Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., is arguing in a new lawsuit that the Obama administration is engaged in a “conscious political strategy to marginalize and delegitimize” Catholic “religious views on contraception by holding them up for ridicule on the national stage.”
At issue in the lawsuit is whether the administration can force the archdiocese to secure a third-party administrator for its self-insurance plan who will provide sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs at no cost to church employees at some of the archdiocese’s separately incorporated subunits.
These subunits include a number of Catholic schools and charities, including Archbishop Carroll High School and Catholic Charities of Washington.
“[T]he Archdiocese operates a self-insurance plan that encompasses not only individuals directly employed by the Archdiocese itself, but, in addition, individuals employed by affiliated Catholic organizations,” says the church’s lawsuit.
Because the Obama administration’s sterilization-contraceptive-abortifacient mandate does not deem these Catholic organizations to be “religious employers,” says the lawsuit, “the U.S. Government Mandate requires that the archdiocese either (1) sponsor a plan that will provide, pay for, and/or facilitate the provision of the objectionable products and services to the employees of” these church organizations “or (2) no longer extend its plan to these organizations, subjecting them to massive fines if they do not contract with another insurance provider that will provide the objectionable coverage.”
Lawyers representing the archdiocese filed a memorandum with U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Sept. 24, pointing to actions and statements made by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to demonstrate that the administration is deliberately targeting the Catholic Church for its religious views. “When the government promulgated the mandate, it was acutely aware that the gap in coverage for contraception was due primarily to the religious beliefs and practices of employers such as the Catholic Church,” says the archdiocese’s memorandum.Read the rest of the story HERE.
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3 comments:
While I can sympathize with the Catholics here, I need to point out that they aren't the only religious people to have this kind of treatment from the administration. Opposition to gay t marriage is another issue that is receiving this type of treatment. Especially Mormons in California. It's not all coming from the administration, I guess, but they are certainly pleasing their base by destroying the religious freedom guaranteed in the Constitution. I wish more Catholics either knew or cared how the dems are treating them. I guess they'll be like Jews, a guaranteed constituency for democrats no matter how they are treated.
AZ
AZ,
I agree and I'm a Catholic.
Where were they when they were voting for Obama who supports Abortion?
Exactly. I can't believe how many supposedly religious people of all stripes disregard abortion as even an issue. My Church's policies are not exactly the same as the Catholic's, but I am amazed at how so many liberal members of my church pass over this issue as, "Not my issue." Abortion is no where near safe, legal, and rare in this country, and people who claim to worship God are more concerned about social justice than they are about the lives of these unborn children. It seems to me that Dennis Prager is right, leftism is the fastest growing religion in the US today. Leftism is like a god to these people and can do no wrong even as it destroys the security and savings of thousands if not millions with its endless creation of money and and ditto the destruction of their healthcare. But we must make sure that Hobby Lobby pays for 15 types of birth control, not just 10, since abortion and abortifacients must be covered! That's a leftist's idea of social justice. Pathetic....
AZ
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