follow the law, or follow your faith: Obama’s outrageous order
by frank pavone march 21, 2016 | 8:52pm
long before the patient protection and affordable care act — a k a obamacare — became law on march 23, 2010, pro-life advocates, myself included, recognized that it could lead to serious moral clashes between faith and law, particularly in the areas of abortion and contraception.
And we were right. The law empowered the department of health and human services to compel employers to provide contraception and abortion-inducing drugs and devices to their employees through their health-insurance plans.
The case of priests for life vs. Hhs, one of seven cases comprising zubik vs. Burwell, now challenges that mandate in the supreme court, with oral arguments on march 23.
Of the 37 plaintiffs in the current supreme court case — including the little sisters of the poor, the archbishop of washington, dc, and geneva college — we were the first to challenge the hhs mandate, which violates not only our beliefs, but is a head-on collision with the very purpose of our ministry, which is to lead people away from abortion rather than expanding access to it.
As our case progressed, it reached the us court of appeals for the dc circuit, on which president obama’s new supreme court nominee, judge merrick garland, joined a 6-3 vote to deny us a hearing by the full court. As we pressed on, priests for life vs. Hhs made it to the supreme court.
The contraception rule is unevenly enforced. Parish churches are exempt, and yet religious nonprofits like priests for life, who send our priests into those same churches and share in the same faith, aren’t.
By what standard do uncle sam’s bureaucrats determine that some priests are more catholic than others?
The government did come up with what it calls an “accommodation.” but the government itself describes the accommodation as a way for objectors to comply with the mandate, hence leaving our religious freedom still burdened.
Well, this objector will not comply.
A priest’s mission is to nurture the exercise of religion in those to whom he ministers. Yet the mandate would require us to violate that religion, in full view of those we teach to live it.
It’s an unusual place to find myself after almost 28 years in the priesthood, as the feds sit in judgment on our beliefs. The government may disagree with our religious objections, but isn’t free to discredit them.
The government wants our help to assure that nobody who wants coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives will lack it. Yet in all the years of priests for life, not a single employee has ever objected that our insurance doesn’t cover these things.
In fact, when i first announced our lawsuit in february 2012, all our employees applauded. No one on our staff wants priests for life to compromise its faith, even though this court battle could cause them to lose their health insurance or even their jobs.
If we refuse to abide by the mandate, we’ll be fined so heavily that it could threaten our existence.
I’ve led the new-york based priests for life since 1993. Its goal is to restore protection to children in the womb. We train the clergy and their churches in providing alternatives to abortion for those who feel they have no choice, and compassionate counseling through rachel’s vineyard, the largest ministry in the world for healing after abortion.
Our silent no more awareness campaign gives voice to women and men who regret their abortion experiences and say so publicly. We’re a registered ngo at the united nations. Rev. Martin luther king’s niece, alveda king, leads our african-american outreach, and is a co-plaintiff in our case.
The government doesn’t dispute the sincerity of our beliefs, nor the fact that it’s pressuring us to violate those beliefs. This is a textbook case of a burden on religious freedom that the law does not allow.
Our case is not about making abortion or contraception illegal. It’s simply an objection to being forced to choose between following our faith and following the law. Every american should be free to do both at the same time.
Fr. Frank pavone is the national director of priests for life.
Follow the law, or follow your faith: Obama’s outrageous order
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by jimnyc
But now you've quoted it so maybe he'll explain the possible incongruity.
with issues that were just put to bed.
What do I do? I continue to ignore them. 
