Religious Liberty Threatened: Archbishop Gomez

Religious Liberty Threatened: Archbishop Gomez
Relentless pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Friday, October 28, 2011

Ref. www.catholicnewsagency.com by Marianne Medlin, L.A., Calif. Oct. 26th article in the monthly Catholic magazine, First Things and also posted in L.A. Tidings October, 2011

“There is much evidence to suggest that our society no longer values the public role of religion or recognizes the importance of religious freedom as a basic right,” Archbishop Gomez said on Oct. 25.

“America’s founders understood that our democracy depends on Americans’ being moral and virtuous,” he wrote. “They knew the best guarantee for this is a civil society in which individuals and religious institutions were free to live, act, and vote according to their values and principles.”

“Archbishop Gomez, who leads the largest diocese in the U.S., said that Catholics have always believed that they are equipped to be the best citizens when they follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Church. “Since before the founding of our country, he noted, members of the faith have worked to provide “vital” social services, education, and health care for surrounding society.”

“But lately, this is becoming harder and harder for us to do,” he said. [May I interject here and state categorically that this has occurred since the Obama regime took over and not during the Bush administration. And this is the absolute truth.]

“Archbishop Gomez cited the example of the government denying funding to the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services agency, which since 2006 has helped thousands of women and children who are victims of human trafficking.”

“Recently, the government had been demanding that our agency provide abortions, contraception and sterilizations for the women we serve,” he said. “We hope our application was not denied because we refused to provide these services that are unnecessary and violate our moral principle and religious mission.”

“As disconcerting as it is, however, this situation is “not an isolated case,” he said. Archbishop Gomez drew attention to the Health and Human Services Department’s proposed rule that would force private employers to provide insurance coverage for sterilizations & contraception – including medications that cause early abortion.

“This not only violates the consciences of Catholic business owners, it also undermines the religious autonomy of Church employers,” he said. The LA archbishop also pointed to the nationwide push to legalize “same-sex marriage,” which has already caused Church adoption and foster-care ministries to shut down rather than “submit to government demands that they place children with same-sex couples or provide benefits for same-sex employees … many people fear “that this belief in [true] marriage might now be labeled as a form of bigotry and lead to a new challenges to our liberties…”

“My brother bishops and I are deeply concerned that believers’ liberties – and the Church’s freedom to carry out her mission – are threatened today, as they have been before in our history…”

George H. Kubeck