On Wednesday I spoke to our teens about the Fortnight for Freedom, informing them why the Church was doing this and explaining how crucial it is for them now to make the decision of what side of the fence they want to be on. I told them that for the longest time it was our parents who so generously fostered the faith within us and now was the time for us to make our own decisions. Now is the time for the faith to become our own. Pope Benedict XVI, in his forward in the YOUCAT, encourages the young people of the Church. He says, “You need to know what you believe. You need to know your faith with that same precision with which an IT specialist knows the inner working of a computer. You need to understand it like a good musician knows the pieces he is playing. Yes, you need to be more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of your parents so that you can engage the challenges and temptations of this time with strength and determination. You need God’s help if your faith is not going to dry up like a dewdrop in the sun, if you want to resist the blandishments of consumerism, […] if you are not going to betray the weak and leave the vulnerable helpless.” The Holy Father is right! As Catholics, young and old, we are going to be questioned about what we believe and why this mandate is a threat to our religious freedom. Supporters of Obamacare and the HHS Mandate keep saying how this mandate “isn’t about religious freedom, but rather about women’s health”. They say that Obamacare is really about helping the poor and taking care of the weak and vulnerable. As Catholics and Christians, we all know the Bible says to take care of all of these people, but the Church also tells us that the end does not justify the means. You cannot clothe something like this in “compassion” and think that no one is going to notice!
These supporters are trying to make it seem like the Catholic Church is against taking care of people, which could not be further from the truth. We cannot “care” for one just to neglect another. If the healthcare reform is passed, many people will end up suffering. We will have socialized medicine which would mean that in time, because of the laws that may be passed, doctors will end up having to decide who needs a transplant more, a 75 year old man or a 27 year old woman. The first people to suffer will be the elderly or those who they deem do not to have enough “quality of life”. As far as the HHS mandate is concerned, we're being told it's all about women’s health. As a woman, I am all about women’s health. However, I am not for forcing people who do not believe in abortion, contraception and infanticide to pay for these kinds of things because they would be supporting something they do not believe in. I am not for making abortion, contraception and infanticide seem like another normal thing in the life of a U.S. citizen because they aren’t. Supporters of Obamacare and the HHS Mandate aren't telling us that abortions increase, by a great margin, depression and suicide in women, or that contraception increases the risks of heart attack and stroke among women. Nor do they tell us that infanticide is on the rise and the sex that is most at risk for being killed, even though they have no birth defects, are girls…all because the parents wanted a boy.
Supporters of Obamacare and the HHS Mandate are trying to place all of these things under the banner of “freedom”. They want people to have the “freedom” to do what they want; to live “healthy and happy lives.” But what is freedom? The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility. By free will one shapes one’s own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed towards God, our beatitude.” (CCC 1731). The Church continues to say that “the more one does what is good, the freer one becomes” (CCC 1733) and that “the exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say and do everything”. (1740)
With this in mind, let us exercise our freedom and defend what we believe in most! During these next 13 days, let us look to St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, who stood up for what they believed in, and pray that we too will have the courage to defend the precious gift of our faith!
St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, pray for us!
Written by Alycia
