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Showing posts with label CNS News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CNS News. Show all posts
Liberal Group Asks IRS to Investigate Catholic Church for Alleged Political Activity
Bishop Daniel Jenky, diocese of Peoria, Ill.
(CNSNews.com) ? Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), late Friday, filed a formal complaint asking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for allegedly engaging in prohibited political activity in violation of its nonprofit tax status.
The CREW complaint alleges that the nation?s Catholic bishops are ?abusing their positions to advocate against the election of President Barack Obama,? and anticipated further actions during this weekend?s sermons.
The complaint mentions several bishops -- including Nicholas Di Marzio in New York; David Ricken in Wisconsin; Edward J. Burns in Alaska and Paul Loverde in Virginia -- who it said have ?warned of the evils of the Obama administration, followed by an exhortation for Catholics to vote.?
CREW also alleges that some bishops ?have cautioned that voting for Democrats would not be faithful to Christ and would endanger the soul.?
But the complaint zeroed in on Illinois Bishop Daniel Jenky, who, the liberal activist group said, ?previously compared President Obama to Stalin and Hitler.?
CREW objected to the fact that the traditionalist bishop of Peoria, Ill., is ?requiring every priest in his diocese to read a statement accusing the administration of an ?assault upon our religious freedom . . . simply without precedent in the American political and legal system,?? according to the complaint.
He warns that those who fail to heed his warning have no hope of salvation and urging every practicing Catholic to vote,? the liberal activist group said in a news release accompanying the IRS complaint.
In completely unqualified terms, the IRS should immediately tell the Conference of Catholic Bishops that the conduct of its members is beyond the pale,? CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan stated in the release.
To qualify for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, nonprofit organizations must not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.
If the Catholic bishops would like to continue receiving the tremendous tax benefits on which they rely, they should follow U.S. law and stay out of American politics,? she said.
The USCCB did not respond to weekend attempts by CNSNews.com to elicit comment.
But in a guideline for political activity issued on the USCCB Web site, the bishops? Office of General Counsel made it clear that under the law, ?(t)he political campaign intervention prohibition does not prevent a Catholic organization from addressing the moral aspects of public policy issues or from pursuing its legislative advocacy program during election campaign periods.?
The bishops? top legal counsel also noted: ?The fact that the positions of particular candidates may align with the advocacy positions of Catholic organizations does not alone taint an issue communication.
For the IRS to consider issue advocacy to be a violation of the ban on political activity, ?there must be some reasonably overt indication in the communication to the reader, viewer, or listener that the organization supports or opposes a particular candidate (or slate of candidates) in an election, rather than being a message restricted to an issue,? the Catholic legal counsel noted.
God is Not Mocked?
Bishop Jenky?s controversial letter, as CNSNews.com reported last week, did not call for Catholics to vote for or against any candidate.
The letter, which was slated to be read at all masses in the Catholic churches of the diocese of Peoria, Ill., over the weekend, did equate pro-abortion Catholic politicians and the people who vote for them with the biblical mob that chose Caesar over Jesus Christ, and warns that ?God is not mocked.?
Jenky wrote that 2,000 years ago, ?after our Savior had been bound, beaten, scourged, mocked, and crowned with thorns, a pagan Roman Procurator displayed Jesus to a hostile crowd by sarcastically declaring: ?Behold your King.? The mob roared back: ?We have no king but Caesar.??
Today, Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord,? Jenky wrote.
They are objectively guilty of grave sin. For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life.?
God is not mocked,? the bishop wrote, ?and as the Bible clearly teaches, after this passing instant of life on earth, God?s great mercy in time will give way to God?s perfect judgment in eternity.?
Jenky?s letter also criticized the Health and Human Services mandate under Obamacare ? a regulation that requires nearly all health insurance plans to offer contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs free of charge.
Since the foundation of the American Republic and the adoption of the Bill of Rights, I do not think there has ever been a time more threatening to our religious liberty than the present,? Jenky wrote.
Neither the president of the United States nor the current majority of the Federal Senate have been willing to even consider the Catholic community?s grave objections to those HHS mandates that would require all Catholic institutions, exempting only our church buildings, to fund abortion, sterilization, and artificial contraception.?
This assault upon our religious freedom is simply without precedent in the American political and legal system,? Jenky wrote.
Contrary to the guarantees embedded in the First Amendment, the HHS mandate attempts to now narrowly define and thereby drastically limit our traditional religious works.
They grossly and intentionally intrude upon the deeply held moral convictions that have always guided our Catholic schools, hospitals, and other apostolic ministries.?
In concluding his letter, the bishop simply wrote: ?I therefore call upon every practicing Catholic in this Diocese to vote. Be faithful to Christ and to your Catholic Faith.?
The diocese of Peoria, which is in central Illinois, has a Catholic population of approximately 196,000.
By Pete Winn
Submitted by : Claire gooski
Catholic Ethicists: Immoral For Catholic Business Owners to Obey Obamacare | CNSNews.com
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| President Barack Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at the White House |
The $64,000 Question
How Much Has Debt Increased Per Taxpayer Under Obama?
(CNSNews.com) - The national debt has now increased by more than $64,000 per federal taxpayer since Barack Obama was inaugurated president.At the close of business on Jan. 20, 2009, according to the U.S. Treasury, the total debt of the federal government was $10,626,877,048,913.08. By the close of business on July 10, 2012, that debt had climbed to $15,885,854,755,351.47—an increase of $5,258,977,706,438.39.
In “Statistics of Income—2009 Individual Income Tax Returns,” which was published this year and is the Internal Revenue Service’s most recent statistical report on individual income tax data, the IRS reported that there were 81,890,189 tax returns filed in 2009 that reported taxable income.
If each of these 81,890,189 federal taxpayers were given responsibility for paying off an equal share of the new federal debt added since Obama was inaugurated, they would each need to pay about $64,219.88.
If each of these 81,890,189 federal taxpayers were given responsibility for paying off an equal share of the entire federal debt of $15,885,854,755,351.47, they would each need to pay about $193,989.72
A Republican majority was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2010 and took office in January 2011. Because the previous Congress had passed a continuing resolution that kept the federal government funded until March 4, 2011, the Republican-majority House did not gain legislative responsibility over federal spending until that date. Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution says: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” A law appropriating money cannot be enacted unless it is approved by the House.
Since the Republican-majority in the House effectively gained its constitutional veto over federal spending, the federal government has been funded under a series of spending deals negotiated between the House Republican leadership, the Senate Democratic leadership and President Obama.
At the close of business on March 4, 2011, when the first spending deal approved by the Republican House leaders took effect, the total debt of the federal government was $14,182,627,184,881.03. Since then, it has increased by $1,703,227,570,470.44.
That $1,703,227,570,470.44 increase in the debt while the Republican-majority House had responsibility for spending bills equals $20,798.92 for each of the 81,890,189 taxpayers who paid federal taxes in 2009.
The median household income in the United States in 2009, according to the Census Bureau, was $49,777. That means the median household would have needed to work all of one year and then the first 106 days of another year and then give all of their earnings from that time period to the federal government just to pay off the $64,219.88 in new federal debt per taxpayer piled up since Obama’s inauguration.
To pay off the federal government’s total debt of $193,989.72 per taxpayer, the median household making $49,777 in 2009 would need to give the government all of its earnings for a period of almost four years (3.897 years).
Holder Refuses to Provide Testimony on Kagan’s Involvement in Obamacare
Attorney General Eric Holder has refused to provide written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to "questions for the record" submitted to him by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.) that focus on Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's involvement in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act--AKA Obamacare--while she was President Barack Obama's solicitor general.
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