*Bishop Robert Vasa’s Response to the HHS Mandate

My Dear People of God: There has been much written and said about the recent Health and Human Services Directive that every employer sponsored health plan must provide payments for contraception, which includes that abortion drug euphemistically known as the ‘morning after’ pill.  There is nothing I can add to that which has already been [...]

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*Seeking a health plan that does not expand abortion

By Bishop Robert Vasa I have heard it said, not infrequently, that the perfect is the enemy of the good. This has recently been used in reference to the present and ongoing national health care debate. There is certainly some validity to this adage. It can happen that an insistence on a perfect solution can [...]

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*We’re responsible for our failure to protect unborn life

By Bishop Robert Vasa A murder trial took place in Kansas. It was the kind of murder trial over which editors of newspapers salivate. It is the case of a man accused of shooting and killing a well-known late term abortionist. It is most important, at the outset, for me to strongly condemn the action [...]

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*Excommunication may be the only responsible and charitable thing to do

Excommunication is a declaration of acts that severs ties By Bishop Robert Vasa During the course of this past year there have been a number of occasions when bishops have hinted to laity that being Catholic involves a bit more than claiming the title. This has been done, in particular, with regard to politicians who [...]

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*Americans are confused about life

By Bishop Robert Vasa I had the good fortune while listening to a Christian television station to hear a congressman from Georgia who was talking about the Sanctity of Human Life Act. This is a bill introduced in November, 2007, that defines human life as beginning at fertilization and would protect all human life even [...]

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*Church teaching enjoins all Catholics – even legislators

by Bishop Robert Vasa The headline from Vatican City dated February 18, 2009 as reported by the Catholic News Agency (CNA) should have been neither shocking nor surprising but in many ways, it was both. The story had been circulated that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be received by the Holy Father after his usual [...]

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*The Dignity of a Person

By Bishop Robert Vasa “The dignity of a person must be recognized in every human being from conception to natural death.” So begins the Sept. 8, 2008 Instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the dignity of the human person. This instruction is a follow-up and updating of a previous instruction [...]

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*Lives are saved, but some vaccines aren’t morally neutral

By Bishop Robert Vasa Occasionally I am compelled to approach topics which, if I were more prudent, I would avoid. The issue of vaccines produced using cell lines of illicit origin is one such topic. At the outset I will say that the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) has produced a rather thorough FAQ sheet [...]

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*Dignitas Personae helps Catholics form their consciences

By Bishop Robert Vasa My recent reflections on the document Dignitas Personae served me very well this past week as I traveled to Dallas for a meeting for bishops hosted by the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC). The range of topics centered primarily on the freedom of religious expression and the rights and role of [...]

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*Some forms of so-called ‘contraception’ take a human life

By Bishop Robert Vasa It is impossible for the Church to treat the subject of the dignity of a human person without reiterating its consistent teaching about the sinfulness of artificial contraception. Dignitas Personae, a 2008 instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, does not make any direct comment about whether contraceptive [...]

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