Judge gives relief to Archd. NY against the “AFFORDABLE” Care Act

Good news to be read at Newsmax:

NY Archdiocese: Ruling Against Contraception Mandate Gives All ‘Religious Freedom’

The Archdiocese of New York applauded a judge’s decision Monday that so-called non-exempt religious groups are not bound by the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to provide, in their health care insurance plans, coverage for contraceptives and other birth control options.

In a statement, Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling called Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Brian Cogan’s ruling a “thoughtful decision” and that non-exempt Catholic health and educational organizations “have religious freedom rights.”

Cogan barred the government from enforcing the mandate against Catholic Health Care System, Catholic Health Services of Long Island, Cardinal Spellman High School and Monsignor Farrell High School.

[…]

Hey!   This doesn’t mean that the battle for religious freedom is over.  But let us savor the few good days we get!

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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7 Comments

  1. Siculum says:

    Good news, but the real test of religious freedom will be the Hobby Lobby case.

  2. Elizabeth D says:

    I think this is a very positive and heartening development. Way to go, Cardinal Dolan and all. I agree the Hobby Lobby case and the similar ones pertaining to “secular” businesses are essential to religious liberty.

  3. Bev says:

    Maybe we ought to use a different term than “religious freedom” as it relates to court making rulings against Obamacare on *general* 1st amendment counts — when it is in reference to Catholicism, it is freedom. When in reference to the sects, it is tolerance.

  4. DisturbedMary says:

    From the legal battlefront where the Church has decided to take a stand, this is very good news. But if in the end the Church wins every court battle and its insurance policies are secure, will the bishops be so delighted that they will expect the hapless sheep to embrace the rest of this devilish scheme Cardinal Dolan calls “universal healthcare”? Have the bishops even taken notice of death panels, rationed care, costly premiums, fewer doctors, exemptions for Democrat allies, privacy intrusions, IRS police and on and on. Sixty years ago the Church taught that our bodies were the temples of the Holy Spirit. Does our Church have a memory of that sacred dignity? or is it so dazzled by achieving what it perceives as a just policy that it can’t see the horror of what is to come.

  5. mplangley says:

    My thoughts are in line with those of DisturbedMary. Elizabeth D says “Way to go, Cardinal Dolan” but the irony of this horrible situation is that if the good Cardinals (particularly Dolan and Wuerl) had taken the prudent and sane side of the Obamacare debate we arguably would not have Obamacare now. In fact I think there is a good argument that if the Church hierarchy had come down hard on the correct side of this issue and tried to stop Obamacase we would not have it now. The flip side of this, to put it more bluntly, is that the disaster that is Obamacare lies squarely on the shoulders of our good churchman.

    So now the Cardinals are left suing the government to stop a law they lobbied for. As the saying goes “As you make your bed, so must you lie in it”. Unfortunately in this case so must the rest of us.

    Way to go, Cardinal Dolan?” I think not!

  6. Ben Kenobi says:

    “the disaster that is Obamacare lies squarely on the shoulders of our good churchman.”

    Tardy allies are not invaders.

  7. Johnno says:

    “Tardy allies are not invaders.”

    I don’t know… past history suggests the possibility of covert invaders, and allies can be turned with the right kind of pressure or incentives.

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