The Little Sisters of the Poor religious order has asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to extend an injunction blocking enforcement of a federal mandate to provide contraceptive coverage in employee health insurance. A brief filed Feb. 24 with the appeals court in Denver said the injunction is necessary "to prevent the impermissible government pressure" on the order to offer an employee health benefits plan consistent with their Catholic faith, which is against contraceptives. "For the Little Sisters, an injunction ... is necessary to spare (them) from the illegal coercion" forcing them to provide coverage they oppose, said the brief, filed on behalf of the Colorado-based order and their co-plaintiffs -- Christian Brothers Services and Christian Brothers Employee Benefits Trust. The filing follows the Supreme Court's Jan. 24 order affirming -- for the time being -- an injunction handed down by Justice Sonia Sotomayor within hours of the mandate taking effect at midnight Jan. 1. Noncompliance by that date would have meant thousands of dollars in daily fines levied against the Little Sisters. Under rules issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the mandate requires nearly all employers to cover contraceptives, sterilizations and some abortion-inducing drugs for all employees in their company health plan. It includes a narrow exemption for some religious employers that fit certain criteria. Non-exempt religious employers, such as the Little Sisters, have to direct a third-party to provide contraceptives, which the order opposes. This is clearly a violation of the separation of church and state. The Constitution was created to protect religion and those that choose to worship. Our President does not understand basic principles of our governing documents.
The spiritual climax of the Gospel of John, as Father John Waiss points out, occurs at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus utters his parting words: “Woman, behold, your son!” and “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). While these words were addressed to the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Church has long understood this moment as a universal adoption. To truly image Christ, we must share in His parentage; if we embrace God as our spiritual Father but reject Mary as our mother, we treat Christ as a half-brother rather than our "firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). As Origen noted as early as the third century, the profound depths of the Gospel are only accessible to those who, like John, rest their heads on Jesus’ breast and receive Mary into their own homes. This maternal role is deeply rooted in biblical typology, positioning Mary as the fulfillment of the great mothers of the Old Covenant. She is the New Eve , the mother of all the living according ...