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<\/a>The announcement was applauded by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who called it \u201ca compelling display of the unity of the Church in defense of religious liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have tried negotiation with the Administration and legislation with the Congress \u2013 and we\u2019ll keep at it \u2013 but there’s still no fix,\u201d said Cardinal Dolan, who is the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime is running out, and our valuable ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance, so we have to resort to the courts now,\u201d he explained in a May 21 statement.<\/p>\n
The bishops\u2019 conference is not a party to the lawsuits, although several individual dioceses across the country are.<\/p>\n
Cardinal Dolan praised the \u201ccourageous action\u201d as \u201ca great show of the diversity of the Church’s ministries that serve the common good and that are jeopardized by the mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawsuits argue that a federal mandate issued by the Obama administration violates their fundamental religious liberty. The controversial mandate will require employers to offer health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, even if doing so violates their consciences.<\/p>\n
The mandate has drawn heavy criticism from bishops in every diocese in the U.S. They warned that the regulation could force Catholic schools, hospitals and charitable agencies around the nation to close down.<\/p>\n
At least 11 previous lawsuits have already been filed against the mandate by states, colleges, private employers and organizations throughout the U.S.<\/p>\n
Now, 12 new lawsuits are being filed by 43 dioceses, hospitals, schools and church agencies in a dozen different jurisdictions across the country.<\/p>\n
The Archdioceses of New York, St. Louis and Washington, D.C, are part of separate lawsuits against the measure, as are Catholic Charities organizations in several dioceses and the Catholic publishing group Our Sunday Visitor. Other dioceses filing lawsuits include, Rockville Centre, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Fort Worth, Jackson, Biloxi, Fort Wayne-South Bend, Joliet, and Springfield, Ill. — all in their respective districts of federal court.<\/p>\n
An editorial in \u201cOSV Newsweekly\u201d explained that the organization \u201cstands proudly with our fellow Catholic apostolates and with our bishops in resisting this challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
It called on readers to support the effort, knowing that \u201cwhatever sacrifices we bear and whatever challenges we endure, we are only doing what is our responsibility as American citizens practicing our faith in the public square.\u201d<\/p>\n The editorial recalled the spirit of Our Sunday Visitor\u2019s founder, Fr. John Noll, \u201cwho resisted the power of the Ku Klux Klan when it was such a powerful political force.\u201d<\/p>\n It explained that \u201cit is in his courageous spirit that we invoke as we engage in this great struggle today.\u201d<\/p>\n Several Catholic universities around the country also joined in the lawsuits, including The Catholic University of America, the University of Notre Dame and Franciscan University of Steubenville.<\/p>\n Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C., said the lawsuit was filed \u201cneither lightly nor gladly, but with sober determination.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not seek to impose our religious beliefs on others,\u201d he explained in an email to Notre Dame employees.<\/p>\n Rather, he explained, \u201cwe simply ask that the Government not impose its values on the University when those values conflict with our religious teachings.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Fr. Jenkins, the lawsuit is about \u201cthe freedom of a religious organization to live its mission, and its significance goes well beyond any debate about contraceptives.\u201d<\/p>\n He cautioned that when the government decides \u201cwhich religious organizations are sufficiently religious to be awarded the freedom to follow the principles that define their mission,\u201d the nation has started down a path that could lead to \u201cthe end of genuinely religious organizations in all but name.\u201d<\/p>\n Read More: http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/forty-three-catholic-organizations-file-lawsuits-against-hhs-mandate\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ~\u2020~<\/p>\n Posted by Donna Calvin \u2014 Tuesday, May 22, 2012<\/p>\n ~\u2020~<\/p>\n Please share this Watchwoman post on your Facebook page, Linkedin, Google+1, Twitter to all your friends, Please click \u201cLike\u201d, Share, and Leave Comments.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Visit Word Warriorette, a free Yahoo Group, and subscribe to be notified (one email a day) of new posts on Watchwoman.<\/strong> ~\u2020~<\/p>\n ~\u2020~<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fr. Jenkins cautioned:\u00a0 \u201cthe freedom of a religious organization to live its mission, and its significance goes well beyond any debate about contraceptives.\u201d\u00a0 [The Obama mandate] could lead to \u201cthe end of genuinely religious organizations in all but name.\u201d Washington D.C., May 21, 2012 \/ 10:39 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- Forty-three Catholic dioceses and organizations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[506,4009,7,1361,4452,1344,3100,252,373,435,701,1867,3382,1502,2746,428,1680,4086,2786,4681,1354,1620,1430,35,1815,251,3069,450,407,2860,678,466,3121,108,4451,1484,608,1920,1159,2838,3891,806],"tags":[5136,4212,5133,5137,5134,5135],"class_list":["post-15187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion-2","category-absolute-truths","category-america","category-anti-christian-bias","category-anti-family","category-attacks-from-the-left-on-the-righteous","category-big-brother-is-here","category-christian","category-christian-activism","category-communism","category-democrats","category-evil-plot","category-evil-vs-good","category-godlessness","category-good-vs-evil","category-health-medicine","category-injustice","category-insane-laws","category-lawsuits","category-liberal-antics-backfire","category-liberals","category-moral-decline","category-news-2","category-obama","category-obamacare-obamataxcare","category-persecution","category-politically-incorrect","category-politics","category-pray","category-prejudice","category-presidential-candidates","category-pro-life-2","category-radical-change-towards-tyranny-dictatorship","category-religion","category-righteous-protests","category-scriptural-living","category-separation-of-church-and-state","category-taking-america-back","category-the-christian-revolution","category-wake-up-america","category-war-on-christ-christians-christianity","category-warning","tag-abortion-inducing-drugs","tag-contraception","tag-contraception-mandate","tag-pesecuted-church","tag-religious-liberty-lawsuits","tag-sterilization"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/244\/2012\/05\/Archbishop-John-Francis-Noll-founder-of-Our-Sunday-Visitor-weekly-newspaper-January-25-1875-\u2013-July-31-1956.gif\")
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\nhttp:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/WordWarriorette\/<\/a><\/p>\nDISCLAIMER: Beliefnet puts paid advertisements on \u201cWatchwoman on the Wall\u201d blog site including some that would never be approved of by the King James Bible, Pastor Ernie Sanders of Doers of the Word Church, What\u2019s Right-What\u2019s Left Radio Ministry, the Voice of the Christian Resistance, Geauga County Right to Life and Donna Calvin.\u00a0 We at www.WRWL.org<\/a> do not condone, endorse, adhere to, practice or believe in many of the topics and some of what other bloggers promote or their religions at Beliefnet.\u00a0 However, Mrs. Calvin has no control of what Beliefnet displays.\u00a0\u00a0 She blogs at Beliefnet because she is in the missionary field ministering to true believers posting articles and commentaries informing pro-life, conservative Christians of recent anti-Christian acts and hostile legislation to God\u2019s Agenda and His Will for the world.\u00a0 Hopefully, unbelievers will read these along with the salvation message of Jesus Christ as written in the Gospel of John, Chapter 3, according to the King James Bible, and be saved.\u00a0 A missionary must go into the unbelievers\u2019 territory to reach them.\u00a0 Her mission is to Proclaim Warning to a Nation that has forgotten their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the only Truth, the Life, and the only Way to the One God the Father.<\/em>
\nRead more: http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=4928<\/a><\/em><\/h6>\n