Diocese invites freedom supporters to begin with Mass
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will celebrate a Mass in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, in advance of the “Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally” that will take place on the New Jersey State House steps. The Mass will begin at 10:30 a.m., after which communicants will walk to the nearby rally that begins at noon. Catholics from across the state are invited to take part in the Mass, and begin their efforts to protect religious freedom with prayer and the Eucharist.
The June 8 rally is a national observance, the second since March 23. Participants in the New Jersey rally, sponsored by New Jersey Right to Life, will be among the tens of thousands of faithful citizens expected to gather in prayer and public witness in more than 100 cities and towns across the United States in defense of religious freedoms.
The national effort will precede the initiative announced in April by the U.S. Catholic Bishops calling for a “a fortnight for freedom” from June 21, the vigil of the feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, to July 4, U.S. Independence Day. American Catholics must resist unjust laws “as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith,” a committee of the U.S. bishops said in a new statement on religious liberty.
Catholics and all those of good faith are asked to show their opposition to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate that forces all employer health plans to include free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of moral or religious objections. Religious employers like Catholic universities and hospitals will be forced to provide services that directly contradict Church teachings.
The HHS Mandate provides a narrow “religious exemption” excluding such religious ministries as educating the young, caring for the sick and feeding the hungry. Not only is the federal government requiring employers to violate their convictions, it is claiming the right to decide for religious institutions what constitutes their ministry.
For more information about the Mass, contact Donna Goodwin, coordinator, diocesan Respect Life Ministry, Department of Pastoral Care, 609-403-7192. For information about the rally, contact New Jersey Right to Life at 732-562-0562 or www.njrtl.org and for information about parking in Trenton, go to www.StandUpRally.com/TrentonParking.
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Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., will celebrate a Mass in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, in advance of the “Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally” that will take place on the New Jersey State House steps. The Mass will begin at 10:30 a.m., after which communicants will walk to the nearby rally that begins at noon. Catholics from across the state are invited to take part in the Mass, and begin their efforts to protect religious freedom with prayer and the Eucharist.
The June 8 rally is a national observance, the second since March 23. Participants in the New Jersey rally, sponsored by New Jersey Right to Life, will be among the tens of thousands of faithful citizens expected to gather in prayer and public witness in more than 100 cities and towns across the United States in defense of religious freedoms.
The national effort will precede the initiative announced in April by the U.S. Catholic Bishops calling for a “a fortnight for freedom” from June 21, the vigil of the feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, to July 4, U.S. Independence Day. American Catholics must resist unjust laws “as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith,” a committee of the U.S. bishops said in a new statement on religious liberty.
Catholics and all those of good faith are asked to show their opposition to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate that forces all employer health plans to include free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of moral or religious objections. Religious employers like Catholic universities and hospitals will be forced to provide services that directly contradict Church teachings.
The HHS Mandate provides a narrow “religious exemption” excluding such religious ministries as educating the young, caring for the sick and feeding the hungry. Not only is the federal government requiring employers to violate their convictions, it is claiming the right to decide for religious institutions what constitutes their ministry.
For more information about the Mass, contact Donna Goodwin, coordinator, diocesan Respect Life Ministry, Department of Pastoral Care, 609-403-7192. For information about the rally, contact New Jersey Right to Life at 732-562-0562 or www.njrtl.org and for information about parking in Trenton, go to www.StandUpRally.com/TrentonParking.
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