OSV Newsweekly

By OSV Editorial Board

American political life these days seems to be in a heightened state of moral and philosophical chaos.  

In Washington, D.C., the Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of gay marriage, weighing in on both California’s Proposition 8, passed by the voters in 2008 banning gay marriage, and the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law passed in the Clinton administration and now opposed by the Obama administration. Several prominent Republicans now are in support of legalizing gay marriage.

Read entire column.

At 11 a.m. Eastern time today, 43 Catholic dioceses and organizations — including Our Sunday Visitor and the University of Notre Dame — filed religious liberty lawsuits against the federal government in a dozen different jurisdictions around the country.

Our Sunday Visitor has joined with the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, the University of Notre Dame and 40 other Catholic organizations around the country in filing federal lawsuits to block an unprecedented infringement on religious liberty. The lawsuits are in response to regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would force all Catholic organizations and employers to provide abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception to their employees free of charge, despite the fact that they are against Catholic teaching. The regulations also narrowly define what constitutes a religious employer, a formula that apparently would exclude the vast majority of Catholic organizations and apostolates, including universities, hospitals, charitable organizations, and publishing companies like Our Sunday Visitor. This webpage contains information about the lawsuit, resources and background information, as well as news stories and commentary from our newspaper, OSV Newsweekly, which is following this issue closely.

Through HHS mandate and recent court ruling, it’s clear that Church foes want it out of public arena

By Robert P. Lockwood - OSV Newsweekly, 4/22/2012

The song is called “For What It’s Worth,” the Buffalo Springfield hit from 1967 that’s a regular play on oldies stations. An ode to creeping paranoia, it begins ominously:

“There’s something happening here\What it is ain’t exactly clear.”

It began awhile back when a few local Catholic Charities started to get bounced from community social services because they didn’t provide insurance benefits to gay partners of those that might work for them.

Then Catholic social service agencies started to get blackballed from adoption services because of their beliefs about the sacrament of marriage.

The list kept growing: Contracts canceled, doors closed. And always aimed very specifically at the Catholic Church and its myriad social services. Read more

The Supreme Court’s ruling on ‘Obamacare’ has far-reaching impact for the Catholic Church, too

By Russell Shaw - OSV Newsweekly, 4/15/2012

As Americans wait to see what the Supreme Court does with President Barack Obama’s signature health care overhaul, few have a stronger interest in the outcome of this momentous test than the Catholic bishops. Their support for universal health coverage, their duty to defend the Church’s institutional interests, and their fear that the Church’s religious liberty rights are being compromised are all in play. more

Experts weigh the impact on conscience protections if U.S. Supreme Court strikes down part or all of the health care law

By Brian Fraga - OSV Newsweekly, 4/15/2012. Read more.

Rosary novenas and rallies are among ways Catholic laypeople are campaigning to protect religious freedom from threats

By Eddie O’Neill - OSV Newsweekly, 4/8/2012

According to Father Francis Hoffman, executive director of Relevant Radio, the emails have been pouring in for the last month. The sentiments expressed go something like this: “I am here in Hoboken, N.J., praying the Rosary with you; thank you for doing this Rosary. It keeps me on track; my kids look forward to it every morning as we head off to school.” 

Christians rally in downtown Detroit to protest government’s requirement that most health insurance plans include free contraceptives. ZumaPress photo by Jim West

All of these emails and testimonials are in response to Relevant Radio’s 54 Day Rosary Across America, which began Feb. 11. 

Father Hoffman told Our Sunday Visitor that the Rosary novena was in response to the Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate that would force employers, including religious ones, to provide contraception/sterilization/abortifacients in their health plans. 

“It was specifically initiated in response to the U.S. bishops’ call for fasting and prayer,” Father Hoffman said. “We cannot necessarily fast on the air; but we certainly can pray.” 

Father Hoffman added that the intentions for this novena are that wisdom and justice prevail. “As well, prayers are being offered for the repeal of the HHS mandate which would force Catholics and others of good will to violate their conscience by paying for practices that are immoral.”  read more