Local Catholics join rally against HHS mandate

Intermountain Catholic

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Lisa Bachiller, a Saint Thomas More parishioner, participates in the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally. IC photo/Marie Mischel

SALT LAKE CITY — About 150 people, including numerous Catholics, participated in the Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally at noon in front of the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City on March 23, protesting the federal mandate that requires most religious employers to provide contraceptive coverage. They joined groups in about 140 cities nationwide; nationally, the event was organized by the Pro-Life Action League of Chicago, Ill. and the Citizens for a Pro-Life Society in Detroit, Mich.

Several speakers were on the agenda at the Salt Lake City rally, including three religious leaders, four candidates for various political offices and a representative of an elected official.

Among those who attended the rally was Ken Harris, who joined a group of fellow Blessed Sacrament parishioners. "We have to stand up for our freedoms; this is a First Amendment issue," said Harris, who brought a copy of the Constitution and quoted from memory the First Amendment’s religious clauses. "It can’t be more clear than that," he said.

Father Joseph Frez from Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Kearns has signed online petitions against the mandate and given a homily about the fact that the issue is religious freedom rather than politics. He attended the rally because, he said, "I decided as a Catholic and as an associate pastor I need to be with the people. This is about religious freedom. It is going against our conscience."

Likewise, Colleen Carter from Saint Ann Parish in Salt Lake City brought 10 signs that read "Religious Freedom for Everyone" and handed them out to others at the rally "because people don’t realize what all is involved. The secular society believes it’s just ‘you’re stopping my contraceptive,’ [but] it’s all about democracy and what our country stands for."

Among the most noticeable rally participants was Lisa Bachiller of Saint Thomas More Parish in Sandy, who carried a large crucifix and was clad in an authentic Iraqi dress to depict Mary, the Virgin Mother, because if Mary had not said ‘yes’ to God, then Christ would not have died on the Cross, she said.

"I want to help Jesus get the message across," said Bachiller, who lived in Iraq and Sudan for several years and heard Christians in those countries tell of persecutions they suffered. "I want to help people realize they need to step out of their comfort zone," she said. "Apathy is worse than pain."

Among the speakers was the Rev. Darin Lovelace of Saint John’s Anglican Church Park City, who said that under the HHS mandate, "Free exercise of religion will be prohibited for any people of faith because our religious liberty is more than just our freedom to assemble in a particular place on a particular day and worship in the way that we please."

Church-run hospitals and schools are an essential part of the church’s mission, he said. "Our contribution to society from these institutions is immeasurable, and these benefits are not just for Roman Catholics, but for people of all faiths, or even of no faith, who are receiving their services…. The federal government seems to want to dictate that our moral convictions cease to have meaning beyond the threshold of the church, or the synagogue, or the mosque. That is not what our founders sought to protect."

The rally’s closing speaker was Father Erik Richtsteig, pastor of Saint James the Just Catholic Church in Ogden.

Opposition to the HHS mandate "is about religious freedom, and religion is not something we keep in the closet," Fr. Richtsteig said. "It’s not something we close our doors for. It’s not just something we do on Sundays. Our Lord Jesus Christ was vociferous in condemning those people who would say one thing on a Sunday and do something [else] the rest of the week. We have the obligation to live our faith 24/7, in private and in the public square, and that’s what this is all about."