Thomas Aquinas College will not compromise

I have learned from the Catholic education watchdog group Cardinal Newman Society (see their feed on the sidebar of this blog) that Thomas Aquinas College has opted to NOT to knuckle under to the threats of the Obama Administration regarding ObamaTax and its multiple violations of religious freedom.

TAC will pay heavy fines rather than acquiesce to abuse.

Facing Supreme Court Decision, Thomas Aquinas College Refuses to Compromise Catholic Beliefs

Last week, Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) in Santa Paula, Calif., appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for relief from the “HHS Mandate” with The Catholic University of America and the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. But should the Court fail to protect their religious freedom, TAC President Dr. Michael F. McLean told The Cardinal Newman Society that his faithful college is prepared to pay significant fines rather than violate its beliefs.

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15 Comments

  1. Mike says:

    To invert a recent hierarchal comment, evidently Thomas Aquinas College has “better things to do” than knuckle under to a hostile State!

    May God bless them, and may faithful Catholics be ready to stand with them in solidarity. The attacks don’t rate to ease any time soon, and there’s no place to hide.

  2. RichR says:

    What a travesty that they are having to even engage in this fight. The arrogance of the government to force people to do something immoral and fine them if they don’t comply.

  3. ProfKwasniewski says:

    I say this with the most profound respect for my alma mater:

    Why pay the fines? Does that not seem to signify compliance with an unjust governmental system that is demanding payment where no payment is owed? (It’s not like income taxation.) In a broader sense, do we not need Catholic institutions to start refusing to comply at all?

  4. bdouglass says:

    I second ProfKwasniewski, why are they even giving this game the time of day by saying they’ll pay the fines?

  5. jlmorrell says:

    Prof Kwasniewski & bdouglas:

    So tell me how your scenario plays out. TAC refuses to pay the fines and then the government just leaves them alone. More likely the IRS files tax liens, levies bank accounts, etc. in order to inflict as much damage as possible on visible non compliant institutions. Perhaps this would not happen if a Republican wins in 2016, but even that is no guaranty. I’m all for not paying the fines, but we have to understand the repercussions if that is the path taken.

  6. The Astronomer says:

    To quote the attorney for one of the lesbian ‘couples’ seeking to get married in Kentucky where the county clerk says she will obey God before man: “we don’t want to put these people in jail and make them martyrs….we want them to SUFFER financially…”

    It would also seem thus with ObamaCare tax.

  7. bdouglass says:

    @jlmorrell,

    Yes, that would be what happens. But, as Astonomer says, they would be made martyrs. They and anyone else who refused would join the ranks of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Someone’s got to make the IRS blink and the bigger and more public a group it is (and if they have a name like the sisters all the better!) the better visibility they get, even with a biased and bigoted media.

    Servant of God Dorothy Day took this attitutde with both the IRS over tax exemption and the civil defense folks with the air raid drills in NYC. The IRS seems to have caved do to agents who were Catholics of good will, but eventually the public opposition to the drills became too much for them to even pretend to do anything about and she won.

  8. Chris Garton-Zavesky says:

    As the father of a current TAC student, I don’t read Dr. McLean’s statement the way the other commenters have. I don’t think he’s offering to pay fines. I think he’s saying that since he expects the fines to be levied as a threat to gain compliance, he expects to pay them rather than comply. Imagine someone saying “I’m going to sick my big brother on you”, to which the auditor replies, “Go for it.”

    Analogically, imagine Charleton Heston saying “from my cold, dead, hands”. He’s not offering to die, so much as trying to get the other side to back down from the pointless threat.

    I may be quite wrong, of course, but that’s my take on it.

  9. jflare says:

    “More likely the IRS files tax liens, levies bank accounts, etc. in order to inflict as much damage as possible on visible non compliant institutions. ”

    jlmorrell, bdouglass, ProfKwasniewski, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Depending on how determined the school would be willing to be, they could simply refuse to pay any fines, refuse any tax liens, generally refuse to comply in any way with this particular law.
    I don’t remember who said it, but before PPACA passed, I recall hearing at least one comment about how Catholic hospitals could best demonstrate resistance if they ultimately required law enforcement to drag them out of hospital doors in handcuffs when they finally flatly refused to provide abortions.
    I’ve wondered on many occasions if we might wind up coming to that before we stay this madness.

  10. Grateful to be Catholic says:

    TAC needs to talk to their lawyer, and FAST, about how to structure themselves so that the entity that has employees, and so is subject to the mandate, doesn’t have any assets that can be seized by the government.

  11. Scott W. says:

    I recall hearing at least one comment about how Catholic hospitals could best demonstrate resistance if they ultimately required law enforcement to drag them out of hospital doors in handcuffs when they finally flatly refused to provide abortions.

    I’m very sympathetic to this idea in that using physical force against the peaceful righteous is a huge drain on popular will for continued enforcement. People might actually start thinking, “whoa. These guys are serious. Maybe we shouldn’t be compelling them to violate their principles.”

  12. Magash says:

    I’ve said it all along, until things are pushed so that bishops, priests and righteous members of the laity are carted off in handcuffs on the evening news this will continue. Such actions might finally get the non-practicing Catholic majority to actually wake up and figure out they have a dog in this fight.

  13. Mike says:

    I’ve said it all along, until things are pushed so that bishops, priests and righteous members of the laity are carted off in handcuffs on the evening news this will continue.

    Given the embargo of the ongoing massacre at Planned Parenthood and similar abortuaries, one seriously doubts that the evening news (save for what faux thinkers dub “faux news”) will devote a millisecond’s coverage even after the roundup of the faithful commences.

  14. jflare says:

    “…one seriously doubts that the evening news … will devote a millisecond’s coverage even after the roundup of the faithful commences.”

    When I submitted my comment above, I did so only after having heavily edited (read: “thrown out”) an original intended posting. Originally, I had posted comments that described essentially a declaration of war to be fought by Thomas More school against the federal government’s PPACA and related concerns.
    I wound up deleting all that and writing as I did because, I think you’re right, Mike.
    I don’t think most media will pay attention to the Catholic faithful these days, unless they’re saying what the MSM believe the people want to hear.

    I think people may ultimately be forced to wage a PR war against federal over-reach regarding PPACA, but I don’t see a point in being a doom and gloom prophet when most people won’t take such ideas seriously.

  15. taffymycat says:

    i have relatives attending there now..it is the most unusual place, deep reverence, a quality of student, young people you just never see. with staff both administrative and teaching who have deep convictions and deep commitment to the quality of the college and to the upholding of Catholicism. they did a large turnout at the march for life in san francisco as they do every year..walk the talk. most of the “catholicism” found at colleges like notre dame isnt worth the powder to blow them up.

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