Today is Superbowl Sunday. The New York Giants are one of the teams.  For the past two weeks the New York media have been calling our attention  to this “great event.” While I root for the Giants, something of far greater significance has been happening in the life our nation these past few weeks. Under the leadership of President Obama, the Health and Human Services Agency of our nation has issued a mandate that all employers who provide health insurance for their employees must include coverage for contraceptives, sterilization and an abortion inducing medication. That is in direct conflict with what we have held and been given in our Catholic tradition.  While we in no way seek to impose our Church on the life of the nation, the  leaders and legislators of our nation in this case have violated our rights as Americans. The question is - “Do we really care?”

I have read statements from many of the bishops of our nation, including our own Bishop Murphy. Each of them expresses disappointment in our government and calls us to see how our rights as Catholics are being attacked and pushed aside. Last week I spoke about how history repeats itself. How  slow we are as human beings to learn from the mistakes of the past. As we  read history we see the rise and fall of many empires, nations and governments. Inevitably when a government starts trying to dictate to its citizens how they are to live and what they are to believe, the nation falls apart. The Roman Empire lasted for hundreds of years. Many leaders and people in  that empire persecuted the Church. The blood of martyrs flowed readily. Yet, who has survived and prospered? The Church! The Roman Empire is ancient history. In the last century Catholics were some of the people put to  death by the Nazi regime. Yet, who has survived and prospered? The Church! Nazi Germany is seen as a horror for its complete disregard for the  lives of the people they hated living in their “empire.”

We pride ourselves as Americans on our freedoms and the rights we  have. Many of our citizens have given their lives in defense of our nation. How grateful we are to them. But we must be very aware and vigilant at this time to see how our government, starting with the president himself, is  denying our rights, attacking our beliefs and not giving its actions a second thought. Once evil gets a toehold, it is not satisfied. It will progress through the entire body causing as much havoc, chaos, dissension and division as it can. That is happening right in front of us. We can hide our heads in the sand. We can look the other way. We can say we don’t want  to get involved. In reality these actions make us allies of evil. One of our presidents referred to a nation with whom we had an adversarial relationship as “Evil Empire.” It is time to wake up and see what evil is doing in our very midst.

In Nassau and Suffolk Counties, our diocese treats a huge number of those who need care in our hospital system. This new mandate will affect our ability to do so and perhaps push us out the door of health care. How sad that would be. In reading the scriptures, over and over again we see how Jesus reached out in care and concern for the sick. One of our seven Sacraments is called the Sacrament of the Sick. We as the Church care for the whole person -body, soul and mind. Now our government is telling us that we must follow their rules, which are in direct conflict to what we have been  doing for centuries.

In his homily on Monday, January 23, 2012, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of  New York said, “when our government places conception, pregnancy and birth under the ‘Center for Disease Control,’ when chemically blocking conception or aborting a baby in the womb is considered a “right” to be subsidized by others who abhor it; when the ability of feeding, housing and healing the struggling of the world is curtailed and impeded if one does not also help women abort their babies, one can hardly be faulted for being tempted to the ‘sin against the Holy Spirit’ and consider all as lost.”  All is not lost. We can get lost, but Jesus will always seek us out so we might know his love and life. Each of us who prays for an end to abortion and all that harms  human life each day is a vibrant force for the power of goodness, truth and love. The bishops have spoken out. Obviously they will not make the pages of any secular newspaper or national newscast. They will merely be slight mention, if anything. They will not make a difference without us. All of  us together are the Church - bishops, priests and laity. What a tremendous force for good we have been and have the potential to be at the present moment. Election day is nine months away. That is one of the best places, after our own daily prayer, to make a statement and a difference. How sad  it would be for our nation and for us as Catholics, if the current  government leaders and legislators are given our vote and okay to continue in the  direction they are going in at the moment. In the midst of all the great nations and empires that have come and gone, the Church has grown and prospered.

As Catholics we can be a life-giving force for the good of our nation. We ignore the wisdom of history when we ignore the fact that the Church has and will continue to prosper. The Church today is you and I living in union with God and one another. Now is a time when we must stand up for who we are and what we believe. We must not be led astray by legislators (e.g., Congressman Tim Bishop) and governors (e.g. Gov. Andrew Cuomo) who say they  are Catholic, but promote laws and support policies that are in direct  conflict with Catholicism. Separation of Church and state does not mean we separate ourselves from God and our faith in the name of citizenship. A good Catholic is a gift and asset to our country. A hypocritical Catholic or one who is Catholic in name only is a damaged and dead part of our Church and a liability to our nation.

Father Walden