The Carmel of Mary Immaculate

And St. Mary Magdalen

Flemington, New Jersey

Statement on the HHS Mandate

We, the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Flemington, New Jersey, declare our firm support of the US Bishops in their opposition to the January mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services of the US Government. This mandate and its accommodation oblige religious institutions to provide sterilization, contraception and abortion-causing drugs in the health plans for their workers.

As faithful members of the Catholic Church, we firmly uphold its teaching on the dignity of each human being uniquely created in the image of God. Such practices as those enforced by the mandate radically attack this God-given dignity of each human being. These practices are totally against our conscience, and we cannot support them in any way, either directly or indirectly.

As faithful citizens of this Commonwealth, we hold to the statement of the Founding Fathers that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.”

We join with our Bishops and all concerned Americans in their efforts to overturn the mandate. We offer our lives of prayer to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that our government may regain the true understanding of our American heritage and that our Country may again be “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

April 20th, 2012

To access the USCCB web page for religious liberty protection, click the link below:

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/