Ruth Institute Blog

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued the following response to the February 2 post on the White House blog.

 The Obama administration, to justify its widely criticized mandate for contraception and sterilization coverage in private health plans, has posted a set of false and misleading claims on the White House blog (“Health Reform, Preventive Services, and Religious Institutions,” February 1).  In what follows, each White House claim is quoted with a response.

Claim: “Churches are exempt from the new rules: Churches and other houses of worship will be exempt from the requirement to offer insurance that covers contraception.” Read more…

By Kevin J. Jones

Washington D.C., Jan 25, 2012 / 05:52 pm (CNA).- A Democratic-leaning Catholic group’s favorable reaction to the Obama administration’s new contraception mandate is being criticized for neglecting the threat to religious freedom and wrongly claiming that contraception lowers the abortion rate.

“This is a real attack on the religious freedom of millions of Americans. People who care about the future of our country should not stand idly by,” said Eric Rassbach, national litigation director of the D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Read more…

“The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience, for everyone. The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease.”

Way to put it into perspective. Clearly a double standard and discrimination against Catholics.

P.S. Nulliparity definition: A medical term used to refer to a condition or state in which a woman has never given birth to a child, or has never carried a pregnancy.

by Alex Perrottet

Why the hazards of nulliparity in the cloister have nothing to do with the Vatican.

Did you know that the Catholic Church says it’s OK for a doctor to use a knife? Read more…

“I hope this will be a great success. It is certainly needed!”

~Bishop Cordileone 12/4/11~

Divorce Prevention 101:

Healing Hurts & Finding Love that Lasts!

 Several local parishes have decided it’s time to do something about the divorce rate within our Catholic community. And Bishop Cordileone agrees. In fact, you’ll see his full endorsement in the attached release… Read more…

I just came from Mass in honor of the feast of the Immaculate Conception. I will soon head off to the airport to go to SF, for the Prop 8 trial.  It is fitting that this trial take place on this feast day.  I realize that many of my readers are not Catholic, and think such a feast is a lot of mumbo jumbo.  But let me explain the vision behind the Immaculate Conception, and suggest why it offers a hopeful alternative to our current cultural morass.

The first point is the meaning of the feast itself.  We celebrate Mary’s conception without the stain of original sin.  We hold that original sin causes weakness of the will, darkness of the intellect and forgetfulness in the memory. Have you ever experienced any of those things, dear reader of any religion or no religion? Then you know what I’m talking about. The effects of original sin are part of the universal human condition.  Read more…

A recent conference series on “Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church,” held at two Catholic universities as well as two secular institutions, was subsidized by a foundation with a long history of support for homosexual attacks on Catholic Church teaching, the Cardinal Newman Society has discovered. Read more…

The Catholic Bishops of Maryland have issued a statement, “The Most Sacred of All Property:  Religious Freedom and the People of Maryland.”

Despite its title, the principles it lays out and the examples it uses are applicable to the entire United States.  People of all faiths, not just Catholics, will find it a helpful defense when faced with marriage and family issues.

Read it here.

STATEMENT OF  MOST REVEREND EDWARD K. BRAXTON, BISHOP OF BELLEVILLE,  MOST REVEREND R. DANIEL CONLON, BISHOP OF JOLIET, AND
MOST REVEREND THOMAS JOHN PAPROCKI, BISHOP OF SPRINGFIELD IN ILLINOIS  REGARDING THE ENDING OF APPEALS OF FOSTER CARE LITIGATION

It is with deep regret that we have decided to relinquish our appeals in the litigation concerning the provision of foster care and adoption services by Catholic Charities of the Dioceses of Joliet and Springfield in Illinois and by Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois in the Diocese of Belleville. This lawsuit had sought clarification as to whether the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act passed at the end of last year protected the freedom of faith-based agencies to provide foster care and adoption services in accord with their religious beliefs. Read more…

Political symbol. Feminist role model. Mystic. Saint. Warrior.

Joan of Arc turns 600 this January, making her one of the oldest female heroines in Western history. The Maid of Orleans, a teenager who took to horseback to lead a weak and demoralized French army to defeat the English in seminal battles during the Hundred Years War, has symbolized strength and piety for centuries. She has been memorialized on stage, screen and canvas for her bold and heartbreaking tale.

Read more.

by Charlie Butts and Bob Kellogg

After 90 years of assisting in providing foster care for children, Catholic Charities of Illinois has been forced to cease services.

The problem began with passage of the Illinois civil unions law for same-gender pairs, which led the state to force Christian foster care and adoption organizations to consider homosexual couples, even though that is contrary to basic Christian doctrine. Catholic Charities filed suit, but the state has already begun transferring the children out. Read more…

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/11/15/obamas_catholic_strategy_in_shambles_112067.html

Obama’s Catholic outreach is being revealed as a transparent ploy a year before he faces re-election. A portion of the Democratic coalition — including civil libertarians and pro-choice activists — has decided to attack and marginalize Catholic leaders and institutions. And HHS is actively siding against Catholic organizations. Read more…

Belmont Abbey College enters David-and-Goliath fight against the feds over mandate to cover contraceptives.

Early last month, President Obama bragged to a St. Louis crowd about the recent Health and Human Services’ regulations that will require thousands of religious employers to pay for contraception, sterilization and drugs that probably cause abortions. The crowd cheered the president’s contraceptive mandate. He joined their revelry, shouting, “Darn Tootin’!” to the crowd’s delight. Read more…

by Thaddeus Baklinski

NEW YORK, November 8, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Following the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in New York in June, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan has issued an official statement banning the use of Roman Catholic churches, facilities or properties for homosexual “marriage” ceremonies. Read more…

by Sheila Liaugminas

Given the expressed intent of the Founding Fathers in establishing a free, just and virtuous society, the importance of morality as its foundation, and their recourse to God from the beginning through recent history…it’s remarkable that we are in this battle now. Read more…

from Rome Reports

By: Jim Tonkowich

“Treat yourself,” my friend said. “It will be a shot in the arm for your marriage.” He was encouraging me to read Pius XI’s December 1930 encyclical, Casti Connubii (Chaste Marriage). As it turns out, it’s more than a treat. It’s strong medicine for what ails marriage more than eighty years after it was penned. Read more…

by Michael Cook

Who cares if the media ignored World Youth Day?

Read more…

by Francois Jacob

The UN wants young people to change the world. In Madrid the Pope will ask them to change themselves.

Today, a thousand or so youth activists from around the world gather at the United Nations headquarters in New York for a high level meeting on the theme of “dialogue and mutual understanding”. The two-day UN youth summitmarks the culmination of an international Year of Youth that began last August and ends on the annual UN World Youth Day, August 12th. Read more…