April 2, 2012

• Dying for Christ

  A few weeks ago I posted a pulse with a link to a news article: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholic-woman-would-rather-risk-life-than-follow-hhs-mandate/

   

  The article is about a young woman named Stacy Molai who, in spite of serious health issues of her own, is one of two people suing the U.S. Government on the grounds that the recent HHS mandate requiring all insurance companies to cover abortifacients, sterilization procedures and abortions violates the right to religious freedom. What made this story so remarkable to me is that this young woman is prepared not to have health insurance if the mandate stands or there is no religious exemption for Catholics, meaning that she could die.

  As you can imagine I received a good number of comments to that pulse, some of which were fairly interesting. I was getting all geared up to make a post trying to answer some of them but then I thought, “Hey, I’ll bet I could actually get in touch with Stacy; maybe she would be willing to respond to them instead?”

  Sure enough I was able to get in touch with her and in spite of her super-busy schedule (she works in campus ministry so, yeah! BUSY!) she took the time to offer a response to the comments stemming from the pulse I posted. I hope that all of you, but especially those who commented on the post, find her response to be interesting and enlightening!

   

  And a huge thanks to Stacy for taking the time!

  

  Hello everyone!  I would like to introduce myself, I am Stacy Molai.  Jacob contacted me after he posted the article about my story and asked if I might be willing to answer some of your questions myself.  I’m sorry it has taken me some time to respond, but here is what I have to say …

  First, I would like to say that your usernames are very creative and made me smile to read them!  J  Second, I would like to thank each of you for your comments, especially those of you who disagree with my stance.  Hopefully I can shed a little light to help you to understand further.  I would also like to thank you for speaking your mind in a way that is honest but not malicious.  I laughed as I read through the comments and read the *facepalm* from @the_rocking_of_socks.  I felt gladdened by comments from @ZombieMom_Speaks – thank you for explaining about Crohn’s disease and for caring about what would happen to my children if I did indeed die (just so you know, I do not have children).  I did feel badly about @Lucylwrites … I was saddened that she would read my story and feel turned away from religion because she didn’t understand why I would risk my health and quite possibly my life … So here goes … I’ll try to answer each question from top to bottom …

  @ZombieMom_Speaks – First of all, this issue is *not* about birth control, abortion causing drugs, sterilization procedures or who can have access to these things.  This issue is about forcing people to pay for things (such as these) that goes against their conscience.  And just so you know, birth control used for medical purposes does not go against my conscience or the teachings of the Catholic Church. 

  Second, as @the_rocking_of_socks said, I wouldn’t have to use birth control.  If that is really what I thought, the facepalm comment would be appropriate … however, again, this is not the issue.  The issue would be that I would have to *pay* for the contraceptives, etc … this use of my money goes against my moral conscience and the teachings of my Church.  The HHS Mandate forces me to choose between following the law of the United States or the Law of my God and my Church.  I should never be forced to choose between these two things, as outlined in the First Amendment, which gives me the Freedom of Religion.  The article was simply telling my story, that if forced to choose, I would choose to follow God.  After all, my health, and my life for that matter, have always been in His Hands anyway.  I do not stand alone; I am united with FOCUS; the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, the United States Bishops and countless clergy and faithful lay Catholics as well as Protestants, Jews, other religions, and even those who don’t consider themselves to be religious but who do value their First Amendment Rights.  Let me be clear, I do not *want* to give up my Healthcare, because as @ZombieMom_Speaks said, my Crohn’s can kill me if left untreated.  But even more important than that, I will NOT offend my conscience or my God or my Church by participating in paying for things that I find morally offensive.   And here’s why …

  When God created us, He made us to be in a personal relationship with Him.  We, as humans, are wired for relationship – with God and with one another.  Why do you think the worst punishment in prison is solitary confinement?  Because we’re made to be in community!  It’s painful to be alone!  The bad part is, that through original sin (when Adam & Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – which God commanded them not to do) and through our own personal sin (any time we ourselves turn away from the love of God and what He has told us to do – I like to call it fulfilling a legitimate need in an illegitimate way) we have broken our relationship with God.  And there is nothing we can do to repair this relationship.  I like to use this example … if you and I were hanging out and you slapped me, what would you need to do to repair our friendship?  Well, first you’d probably need to tell me why you hit me (haha!) and then apologize.  But, what happens if you slap a Police Officer?  You’d be facing a fine at the minimum.  What happens if you slap the President of the United States?  You might get shot by the Secret Service for assaulting our President … you’d get tackled at the very least and serve some jail time … as you can see, as you go higher in authority, the penalty for the same action gets more and more severe.  When we sin against God, as the Ultimate Authority, the penalty is so great, we cannot hope to ever repay or repair the damage done.  This is why, in an act of True Love, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the debt for us.  God the Father loved us so much, He couldn’t bear to be separated from us, so He sent Jesus, Who died on the Cross to pay a debt He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.  He restored our relationship with God the Father … Jesus came so that we could have life, and have it to the fullest.  How many people just “survive” from day to day?  That would be like a bird that once soared in the skies, and then was caught and had its wings clipped and never flew again.  Would that bird be alive?  Well, yes.  But would it be living life to the fullest!?  Absolutely not!  Friends, we were made to fly!  Jesus came and restored our wings!  And it doesn’t end there – three days later, He was raised from the dead … Jesus is ALIVE TODAY … and He sent us the Holy Spirit!  We have received an invitation to accept this gift from Jesus, the gift of a restored relationship with God the Father, through God the Son.  But what do I possibly have that could show my thanks for such a gift?  I have nothing that would be adequate thanks, so I give what I have … I give all of me … my life, my money, my plans, my will, my heart, my love … I give my fidelity to God’s laws and I trust Him with my health.  He can choose to rescue me or He can choose to let me die, either way, I will not forsake Him (see Daniel chapter 3, especially verses 17-18). 

  I hope that helps you to understand and I welcome any additional comments or questions!

  Peace and love (and hugs! – I’m a huggy person! J) to each of you!

  Stacy Molai

   

   

  • 7:26 pm
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