"I am asking Catholic Women to speak out for your faith"

I find it curious that politicians and pundits who usually are the champions of the separation of Church and state are those who are defending the HHS mandate.  Just yesterday, I heard the DNC chairperson say in an interview that the Church should make contraception freely available to all of its employees.  That's fine if that's her personal opinion; "it's a free country", after all (or at leat it was).  But, she is an active senator.  Who is she as a lawmaker to tell the Church what to do?  This is what the founders of our country tried to avoid with the Constitution. 

And, what those who are in favor are not realizing, among other things, is that the President is setting a dangerous precedent.  As the head of our Pro Life group wrote recently, "If you give the President the power to add whatever they want to coverage, you also give them the power to take away whatever coverage they want. Thus, there could be a socially conservative president down the line who could deny coverage for contraceptives for ALL insurance companies. Or, there could be a president who dictates higher rates for certain people based on their lifestyle. This power extension is not just dangerous to Catholics, it is dangerous for all health professionals and all people. The power doesn't disappear after Obama."

Also, this senator said that 99% of Catholic women have used contraception at one time in their lives.  (This number, amazingly, has shot up dramatically in just a few weeks!  Maybe those Catholic women who hadn't used it thought that they need to get with the program...or, the numbers are inflated...whatever the real number is, it is big). While contraception is not the main issue of the mandate (religious freedom is), a good friend of mine sent me something she wrote in response to that whole line of thinking.  She is so right to call on Catholic women to speak up. The video below is (several pro-life) women speaking up! 


"On Friday February 10, 2012, a group named Catholics For Choice took out a full page ad on Page 11 in the A section of the Washington Post. This group depicted a graph showing 98% of Catholic women for birth control and 2% opposed. The problem is WE are all Catholics For Choice because Our Lord gave us a free will to choose. Anyone who calls themselves Catholic has made a choice to be part of that Faith: no one is forced to become or stay Catholic. The church does not change its teachings to suit the needs of individuals because it has been founded on the teachings of Our Lord. The church realizes that many women have chosen not to follow its teaching on birth control; however that does not mean it will or should change its teaching. We are called to live an informed moral life. If one chooses to not accept a teaching, that is a conscience decision between that person and God. That individual choice does not change the Church’s teaching that it is morally wrong.

I am asking Catholic Women to speak out for your faith. We often sit back and let our church leaders speak on our behalf but this time we are called to speak as Catholic Women for Choice and we choose to be Catholic."

-Mary Tull