Keep our conscience free. (from HHS mandate protests)

Obama administration basically forces people of faith to sin by funding insurance companies that support contraception and the other immoral requirements of Obamacare.

Totally epic must-see video of priest denouncing HHS mandate

"We Hold These Truths" is a video that we felt needed to be produced in order to clearly state the main issue in regards to the (HHS) Health and Human Services Mandate. The main issue is Religious Liberty. The mandate, as it stands right now, violates the Constitution and specifically the 1st Amendment. We have a right to the free exercise of our religion without violating our consciences. Every American should see this as an important issue. It is not a Catholic issue. It is an American issue. Join the movement at http://phatmass.com/action

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/spiritjuicestudios

Twitter: https://twitter.com/spiritjuice

Video website: http://www.spiritjuicestudios.com

Fr. Pontifex: http://frpontifex.com

Music by Tony Anderson (used with permission):http://www.soundcloud.com/23violins

Behind-the-Scenes Photography:

Directed, Shot & Edited: Rob Kaczmark
Lyricist: Fr. Claude (Dusty) Burns aka Fr. Pontifex
Producers: dUSt, Danny Hidalgo, Kyle Escamilla, Rob Kaczmark
Re-Recording Mixer: Manuel Lopez III

Special thank to St. Thomas More and Rev. Charles Fanelli, Pastor for allowing us to film in the church. http://www.stthomasmorechicago.org

Lyrics:
At this time in America we've come to the crossroads
Standing with our religious freedom and what we have been told.
We hold these truths to be self evident all men created the same
Endowed with certain unalienable rights that can't be taken away
They cannot be taken away by man, they were given by the creator
God almighty in Heaven, greater than any legislature 
No system, No policy, No mandate has the power
To trample on our conscience and rob us of what is ours
Things that violate health, we are told we must provide 
Using faulty percentages to justify conquer and divide
This is not about one issue that we need to just let go
It's not simply about contraception but about government control 
A Year to comply? A Year to deny?
A Year to turn the other way and let our conscience die?
A Mandate that violates the corporate conscience of our faith
And once this door is open every religion and creed is at stake
Every American should see this as a threat to our country's foundation
Religion doesn't make us second class, settling for an accommodation
Our conscience is sacred; our freedom of religion is a treasure
Handed to us by Soldiers who fought and sacrificed beyond measure
The 1st amendment protects the free exercise of Religion
To exercise our freedom without living a contradiction 
As faithful Americans we HOLD THESE TRUTHS
Life, Liberty and Happiness' pursuit 
This isn't to be partisan or to endorse a candidate
This is about a plea to the administration to rescind this mandate
And as you deliberate for freedoms sake just remember
We get to use our rights and cast our two cents in November

Fr. Claude (Dusty) Burns
Aka Pontifex
2/24/12

Voting your conscience is not always right.

In short, conscience may not always be right. And one is not obliged to follow a sick or erroneous conscience. So the advice to follow one's conscience is deficient. It needs to be a well-formed and healthy conscience.

Examples of sick consciences are scrupulosity and laxity. The first feels guilt where there is no sin, the latter feels no guilt despite the sin. And if one has a sick conscience, then one needs to see a spiritual director for "treatment".

If one's conscience is healthy, then there is still a need to inform or educate it. The bishops issued guidelines in a document entitled "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States" where it was stated:

34. Catholics often face difficult choices about how to vote. This is why it is so important to vote according to a well-formed conscience that perceives the proper relationship among moral goods. A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s intent is to support that position. In such cases a Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in grave evil. At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate’s
opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity.

42. As Catholics we are not single-issue voters. A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support. Yet a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support.

These and others would have made it clear to any conscientious Catholic that a vote for Obama was immoral. However, others did not see it that way because they were mislead by fake Catholic groups who misrepresented the Catholic standards and by the politicians themselves who misrepresented their positions. Because of this, one has the duty to get down to the truth by looking at the candidate's voting records and past activities to confirm the veracity of his claims.

References:
1. http://www.ewtn.com/library/scriptur/conscien.txt
2. http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/

Video: Not to render to Ceasar what is God's! Manhattan Declaration.

Mike Huckabee talks to Chuck Colson about the Manhattan Declaration, which is an official document composed by a group of 150 Christain leaders that are uniting against causes such as abortion, gay marriage and others.  These men of God will not be forced to cooperate with the sinful structures that the Obama administration and the current legislature are promoting.  Like MLK or Mahatma Gandhi, these leaders have the courage of their convictions to face the consequences of standing up to immorality, debauchery, depravity and evil that is corrupting the American soul and compromising its culture.  As the pilgrims have sought a new land where they can worship God freely, these men are taking back that land that is slowly falling into the clutches of evil.  These men are now being joined by hundreds of thousands of believers who are ready to engage in forms of civil disobedience and go to jail than to support and finance all forms of immorality.  Whether it is withholding taxes or engaging in massive demonstrations, the people of God are now set to stop America from being dragged into the depths of godlessness.  To join this historic stand for God and country, one can follow the link above to the Manhattan Declaration.




Or go to source: http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2009/11/video-not-to-render-to-ceasar-what-is.html

Vid: Abp. Chaput on Politics and Faith

Click here for source or type http://www.realcatholictv.com/index.php?id=1280

Abp. Chaput talks about the political implications of faith and the responsibility to form and follow a healthy conscience.

The lot of Ted Kennedy & pro-aborts

+ Minimum requirement for Catholic burial

Last Thurs, I offered a 6:30 a.m. Mass for Sen. Kennedy praying for his last minute conversion - even after the fact. I am not quite sure how that will work but in God's economy of Salvation, one never knows. Later, I've read that a priest was summoned to his side as he died. And that fulfilled the minimum requirement for him to get a Catholic burial.

+ The gospel was damning

Whatever was said by Church representatives during his wake & burial is significant because of his prominent role in legalizing abortion in the USA. The gospel from Mt:25 states, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me." That is damning because Jesus can say, "When I was in my mother's womb, you allowed me to get murdered. Now go into the eternal fire..." And in this case, he might say it 50 million times; that's the approximate number of murders that were allowed since Roe V. Wade was adjudicated.

+ but focus shifted away from abortion

But the focus was shifted to his works for the poor as if that negated the 50+ million murders of the aborted fetuses. No wonder many think that it is morally acceptable to support the right to choose and consequently the legal protection of murdering the unborn. But the Church has always taught the contrary i.e. abortion is intrinsically evil.

+ Cafeteria spirituality is not salvific

Consequently, people can go away with the mistaken perception that as long as one does some good, then other transgression will be excused. Or that one does not have to follow all the 10 commandments and still make it. I heard part of Obama's eulogy about Ted sailing into a happy place as though he knew that for a fact. But the Catechism and the Gospels insist on following every commandment. Even the summarized form of loving God and neighbor will bring the aborted person as a counter-witness because he has been murdered and the Creator has been offended. So, the cafeteria spirituality where one picks and chooses what to follow is not salvific e.g. one cannot commit adultery and simply make up for it by praying the Rosary and giving a $100 to the poor.

+ Laws expel pro-abortion lawmakers

And if that is not clear enough, the Church's "chief justice" interprets canon 915 as excommunicating public officials who support abortion and denying them holy communion. http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09050613.html That puts the parishioner on notice i.e. "You're outside the Church and so you cannot be saved unless you change." How much clearer can the Church get? So at death, canon 1184 §1.3 would prohibit a Catholic burial as a likely consequence. Then again, not all the bishops follow the Church's laws and that is a problem - specially for the bishop who caused his flock to be lost.

+ Forgiveness of sin

As Jesus died he forgave those who killed him "for they did not know that they did." And he forgave sinners who knew what they did e.g. the tax collector and the prostitutes who repented. What about those who despite the Church's teaching against abortion persisted freely and knowingly to support the legalization of this atrocity? The last recourse is the conscience because, that is tribunal where God will judge everyone. But that is not an instant "Get out of Hell card" because conscience may say that an evil thing is good. So, the Church teaches that one must ensure the correct formation of conscience. To be honest, I doubt whether someone as intelligent as the senator can be confused with what is morally right and wrong hence the fear that his sentence is severe.

Contact HHS to not force doctors/nurses to abort. 4/9 deadline.

The US Bishops Conference is asking us to protect the right of doctors & nurses to follow their consciences in not performing abortions. The government is going to rescind these if no one stops them. So, please go to the Health & Human Services website and register your objection.

The Obama administration is testing just how far it can go. It backed off before when opposed, so it can back down again if the outrage cannot be ignored. Otherwise, it will proceed and our bishops will close our hospitals instead of forcing our healers to murder and turning our facilities into slaughter houses. Please click on this link & fill up the form. http://actions.nchla.org/Core.aspx?Screen=compose2&SessionID=$AID=970:SITEID=-1:VV_CULTURE=en-us:APP=GAC:ISSUEID=16808$

About the campaign: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is inviting public comment on a proposal to rescind an important federal regulation issued in December. The regulation implements and enforces three federal laws protecting the conscience rights of health care providers, especially those at risk of being discriminated against because of their moral or religious objection to abortion. ( Source: http://www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection/ )

Obama administration forces healers to murder

Doctors and nurses can no longer refuse to perform abortions after conscience protection is removed by section 35 of Illinois FOCA.  In this video, Cardinal Francis George, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urges you to oppose this.  Here’s the link for the video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NoCRwMqVzQ&eurl=http://stopillinoisfoca.com/category/church/&feature=player_embedded