Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, in his June 17, 2012, column in Catholic New World, writes:
Our current economic problems and
political impasses bear devastating witness to a society
obsessed with controlling every aspect of experience and life.
This drive is deadly and destroys trust, which is
betrayed in order to advance one’s own projects. Belief in
Christ’s presence and in God’s providence, by contrast,
frees people to trust that they can take care of those whom God
has given them to love without fear of losing their
deepest selves. Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus places us within the safety of
God’s infinite love and gives us courage to risk our own lives
for the salvation of others. Faith makes us free.
As everyone knows, freedom to express
our faith through the public ministries of the church is
now outlawed. Contesting the current HHS mandate in which
the government usurps the right to determine which of our
ministries are truly “religious” and which are not is a
series of lawsuits being brought by dioceses and universities
and other Catholic organizations. That it is necessary is
clear in a declaration from Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, quoted in many of the plaintiffs’
legal briefs, that “We are at war.” So far as I know,
this is the first time that a U.S. government official has
declared war on citizens of the United States who do not
agree with government policy. The public conversation continues
to be manipulated by the government and many in the
media, hiding what is at stake in the mandate to strip
religious institutions of their identity so that they can be
forced to act against their religious beliefs.
Read the entire column.