Dear
Friend,
I want
to share with you some Good News:
Christ loved us so much that He found the human courage to lay down His life for us. Let us also find the courage, with His help, to do what is right and just, and not submit to the HHS Mandate.
Christ loved us so much that He found the human courage to lay down His life for us. Let us also find the courage, with His help, to do what is right and just, and not submit to the HHS Mandate.
A few years ago, I had health
insurance with Anthem.
Then one day, I had the opportunity to go online and find out that we were
paying for Mifepristone, an abortion-inducing drug.
I was outraged, and then I was sickened (literally) when I could not find a single health insurance company that did not cover contraception or abortion (this was before the HHS Mandate!) I thought that I could run away from the responsibility by embracing a life of absolute poverty, but even there I was stuck with using my insurance with Anthem!
Finally, I found some hope in an unexpected place: buried in the 2,000-page Obamacare legislation is a clause exempting members of a "health-sharing ministry" from the individual insurance
mandate. This means that we now have
three moral, legal choices: "Medishare,"
"Samaritain," and “Christian Healthcare Ministries" (CHM). [Comparison Chart] I chose to join CHM because it has the least
expensive membership option.I was outraged, and then I was sickened (literally) when I could not find a single health insurance company that did not cover contraception or abortion (this was before the HHS Mandate!) I thought that I could run away from the responsibility by embracing a life of absolute poverty, but even there I was stuck with using my insurance with Anthem!
This
kind of ministry is not foreign to the Church—in fact, the "ministry of
charity" is precisely the reason why deacons were instituted in the early
years. But today, we have the welcome
opportunity to cooperate with our separated brethren in one of the three
legally recognized "health-sharing ministries," because it is no longer legal for us to initiate such a ministry on our own. Pope Benedict XVI recently put it into Canon Law that a bishop "is to promote charitable initiatives in cooperation with" our separated brethren in Christ, "where appropriate." Considering the gravity of the HHS Mandate, it is definitely appropriate in this situation. Please encourage your bishop to promote these charitable initiatives.
Pope Benedict XVI also wrote into Canon Law that we must now seek to form our own parish-based ministries of Charity. Your bishop may already have given subtle directives for this to happen.
What hope this means for the Church! If we do not have to comply with the HHS Mandate, let us choose not to! Let us be martyrs—martyrs of Charity!
Pope Benedict XVI also wrote into Canon Law that we must now seek to form our own parish-based ministries of Charity. Your bishop may already have given subtle directives for this to happen.
What hope this means for the Church! If we do not have to comply with the HHS Mandate, let us choose not to! Let us be martyrs—martyrs of Charity!
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Donnie Schenck (Trenton, OH)
