It's on. Catholics have officially filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over the contraception mandate in ObamaCare. The lawsuit names Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and their departments as defendants.
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in a May 21 statement applauded 43 dioceses, hospitals, schools and church agencies for filing 12 lawsuits around the nation saying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate violates religious freedom.
His statement follows.
“We have tried negotiation with the Administration and legislation with the Congress – and we’ll keep at it – but there's still no fix. Time is running out, and our valuable ministries and fundamental rights hang in the balance, so we have to resort to the courts now. Though the Conference is not a party to the lawsuits, we applaud this courageous action by so many individual dioceses, charities, hospitals and schools across the nation, in coordination with the law firm of Jones Day. It is also a compelling display of the unity of the Church in defense of religious liberty. It's also a great show of the diversity of the Church's ministries that serve the common good and that are jeopardized by the mandate – ministries to the poor, the sick, and the uneducated, to people of any faith or no faith at all.”
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Ironically, the lawsuit comes just a week after "Catholic" pro-abortion, pro-contraception mandate Kathleen Sebelius spoke at a Georgetown University commencement ceremony. Georgetown is a Catholic institution and was at the center of the contraception mandate controversy.
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