WILL THE US GOVERNMENT SHUT CATHOLIC MINISTRIES' DOORS?
By Arlene Sawicki -
At a time when religious liberties are being politically challenged, it's worthy to review the massive positive impact Catholic American educational, health and social ministries are now making in communities across the country.
Schooling: There are 1.5 million children in Catholic elementary schools and 580,00 in secondary schools, with an enrollment of close to 1 million in Catholic colleges and universities.
Health Care: The nation's 630 Catholic hospitals, and 120,000 beds, account for 16 percent of all hospitals, more than 30% being in rural areas, and employ more than 640,000 people. 363 health care centers assist 5,038,247 patients, for a total of 88,519,295 patients annually.
Social Services: In 2012 Catholic Charities provided social support services to 2,251,442 people. Food banks provide food services to 7,146,490 people - Mental health services 405,848 - Immigration services 323,312 - Addiction services 81,866 -Refugee services 120,422 - Pregnancy services 93,542 - Catholic residential homes for children or orphans 23,479 young people - 1,005 day care and extended day care centers assisting 121,211 children - 3,602 special centers for social services assisting 32,768,652 people - Provided housing-related services to 497,732 people - Disaster relief services to 93,436 people.
Humanitarian Aid: The U.S. Bishop's Catholic Relief Services [CRS] assists more than 100 million people in more than 100 countries every year with 2011 expenses amounting to $822 million directed to emergency assistance, HIV/AIDS, agricultural and health programs.
Catholics have built up the nation's largest network of social service organizations, a tradition dating back to New Orleans in 1727, when 12 French Ursuline sisters arrived in the city to serve the poor. This is not done out of self-interest because the majority of the beneficiaries are not Catholic, but because of the Gospel call to love and charity towards all.
If appeals to Constitutional guarantees of religious liberty fail, it would seem that the government, intentionally and out of sheer self-interest, would force this vast and highly-rated religious service network to shutter its doors.
Mrs. Sawicki is writing on behalf of the Catholic Citizens of Illinois.
The day is coming when even Catholic churches will be closed. Any institution that disagrees with government policy is doomed.
ReplyDeleteAll religions conflict with the Democratic Agenda of Same sex marriage, sodomy, animal husbandry, anytime abortions of children, free drugs, and total atheism.
ReplyDeleteCheck this out, the 19th Ward is predominantly Catholic, many in the area send their kids to Catholic schools in the ward, just as their parents and grandparents did. Many 19th Warders are happy to see each other at church on the weekend, share the sacraments together from baptism to burial. Proud to watch our children receive First Holy Communion together. We characterize ourselves by the parish we live in, or the parish we moved from. Many of us, our children and grandchildren were born at Little Company of Mary Catholic hospital.
ReplyDelete90% of 19th Warders have elected and continue to elect the very same people who are at war with the Catholic church.
90% voted for this president who supports late term abortion, govt subsidized abortion and contraception, who is forcing Catholic institutions to do so as well. A president who mocks the rite of marriage. A man who speaks from the hallowed halls of Notre Dame and Georgetown, but only after they cover, hide, or remove crosses and icons representing the Catholic church which serves those institutions.
One 19th Warder once told me, "its not about liking the president, its about supporting the party". So there it is.
Support the democratic party that degrades your church, spits on your beliefs, and ridicules your heritage.
90% of you do every election.
Catholics need to wake up. We cannot support the party of our fathers and grandfathers any longer. The Democrats have lost their way.
DeleteWell said. However we are not quite at 90 percent yet. And I often wondered if these people who do not like Obama, realize that they can vote any way they want once they are in the voting booth. It is after all a secret ballot. Also, why should you support a Party that not only doesn't support you, but spits on your institutions? That is not what our grand parents came here for. They would be violently ill to see what has become of their progeny.
DeleteThis is really the goal of the propagandists for same sex marriage. Gays are maybe 3-5 percent of the population. SOME feel they were born that way. Some BECOME gay or bi-sexual later in life....and SOME leave the gay lifestyle for heterosexual relationships. The gay radical Christian haters have as their true agenda - the destruction of Christianity of which they hate. I was listening to WCPT "Progressive" radio and they had ads for a book which was basically stating that Christ was a made up character. Bizarre but that was the contention. And where did this writer believe he could best market his book? On the WCPT left wing radio station. They have just begun to attack the Christian churches. Homo marriage is only the BEGINNING - not the END !
ReplyDeleteEvery society has its sects who want to believe in one thing or another that conflicts with the norm. Whatever your conclusions on homosexuality, and you are free to believe what you like, THEY are not organizing an army to destroy Christianity. What you are listening to is the usual small, radical wannabes who wake up each day with an agenda of chaos. Stop listening to them.
DeleteThe real point is that the LGBT lobby currently has a lot of cash and influence that politicians have recently discovered. So now they get their 5 minutes of fame. Similar to ghetto reverends, and both sides of the gun lobbies.
Politicians have stopped representing their constituents and only represent themselves as they squeeze every last dime from the broken political system. In the end, we have no one to blame but ourselves, since we continue to elect them.
I like this post (Anonymous Jul 10), and I agree with it. There's no money to be made, apparently, in building an economy, or having a middle class.
DeleteThe Catholic Health Association now fully backs the new law’s provisions:
ReplyDeleteIn June of last year, CHA strongly criticized–as did the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops–the way the Department of Health and Human Services had attempted to accommodate the concerns of religious employers who objected to the mandate. The USCCB is still not (and may never be) happy with the rule. But CHA now believes HHS has addressed their concerns.
“It was important for our members to achieve resolution of this issue in time for them to negotiate their insurance renewals and with the assurance they would not have to contract, provide, pay or refer for contraceptive coverage,” Sr. Carol Keehan, president of CHA, told me. “We are pleased that that has been achieved with this accommodation.”