Dear Brother Priests, Deacons, Subdeacons, Monks, Sisters and Lay Faithful:
As you know from the entries on my blog at www.stmaron.org, since January there has been a concerted Catholic effort to address the very troubling Health and Human Services (HHS) coercive mandate requiring almost all private health plans to cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs. For the first time in our nation’s history, the federal government will force religious institutions to facilitate drugs and procedures contrary to our moral teaching. And this will purport to define which religious institutions are “religious enough” to merit an exemption.The US Conference of Catholic Bishops www.usccb.org responded to many urgent situations with the Administration, Congress and now the Judiciary. We now need the help and support of all Catholics to address a wide range of issues from our concerns over religious liberty to the Church’s teaching on sexuality and openness to new human life. Some of these efforts will be catechetical and others will encourage parishioners to take some needed action.
Our focus should be on “Religious Liberty, the Most Cherished of American Freedoms.” (See the following article which was a nationwide bulletin insert in April-May, 2012). Parishioners are encouraged to send messages to the President, Members of Congress and the HHS, during this limited comment period.
Lastly, I ask you to join me and all Catholics throughout the country in a fourteen-day prayer vigil from June 21, 2012, the Feast of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher, until July 4, 2012. I ask every parishioner to offer a decade of rosary each of these fourteen days. Likewise, I ask every pastor to add a special intention during each liturgy of those fourteen days for religious liberty and the good of our country. Let freedom ring! And may the radiant beauty of Catholic teaching ring!
With prayerful best wishes, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ
+Gregory John Mansour
Our focus should be on “Religious Liberty, the Most Cherished of American Freedoms.” (See the following article which was a nationwide bulletin insert in April-May, 2012). Parishioners are encouraged to send messages to the President, Members of Congress and the HHS, during this limited comment period.
Lastly, I ask you to join me and all Catholics throughout the country in a fourteen-day prayer vigil from June 21, 2012, the Feast of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher, until July 4, 2012. I ask every parishioner to offer a decade of rosary each of these fourteen days. Likewise, I ask every pastor to add a special intention during each liturgy of those fourteen days for religious liberty and the good of our country. Let freedom ring! And may the radiant beauty of Catholic teaching ring!
With prayerful best wishes, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ
+Gregory John Mansour