a year ago when I first visited here. Anyone who has grown up in a neighborhood where gangs are fighting for turf knows that if you want to take control of an area, you take out the biggest, baddest dude first............the rest fall in line. Our government collectively has drawn a line in the sand and issued a challenge. It would behoove people of all religions to stand with the Catholic Church in this fight. Knock out the Catholic Church and the rest of all religions, especially minority religions in this country, will topple like dominoes. State sponsored health care, next, state sponsored religion!
cm warren
1 year ago
An attack on one religion, is an attack on all religions. I am a Lutheran, but I will defend anyone who is being attacked by this power-obsessed, out of control Federal government. Make no mistake, this is all being done on purpose. Obama knows exactly what he is doing, he's not a blundering fool. Even a fool can do the right thing once in a while. Obama is out to transform America. One big part of his plan to drive religious liberty out along with everything else. Fight back America!

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