Solidarity Health Share Update

Solidarity Health Share 

Update

          Immaculata Management’s outgoing phone message has been updated, assuring callers that Solidarity Health Share, though it is not yet in effect, is being finalized.  There is no new Web site indicated, but it promises that more information is imminent, as is the launch of the program.

The Death of Health Insurance

The Death of 

Health Insurance

Where has the 

Catholic Alternative Gone?

          When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008, he said that under his health plan, if someone likes their current insurance, they can keep it.  Once Obamacare became law, we saw that wasn’t going to be the case.  The loss of previously-enjoyed health insurance is picking up speed.

          As a teacher at a Catholic school, I have six months, until July 1, to figure out what to do for myself and my family because as of July 1, I will no longer have health insurance.  Many Americans are faced with the same dilemma.

          Due to the HHS mandate, unless the courts decide to start showing some decency, common sense or Constitutional integrity, health insurance will no longer be able to be ethically offered by Catholic institutions. 

          Even if we are spared the mandate, I was recently told to expect my costs to rise another 15% (they have already been skyrocketing since Obama took office) and to expect my benefits to begin to be taxed.  This would lower my take-home pay to its lowest level in seven years and make health insurance completely unaffordable, an effect of Obamacare that was totally predictable.

          The hope that Catholics had was Solidarity Health Share, a health sharing plan (not insurance) that was to be affordable and managed according to Catholic principles.  This plan was to become available as of this month, but all of a sudden, its Web presence has disappeared.  I have put in a phone call to Immaculata Management Group, who is behind the plan.  I am looking for information about its status.  If anyone has knowledge about where it stands, or perhaps the new location of its Web presence, please email me at servantofcharity@yahoo.com.  I will continue to search and provide updates on this blog.

Our Kids and a Culture Devoid of Love

Our Kids and a 

Culture Devoid of Love

  

          I was buying groceries the other day, and as I was in the frozen food section, I overheard a portion of a conversation two 20-something employees were having as they stocked the shelves:

          Employee 1: “She was wearing a ring, though, and I think it was one of those ‘purity rings.’”

          Employee 2: “Man, that sucks.  But you just have to ask.  The answer’s always ‘no’ until you ask.”

          Employee 1: “But I’m really bad at that and before you know it I’m stuck in the friend zone.”

          Employee 2: “Come on, dude, do you really think she’ll say no?”

          I resisted the urge to break in on their conversation (though perhaps I should have), said a prayer for the young lady in question, and moved on to the juice aisle.

          The conversation came back to my mind on the drive home, though.  I can’t judge the young man for not valuing purity (though at some level he must have known it is good).  I suspect he’s never been taught that value, and he lives in a culture that mocks it.  But it was clear that the young lady he was speaking of does value it.  He certainly knows enough to realize it is something important to her and a deeply held conviction of hers.

          His response to that knowledge?  How can I tempt her to abandon her principles so I can get what I want? 

Worse to me than the disregard for purity is the fact that these two young men didn’t know the first thing about love.  Love, which is based on sacrifice, which is defined by the desire for another’s good for the sake of the other, was completely foreign.  I doubt the young man would have claimed he and this girl were in love, and yet he was strategizing about how to tempt her into sinning.  Forget the regret and hurt it may cause her, as long as he gets what he wants.

Even now I am not judging him, though I know it sounds like I am.  Just as he has probably never been taught to value purity, he likely has never been taught anything about authentic love.  (Which, by the way, is why I had second thoughts about not breaking into the conversation.  Perhaps a simple charitable wake-up call would have at least made them think.)

This is the world in which we live, and which our youths are confronting.  As a parent, that scares me to death.  But it is up to us, as Christians, to teach love to our children, and to teach them purity.  Though my kids are six and under, I have even begun praying for their future spouses (if they are not called to the religious life).

Perhaps, if we form our children well, and pray like crazy, we will unleash a mob of holy warriors on our culture who will continue, with success, the work we are striving to do now.

St. John Bosco on Confession

St. John Bosco

on Confession

Image from http://www.papalartifacts.com/saint/77

The following is part of an excerpt written by St. John Bosco about the Sacrament of Confession, recently published by Crusade Magazine, the publication of America Needs Fatima.

There is not the slightest doubt that our faith is being bitterly attacked in these tragic times.  Since the forces of evil will fail unless they can first persuade Catholics to give up Confession, they will direct their major attacks against this wholesome practice.  One who abandons Confession, if left to himself, will sink deeper in sin; like a frail plant exposed to the fury of the winds, he will fall into most deplorable excesses…

Meanwhile, deeply grieved by the harm daily perpetrated against the Church, I urge all Catholics to be brave and steadfast in the Faith.  Yes, dear fellow Catholics, be brave!  Let us cling firmly to the Church founded by Jesus Christ, and to his Vicar, the Pope.  Let us hold fast to the Church that has been persecuted through the centuries but has always triumphed.

Continuing the Fight

Continuing the Fight

I have not been shy with my belief that the recent Presidential election was marred by so much fraud that I do not believe the results were legitimate.  The Electoral College, however, has voted, and now Congress will be asked to certify the results.

There is one group that is continuing to fight, though.  The recently formed North American Law Center has sent a notice to every member of Congress asking that they refuse to certify the election results.  The notice references the many instances of fraud in the election and challenges the Congress to uphold their oaths to defend the Constitution by not certifying the results.

I do not expect the effort to produce fruit in this election, but I do believe the work, and the North American Law Center need to be supported.  Only if we stubbornly refuse to allow the issue of election fraud to go away will we ever be guaranteed, or deserve, honest elections in this country.  Visit the Law Center’s Web site to donate or otherwise support its work.