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How to take action
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WHAT: To correct the threats to religious liberty and rights of conscience, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act has been introduced in Congress (H.R. 1179, S. 1467). This measure will ensure that those who participate in the health care system “retain the right to provide, purchase, or enroll in health coverage that is consistent with their religious beliefs and moral convictions.” It is more important than ever that Members of Congress be urged to co-sponsor this measure. For co-sponsors, check H.R. 1179 and S. 1467 at: thomas.loc.gov
HOW: Contact your U.S. representative by e-mail, phone, or fax letter:
- Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121, or call your members’ local offices.
- Send an e-mail through the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment’s Grassroots Action Center at www.nchla.org/actiondisplay.asp?ID=292
- Additional contact information can be found on members’ Web sites at: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov or for a list of senators and representatives from Wisconsin can be downloaded here
- MESSAGE: “Please co-sponsor the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179, S. 1467). This measure ensures that the rights of conscience of all participants in our nation’s health care system will be respected.”
• WHEN: Now is the time to build cosponsors. Please act today!
For more information on the rights of conscience and how to take action to reverse the Health and Human Services mandate, go to www.usccb.org/conscience
Read Bishop Morlino's letter about the recent ruling.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNS) -- A week after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told individuals and institutions who oppose contraception "to hell with you," as one bishop put it, members of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy were mobilizing their followers to fight.
Bishops across the country -- including Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans and Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla. -- were preparing letters to be read at all Masses during the Jan. 28-29 weekend.
But one of the most strongly worded reactions to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' Jan. 20 announcement that religious organizations could delay but not opt out of a requirement that all health plans cover contraception and sterilization at no cost came from Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh, in a column titled "To hell with you."
Sebelius and the Obama administration "have said 'To hell with you' to the Catholic faithful of the United States," Bishop Zubik wrote. "To hell with your religious beliefs. To hell with your religious liberty. To hell with your freedom of conscience. We'll give you a year, they are saying, and then you have to knuckle under."
He called on Catholics in the Pittsburgh Diocese to "do all possible to rescind" the contraceptive mandate by writing to President Barack Obama, Sebelius and their members of Congress about this "unprecedented federal interference in the right of Catholics to serve their community without violating their fundamental moral beliefs."
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