Voice for Justice: a religious freedom blog from the UK

A new blog to counteract the Thought Control that is being perpetrated in the UK on such things as same sex "Marriage", Islam, etc.

The most recent post begins:

The Thought police … coming to a street near you

118 Tory MPs rebelling over the proposed legislation, now apparently being fast-tracked by David Cameron, to allow gay marriage! Whatever next? However hard our Prime Minister tries to pull religion – that is, Christianity - into line and tell us we’re out of step, he seems doomed to failure. And rightly so. Same sex marriage was conspicuously absent from the Tory manifesto leading up to the last election, and it is not, and never can be, the province of Government to try to redefine belief. Yet this is what same sex marriage will do, if it ever becomes law. In one fell swoop, it will attempt to rewrite the Biblical understanding of the nature of men and women, and of our relationship with each other, and with God.

This kind of loopy interventionism would seem increasingly to be becoming a hallmark of British life...

4th July in Marquette - March for Religious Liberty

A group of some 70 or 80 people joined the parade in Marquette yesterday under the banner of religious liberty. Many people on the sidewalk reacted favorably - cheering and clapping.

St Peter Cathedral in the background.

Sisters of St Paul de Chartres

More at UP Catholic

US Bishops launch Fortnight for Freedom

The Bishops of the US are promoting two weeks of prayer for religious liberty beginning on the eve of the feast of Ss Thomas More and John Fisher and concluding on Independence Day.

The fourteen days from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day, are dedicated to this “fortnight for freedom”—a great hymn of prayer for our country. Our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power—St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome.  Culminating on Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action will emphasize both our Christian and American heritage of liberty. Dioceses and parishes around the country have scheduled special events that support a great national campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty.

The Diocese of Marqette has a webpage with resources and information and the following events will take place at St Peter Cathedral: 

• June 21st: Viewing of "A Man for All Seasons", the acclaimed movie about the trial of St Thomas More for refusing to accept the King's authority over the Church.
• June 27th: Claves Regni Ministries presents a discussion panel on religious freedom with the following program:
  5:15pm Mass celebrated by Bishop Sample
  6:00pm Discussion Panel made up of Bishop Sample, various clergy and lay legal and medical representatives focussing on how to be faithful to Church teaching in civil life. Light supper provided.
• July 4th: St Peter Cathedral sponsoring an entry in the Marquette 4th of July parade celebrating themes of life, liberty, religious freedom. Participants/marchers sought.

O God our Creator,
from your provident hand we have received
our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You have called us as your people and given us
the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God,
and your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.

 

We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be “one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

 

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Catholic Dioceses and Organizations go to Court over HHS Mandate

 News from the diocese of Marquette and the Michigan Catholic Conference below.

You can read a statement from the Michigan Catholic Conference Board of Directors here. Following is a video clip of Bishop Sample responding to the question: "Are Catholics asking for special treatment?"

 

You can see video clips of the other bishops of Michigan responding to other questions in a clear show of unanimity in this important matter.

Diocese of Marquette Participates in

Michigan Catholic Conference Lawsuit Filed Today

Against Federal Government over HHS Mandate

Complaint Cites First Amendment Religious Liberty Violations

Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) today filed documents in U.S. District Court as a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the mandate established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that requires many faith-based employers to provide in their health benefit plans abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and artificial contraception, all of which the Catholic Church finds morally objectionable. The nine-count lawsuit asserts violations of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

MCC, of which the Diocese of Marquette is a member, is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state. It is guided by a board of directors that includes the seven arch/diocesan bishops in the State of Michigan, five laypersons, a religious sister and a diocesan priest. In 1970, MCC began to provide employees of the state’s seven arch/dioceses and their institutions with a medical insurance benefit under a self-insured plan. Today, over 10,000 Catholic institution employees and their dependents receive the medical benefit from the Michigan Catholic Conference. Therefore, through the MCC, the Church is in effect the employer and the insurance provider.

Bishop Alexander K. Sample of the Catholic Diocese of Marquette and MCC board member, said, “I regret that the efforts of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to resolve this matter by asking the Administration to rescind its HHS mandate have proved unsuccessful. Now we must take this battle to the courts. If we do not stand up for our religious liberty and rights of conscience, then I fear that this would open the door for further intrusion of government into the life of all religious institutions. We must do this for ourselves and to protect the rights of all citizens of this great land.”

“The HHS mandate represents a very serious violation of religious liberty,” said MCC President and C.E.O. Paul A. Long. “Never before has the federal government sought to coerce religious institutions into acting contrary to their conscience with the threat of paying a substantial and perhaps even crippling penalty for non-compliance.”

The Michigan Catholic Conference’s lawsuit was filed today as several dozen Catholic entities across the country filed similar lawsuits citing, among others, the HHS mandate’s excessive entanglement into the internal governance of religious organizations, a clear violation of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses. The lawsuit filed by the MCC also alleges that HHS has violated the Administrative Procedures Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the latter of which Congress passed in 1993 and was signed into law by President Clinton.

According to the MCC complaint: “This lawsuit is about one of America’s most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one’s religion without government interference. It is not about whether people have a right to abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception. Those services are freely available in the United States, and nothing prevents the Government itself from making them more widely available. Here, however, the Government seeks to require Plaintiffs – Catholic entities – to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs by providing, paying for, and/or facilitating access to those services.”

“The HHS mandate seeks not only to coerce religious organizations into providing a medical service that is contrary to the Catholic Church’s firmly held religious belief, it also could have the effect of financially crippling organizations that courageously stand against an unjust law,” says Long. “In effect, Michigan Catholic Conference has been told by the federal government to either facilitate services that violate our conscience or potentially open ourselves up to substantial monetary penalties.”

The lawsuit was filed today in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, which is where co-plaintiff Franciscan University of Steubenville is located. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Hilda Solis, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor; and Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, along with their respective agencies, are named as the defendants in the lawsuit.

Archdiocese of Washington rebukes Georgetown - but when will bishops publicly bar dissenting Catholic politicians from Holy Communion?

John DiGioia - Georgetwon University President

 As the National Catholic Register reports, the president of Georgetown University has sought to defend the invitation to Kathleen Sebelius to speak at a graduation event. But the Archdiocese of Washington has issued the following reaction:

"The Archdiocese of Washington reserved public comment to permit Georgetown University and its sponsor, the Society of Jesus, the opportunity to address the controversy.  While the explanation of how this unfortunate decision was made is appreciated, it does not address the real issue for concern – the selection of a featured speaker whose actions as a public official present the most direct challenge to religious liberty in recent history and the apparent lack of unity with and disregard for the bishops and so many others across the nation who are committed to the defense of freedom of religion."

What we really need is for the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington and other bishops to publicly declare that Catholic politicians who publicly dissent from Church teaching and promote policies that are contrary to the Church's teachings on faith and morals are not to be admitted to Holy Communion in their dioceses. They may do this invoking Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law:

Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.

 They should further name those politicians who obviously fall into that category. Since they are all at least some of the time present in the archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal Wuerl would appear to have the potential for great leadership in this matter. People such as Sebelius, Pelosi, Biden... all Catholics close to the President and fully supportive of his attacks on religious liberty, the sanctify of life, the instituation of marriage...

Canadian Bishops' Pastoral Letter on Religious Liberty

As their US counterparts fight the battle for religious liberty, so these North American bishops have also issued a pastoral letter on the subject. The CCCB's website states:

“Legitimate secularity draws a distinction between religion and politics, between Church and state,” the pastoral letter states, but is open to the engagement of religious beliefs and faith communities in public debate and civic life. “Radical secularism”, however, excludes religion from the public square “and from freely engaging in the public debate necessary for shaping civic life.”

The letter is liberally footnoted with references to the Magisterial teachings of Pope Benedict and Blessed John Paul II.

In a section entitled "Concerns in our own Nation" the bishops write:

In the past decade in Canada there have been several situations that raise the question whether our right to freedom of conscience and religion is everywhere respected. At times, believers are being legally compelled to exercise their profession without reference to their religious or moral convictions, and even in opposition to them. This occurs wherever laws, which most often deal with issues linked to the dignity of human life and the family, are promulgated and which limit the right to conscientious objection by health-care and legal professionals, educators and politicians.

For example, some colleges of physicians require that members who refuse to perform abortions refer patients to another physician willing to do so; elsewhere pharmacists are being threatened by being forced to have to fill prescriptions for contraceptives or the “morning after” pill; and marriage commissioners in British
Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan must now perform samesex marriages or resign.

Conflict and confrontation occur between the rights and freedoms of some citizens and others: for example, when anti-discrimination laws – which, properly understood, include religion – clash with the right to religious freedom. Besides the courts, the Human Rights Tribunals of each province strive to strike a balance or reconcile conflicts between different rights.

All too often, however, advocacy groups use these bodies to promote new individual “rights” which often take precedence over the common good. The legal proceedings that these lobbies initiate force the defendant to become involved in lengthy and expensive court battles and thus weaken the common good.

Such acrimonious procedures would be better replaced by a civilized and respectful debate enriching to everyone, provided it gives a voice in the public forum to religious believers. If that voice is suppressed in any way, believers should view this as a restriction on their right to freedom of religion, one which should be forcefully challenged. In a constitutional democracy such as Canada’s, the system of justice must strive to protect more effectively freedom of religion and of conscience as key elements of our free and democratic society.

 The letter can be downloaded here.