Feb 6, 2012
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The Obama administration has been accused of telling Catholic military chaplains what they can and cannot say from their pulpits after the Army ordered Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to parishioners from their archbishop.
The Secretary of the Army feared the letter could be viewed as a call for civil disobedience.
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The letter called on Catholics to resist the policy the Obama Administration’s policy that would force institutions affiliated with religious groups to provide coverage for birth control, sterilization and “abortifacients.” The Catholic Church believes the mandate represents an unconstitutional violation of freedom of religion.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told Fox News Sunday the Army violated its chaplains’ constitutional rights by barring them from reading the letter – calling for resistance to the contraceptive coverage mandate.
“The Army and the Obama administration said they couldn’t even issue the letter to complain about the Obama administration’s plan on this policy,” Santorum said, calling it a violation of freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
“This is the problem when government tells you they can give you things,” said Santorum, a Catholic. “They can take it away but even worse they can tell you how they are going to exercise this new right consistent with their values instead of the values guaranteed in the Constitution.”
On Jan. 26, Archbishop Timothy Broglio emailed a letter to Catholic military chaplains with instructions that it be read from the pulpit.
A portion of the letter was obtained by Business Insider. It reads:
“In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.”
The following day, senior chaplains received an email from the Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains advising them that the archbishop’s letter was not coordinated with their office – and instructed chaplains not to read it from the pulpit.
The Chief’s office ordered that the letter was to be mentioned in the Mass announcements and distributed in printed form in the back of the chapel.
“Archbishop Broglio and the Archdiocese stand firm in the belief, based on legal precedent, that such a directive from the Army constituted a violation of his Constitutionally-protected right of free speech and the free exercise of religion, as well as those same rights of all military chaplains and their congregants,” read a statement provided to Fox News from the Archdiocese of the Military Services.
According to the AMS, Archbishop Broglio had a telephone conversation with Secretary of the Army John McHugh.
“It was agreed that it was a mistake to stop the reading of the Archbishop’s letter,” the statement read. “Additionally, the line: “We cannot-we will not-comply with this unjust law” was removed by Archbishop Broglio at the suggestion of Secretary McHugh over the concern that it could potentially be misunderstood as a call to civil disobedience.
The issue raises a question among critics: did administration official tell the Catholic Church what it could and could not say in the pulpit?
The Army confirmed that they asked Catholic chaplains not to read the letter, according to a statement released to National Review Online.
“The Army greatly appreciates the Archbishops consideration of the military’s perspective and is satisfied with the resolution upon which they agreed,” the statement concluded.
A source with knowledge of the incident told Fox News that no other branches of the military objected to the letter and to their knowledge was delivered “as-is” by chaplains in the other branches of the military.
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If we allow this administration to silence the Military Chaplains in total violation of our Constitution, then we will allow it to take all of our freedoms away, this is the time to stand up and say NO, obama you will not take our freedoms away, you will NOT install a socialist form of Government on us.
What do expect from BO? I find it amazing he "graduated" from law school yet he has SUCH LITTLE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE US CONSTITUTION AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT! JUST GOES TO SHOW HOW CRAPPY OUR US EDUCATION SYSTEM IS!
We don't have a President, we have a DICTATOR in the White House! This President has repeatedly Undermined and Ignored the Constitution which should be an Impeechable Offense. He swore to defend and uphold the Constitutiion of the United States of America during his inauguration. He spends most of his time campaigning and vacationing; can we Deriliction of Duty to the list as well. President aka Dictator Obama is a disgrace to the Office that we the people hold dear.
So last week we hear Oblowhole saying Jesus would back his tax the rich policy. I wonder if Jesus would back this stab in the back to the Catholic church.
The similarities between Obama and Hitler grow even closer…unbelievable.
Sieg Heil!!
The slippery slope continues.
Interesting that they have no first-hand source of this alleged directive.
Yet another example of Xtian Persecution Complex. If you're going to act as an employer and provide the ONLY affordable insurance coverage for secular workers, you don't micro-manage your employees' personal medical decisions. It really is as easy as that.
James Lot, you have a flawed understanding of what a "RIGHT" is. A "right" is not a "right" if it requires the actions of another in order to obtain that right. Your so-called right to healthcare would necessitate that someone provide healthcare services. Well, what would happen if no one were around that could provide these services? Your "right" to these services would then be violated since there would not be anyone, or any facility, to administer your "right." Concerning "right"s, the left is wrong.
This is the absolute best thing the Obama dictatorship administration has ever done. It is political suicide in an election year. Roman Catholics will gallop to the rescue as knights in shining armor!
I don't think so Paula. The masses of Catholics don't even have a problem with USING contraceptives themselves…so why would any intelligent Catholic believe this nonsense that offering them the same birth control (they already use with a clean concience before God) thru an insurance carrier could possibly violate their concience? No one is forcing anyone to take it. It is the hierarchy who love their power OVER the people, more than they actually love the people or God, who are making a big deal about NOTHING…mirroring their intelligence to be part of that Church with all their nonsense and lies they have been teaching for 1700 years now…keeping their people in bondage to lies and false worship.
Michael Basalyga I am so sorry you believe that junk about the Catholic Church Michael. You seem like such a nice guy. And sincere too. Let me begin why I said what I did. Even though it may be true that many Catholics do use birth control, it is still the official position of the Church that all such use is murder under the 10 Commandments which is a belief that all genuine Christians adhere to including myself. What Obama has done is to motivate the leadership to actively guide the membership about political chioices. This is unprecedented in modern history. Many of the modern problems of the Catholic Church were not created by actual priests. The communists infiltrated the church with many false priests to undermine it's credibility. If interested in that story read the book AA1025. The Bishop now in charge of selecting and training of new priests in America is profoundly conservative and quite holy himself and young enough to really make a difference. So there you have it. LOL
The Arrows of Orion
by Michael Christopher
Only the power of Love can consume within our hearts, the evil love of power.
The children of God cannot coexist with the children of the gods who lust for power.
Relationships always fail when we insist on loving ourselves more than Another.
We are One in the God of all Virtue, when we make His Virtue our own.
Pain teaches and instructs us to be sensitive to one another and our surroundings.
True humility joined to wisdom and love creates holiness deep in our hearts.
Through perfect faith and perfect hope we will all come to know perfect love.
Humility is living in a continual awareness of our complete dependency on God.
The speck in our friends eye, acts as an irritation, to give us a pearl of wisdom.
In His infinite love, God created an infinite universe to keep us all humble.
Funny how the intelligent men who came from a speck of dust cannot create one.
Faith is to entrust our lives into the hands of Someone who knows us best.
True greatness like the greatness of God, excels above all else in serving others.
Our knowledge, understanding and wisdom will only be as perfect as our humility.
God is not a micromanager, except in the hearts of those who love Him so.
We can only love and admire God to the same extent we truly know Him.
To love one another with all of our hearts… truly requires all of our effort and care.
Focus not upon what you don’t possess, but find deep satisfaction in what you do.
The temptation of Eden, as it is today, was to trust the wisdom of God, or not.
True excellence is only found as we seek to excel in loving and serving one another.
We are not set back, but only drawn back… to be catapulted into our Destiny.
Evil wars are only waged by the dark raging evil in the hearts and minds of men.
Wise and intelligent people choose Someone wise and intelligent to lead them.
Pure and clear as the deep blue sea is the beauty of the knowledge of God.
If we must be the first, may we seek to be the first… to love with all of our hearts.
No greater love has any woman or man than they live their life as a living sacrifice.
Forgiveness is the key that opens the door to the vast wealth of the Fathers heart.
The hurts of our past only exist in our imagination…if we insist on recalling them.
Lovely memories are the richly colored sunsets that grace the close of eternal days.
It is the heart that chooses what we behold, its condition that dictates what we see.
The perfect union of a pure heart and mind, creates perfect and pure intelligence.
Nothing is more dangerous than intelligence and power separated from Virtue.
Hearing has the power to transcend dimensions unseen by the eyes of mortal men.
Our present is the fruit of our past, yet its choices hold promise of a better tomorrow.
The gift of forgetfulness is given to those who seek to find rest in the arms of God.
Pure and holy Love can only be found in a pure and holy heart given to God.
Temptation is the weakness of a heart that has yet to be wholly surrendered to God
True perfection is only found in a heart perfectly surrendered to the Living God.
Intelligence is not something to be admired, unless it is purified in the fires of God.
The fear of death can only be conquered by coming to know and trust in perfect love.
The beauty of silence is found in coming to know the whisper of the still small Voice
To believe in Eternity will eventually free the mortal soul from the bonds of Time
If we were never challenged to love one another, our love would never grow deeper.
How can it be we continue to tolerate within ourselves what we despise in others?
The deep loss we sense in separation is the reflection of a love that will never end.
Adversity causes us to immerse ourselves in the depths of Gods sufficiency.
True and eternal peace is having assurance of God’s presence thru conflict.
Humility is the reflection of one being filled with the fullness of God.
Eternal life comes in the knowing and understanding of Divine Virtue.
Michael Basalyga How do you feel about chastity before marriage and faithfulness to one partner for a lifetime? This is the divide.
Paula Hall: After I give you all that spiritual dialogue, you ask me a question about sex? That is WHAT divide? I should ask you what you feel about the article online yesterday on msnbc regarding 200 catholic priests in california suspected of homoexual abuse of boys.
Tracy
It also said I will defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
And the officers oath doesn’t say anything about obeying the orders of the President. Look it up.
I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.) WHY DO YOU KEEP TAKING DOWN MY COMMENT?
Tracy
It also said I will defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
And the officers oath doesn’t say anything about obeying the orders of the President. Look it up.
I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.) WHY DO YOU KEEP TAKING DOWN MY COMMENT?
By silencing the Chaplin they exacerbated their effort to attain silence. The Ob-army appeasers are a bit paranoid about Christians. Meanwhile, pro life demonstrators get shouted down by OWS demonstrators who show up at the pro life rally uninvited and they dump condoms on school children. Makes me want to shout them down and call them leaches and baby killers. Should the Army be paranoid about Christians acting toward OWS aggression in kind? We need to SHOUT back at them and call them LEACHES of OBAMACARE advocates of SOCIALIST DEA_DBEAT DECAY! PURVEYERS OF INFANTACIDE! If we allow them to degrade us and shout at us and not shout back just as adamantly. Then we look weak and wayward in the eyes of the rest of society and we LOSE! The Islamist have been using this psychological warfare for more than a thousand years. They keep calling Christians and all other non Muslims infidels within earshot and in view of as many other people as possible to undermine our legitimacy and credibility. We see a lot of these foreigners online on Fox comments all other manner of blogs and internet forums referring to Christians and others as infidels with the intent of having other people see this denigration and degradation and it basically goes unanswered and uncorrected. We know how highly impressionable children and young adults are and your children are the target they intend to make an impression about you, your beliefs and your culture. You cannot let these anti Christian acclamations go unanswered. You must return that worst and never allow these most degrading- challenging of all insults go unanswered as they accuse you, your fellow Christians and your society "infidels". Those of us whom have the muster must SHOUT BACK! When they call you and your brethren infidels, reply without exception and tell them, "You are the heathen." You know there are onlookers online and we must retaliate against their psychological war with the truth and fight tooth and nail for the hearts and minds of all people and especially for our children's souls. Show our brethren and our children that we have pride in who we are! Once you let your children and your brethren into the physical and psychological realm of OWS and Islamist, they will remain controlled by their programs of fear and indoctrination. This is what Occupy Wall Street and Islam does.
By silencing the Chaplin they exacerbated their effort to attain silence. The Ob-army appeasers are a bit paranoid about Christians. Meanwhile, pro life demonstrators get shouted down by OWS demonstrators who show up at the pro life rally uninvited and they dump condoms on school children. Makes me want to shout them down and call them leaches and baby killers. Should the Army be paranoid about Christians acting toward OWS aggression in kind? We need to SHOUT back at them and call them LEACHES of OBAMACARE advocates of SOCIALIST DEA_DBEAT DECAY! PURVEYERS OF INFANTACIDE! If we allow them to degrade us and shout at us and not shout back just as adamantly. Then we look weak and wayward in the eyes of the rest of society and we LOSE! The Islamist have been using this psychological warfare for more than a thousand years. They keep calling Christians and all other non Muslims infidels within earshot and in view of as many other people as possible to undermine our legitimacy and credibility. We see a lot of these foreigners online on Fox comments all other manner of blogs and internet forums referring to Christians and others as infidels with the intent of having other people see this denigration and degradation and it basically goes unanswered and uncorrected. We know how highly impressionable children and young adults are and your children are the target they intend to make an impression about you, your beliefs and your culture. You cannot let these anti Christian acclamations go unanswered. You must return that worst of all insults and never allow these most degrading- challenging of all insults go unanswered as they accuse you, your fellow Christians and your society "infidels". Those of us whom have the muster must SHOUT BACK! When they call you and your brethren infidels, reply without exception and tell them, "You are the heathen." You know there are onlookers online and we must retaliate against their psychological war with the truth and fight tooth and nail for the hearts and minds of all people and especially for our children's souls. Show our brethren and our children that we have pride in who we are! Once you let your children and your brethren into the physical and psychological realm of OWS and Islamist, they will remain controlled by their programs of fear and indoctrination. This is what Occupy Wall Street and Islam does.
Why enlist and fight for a country without God. It really defeats the purpose to fight for an America only to have America become like the primitive anti-Semitic enemies we have been fighting against; by the actions of administrators and judges making all the sacrifices of our troops forgone and for naught.
this isn't about religion, this is about censorship. Obama is a fascist dictator.
I believe that our constitution says we the people. The politicians in Washington works for the people and I have not seen anywhere in the constitution that it says we the government. We have the freedom of speech and the freedom of religon. We have a movement in our country that is trying to turn our country into a socialist communist nation. They are blocking all our jobs and saying it is the EPA that is doing it. We the people needs to make sure they vett the ones running for the elections in 2012 and make sure we don't vote anymore of these socialist liberals in office again.
OK to write it but not to say it?
I'd like to see the Supreme Court rule on that differentiation between Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.
Those Catholics who don't have abortions or use birth control because their church says not to, did not put Obama in the White House. They said of the last election, "Is he anti-abortion? I'm not voting for any one who's for choice." The diehard Catholics are never going to elect a pro-abortion, pro-birth control President, and these are the people Obama never had , to lose.Yet he won, so I don't think the Catholic vote is a major stumbling block to Obama. Americans buy their little girls dolls with 40 triple D boobs and clothing you can't decipher-is it top or bottom?-, and for the living 5-year-old, sexy swimsuits and clothes, because that's all there is in the way of little girls' clothes. Fashion contributes to the number of pregnant teens, but is that who has most abortions? Who drove fashion in this direction- men? How many of us are part of this sin while blaming just the frightened and confused 15-year-old girl?- are questions we should know answers to, to have an effect on abortion policy. But Obama is going too far. May he be forgiven for not knowing what a real church is? I remember the " wonderful" man who married the Obamas and was the Mr.s' mentor-and choke on my gruel.That is why we don't want this man President- who he thinks are great men and great leaders are disparate from who we do.That's scary. On top of that he doesn't seem to have a clue what he's butting into-people's church-mandated religious beliefs.(Oh, we can butt into his but he can't but into ours? Well, yes.Ours are good-his are racist.We didn't tell him to drop his mentor; we just showed the guy to the world and he made a choice.) The idea he can dictate to our bishops though-that has got to go.
This recent article is about the "MILITARY CHAPLAN" where Archbishop Timothy Broglio emailed a letter to Catholic military chaplains with instructions that it be read from the pulpit. Military Chaplans are "OFFICERS". And by military regulation, Officers cannot criticize the Commander-In-Chief which is exactly what this letter is doing. Therefore, this particular article has nothing to do violation of anybody's constitutional/1st Ammendment rights.
Umm – just a bulletin for all those who are not military…THEY ARE MILITARY OFFICERS. THEY STILL HAVE TO ABIDE BY MILITARY RULES. That is all.
The Bill O'Reilly who claims to stop the spin, is now creating spin to protect the power of the Catholic hierarchy; The idea that mandating birth control coverage and making it available to Catholics violates their religious freedom or beliefs is ludicrous. No one is forcing anyone to use birth control; it is simply insurance coverage to make it available should a person choose to use it. Each person still has their individual freedom to choose according to what they believe. Jonathan Morris in representing the Catholic hierarchy in the recent Fox video clip is obviously not concerned about the religious freedom of individual Catholics (who we all know already take birth control with their freedom of conscience before God), Jonathan's concern is about what he defines as the INSTITUTIONS right to religious liberty…in this case the institution of the Catholic hierarchy…who are attempting to translate the "freedom of religion" granted to US citizens…to the "freedom of the Catholic hierarchy” to do all they can to control the people against their own free will…which of course is not liberty, but religious bondage. I would suggest they are more concerned about making more Catholic babies, than the conscience of their followers being violated. We all know God gives abundant free will to everyone to do much more than use birth control, which I clearly addressed in the post below this one. God also gave the pure freedom to priests or any other spiritual leaders to marry, BUT THE HIERARCHY TOOK THAT AWAY TOO. We all know what the abhorrent results of that has been, with the priests turning into homosexuals and molesting boys. The Catholics are SO lost at sea…they are not even in the right Ocean. I Timothy 4:3 & Heb.13:4.
If the Pope and his ignorant Bishops were in the garden of Eden 6,000 years ago, they would have objected to God planting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil there as a violation of their conscience…and had a much bigger problem with the two innocent lovers whom God clothed with nothing but the lovely radiance and Majesty of His own likeness; who were making passionate love and multiplying like God told them to. Gen 1:28 / 3:11 & Heb. 13:4
If the Pope and his hierarchy were in the garden of Eden 6000 years ago, they would have objected to God planting the tree (of the knowledge of good and evil) there as a violation of their conscience…and had a much bigger problem with the two innocent lovers whom God clothed with nothing but the lovely radiance and Majesty of His own likeness; who were making passionate love and multiplying like God told them to. Gen 1:28 / 3:11 & Heb. 13:4
98% of Catholic women have proved they don’t give a hoot about the “authority” of their Pope and his underlings since they already use birth control. Most of those women are also honest enough to admit they are fine with the new insurance mandate. The rest of those women who claim to oppose the President’s plan are obviously only giving lip service to the hierarchy…knowing of course…lip service is what they love the most.
We all need tio add our prayers to make Obama a "One-Term" president. I add my vote for Rick Santorum one hundred percent for our next president. He is the best one our country needs.
I have installed/used skybb for just a few days now without understood this till My spouse and i ended up on this internet site via a random search engines…