Media Bias Against Catholic Church Comes Front & Center This Week

If you were only watching the nightly news on ABC, NBC, or CBS this week you might not know that 43 Catholic institutions – including major archdioceses, dioceses, universities, & publishing houses affiliated with the Church in the United States – filed a dozen lawsuits against the HHS Mandate that forces Catholic institutions to pay for contraception & even abortafacient drugs. Not to plug FoxNews, but from what I can see, they have done a much better job of it.

About the only onther media that has covered it in any depth, besides LifeNews, LifeSiteNews & Newsbusters/Media Research Center havs been talk radio.

Up until now, I haven't had a chance to say much either.  I want to start by applauding all those who have stood up & said we are not going to let the Obama administration steamroll us & take away our Constitutionally protected right to religious freedom. Among those who filed are the Archdioceses of New York, Washington, D.C., & St. Louis; the Dioceses of Dallas, Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ft. Worth, the Michigan Catholic Conference, Pittsburgh, & Rockville Centre; the University of Notre Dame, Catholic University of America, the Franciscan University of Steubenville; & Our Sunday Visitor.

Hopefully, more Archdioceses & Dioceses, as well as many other Catholic schools & publications will file suits as well. Some organizations, like EWTN & Priests for Life have already filed suits, but this is the largest group so far.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, stated that the step was necessary “to protect our religious liberties from unwarranted and unprecedented government intrusion.”

The Archdiocese of Washington has put up a website dedicated to the new lawsuit. Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. didn't mince any words as to what the mandate was about He called it a “government attempt to force the Church out of the public square.”

& while the Diocese of LaCrosse hasn't joined in with any suits,  Bishop William P. Callahan said  "this is not a political issue; it is a legal issue – a Constitutional issue. This is a matter of us standing firm in understanding that the very basic understanding of our Constitution and our country is so that we may practice our faith, practice our belief with freedom and without reservation, intimidation and government interference."

He added "Due to the many lawsuits across the country, we are beginning to see a visceral understanding of the fact that people know that religious liberty is important with regard to our lives as Americans and certainly important to our lives of faith."

Our Sunday Visitor looked back to the legacy of its founder, Fr. John Noll. Fr. Noll fought the political clout of the Ku Klux Klan as that organization attempted to impose anti-Catholic policies at the turn of the 20th century.

Bill Donahue, head of The Catholic League had the following to say: "This is a great day for those who believe in religious liberty. Suing the Obama administration for seeking to trash the First Amendment rights of Catholics are 43 Catholic dioceses and institutions from all over the nation."

So you would think this would be headline coverage by the Main Stream Media. But like I already pointed out, for the most part the MSM has either ignored it, or tried to paint it as another attack on women's right to birth control rather than the attack on religious freedom it really is.  Among those spreading the media lies are Maureen O'Dowd of the New York Times & Chris Matthews of MSNBC. Both of them claim to be Catholic but have proven time & time again they are anything but faithful Catholics.*

They either don't get it (I think they do) or they are intentionally working to destroy the Catholic Church & aid Obama's attempts to destroy religious freedom (I think they are).

Brent Bozell, founder of Media Research Center (which launched Newsbusters in 2005) wrote an excellent column commenting on the media's coverage (or lack thereof) of this lawsuit. As he points out "You’d think the largest legal action in American history in defense of religious liberty would be a major news story. But ABC, CBS, and NBC don’t judge news events by their inherent importance as relates to the future of our freedoms. They deliver the news according to a simple formula: Does it, or doesn’t it, advance the re-election of Barack Obama?

If it doesn’t, it isn’t news.

On May 21, 43 Catholic dioceses and organizations sued the Obama administration over its ridiculously narrow idea of how a “religious institution” can be defined under their ObamaCare law. Never has the Catholic Church – or any order, for that matter – undertaken something of this magnitude. It’s truly jaw-dropping that ABC and NBC completely ignored this action on their evening newscasts, while “CBS Evening News” devoted just 19 seconds to this historic event.

No, let’s be blunt: They spiked the news.

This is the worst example of shameless bias by omission I have seen in the quarter-century history of the Media Research Center. We recall the Chinese communists withholding from its citizenry for 20 years the news that the U.S. had landed on the moon, because it reflected poorly on their government. Never, never would the U.S. “news” media behave thusly.

They just did."

Later he says "This was a deliberate and insidious withholding of national news to protect the “Chosen One” who ABC, CBS and NBC have worked so hard to elect and for whom they are now abusing their journalistic influence."

"This should be seen as a very dark cloud on Obama’s political horizon. The Catholic Church, with 60 million Americans describing themselves as Catholic, has unleashed legal Armageddon on the administration, promising “we will not comply” with a health law that strips Catholics of their religious liberty. If this isn't “news,” then there's no such thing as news."

He also points out how National Public Radio ignored this as well. I highly recommend reading the entire article.

The other day I shamelessly plugged the movie For Greater Glory. In it I said "The message of the movie is 1 of religious freedom. As we have seen by the various actions taken by the Obama administration, (the HHS madate forcing Catholic organizations, schools etc to cover contraception; the attempts to silence the priests in the military form speaking out about it, as well as many other attacks) our religious freedom in the USA is under attack as well. Obama has clearly shown his anti-Catholic bias. & while things are not yet as bad here, they could very well end up there."

The various Catholic Archdioceses, Dioceses, etc that have launched these lawsuits have made it clear that, like the faithful Catholics in Mexico in the 20s, they are not going to remain silent, nor are they going to lie down & let the government just take away their God-given rights. How this will end, I have no idea. If the Supreme Court rules against ObamaCare then these suits will be moot. But even so, that doesn't mean we can relax. It is clear that there is a concerted effort to attack the Catholic Church in the USA & in other parts of the world as well. We may well be on the verge of a new era of public persecution. We may be facing violent attacks, arrests, & even death. I hope not, but we may. What we must be about is living our faith & boldly proclaiming it. We need to follow the example held up by St Paul "I have kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have preached it to you, and taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and Gentiles penance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:20-21) Now, more than ever, we cannot shirk our responsibility to be the witnesses Jesus said we are to be. If we don't proclaim the Gospel, who will? Clearly not the Main Stream Media.

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* They, along with Pelosi & all the others who try to justify their dissent might want to read this bit from the dogmatic constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council (Lumen Gentium) "The whole company of the faithful, who have an anointing by the Holy Spirit, cannot err in faith. They manifest this distinctive characteristic of theirs in the supernatural instinct of faith (‘sensus fidei’) of the whole people when, from the bishops to the most ordinary lay person among the faithful, they display a universal agreement on matters of faith and morals.

This instinct of faith is awakened and kept in being by the Spirit of truth. Through it the people of God hold indefectibly to the faith once delivered to the saints, penetrate it more deeply by means of right judgement, and apply it more perfectly in their lives. They do all this under the guidance of the sacred teaching office: by faithful obedience to it they receive, not the word of men but in truth the word of God." (emphasis mine) In short, instead of attacking what they don't like they are supposed to obediently receive it. In sort, what they claim is the ‘sensus fidei’ to justify their claims is anything but. In fact, I wonder how many of those who claim to be following the "Spirit of Vatican II" have actually bothered to read what the Holy Spirit (the real Spirit of Vatican II) actually said.

Sources: Shameless Bias By Omission

ABC News Ignores Catholic Lawsuits Against HHS Mandate

Chris Matthews Claims Lawsuits Mean Catholic Bishops are Republican

Evangelicals respond to Catholic lawsuits: ‘We are all Catholic now’
Massive Religious Lawsuit Eclipsed on CNN by 'Stroller Brigade' Protest of About 100
43 Catholic organizations, including Notre Dame, sue Obama administration over HHS mandate

Fury Spreads: Catholic Leaders Join MRC Outrage Over Network Silence on Catholics vs. Obama Lawsuit
TV Networks Deliberately Censor Biggest Religious Lawsuit In History Against U.S. Gov't
Cardinals Flock to Court to Fight Mandate (OK I will admit the Family Research Council title is a bit corny, but it gets the point across)