Obama’s Case for Gay Marriage Shows That Invoking Faith Isn’t Just for …

You don’t have to be Christian to know the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you. In fact, scholars note that it is the one precept common to all major faith traditions. But in his interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts on Wednesday, President Obama cited the Golden Rule as found in Matthew 7:12 when describing the role his Christian faith played in leading him to support same-sex marriage.

“When we think about our faith,” he explained, “the thing at root that we think about is not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule. . . . Treat others the way you would want to be treated.”

Announcing to the nation that he thinks that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry wasn’t the first time Obama has linked his Protestant beliefs to his support for specific policies. In his address at the National Prayer Breakfast this year, he credited his faith for inspiring policies as diverse as funding for medical research and eliminating tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. “Living by the principle that we are our brother’s keeper 1 / 8and 3 / 8 caring for the poor and those in need,” Obama said, are values “that have defined my own faith journey.”

American politics is rife with religious rhetoric – but in the modern era, it has almost always been deployed on behalf of conservative positions. Religious communities helped rally support for the North Carolina ballot proposition prohibiting same-sex marriage and civil unions, which passed Tuesday. No less an evangelical icon than Billy Graham appeared in print ads statewide to urge its passage, under the message: “The Bible is clear – God’s definition of marriage is between a man and a woman.” Liberal politicians, on the other hand, have tended to ground their positions in secular arguments, and often warned that Republicans were endangering the separation of church and state.

Obama cited several reasons for his support for gay marriage, including conversations with U.S. troops, his family and his staff. But his assertion that his views on same-sex marriage come from – not despite – his Christian faith marks a shift in U.S. politics. Democratic politicians now unabashedly cite religion when making their case, and GOP leaders sometimes find themselves in the unusual position of justifying – rather than merely stating – their religious claims. That’s something that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who has cited his Catholic faith as a basis for the massive spending cuts in his proposed budget, has learned recently. Politicians from both parties now make explicitly religious arguments for opposing positions.

There was a time not long ago when the discussion of religion in politics centered on liberal causes – think of the civil rights movement or opposition to the war in Vietnam. When the religious right exploded onto the political scene in the late 1970s, however, many Democrats concluded that the introduction of religion into political discussion was a conservative act.

As they shied away from religious references, that assumption became self-fulfilling. By 2004, the meaning of words such as “morality” and “Christianity” had become so one-sided that exit polls for that year’s presidential election used the phrase “moral values” as shorthand for a circumscribed category of conservative concerns such as opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage when asking what issues had most influenced voters’ decisions.

That exit poll question, as well as attacks on Democratic nominee John F. Kerry by Roman Catholic leaders for his support of abortion rights, inspired a collective epiphany among Democrats. They began to remind voters – and one another – that issues such as education, health care and protecting the environment reflected strongly held values as well. In 2006, Democrats won back control of Congress with the help of a new cast of candidates who spoke easily about their faith and beliefs.

No group was more galvanized than Catholic Democrats, who were tired of Catholic leaders telling them they were bad Catholics or disinviting them from events at Catholic institutions. A group of young Catholic activists formed an organization called Catholics United, in part to hold politicians accountable on the issues they saw Catholic leaders largely ignoring. In 2007, they ran ads on Christian radio in the districts of members of Congress who opposed abortion and voted against the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. “He says he’s pro-life, but for the second time in a month he’s voted against health-care for kids,” said the ad’s female narrator. “That’s not pro-life.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) is another Catholic who has been frustrated by the fact that although Church leaders criticize her votes on abortion legislation, they remain silent about her Republican Catholic colleagues who deviate from church teaching on other issues. Last month, DeLauro made public a letter she sent to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, calling on him to “personally address the devastating impact of this 1 / 8GOP 3 / 8 budget.”

The bishops are usually swift to speak out regarding budget documents. But this year they have been preoccupied by a campaign for religious freedom in response to the Obama administration’s mandate that health insurance cover contraception. They had remained silent about the GOP budget. Embarrassed by DeLauro’s missive, the USCCB released several letters stating opposition to the budget – one called proposed cuts “unjustified and wrong” – four days later.

Nearly all of the Republican congressional leaders are Catholic, and they have been made particularly uncomfortable by the resurgence of an active Catholic opposition on the left. Last year, the head of Catholics United approached Ryan with a Bible and asked him to spend more time reading the Book of Matthew than Ayn Rand, who Ryan has said inspired him to enter public service. Video cameras captured Ryan awkwardly speed-walking away from the proffered Bible and into a waiting SUV.

Just in the past month, Ryan has attempted to explain how Catholic social teaching shaped his budget, only to have nearly 100 faculty members at Georgetown University sign a letter taking issue with his interpretation before a scheduled speech at the Catholic campus. And both he and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) have stumbled in response to the bishops’ criticism of the GOP budget. Ryan first tried to insist that the bishops’ letters represented the views of just a few people (they were in fact elected to represent the other bishops). And Boehner dismissed the bishops’ concerns, saying they needed to take “a bigger look” at the issue.

This new bipartisan politics of religion is a good thing – both for religion and for politics. For several decades, the right has held a monopoly over what it means to be religious in the United States, not to mention Christian or evangelical. The result has been devastating for the image of Christianity. When the Barna Group polled Americans ages 16 to 29 on what words best describe Christianity, the top response was “anti-homosexual.” The other common associations were “judgmental,“ “hypocritical” and “too involved in politics.”

It has not helped that for years, conservative politicians have explained their opposition to gay rights by simply stating, “I’m a Christian,” as if that automatically requires one to abhor the idea of same-sex marriage. Recent debates about the protection of religious freedom have assumed that the only religious motives that count are conservative ones. That’s the concept at the core of arguments about the contraception mandate, as well as a number of religious freedom bills moving through state legislatures. Enthusiasm for those efforts might well flag if religious progressives were to demand protection for their beliefs as well.

Our politics benefit from including more religious perspectives. When politicians are forced to say how their faith informs their policies – instead of just citing it as part of their political identity – it becomes more difficult to use religion as a blanket explanation for a partisan stance. Instead of asserting that his budget is shaped by his Catholicism, Ryan has to delve into the tradition of Catholic social teaching. Boehner has to explain why he thinks the U.S. bishops are wrong to criticize the budget. And Obama will inevitably have to take on the charges from conservative Christians who are already calling his linkage of the Golden Rule and support for same-sex marriage “an appalling blasphemy.” Indeed, one of his own spiritual advisers – evangelical pastor Joel Hunter – says he is “disappointed” by Obama’s decision.

After years of pretending that the culture wars were a matter of religious views lined up against secular beliefs, politicians are recognizing what average Americans knew all along. A majority of Americans now believe that there is more than one way to get to heaven, pollsters report. Our political discussions finally reflect that there’s also more than one answer to the question: “What would Jesus do?”

Amy Sullivan is the author of “The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap” and a former senior editor at Time magazine. Author’s email: thepartyfaithfulgmail.com

War on the Catholic Church

We know contraception’s cheap and plentiful availability makes President Obama’s HHS policy a falsely premised desperate political attempt to upset women and gain voters.  This strategy hopes to create disunity in the Catholic faith community.

The sowing of such discord is a manipulative, inappropriate and awful use of the office of the President of the United States.  It is uncharitable to all Catholics because we believe that the Church is the body of Christ.  No one of any political leaning should try to tear away pieces of Christ’s body for political gain.

The symbolism of the president’s implicit attack has not been lost on those who hate Christianity and God. In a chilling move, the Freedom from Religion Foundation has placed an ad in the Washington Post that encourages Catholics to leave the Church.  It includes the following:

It’s Time to Quit the Catholic Church.

You’re better than your church, so why stay?  Why put up with an institution that discriminates against half of humanity?  Why send your children to parochial schools to be indoctrinated into the next generation of obedient donors and voters?  Can’t you see how misplaced your loyalty is after two decades of sex scandals involving preying priests, church complicity, collusion and coverup going all the way to the top?  Apparently, you’re like the battered woman who, after being beaten down every Sunday, feels she has no place else to go.

         Please Exit en Mass.

Kulturkampf (2012) has arrived and Kristallnacht is not far behind.  With the President unwaveringly committed to his abortion/contraception agenda and now having dropped all pretense of being a friend to traditional marriage, no civility need be accorded Catholics.  Expect more attacks by the administration and its proxies, attacks that would have been unheard of in the America we knew only a short time ago.

Admittedly, the Freedom from Religion Foundation ad has all the heft of a grammar school playground taunt, but this is just the beginning, and as Pope Pius XI said, “Let us thank God that he makes us live among the present problems.  It is no longer permitted to anyone to be mediocre.” 

Catholics, and for that matter Christians of all denominations, now is the time.  Channel your favorite saint, or Bonhoeffer, and confess your faith visibly in the face of mounting oppression.  Jump in the fast lane to the city of God and choose the Kingdom that lasts. 

Nancy Pelosi says Catholic faith ‘compels’ her to support gay marriage

On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that she supports gay marriage because her religion “compels” her to “be against discrimination of any kind.”

“My religion has, compels me–and I love it for it–to be against discrimination of any kind in our country, and I consider this a form of discrimination. I think it’s unconstitutional on top of that,” she said.

Pelosi professes to be a Catholic, causing Jim Hoft of the Gateway Pundit to ask:  “How can she call herself a Catholic when she repeatedly comes out against Church doctrine?”

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CNS News explains:

While opposing “unjust discrimination” against homosexuals, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that homosexual acts are “contrary to the natural law” and can never be approved and that marriage is the sacramental union of a man and a woman.

“Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,’” the Catechism adds. 

“They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”

Pelosi said at her weekly press briefing that Obama’s latest stand on gay marriage, which is the position he held in 1996 before saying he opposed gay marriage in 2004, “made history” and called the announcement, “a great day for America.“

She expressed hope that Obama’s announcement would “bring people together” on the issue.

“It’s a matter of time, it’s all a matter of time,” she said. “On these issues, what is inevitable to some of us is inconceivable to others. What we want to do is shorten the difference between the inevitable and the inconceivable and I think the president went a long way in doing that yesterday,” indicating that same sex marriage will eventually become the law of the land.

She also told reporters that Obama’s support of gay marriage “is worth any political backlash against Democrats,” The Hill reported Thursday.  The former House Speaker went so far as to suggest the issue is more important than winning elections.

“We come here to do a job for the American people, not to hold a job,” she said, claiming that Obama’s announcement advanced “the cause of civil rights.”

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ASSIGNMENT 13: Church and State – WEAU

LA CROSSE (WEAU)- Birth control is a hot topic across the nation right now.

You’ve seen politicians dive into the debate as well as religious leaders.

In fact, the department of health and human services recently finalized a birth control mandate.

We have a unique perspective; that of a local doctor who has balanced her catholic faith and her practice.

Doctor Mary Keuhl takes her religion seriously; it defines who she is, a catholic doctor.

“My faith is part of everything I do whether out in the community or parenting at home or in my profession as a family practitioner,” said Dr. Mary Keuhl.

The mandate requires employers or their insurance companies to cover birth control and plan B, commonly known as the morning after pill. But that goes against Keuhl’s current practice and beliefs.

“I don’t prescribe contraception in my practice. I never have. I’m encouraging natural family planning as a way of women using their own cycle,” said Dr. Mary Keuhl.

In the past couple months, this issue has exploded into controversy on the national stage, front and center in the GOP race for president.
Some democrats call it a war on women, but Keuhl doesn’t see it that way. Instead, she says it’s more about the constitution.

“It’s an American question. Do people have the freedom of religion? That’s what I think is wrong with the mandate, it’s trying to erode that first amendment right,” said Dr. Mary Keuhl.

Bishop William Patrick Callahan of the La Crosse Diocese agrees.

“We didn’t ask for this fight, we didn’t try to get involved, we didn’t pick the fight. This is an issue of religious liberty and that’s were we stand as patron of the faith and patriotic Americans,” said Bishop William Patrick Callahan.

President Obama did try to compromise with religious institutions, stating they would be exempt and the burden would be passed along to their insurance companies. But that’s still wrong says Keuhl.

“The best way I equate it. If I have to kill my husband or ask someone to kill my husband in that instance I would still have to go to jail,” said Dr. Mary Keuhl.

The future of the mandate is still uncertain, but no matter what happens Keuhl says it will not shake her faith. She plans to keep doing her practice as she’s always done it; saying that it’s her strong ethics that keep her patients coming back.

“When people come to a physician they want that physician who has morals and ethics to be able to display those morals and ethics and to take care of them in that wonderful way without intrusion,” said Dr. Mary Keuhl.

The mandate is scheduled to go into effect in 2013, but until it is official many Catholics and non -Catholics alike are going to fight against it.

“As far as it takes. We are going to fight this. In this instance we believe we are patriots. It’s been enlivening because I see so many people, people of good will, not necessarily faith. I see Jewish Muslim catholic coming together saying yes this is something worth fighting for,” said Bishop William Patrick Callahan.

“What is truth is truth, what is right is right, and human dignity is what is right. And when life begins is when human dignity starts and so I cannot go against that whether the government tells me to or not whether anyone tells me to or not,” said Dr. Mary Keuhl.

Right now there are options for women who don’t have insurance or health care and wish to have access to birth control or contraceptives. Option clinics are placed all around the state, and provide health care to those in need for little or no cost. We talked to Exectutive Director of options clinic in La Crosse to get their take on the Birth Control Mandate. Like Doctor Keuhl, they believe that the option should stay between the provider and the patient.

“The decision to be on birth control or use birth control should be between a women and her provider. It’s a personal decision; it’s about good health and good medicine. When we make it a political issue it’s unfortunate because it limits the access to care and access to good medicine,” said Options Clinic Executive Director, Beth Hartung.

Dana Milbank | Ryan budget’s impact on ‘the least of these’ – The Courier

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From the balcony, a group of young demonstrators answered Ryan by holding up a banner with the message “Stop the War on the Poor: No Social Justice in Ryan’s Budget.” On the plaza outside, more protesters held a banner asking: “Were you there when they crucified the poor?” A man wearing a bedsheet, sash and sandals, with a name tag identifying him as “GOP Je$us,” read out a new version of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the rich: The reign of the world is ours.”

For the young chairman of the House Budget Committee, it was a timely lesson: However much Ryan may wish it, God does not take sides in politics. Ryan, transparently positioning himself to be Romney’s running mate, may well believe that he is on a mission from God. But in a democracy, such fanaticism makes people such as Ryan unable to make necessary compromises.

The rebuke of Ryan is a credit to the Catholic leadership, because they are displaying their doctrinal consistency even as politicians embrace church teachings selectively. Republicans hailed the Catholic bishops when they were opposing the Obama administration’s policy to expand contraceptive coverage; likewise, they cite the church’s opposition to abortion. But these same lawmakers have little interest in the church’s position against the death penalty, or its opposition to the Arizona immigration law.

The bishops, in opposing Ryan’s budget, called for “shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate revenues.” But Ryan challenged the theologians’ theology. “The holy father himself, Pope Benedict, has charged that governments, communities and individuals running up high debt levels are, quote, ‘living at the expense of future generations,’” he said from the pulpit in Georgetown’s ornate Gaston Hall.

Ryan argued that government welfare “dissolves the common good of society and it dishonors the dignity of the human person.” He would restore human dignity by removing anti-poverty programs. The moderator asked the chairman about “the moral dimension” of a budget that gives tax cuts to the wealthy and cuts spending for the poor. Ryan’s answer included the phrase “subchapter S corporations.”

Spending on programs such as food stamps and college Pell Grants is “unsustainable,” he said. If government does too much for the poor, “you make it harder” for churches and charities to do that work.

It was a bold economic — and theological — proposition. Even Jesus said to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s. Ryan would rather give the rich a tax cut.

Catholic compassion, not condemnation

The Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), while devoting one sentence to acknowledging “the great contribution of Women Religious to the Church in the United States,” condemned LCWR for having, “a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith in some of the programs and presentations sponsored by the LCWR … Moreover, some commentaries on ‘patriarchy’ distort the way in which Jesus has structured sacramental life in the Church.” The statement came as a great surprise to the sisters involved in and with LCWR. In addition to surprise, many religious and laypersons in the U.S. are outraged by the Vatican’s unexpected and unreasonable appointment of Cardinal Sartain to oversee the group.

Former LCWR president Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister said that the Vatican’s response is an attempt to control people’s thinking, which would “make a mockery of the search for God, of the whole notion of keeping eyes on the signs of the times and of providing the people with the best possible spiritual guidance and presence you can give.” Unfortunately, the spiritual guidance that has been emanating from the Church and its hierarchy as of late to help people with their search for God has resulted in the decrease of practicing American Catholics. Whether it is the Vatican excommunicating the mother of a nine-year-old girl who had had an abortion after being raped by her step-father, or Monsignor William Lynn or Reverend James Brennan regarding their involvement in a clerical sex-abuse scandal in Philadelphia. Whether it is the clear lack of understanding from Archbishop Dolan with respect to the plight for homeless LGBT youth in New York, or Bishop Daniel Jenky likening President Obama with Hitler and Stalin, or the Vatican reprimanding the Leadership Conference of Women Religious for supposedly promoting radical feminist themes and being silent on the issue of abortion. The Church and its male hierarchy have fallen very hard from grace in the public eye.

What has certainly become clear from the outpour of critiques of the Church is the dichotomy that exists in the American Catholic Church between preaching and practice. The Church must consider the image it creates for itself in the United States and recognize that there does exist a point at which the words that are preached must be in line with the actions that are practiced. For the Church to gain a positive presence in the United States, there is a need for a renewed catholic vision that focuses on the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ. Condemnation of the work of American nuns does not resonate well with this vision.

However, condemnation should not be the means the Vatican uses to attract more people to the Church. Catholic means universal, a truth that should not be applied only to scripture and doctrine, but to behavior that models that of Christ. The moments that force people out of the Universal Church are all teachable moments, but only if the Church is willing to use them as such. Such condemnation removes focus from the good work that the Church does in cities, towns and villages across the world. Such condemnation hides from many what should be the reasons to feel a sense of belonging to the Catholic Church — the grass roots and structural focus on social justice from a myriad of Catholic groups, like Catholic Relief Services, the work by other groups to create interfaith dialogue in some of the most war-torn regions of the world, or the efforts of some to educate others to enter the world with a commitment to serving others as the driving force of professionalism, among many. The negative images of the Church and its hierarchy damage can hinder the image of the work that others, like the sisters of LCWR, are doing in communities to help the oppressed and promote the dignity of individuals.

Sister Simone Campbell, who was reprimanded in the Vatican’s recent report, said in an NPR interview, “What we do as Women Religious is, we minister to people everywhere who are suffering, who are being discriminated against, and we don’t ask to see a baptismal certificate. We serve everyone we find, in keeping with the Gospel of Jesus.” The faithful need the visible leaders who exemplify that faith and that Gospel teaching. They have those leaders in the sisters. The beauty of the Church is and should be its ability to reach the poor and vulnerable and to speak a language of love to all people. However, the hierarchy must set the same example as the sisters, and exercising condemnation of those who are compassionate rather than showing compassion itself is most certainly not the right way to go about it.

Alex Coccia is a sophomore. He can be contacted at acoccia@nd.edu

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer. 

Muslims, Christians clash despite common God and prophets

Muslims, Christians clash despite common God and prophets

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Published on Sunday, 08 April 2012 04:55

Written by TONY ZAKARIA

WHEN the  former school of my children in Punjab Pakistan was bombed by extremists a few years ago, I was shocked. That school was founded in 1956 to cater for Christian  children. The school was located in Murray Hills town surrounded by 100% by Muslims.

Recent clashes between Muslims and Christians have left hundreds of civilians dead and thousands wounded in Nigeria and Egypt. When President Obama visited Cairo in June 2009, he appealed for a fresh relationship based on mutual interest and respect between the Muslim world and USA.

Coming more than seven years after September 2001, the landmark speech at Cairo University received mixed reactions from the Middle East commentators. An Israeli spokesman heard no surprises, Palestinians saw hope in a new American policy, but a West Bank settlers’ council member said the speech was out of touch with reality because the Muslim world was at war with the West.

Mind you, the September 11 attacks were perpetrated on a country founded on Christian principles by Muslims from the land that  is the cradle of Islam. The war that lasted for decades in Sudan between Muslim north and Christian south had strong religious connotations.

Religion features strongly in conflicts in other parts of the world such as India and Indonesia. Why have conflicts between Christians and Muslims from 7thcentury to modern times persisted in peaceful and peaceless countries? Has mankind been using religion throughout history to justify tribal, ethnic or racial beliefs and wishes? In my journey to try and understand the Muslim-Christian divide, I tried to educate myself on the issues that divide these two main Abrahamic faiths.

There are many common beliefs between them and some serious differences. Muslims believe and accept Jesus Christ as a great prophet and messenger of God, the messiah who was born miraculously by the Virgin Mary. In the Quran chapter three, Aal-e-Imran, verse 42, the angels tell Maryam: surely Allah has chosen you and purified you above the women of the world.

In Quran 3:45 the angels told Maryam of the good news of the birth of the One whose name is the Messiah, Isa worthy of regard in this world and hereafter and of those who are made near (Allah). In Quran 3:47 Maryam said, My Lord when shall there be a son to me, and man had not touched me? The angel said, Allah creates what He pleases; when He has decreed a matter, He only says to it, Be, and it is. In Quran chapter 19 Maryam verses 20-21 say the same thing.

Jesus was conceived and born without intervention by any man. A son of God, say the Christians. Not, Isa was son of Maryam say the Muslims, creating a lakesize difference in beliefs. Since the Immaculate Conception was no myth for both Muslims and Christians, why the chasm about whether JC was God, man or both? Am still looking for my education, and if I have to go to China, so be it.

Muslims believe that Jesus was taken up by God Almighty alive, that he will come again to the world and then die and be resurrected. Muslims accept the Torah by Moses, Zabur of David and Injeel of Jesus Christ as word of God. That is huge, isn’t it? I have yet to hear a Muslim recite Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Yes, Muslims do not accept the bible in its entirety because of inconsistencies that make them doubt authors of the various books got divine inspiration for their scribbling. There are 66 books in the protestant bible and 73 in the Catholic bible and Muslim scholars contend not all the text in those books is word of God.

Muslims believe in many of the biblical messengers and prophets including Adam, Noah, Lot, Abraham, Isaac, Job, Ezekiel,  Jacob, Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist and Zachariah. The Quran chapter three verse 84 states: we believe in Allah and what has been revealed to Mohammad, Ibrahim, and Ismail  and Jacob and what was given to Moses and Jesus and to the prophets from their Lord.

Christians believe in one God, the Almighty Father who created heaven and earth. Muslims believe in the one and same God and in all the prophets from Adam to Christ and yet Christians and Moslems have to be separate and distinct offspring of Abraham from now till the end of the world. Early in Mohammad’s prophet-hood, he and his companions were greatly oppressed by polytheists in Mecca so he sent some followers to seek asylum with King Negus of Abyssinia.

This just and righteous African king who was a Christian gladly granted asylum to the followers of Mohammad. Prophet Mohammad recognized Christians as one of  “People of the Book”, respected and assured them the freedom to practice their faith under Islamic law. For example, when a large delegation of Christians from Najran visited the prophet in Medina, they stayed at the Prophet’s mosque. When they wanted to go outside to perform their church services, the Prophet offered the use of his Mosque.

I have trouble picturing a modern-day sheikh offering a delegation of Christian evangelicals the use of his mosque for an Easter crusade. But that is what sunnah is about, following the example and practice of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. As said by Prophet in a hadith, none is truly a believer until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.

And as Jesus said to his disciples, the second of the two greatest commandments is to love your neighbour as you love yourself. Let us wish for a greater mutual respect and understanding of the two faiths so that we can become better people of faith and messengers of the word of Almighty God. Happy Easter

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Cardinal Dolan’s Contraception Fight With Obama

Dolan seemed a balm for a Church wounded by scandal, divided within, and growing ever more testily distant from the surrounding culture. He is deeply orthodox, but his gift as a churchman has been an ability to present the faith without stridency, to pose the Church as humanity’s loving advocate, rather than as its judge. “We suffer from the caricature of always being this nagging, naysaying, condemning, shrill voice,” he says, “when really, the Catholic Church is at its best when she calls forth what is most noble and uplifting in the human project.” His brother bishops, in desperate need of an image boost, elected Dolan president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2010—making him the face of the American Church. Rome signaled its endorsement with Dolan’s elevation to cardinal at the first opportunity, giving him a vote in the selection of the next pope, and, technically, making him papabile—a potential candidate for the throne of St. Peter. That’s an unlikely prospect, but in terms of influence and prestige, if not actual ecclesial power, Dolan already is, in effect, something like America’s pope.

Cardinal Wuerl stresses right to public faith in new book

Washington D.C., Mar 15, 2012 / 11:55 am (CNA).-
For Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C., the Church’s ongoing battle for religious freedom in America highlights the need for Catholics to bring their faith into  the public square.

In his latest book, the cardinal challenges lay Catholics to participate in the New Evangelization through their daily activities, a task  that he describes as particularly important in a democratic society like the U.S.

Cardinal Wuerl told CNA that the Obama administration’s contraception mandate illustrates an “erosion of religious liberty” that is “one of the most worrisome” challenges ever faced by our nation.

“Never before in the history of our country have we been told you can’t participate in the good works of the common good unless you violate your conscience,” he said.

He asserted that the Church’s ability to serve is being threatened by the HHS mandate, which would require employers to offer health insurance covering contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so is in violation of their firmly-held religious beliefs.

At the heart of the problem is the government’s attempt to “define what constitutes legitimate expressions of religious faith, Catholic ministry and Catholic ministers,” he said.

The cardinal warned that Catholics must not sit by while their freedom to express their faith is under attack. He encouraged Americans to “speak up” about the mandate and other important issues, explaining that when they do, the government hears them and often institutes change.

The connection between Catholic faith and public life is a central theme in the cardinal’s new book, “Seek First the Kingdom: Challenging the Culture by Living Our Catholic Faith” (Our Sunday Visitor, $19.95).

He writes in his book that all those who live in a democracy have a duty to participate in the political processes that elect public officials and develop public policy.

For Catholics, this means  bringing their principles and values into the public forum. The convictions of one’s faith should impact public policy views “because the same person who is a citizen is also, for the most part, a believer, a participant in the life of the Church,” he said.

Unfortunately, Cardinal Wuerl observed, religion’s contribution and place in society are largely dismissed today.

The often-cited principle of “separation of church and state” was not intended to remove religious values from political life, but rather to protect religious freedom in order “to ensure that the voice of religious conviction would always be felt in our society,” he said.

People forget that the Catholic Church has had a place serving the common good for centuries, since “before there was even a Democratic or Republican party,” he added.

Cardinal Wuerl explained that defending the Church’s fundamental freedoms is one of the ways  Catholics can respond to God’s call to manifest his kingdom in their lives as citizens. 

“It is precisely in the day-to-day activities, whether it involves our family, our profession, our work or our ministry, that the presence of the kingdom is realized,” he said.

With his latest book, the cardinal hopes to encourage the lay faithful “in their vocation to bring about the evangelization and sanctification of the temporal order.”

“The Catholic laity have a role in carrying out the work of the Church and responding to Jesus’ commissioning that we are all to be his witnesses,” he said.  

He pointed to Pope Benedict’s call for a New Evangelization and said this makes it an “appropriate time” to highlight the laity’s role in responding to Christ’s commission to witness to the world.

Participating in the New Evangelization, he explained, requires “a deepening of our own faith, a renewing of our confidence in the truth of our faith and then the outreach of sharing our faith.”

It also means responding to the “great need today to reach out to Catholics who have drifted away from the faith,” he said.

The cardinal called on Christians to resist the temptation to get lost in a world that is becoming “increasingly secular” and to “see in our daily actions the spiritual dimension that is intricately a part of them as we do our part to manifest God’s kingdom among us.”

Catholic woman would rather risk life than follow HHS mandate

Omaha, Neb., Mar 10, 2012 / 06:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).-
A missionary serving at a Nebraska college says she is willing to risk her finances, her health and even her life to avoid violating her conscience by adhering to the Obama administration’s contraception mandate.

“I’m putting my life on the line here for my faith,” said Stacy Molai, a 31-year-old missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. “It’s that big a deal.”

Molai is one of two private citizens who have joined seven states and several organizations in a lawsuit over the Obama administration’s contraception mandate. The federal rule will soon require employers to provide health insurance that covers contraception, sterilization and early abortion-causing drugs, even if doing so violates their deeply-held religious beliefs.

Molai told CNA on March 8 that she is “honored” to be standing up for her faith in a public way.

As a FOCUS missionary, she is stationed at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Neb., where she helps college students grow in their Catholic faith.

Now, she believes that her First Amendment rights are being violated by the mandate, which will force her to choose between the “law of God” and the “law of the government.”

“If I am forced to make the choice, I will adhere to my faith,” she said.

She explained that she does not want to give up her health care, but that she will “gladly” obey God rather than men.

For Molai, health insurance is not a luxury, but an essential means of paying for medical needs. She suffers from Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that has required her to have four surgeries and numerous hospitalizations. Medical supplies for her condition cost up to $400 per month.

In addition, she knows that she will eventually need treatments that cost up to $3,000 per month.

As a registered nurse with six years experience in both Catholic and non-Catholic settings, Molai knows that not having health insurance would put her at serious risk, both medically and financially.

“Honestly, I could die,” she said.

Molai also pointed out that dropping insurance coverage would violate the “individual mandate” that requires every individual to have insurance under the new health care law, which could result in her being jailed.

But Molai has “considered the consequences” and is willing to face them for the sake of “keeping a clear conscience” in her relationship with Christ.

She hopes her story will “wake people up” and make them reflect on the importance of making their faith the “core” of their identity.

“Religion is so much more than going to church on Sunday,” she explained.

“FOCUS is proud to have a woman like Stacy among our missionary staff,” said Jeremy Rivera, communications director of FOCUS, in a March 6 statement.

“As her employer, we stand in solidarity with her and her convictions to remain true to her conscience and to exercise her religious liberty,” he said.

Rivera added that the “reality of Stacy’s serious health issues … should inspire all Catholics and people of faith to reinforce the necessity to overturn this unjust law.”

Molai said that the support she has received from those around her has been “really encouraging.”

However, she does not believe she deserves any special credit or recognition.

When people applaud her courage, she tells them, “I’m just doing my job.”

She compares herself to the servant in Luke 17 who carries out the duty commanded by his master.

“I’m just practicing what I preach,” Molai said, explaining that she has tried to convey the message that witnessing for Christ means being willing “to suffer greatly, if necessary.”

But despite the very real possibility of suffering in her future, Molai maintains a positive and joyful outlook that she attributes to having a real relationship with Christ.

“I’m full of joy to be able to show him that I trust him with my life,” she explained.