Denver Catholic

INDEX Archbishop's column .......................2 The Catholic Difference ..................4 Marriage Missionaries ....................4 Bulletin Board ...................................9 Crossword/Word Search ................9 TV Mass schedule .......................... 10 Nun of the Above quiz .................. 10 Service Directory .............................11 Little Sisters have day in court DECEMBER 10, 2014 114 Years of Service to the Gospel Volume XC - No. 43 www.DenverCatholicRegister.org I Follow us on INSIDE LOCAL NEWS PAGE 2 PHOTO BY JASON TAYLOR/ARCHDIOCESE OF DENVER Registrations under way for first TeleForum with archbishop ANSWERING THE CALL LOCAL NEWS PAGE 6 PAGE 8 New St. Joseph Hospital features work of local artists Cancer patient's wish to become a priest coming true Nuns say they should not have to choose BY NISSA LAPOINT Before a looming federal courthouse building in down- town Denver, the provincial su- perior of the Little Sisters of the Poor said in a press conference earlier this week that the order of nuns is not seeking "special priv- ileges" in its lawsuit against the HHS mandate—the nuns only wish to continue to serve the el- derly and dying. Mother Loraine Marie Magu- ire, l.s.p., gave public comments Dec. 8 following the Little Sisters' oral arguments before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contending the federal contra- ceptive mandate is a violation of religious freedom as guaranteed in the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act. "But now the government de- mands we choose between our care for the elderly poor and our faith," Mother Maguire said during the conference. "We can- not do that and we should not have to. It is a choice that violates our nation's historic commit- ment to ensure that people from diverse faiths can freely follow God's calling in their lives." Attorneys from The Becket Fund for Religious Freedom pre - sented the nuns' case in a law- suit challenging the mandate, a part of the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare. The nuns argue the government is forcing them to act against their religious beliefs because of its requirement to provide free con- traceptives and abortion-induc- ing drugs to employees, or pay steep fines. PHOTO BY BERNARD GRANT/DCR MOTHER Loraine Marie Maguire, l.s.p., right, walks into the Byron White courthouse in downtown Denver with other Little Sisters of the Poor moments before the order's attorneys presented oral arguments to a federal appeals court. Mother Maguire commented publically for the first time following more than a year of court battles against the HHS mandate, a part of the Affordable Care Act. See Sisters, Page 5

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