Catholic-Affiliated Health System in Sioux Falls Bows to the HHS Mandate

March 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Sounds like something built by Oldsmobile.

It seems like the first thing they do is remove their Catholic identity from their name. That way, see, the next step is just a business decision, or something. Mary Garrigan of the Rapid City Digest reports on Avera Health Plans move to comply with HHS mandate,

A Catholic-affiliated health care system in Sioux Falls is drawing criticism from Catholic bishops for its decision to offer contraceptive services coverage in some of its medical insurance plans in violation of church teaching. [Read more...]

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Foreign Made Ball Bearings Defunded, But the HHS Mandate is Paid For

March 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

It worked in 2011. Why mess with success?

So much for the idea of using religious liberty as a bargaining chip in the sequester embroglio. Lost in all the excitement of Rand Paul’s filibuster in the Senate, CNS News reminds us that the Republican controlled House chugged along with business as usual. [Read more...]

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Representatives Propose the Health Care Conscience Rights Act to Provide Exemption from the HHS Mandate UPDATED

March 4, 2013 By 1 Comment

This just in from the good folks at The Catholic Association.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Representatives Diane Black (R-TN), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), and John Fleming, M.D. (R-LA) will hold a press conference tomorrow, Tuesday, March 5th at 10am EST in Rayburn House Office Building Room B-318 regarding the introduction of the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (HCCRA) that would protect Americans’ First Amendment rights and would stop the Obama Administration’s assault on religious freedom. [Read more...]

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To Do List: Mark Your Calendars, and Call Your Congressional Representatives

March 1, 2013 By 1 Comment

The first item is in regards to something that is happening on March 26th that you probably haven’t heard anything about: The March for Marriage. Here is the press release from the National Organization for Marriage, [Read more...]

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During the Papal Interregnum, It’s Time To Embrace the Reality of Mystery

March 1, 2013 By 1 Comment

A very long time ago (or so it seems from my end), every title of the posts in this space were ledes to an exposition upon the statement “Why I Am Catholic.” The titles themselves were basically one line answers to the statement all in themselves. I can’t promise that they will always be like that from now on. But nowadays I do find I yearn to return to this practice. It is something that I believe I am called to do. [Read more...]

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Smallville Sends a Cardinal Off to the Conclave UPDATED

February 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Justin Francis Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, took wing today from the airport in Knoxville, Tennessee to gather with his peers in Rome for the conclave. [Read more...]

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Father Robert Barron with a Few Words on the Priesthood

February 23, 2013 By 6 Comments

Heh! Neither is Joe Six-Pack. [Read more...]

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German Bishops: Emergency Contraception in Case of Rape is Licit if the Pill Doesn’t Induce Abortion UPDATED

February 21, 2013 By 9 Comments

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of Germany’s bishop’s conference gives a media statement before the German bishop’s annual meeting in Trier, February 18, 2013. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

As best as I can make out between two years of high school German and Google Translate, the bishops in Germany basically said that this decision was made in consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Academy for Life.

[Read more...]

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Nine U.S. Senators Say Hobby Lobby Is Protected from the HHS Mandate By Law

February 20, 2013 By 6 Comments


And a couple of Representatives from the House too. And which law might that be? The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed into law way back in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.

The Becket Fund has the details, [Read more...]

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Italian Cardinal: Cardinal Mahony Could Be Asked to Skip Conclave

February 19, 2013 By 3 Comments

The Cardinal Mahony story just got bigger than the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Here’s what the Washington Post shared earlier today,

VATICAN CITY — The controversy over Cardinal Roger Mahony’s vote in the conclave that will elect a new pope has now reached the Vatican, with at least one cardinal musing aloud that the former archbishop of Los Angeles should consider staying home. [Read more...]

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