Conscience Matters

Conscience Matters

March 22, 2012 By Sr Renee Mirkes 

With Health and Human Services (HHS) implementing its mandate, forcing employee insurance to cover contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization, it is time to revisit the “right of conscience.”

This is the best of times. Many Americans, across disparate political and religious affiliations, have locked arms with the American bishops in protest against the Obama Administration’s contraceptive mandate and its unabashed assault on individual and institutional rights of conscience.
This is the worst of times. In August 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services implemented the “preventive services” portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It ruled that employers across the country must cover contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization within their employee health insurance plans, not to mention that HHS neglected to include conscientious objection exemptions in this controversial regulation.  So, in effect, what the Federal government and its mandate did was to ride roughshod over the First Amendment religious liberty interests of the many employers who, based on faith and reason, morally object to these services and their provision.

This is the perfect time to teach. The ensuing national conversation about religious freedom provides the bishops with a teachable moment. Catholic faithful, and all persons of good will, are invited to ponder the salient natural law teaching that propelled the American hierarchy to the front lines in the first place. To fully appreciate the bishops’ passion to secure protections for a well-formed conscience, then, we all need to investigate its theological/philosophical foundation: What is conscience? What are the effects of freely exercising our conscientious judgments? What harms will follow if employers act against their conscience by capitulating to the HHS regulation?


Go to Conscience Matters  for the rest of her article.  This is one of the most important fights of our time. Freedom of Religion is a primary right, and this Mandate is about much more than just contraception!

God bless!! 

Brutal home invasion of Oklahoma couple ends their 65-year romance

 This is very very very sad. I cannot imagine what this couple went through.

Brutal home invasion of Oklahoma couple ends their 65-year romance after first meeting on a blind date | Mail Online


On the other hand, it also shows that we do not need long dating process and engagements, etc to make a marriage work. This couple had NO marriage prep, which is the usual 'solution' given.  The typical 'excuse'  for so many failed marriages is lack of prep, you see, instead of speaking Truth. Sin, selfishness, adultery, throw away society instead of prayer and work. Forgiveness and Love are actions, not feelings, and are CHOICES.

 And I dare anyone to tell me that they did not know what those vows meant on their wedding day! Today's excuses just keep making me sick, and the God who hates Divorce (see Malachi 2), who sent His Son to bring us Salvation has to be very disappointed in His Children today.

May the Lord bless this man, and spare him more suffering. May his wife rest in peace. May their children, grand children, great and great great grandchildren follow in their parents' footsteps, and have peace.

65 yrs is a real testimony and example for all of us to witness.

Lord, have Mercy.