Catholics Protest ObamaCare [VIDEO]

Religious leaders, members of the Catholic faith, and others, rallied outside the James Cleveland Federal Building in Concord on March 23, that would require employers to offer contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs to employees.

The protesters held signs stating “Stop the War on Religious Women” and “Repeal Obama’s HHS Mandate” while often entering into prayers offered by Father Richard Roberge, of the , the consortium of Catholic parishes in Concord.

In three rousing speeches, interspersed between others, Roberge said the mandates implemented by the federal government in January were so narrowly defined that they did not protect the religious freedom of Catholic institutions and were a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution. He said the mandates “were an alarming and serious matter” and would “strike at the fundamental right of religious liberty of any faiths.” Waivers in the law, he said, only protect those hospitals and institutions that offer services to their own faiths, not those, like Catholic organizations, which open their doors to all who need service, regardless of faith. Following the Book of Matthew, he noted, required this service to the needy, to everyone.

“We are considered not to be religious enough,” he said.

Roberge called on people of faith to contact their elected representatives to have the mandates stopped and requested that people pray to have God intervene and change the mandate.

Ellen Kolb, the legislative affairs director of , said she was “stunned” that liberal women’s groups were calling requests to repeal the mandates a war on women. She said a government that attacks one faith today could attack another faith tomorrow.

“The Bill of Rights was not put in place to protect the majorities,” she said. “The HHS mandates puts our religious and conscience liberties at risk and I ask you to stand with me and insist that these mandates be rescinded.”

George Harne, the president of The College of Saint Mary Magdalen, a Catholic college in Warner, said the nation was in a struggle for its very soul. During the last three years, he said, the executive branch has redefined religious liberty. Harne said the country was founded on religious liberty and the right to privacy but those principles have been lost on the Obama Administration.

“What was once the crown jewel of our Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, has been reinterpreted in a way that would be unrecognizable to our Founding Fathers,” he noted. “The federal government is seeking to chase us all back into our churches and synagogues, reducing our freedom of religion to that of what is available in Saudi Arabia.”

Deacon Jim Locke of St. Theresa’s in Henniker, also attended the event and read scripture to those in attendance.

The Concord rally was one of 140 held across the United States, marking the anniversary of the , also known as Obamacare.

, U.S. Rep. , R-NH-1, and Republican candidate for governor, , were unable to attend the event but wrote letters in support of the rally, which were read by participants.