The Washington Post now reports that officials at the highest levels of the Internal Revenue Service were aware of the program to target conservative organizations applying for tax-exempt status prior to the 2012 elections but that they remained silent. The deliberate and shocking targeting of conservative organizations that sought tax-exempt status stands in contrast to government collusion wit... More

Summary: Catholics have a moral obligation to protest against the HHS mandate since it is a serious violation of religious liberty.  Those who have filed lawsuits are providing tremendous witness and service.  Nonetheless, once the HHS mandate goes into effect, since compliance with it would be material cooperation with evil done under duress and accompanied by serious harm to innocent persons, ... More

The Angelic Doctor, after reading Professor Kaveny's article. Though he looks more miffed than shocked. Cathleen Kaveny, whom the Cardinal Newman Society points out is the the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame Law School, wrote a column over at Commonweal that does not befit someone of her education and position. She took note ... More

Vice President Biden and others charge that Republicans have made birth control the centerpiece of this election.  That is false, of course, but it is a topic worthy of debate.  It could go something like this… Interviewer: President Obama, Please tell us your position on contraception: President Obama: I don’t know why Republicans have decided to wage war on women and restrict access to bir... More

I wrote on the day of the Obama ruling forcing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacient drugs that I hope “liberal Catholics [will] acknowledge how foolish they have been to support Obama’s anti-Catholic policies.” That was probably too much to ask for, but now at least one liberal Catholic has said he cannot vote for Obama again: Michael S... More

The government ought to subsidize abstinence, or at least force health insurers to do so. The mandate from HHS tells us that contraceptives and sterilization procedures qualify as “preventive medicine” that must be covered by all health insurance plans. Thus we can deduce that pregnancy is a disease which the state has a vested interest in preventing. If this is true, there is no surer... More

Father Robert Sirico, founder and president of the Acton Institute, was the latest in the Distinguished Speakers Series here at Franciscan University recently (full video, video excerpts, and full audio available here). His talk could hardly have been more timely. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, Catholyc, who promulgated the offensive rules. Rules promulgated by the Depa... More

Dr. Dan Kuebler helps a student with a lab project. Photo: Franciscan University of Steubenville Medical schools use open-ended questions to weed out pro-life candidates, writes Dr. Daniel Kuebler, professor of biology here at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Dr. Kuebler is a key professor in our pre-med program which, over the past ten years, has had an average of three graduates accepted i... More

Pro-abortion and anti-fertility advocates in Kentucky continue to wage battle against a merger in which Catholic hospitals are graciously bailing out the failing University Hospital in Louisville.  The anti-life advocates want to force the Catholic owned entity to facilitate abortions, sterilizations and the like.  The merger would combine Jewish Hospital and St. Mary’s and St. Joseph̵... More

Partitioned Catholyc Conscience Caucus member Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services. She who is telling Catholic healthcare providers that they also must be "personally opposed, but..." I mused on Twitter the other day when the new rules came out from the unelected bureaucrats that will require all health plans to cover contraception, sterilization, and even abortofac... More