Bishop Stika responds to unjust HHS mandate, encourages action

Bishop Richard Stika issued a response to the recently enacted mandate by the Department for Health and Human Services that will require religious employers to fund and provide drugs and procedures that explicitly violate the teachings of the church.  The response, which was read in all parishes in the diocese on Sunday, February 5, follows

"Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I write to you having just returned from my Ad Limina visit with Pope Benedict XVI who shares deeply the concerns that I and all the U.S. bishops have regarding a matter that calls for our steadfast prayer, solidarity and action. On January 20th, the federal government cast aside the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and essentially stripped Catholics and citizens of any faith of our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom—our religious liberty."

Click here to read more of the Bishop's letter.  Read the stance adopted by the Knights of Columbus here.

TAKE ACTION NOW!  Follow this link to the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference website to see a video by Archbishop Timothy Dolan and to send a letter against this unjust mandate to our local congressmen and state senators!  If we don't fight for our own religious freedom, who will?  Take responsibility!  Take action!