The Only Solution to the HHS Mandate

Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential candidate, is now assuring us that if we will just vote the Romney/Ryan ticket into the office of the Presidency, they will get rid of the HHS Mandate on Day 1.  Voila!  All of our problems will be solved.  Really?

A week or so ago I posted here that the Republican-led House of Representatives, instead of passing a budget, which has not been done since April of 2009, voted for yet another Continuing Resolution in order to keep the government going.  Without the CR, the government will shut down.  (Would that really be such a bad thing?).  Among those who voted in favor of this Continuing Resolution, which includes funding for Planned Parenthood and Obamacare and the HHS Mandate, was Representative Paul Ryan.  Yes, that same Paul Ryan who says a Romney/Ryan administration will immediately rid the land of the HHS Mandate.

 

But how can someone who voted to fund the HHS Mandate be the same person who says he will make it disappear?  I can only think of the promise that Barack Obama made when he was running for president, that he would close Guantánamo Bay if elected president.  Obama even signed an executive order to that effect upon being sworn in.  However, Gitmo is still open to this day.  So how are we suppose to believe Paul Ryan when it comes to the HHS mandate?  He and all the other so-called Pro Life Republicans who voted for it will use the excuse that if they didn't vote for the Continuing Resolution, the government would be shut down.  But is it really better to keep a government running that continues to fund evil instead of just shutting it down? 

 

Paul Ryan

I very much want to believe Rep. Ryan, but if he really wanted to get rid of the HHS Mandate, then why did he vote to fund it?

 

Here's the story from Huffington Post:

Paul Ryan: Contraception Mandate 'Will Be Gone' On 'Day 1'

 

 

The Huffington Post | By Chris Gentilviso Posted: 09/22/2012 7:19 pm EDT Updated: 09/22/2012 7:31 pm EDT

 

GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan sees no place for the Obama Administration's contraception mandate.

 

At a Saturday campaign event in Orlando, Fla., the Associated Press reports that Ryan was asked about whether he would press Vice President and fellow Catholic Joe Biden on his views in relation to the 2012 Democratic Party platform.

 

Ryan's answer turned straight to the piece of Obamacare providing birth control access. He vowed to remove that requirement for insurance providers, including Catholic hospitals and universities, on "day one."

 

"It will be gone," Ryan told onlookers at the University of Central Florida. "I can guarantee you that."  [But Rep. Ryan, why did you vote to fund it?]

Back on February 10, Ryan offered similar criticisms of Obama's contraception plan. In a statement released on his website, the Wisconsin congressman deemed it an "affront to religious liberty."

While I am a pro-life Catholic, I believe this mandate transcends the issue of personal religious beliefs about contraception, sterilization and abortion. The Obama Administration failed to recognize this mandate is in violation of our First Amendment right of religious freedom. ...

 

The President's policy continues to contradict the core principles of our nation. His decision disrespects not only the religious community, but it also disrespects the Constitution. By treating our rights as revocable privileges from our government, instead of inalienable gifts from our Creator, the President has put his personal political philosophies above the principles upon which this nation was founded. I will continue to monitor this issue closely and will work to see that this policy is reversed.  [And what concrete steps have you taken to rescind the mandate?]

Ryan appeared on ABC's "This Week" the following Sunday, calling the rule "an accounting trick" that should be "rescinded."

 

"It forces the insurance company that they have to pay to do the coverage," Ryan said. "So instead of making the institution itself, it reinforces the insurer. And a lot of these Catholic institutions are self-insured, and all insurers under this rule must provide these mandated benefits. So it really is a distinction without a difference."

 

The contraception rule went into effect on Aug. 1, 2012, ending co-pays for private-insurance patients seeking birth control. GOP Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) compared the plan to Pearl Harbor, calling that day "an attack on our religious freedom" that "will live in infamy."

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I think it's great to speak out against the mandate, but talk means nothing if it isn't followed with actions.  Rep. Ryan voted to fund the HHS mandate and Planned Parenthood.  Romney Care in Massachusetts, upon which Obamacare is based, funded abortions.  When he was governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed a bill forcing Catholic hospitals to administer the morning after pill to rape victims.  Yet I'm suppose to believe a Romney/Ryan Administration will rescind the HHS Mandate on "Day 1."  Huh?

We are all looking for sanity in our world, we're looking for answers and solutions to the terrible mess in which we find ourselves, where our country is funding the killing of unborn innocent children and forcing the Catholic Church to go against her own teachings.  But after generations of voting for politicians who are always promising us the moon and then giving us the back of their hand instead, maybe we can finally admit that there is no solution in politics.  Blessed Mother Teresa gave this solution to the end of abortion and in effect, the HHS Mandate:  "If people spent an hour a week in Eucharistic adoration, abortion would be ended."

Psalm 146:3 says:  "Don't put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there."  But, you may argue, we can't just not vote.  Then Obama will get back in and we will have no hope at all.  How many who say that have ever just gotten down on their knees and given it to our Lord in prayer?  How many have spent time in front of the Blessed Sacrament and pleaded with our Lord for his intervention?

Msgr. Philip Reilly

An example of just how powerful prayer is and the wonderful miracles that can result from it has taken place where I live in the borough of Brooklyn here in New York City.  The largest abortion mill in the NYC area has been shut down, and much of it is due to the efforts of Msgr. Philip Reilly, who in my opinion is one of the holiest people alive on the earth today.  Msgr. Reilly, who founded Helpers of God's Precious Infants, has given his life and quite literally his face in trying to stop abortion.  I say he gave his face because he developed cancer in his face from standing outside in front of abortion mills hour after hour in prayer, and he has lost part of his face to the cancer.  He has been praying in front of one abortion mill in particular here in Brooklyn since 1990.  He was at this particular abortion mill, which was close to New York Harbor, on 9/11/2001 when everything here in NYC shut down because of the terrorist attacks.  But despite the horrors happening in downtown Manhattan, the abortion mill kept on killing babies that day, and Msgr. Reilly stayed even while a dark cloud and debris from the towers floated in the air around him.  That abortion mill is now closed.

Below is an article from the Brooklyn diocesan newspaper, The Tablet, in regard to this miraculous story:

A Miracle Happens at Sunset Park Abortuary

Posted on 19 September 2012. by Ed Wilkinson

Msgr. Philip Reilly and the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants have stopped praying outside the Brooklyn Ambulatory Surgery Center in Sunset Park. For the past 22 years, the priest and his devoted group of prayers have been seeking an end to abortion at the Brooklyn site. Their prayers have been heard. The new owners of the building have explained that abortion will no longer be offered at the site when it reopens as the New York Center for Specialty Surgery.

To show their good will to the community, the new owners have invited Msgr. Reilly and Father Kevin Sweeney, pastor of nearby St. Michael’s Church, to bless the new facility, which they will do on Saturday, Sept. 29, following the 9 a.m. Mass at St. Michael’s.

Msgr. Reilly and his group outside an abortion mill

“It’s like a miracle!” says Father Sweeney, who has been praying with the Helpers since he was a seminarian. He announced the news to his congregation at a Sunday Mass to thunderous applause. Parishioners from St. Michael’s have been among the steady, dedicated volunteers who have been standing outside the building at Third Ave. and 43rd St., praying and offering alternatives to distressed mothers and fathers.

 

“This was the oldest and largest abortion clinic in New York City and for many years, in the United States,” said Msgr. Reilly. “I believe more than a quarter of a million unborn children lost their lives there.”

Msgr. Reilly before the cancer

Msgr. Reilly and the Helpers were accompanied by then-newly appointed Bishop Thomas V. Daily in the summer of 1990 when they first prayed at the site. They were met by a vicious band of pro-abortion supporters who tried to drown out their prayers and hymns of praise. For years, the pro-aborts continued to harass the Helpers during their monthly Rosary vigils there. Mostly young, they would blow whistles and hurl obscenities at the Helpers who held their ground as they prayed. The N.Y.C. Police always were on hand to assure safety and maintain peace.
 

Bishop Daily would tell the Helpers to obey the law and not to respond to the hecklers. After the recitation of the Rosary, the Helpers would process back to St.Michael’s for benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

“The Helpers are present outside of abortion clinics not simply to save babies but to save souls,” reminds Msgr. Reilly. “Indeed the Helpers are present not simply to witness to the truth but to convert people to the truth and change hearts. After so many years of good lay people, religious, priests and bishops praying and fasting outside of the Ambulatory abortion clinic … after so many years of dedicated laypeople offering help by sidewalk counseling to the pregnant women entering the clinic, the Lord has granted a complete victory.”

 
“I am pleased to confirm that the new center at 313 43rd Ave. in Brooklyn is opening as a multi-specialty surgery center to include outpatient surgical procedures. The center will no longer provide abortion services,” says Julia Ferguson, East Coast director of operations for Medical Forefronts, which will run the new center.
 

Fittingly, Sept. 29, when the new surgery center will be blessed, is also the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. The parish will be twice blessed on that day — once in the morning at the blessing ceremony and again later in the afternoon when Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano visits to celebrate the patronal feast day. Truly it will be a day that the Lord will have made and everyone will have a reason to rejoice.

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Interestingly, Msgr. Philip Reilly is completely apolitical. He does not even go to the March for Life held in Washington D.C. each year because he feels it is more important to be praying at the abortion clinics. I heard Msgr. Reilly one time say that Planned Parenthood clinics will never be closed down through legislation because the government, through their funding, runs them.  He has no faith in politicians whatsoever.  He says that the only way Roe v. Wade will ever be overturned is not through legislation but by changing the minds and hearts of the people. 

Miracles happen when
prayer happens

Msgr. Reilly and his helpers closed down the abortion mill in Brooklyn through the power of prayer. Unfortunately, we still have several other abortion mills in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx. 41% of all pregnancies in New York City still end in abortion, and over 60% of pregnancies in the minority communities end in abortion. The holocaust continues. But our Lord has given us a mighty victory through the prayerful and faithful efforts of Msgr. Philip Reilly and those who work with him. And with continued prayer, we can win many more victories.  But I think it is important to note that no politician had anything to do with the closing of the abortion mill in Brooklyn.

I'm not going to tell anyone not to vote.  But I will say that if you decide to vote, you should realize that it is highly unlikely that any politician, be it Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan or anyone else, is going to solve the evil in our land.  The solution to our problems lies in prayer and faithfulness to our Lord.   No solution will never be found with politicians.