Sunday, February 19, 2012

HHS Mandate, Conscience, and This Catholic


Update (March 7, 2012)

I've moved the list of posts which began in this post to a new page, under:
The American Department of Health and Human Services is in the process of forcing Catholic doctors to either violate their conscience, or stop being doctors. I think that's wrong: but then, I think there's an authority higher than the HHS secretary, or even the United States Supreme Court.

Since this latest attack on conscience isn't likely to go away soon, I'm starting a list of posts on the topic:The latest move by the HHS to force folks to abandon either their conscience or their livelihood isn't surprising. I've posted about what the HHS boss wants, and what the Archbishop of Kansas City said about it, before:

Conscience, Life, and Killing the Innocent

I have the rather counter-cultural belief that innocent people shouldn't be killed. Not even if they're too old, too young, or too sick, to defend themselves. That's because human life is sacred. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2258)

Respect for life goes far beyond opposition to killing babies:

Living in an Imperfect World

I think human life is sacred. I think innocent people shouldn't be killed. But that doesn't make me a pacifist.

That's because I think that there are occasions when it's necessary to keep innocent people from being killed: and that sometimes asking attackers to please stop won't work. I've been over this before:I hope that someday we'll have an "international authority with the necessary competence and power"1 to protect citizens everywhere against tyrants and official nitwits.

About the nearest equivalent to Tennson's parliamant of man that we've got today is the United Nations. It's not perfect, but like the American Congress: it's the best we've got at the moment.

I think we can do better: and that's another topic.

I've been over this sort of thing before:
1 Cited January 6, 2012, September 11, 2011:
"All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.

However, 'as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed.'106
"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2308)

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Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:Posts in this blog: In the news:

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.