Wednesday, February 08, 2012

"We are all Catholics now"


Remember hearing about John F Kennedy's famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate; "Ich bin en Berliner"?( I am a Berliner) He indicated that he was one in solidarity with Berliners whose city was divided by the Iron Curtain for nearly half of the Twentieth Century. It is an example which many are following today by Tweeting. "We are all Catholics now".
 I was in Europe in the late 1980's and crossed the Iron Curtain in Hungary, Yugoslavia and Poland. It struck me how the police on the train would always check for stowaways on the way OUT of the Communist countries. No one wanted to get in.
 Poland was in the midst of the uprising of Solidarity when I visited in December of 1988, and, on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, Catholic Churches were full to overflowing, attendees kneeling on frozen cobblestones of two hours, the Mass was followed by rosary and hymns. The Churches were festooned with gold and white bunting  the Vatican colors, crowned by Blessed John Paul II's Papal Coat of Arms.  There was a feeling of freedom I hadn't seen in Hungary and Bosnia. Freedom to express your faith. That freedom led to the overturning of the Communist empire of forty years without a shot being fired. Solidarity had won out over oppression. Becasue these people had realized that the most precious freedom, freedom of religion, is the bedrock upon which all other freedoms are built.
That is an important lesson for Americans in the light of the HHS mandate that Catholic institutions cover contraception in their employee health plans. If non-Catholics can say, "We are all Catholics now" as JFK said, "I am a Berliner" and the Poles expressed Solidarity, then the evil plans of the Obama Administiration will be overcome. They want to divide and conquer people of faith, one group at a time, till they own our very souls.
They are dong more than looking out for women's health. (As if carcinogenic birth control pills were part of health care!)  They are pushing against the moral authority of the Catholic Church in American society. Every oppressive regime  has to oppress the Church to gain complete control over the populace. That is why the Obama Administration is citing polls which prove that Catholics are divided on the issue of birth control. It is a sad fact, that there is dissention among the faithful on contraception, however, we can take this opportunity to unite against an enemy who wants to destroy the moral fiber of this nation, by diminishing the power of the Catholic Church. If all people of faith stand united against the the thin edge of the wedge, the HHS mandate, then the Adminstration will not succeed in mandating abortion coverage, which is the real agenda.
Don't be fooled by any compromises offered to the Church. Remember the compromise which Catholic Congressman Bart Stupak accepted. It was a ruse, Obama knew it and so did we. We will not be fooled into accepting a compromise this time.


Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how President Obama’s spokesmen are defending his healthcare plan mandating that Catholic institutions provide for services they deem immoral:
David Axelrod of the Obama campaign said yesterday that “We certainly don’t want to abridge anyone’s religious freedom, so we’re going to look for a way to move forward that both provides women with the preventative care that they need and respects the prerogatives of religious institutions.” Similarly, White House press secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that “the president is very interested in finding the appropriate balance between religious beliefs and convictions.”
Both men are insincere. We know that there was division in the Obama administration when the Obama edict was being contemplated, and that the president sided with extremists like Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (anyone who raises money for a man dedicated to performing partial-birth abortions is obviously an extremist; she did so for Dr. George Tiller). So they had plenty of time to figure out a way not to punish Catholics, and they still decided to drop the hammer.
White House supporters of Obama’s edict are pointing to a poll that shows a slight majority of Catholics supporting Obama’s plan. But the poll is flawed. As always, the question affects the outcome. The poll never mentioned that the federal government would place sanctions on Catholic institutions if they did not comply, and that ultimately it could lead to pulling federal funds to Catholic hospitals, effectively shutting them down. Nor did the poll mention that the Obama plan mandates that Catholic entities provide abortion-inducing drugs. In short, the question was dishonest. Just wait until all Catholics find out what’s really at stake.
What Obama is doing is just an opening for mandating abortion coverage in every healthcare plan.


We can stand as one people of faith, Jews, Muslims, Christians, who say to the Administration. "We are all Catholics now" and you will NOT divide us to weaken our resolve to stand up for our rights under the First Amendment. You will be overcome at the ballot box in November.
Mr Obama, you are being put on notice; this will not stand in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.You will be a one term president.



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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The contraceptive mandate is the Obama administration version of Kristallnacht…a test to see how much they can bully religion. In the absence of a coherent condemnation from the rest of the world…this sort of thing will continue and expand to all who they deem unworthy of rights.

Am I overstating the case?

Leticia said...

Not at all. That is why a strong coalition of religious leaders is forming to push the monster back into his cave. Before it can't be stopped.