The following comes from a Mar. 14 story in the Orange County Register.
Despite impending battles over hot-button issues, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino is urging parishioners without health insurance to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Bishop Gerald Barnes’s letter, coaxing his flock to obey the law of the land, will be read during all Masses this weekend at the 91 parishes in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. The bishop’s message comes days after Catholic organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that insurance policies require birth-control coverage.
Dozens of businesses and other religious groups have filed similar suits alleging that money paid for healthcare will then be used by the federal government to subsidize contraceptives and abortion, which are morally unacceptable to Catholics.
Barnes is worried that the Catholic Church’s vocal opposition to the parts of the law that deal with coverage of contraception and abortion services led some Catholics to believe the church opposes the entire Affordable Care Act, said John Andrews, a spokesman for the diocese, which covers Riverside and San Bernardino counties and 1.6 million Catholics.
“These factors do not mean that we, as Catholics, should disobey the new health care law,” Barnes said in the letter. “If we happen to have an insurance plan that includes services that are objectionable to our faith, which most plans in California do, our response is to not utilize these services. We do this through an informed conscience and reflection on the teachings of our Church about the value and dignity of every human life and God’s plan for creation.”
The Diocese of San Bernardino appears to be the only one in Southern California to make such a move. The Diocese of Orange or Bishop Kevin Vann do not plan on making a similar announcement, said spokesman Ryan Lilyengren.
“Any outreach in Orange County in connection with healthcare is being done by Catholic Charities of Orange County,” he said….
To read the entire article, click here.
The following comes from a Mar. 17 email from a San Diego reader.
I have uncovered a corrupt situation occurring with Catholic Charities which just opened a new office in City Heights. This particular CC office is being used as a front to sign up Obamacare patients via the California program and Medi-Cal and to sign up even more people for food stamps. There doesn’t seem to be anything Catholic or charitable occurring in this particular office. Even worse, the office is located on the side of the building housing the district office of pro-abortion Congresswoman Susan Davis.
With all due respect to the Bishop…..there is sterilization and contraception in the OBAMACARE bill!!!!
Someone PLEASE INFORM him!!!!!!!
And reading it at all the Masses, oh my goodness. When we have something REALLY important nothing gets read from the pulpit, and now this, which is totally against the Church’s teachings regarding what I mentioned above.
Can I just ask a question? Why is it that if a service is provided, that the moral weight suddenly shifts from the consumer? That is to say, if I offer you an apple, and it is forbidden for you to take the apple, is it the morality of the apple seller or the morality of the apple buyer that is at stake?
The consumer is being required to financially support MORTAL SINS.
These mortal sins are not debatable.
CCC: “1868 Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:
– by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
– by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
– by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
– by protecting evil-doers.”
If people want to commit the mortal sins of contraception, voluntary sterilization, volunatary sex change operations, and abortion – they should pay for these sins themselves.
There’s a major flaw in your logic. The provisions relating to contraception and abortion apply to all health plans, not just those subsidized by Medicaid.
Have you personally decided to opt out of having any kind of health coverage out of protest in conscience? Somehow I doubt it.
How about paying taxes for unjust wars?
Paul, back when the Church was supporting torture of suspected heretics, and supported the Inquisition’s policy of seizing the worldly property of accused heretics, should everyone have stopped donating to the Catholic Church to stop mortal sins?
Suspected terrorists?…those who promulgated heresy, i.e. the Huegenots for example, who spread heresy into Spain from France, were guilty of “heresy” as well as treason…to defy the Church was treason, as the secular laws of Spain also endorsed the moral laws of the Catholic Church, which were the law of the land…the heretics could have “recanted”…which would have removed the threat of a “capital offense” against the realm, than treason would not have been committed…in which case… death, and the “fear of it” would not have followed…those who were recalcitrant were punished…and rightly so
JonJ, people should not have financially supported only those portions of the Church that supported the mortal sins. Every Diocese and every Parish did not support or take active part in the Inquisition. In fact during the entire Inquisition from mid 1200’s through the early 1400’s it was supported only by the Dominican Order.
CCC: ” 1759 An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention” (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6). The end does not justify the means.”
YFC— Unlike an apple ,Obamacare provides a service that is intrinsically evil. So I will answer your question with a question. When a prostitute offers an immoral service does the moral weight suddenly shift to the client? By your reasoning is the morality of the prostitute not at stake, or only that of the client? Obviously, Obamacare as the provider of evil services is no less immoral than user! I believe Bishop Barnes acts constitute material cooperation with evil and not justified morally.
Elizabeth,
He doesn’t care. He’s an extreme liberal, first and foremost.
I lived in his diocese, saw him in action.
He needs to retire or find another place to corrupt.
Ted
And just what reasons does Bp. Barnes provide that would justify complying with ACA? Because they, HHS, possibly provide NFP counselling services? LOL! I don’t think so. Obama long ago indicated his feelings for unborn babies who, say, survive an abortion killing attempt upon their young lives by, as State Senator in Illinois, voting AGAINST the Abortion Survival Act (or whatever it’s name was) that would make it mandatory, if passed, to assist in the survival of the youngster upon whom murder was attempted, but not successful. That, to me, was enough to show Obama should NEVER be president. But the doofus and hoodwinked and “low information” voters didn’t see it that way so he was “elected.” (maybe through fraud and chicanery?) And so here we are trying to survive as a nation after the same bunch of totally nincompoop voters put this cypher in AGAIN in 2012. (once again, with caveat; through fraud and chicanery? No-one in authority seems to want to find out) Now there’s much talk about IMPEACHING Obummer, he’s gotten so out of control. And doesn’t the good Bishop notice the totally intolerant stance of this President and his administration, including the Apostate Catholic Sibelius, head of HHS, in their efforts to coerce the Catholic Church in knuckling under to it’s odious mandate? No other church was singled out this way. Only the Roman Catholic Church.
When questioned, officials of Obamacare admitted that healthcare will be rationed and that there will be committees, not doctors, who will decide who and which groups of patients will receive costly treatment recommended by doctors. Among those who will not receive costly treatments will be the handicapped(physically and mentally) and the elderly. One official went to far as to say that those people will be given palliative care, pain medication. Does Bishop Barnes think this morally acceptable?
I don’t think Bishop Barnes cares about anything except support for the Democratic Party which includes abortion and sodomy marriage in their National platform.
What has Bishops Barnes done to “teach” his flock about this? NOTHING !
The Bishop of San Bernardino understands that Obamacare will be free for Illegal Aliens who will be paid by the taxes from legal citizens. The abortion thingy is a small thingy now that the reformed Catholic Church is unable to judge in matters of morals.
It’s unreal that the bishops of England – England! – have reinstated year round Friday abstinence, but the bishops of America have not. Pushing Obamacare, praying for rain, clamoring for more illegal aliens, etc., must be taking too much of their time, I guess.
The Obama administration is not getting the numbers they need and this is the bishops attempt to help boost the numbers. Nothing more than politics.
When our Diocese and the Bishops take money from the government(Catholic Charities, Common Core, etc) they work for the Democrat Party. And therefore, they will do what the party tells them to. Remember, the Catholic Church put BO in office. No surprise then that we all heard about the bill(from the pulpit) the ACLU backed- regarding the Death penalty but not about core beliefs and the non negotiables, no surprise that the Diocese allows the Mexican Consulate onto church property to subvert the law of the land, no surprise that they do not get behind the bathroom bill, Sarah’s Law, etc etc. They have been bought. And furthermore, no surprise that the CCD and RCIA curriculums are in line with the culture, not solid Catholic Teaching. Just look around and see what priest/parishes went to the Heretic Fest in Anaheim. You don’t see vocations coming from these parishes and maybe that is the goal?
Amen.
To defeat those Bishops who do not propagate solid Church teaching (but Democratic Party politics instead,
in order to save the Church, we must encourage everyone to read the Bible, and the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition”.
When sheep are ignorant they will follow anyone.
Jesus while not preaching inserrection, did often show disregard or even disdain for unjust laws and social traditions that lost their meanings. Sitting in the pew last Sunday and listening to Bishop Barnes’ letter, I was saddened. First, that we as a society felt the need to legislate healthcare access and treatment standards because services were not available to needy. But I was also more saddened that my pastoral leader would advocatefor law aimed at lessening my person responsibilities and my free will–ultimately promoting more abortions and surrendering more self-determination to the state.
My bottom line is that is it my conscience based upon my relationship with God that has to be the determinate. I hope I don’t sound to much like my Protestant brothers and sisters here, but I cannot surrender my conscience to the state even at the bishop’s request.
Health care was available to the needy through Medicaid, along with ffod stamps, housing allowance, and other government aid.
A new bill was not needed, merely fixing small portions of the existing bill.
Allowing any government to take over the health care system is asking for trouble.
If Obamacare was so good, why did Obama give the big Unions exemptions, and why is not Congress and all government workers required to participate ?
If you control healthcare, you ultimately control the people.
CCC: ” CCC: ” 1868 Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:
– by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
– by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
– by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
– by protecting evil-doers.”
CCC: 1759 “An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention” (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6). The end does not justify the means.”
CCC: 1887 “The inversion of means and ends, which results in giving the value of ultimate end to what is only a means for attaining it, or in viewing persons as mere means to that end, engenders unjust structures which “make Christian conduct in keeping with the commandments of the divine Law-giver difficult and almost impossible.”
CCC: “2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.
Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to “social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible.
This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.”
Catholics (and others) must not be required to financiallty support: – abortion, contraception and voluntary sterilization with their taxes. Any Bishop who tells his flock to pay for these is truly a Democrat and has a corrupt sense of values.
As an intermittent reader from Texas, many times I just pray that San Diego will be spared from the minds of Church officials there. I AM DEFEATED-no need to waste prayer on your insight. You folks see through the vapor carrying its false labels! Hurray for defeat of the clergy who have mastered talking out of all four corners of their brains!
When any Bishop encourages us to financially support MORTAL SIN (including the mortal sins of others), we have the obligation to disobey and follow our consecience.
Abortion, contraception, voluntary sex change operations, voluntary sterilizations, (and soon included due to health costs – euthanasia) are all MORTAL SINS.
Bishop Barnes is wrong, and I believe he knows this. Because the USCCB law suit is only regarding official Church organizations, not Laity who are not employed by the Church.
CCC: “2442 It is not the role of the Pastors of the Church to intervene directly in the political structuring and organization of social life.
This task is part of the vocation of the lay faithful, acting on their own initiative with their fellow citizens.
Social action can assume various concrete forms. It should always have the common good in view and be in conformity with the message of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church.
It is the role of the laity to animate temporal realities with Christian commitment, by which they show that they are witnesses and agents of peace and justice.”
The good Bishop used the fact that it is the”law” and his sheep should obey it. Same argument the pastors in Nazi Germany used in connection with the “law” to eliminate the Jews.
It is also the law, thanks to a gay judge overulling the will of the people of CA,that people of the same sex can marry. Will the good Bishop also write to his sheep and urge them to obey this law? He should follow his own advice for Lent-repent and resign so that a shepherd faithful to the Magisterium can be appointed.
Obamacare has nothing to do with health care. It’s all about redistribution of wealth.
The wealth is going to the insurance companies.
Health insurance does NOT guarantee medical care. The un-affordable-obama-don’t-care-act is proof positive.
Do you guys not understand this? Unless you participate in a group plan that is considered “grandfathered in” or you work for a church or other group that has been exempted, your insurance-whether it is from the exchanges or not-has the same clause. It is a government mandate for all private health insurance. Would you personally be willing to go without health insurance because of it?
Yes.
Yes, I already have.
Bp. Barnes is another “modernist” Bp., steeped in the liberal pollution that the “dems” have pushed for years!…this Bp. never talks of the necessity of praying the rosary, praying to end the scourge of pornography and the abomination of homosexual behavior, i.e. “buggery”…he vomits the same liberal swill that Cdl. Mahony advocates…illegal immigration, tolerance and acceptance of sodomites…and endorsing politician’s who support a “woman’s right to choose”…which is “abortion on demand”…Barnes is another lost Bp., who is a modernist through and through…
Notre Dame University’s law suit was thrown out of Court because they said one thing (about the teaching of the Faith), yet did another which was a matter of public record.
Even Courts believe that actions speak louder than words.
With Bishops like Gerald Barnes who needs enemies ?!
https://nyti.ms/OJdtLq
The Catholic Roots of Obama’s Activism
The agenda driven liberal “Catholic” dissidents who have attacked Catholic doctrine from within the Church, whose work was an inspiration to our community activist president, are detailed in this New York Times article.
“WE NEED CATHOLICS WITHOUT COMPROMISE” –
https://cal-catholic.com/wordpress/2014/03/24/we-need-catholics-without-compromise/#comment-110597
OBAMA is lawless. Here are just a few of his Constitutional Violations by his own Executive Orders –
Obamacare subsidies, funding abortion, individual mandate, compliance delay, employer mandate, welfare rules changes, dream act, IRS vs Tea party, Spying on AP & FOX, NRLB appointment, WWII Memorial closing, Co2 regulations, pink slip delays required of private contractors, warrantless searches, cell phone spying, Fast and Furious – – –
For the Obama Constitutional Madness Chart go to –
https://video.foxnews.com/v/3388699534001/constitutional-madness-brackets-chart-overreach/#sp=show-clips