Additional Items on HHS Mandate

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a number of news reports and commentaries related to the HHS mandate regarding coverage of sterilization, contraception, and abortifacients:

News reports:

EWTN News: Thousands of women oppose contraception mandate in open letter (23 FEB 12)

Catholic News Service: Revised contraceptive mandate prompts reaction from Catholic groups (16 FEB 12)

Catholic News Service: Obama's revised HHS mandate won't solve problems, USCCB president says (13 FEB 12)

National Catholic Reporter: Bishops are not 'Obama haters,' Dolan insists (14 FEB 12)

National Catholic Register: 12 Attorneys General Intend to Sue Over HHS Mandate (17 FEB 12)

Religion News Service: Lutherans find common with Catholics on Obama mandate (23 FEB 12)

Jewish World Review: Religion divides? Not yesterday in Congress (17 FEB 12)

Commentary:

CatholicVote: Dr. Janet Smith: Thank you President Obama for making Catholics more Catholic… (22 FEB 12)

Chicago Tribune: Commentary: John Garvey: Religious liberty? (19 FEB 12)

Washington Post: On Faith blog: In defense of the Catholic Church (22 FEB 12)

The Catholic Difference: George Wiegel: HHS and soft totalitarianism (15 FEB 12)

First Things: On the Square: Obama Has Stranded the Catholic Left (14 FEB 12)

New York Times: Ross Douthat: Divide and Conquer (13 FEB 12)

National Review Online: Rich Lowry: Kulturkampf as Public Health (17 FEB 12)

Boston Pilot Editorial: Locking the door (17 FEB 12)

Boston Pilot: The HHS mandate in historical perspective (17 FEB 12)

NC Register: Mark Shea: Fr. Robert Barron on Obama's Secular Totalitarianism (17 FEB 12)

Crisis Magazine: The Coming Age of the Laity (22 FEB 12)

Background information:

Pope John Paul II: Encyclial Letter Centesimus annus (on the hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum) (1 May 1991)