Catholic leaders defend Little Sisters, religious freedom

WASHINGTON—One day after the Supreme Court kicked the Little Sisters of the Poor case back to lower courts to get rehashed, the sisters said they had no plan B in the fight for their religious freedom.

“We have no contingency plan,” said Sister Constance Veit, director of communications for the Little Sisters of the Poor at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., “because we believe that God will never abandon us.”

The 12th annual Catholic prayer breakfast featured Veit, as well as other prominent faith leaders such as Cardinal Robert Sarah, the former Archbishop of Conakry, Guinea, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. They both addressed the plight of religious liberty in the United States, referencing last year’s ruling to legalize same-sex marriage, the push for transgender restroom laws, and the federal government’s trying to force employers, including the Little Sisters, to provide health coverage for contraceptives and abortifacients.

Yesterday, an eight-member Supreme Court said it had no opinion at this time in the case of Little Sisters of the Poor and the other consolidated religious nonprofits seeking exemptions from Obamacare. The justices said they would let the plaintiffs and the federal government deliberate further in lower courts, possibly returning to the Supreme Court if they cannot reach a settlement.

“We got some good news from the Supreme Court yesterday,” Ryan said. “Clearly, the court does not believe that the government has done a good enough job protecting religious liberty.”

Ryan told the audience of Catholics that religious liberty is under assault in the U.S. and the Little Sisters of the Poor are an example of the federal government restricting the rights of people of faith.

“But I actually think religious liberty is going to make a comeback because there is a growing need for faith,” he said. In January, the speaker invited several members of the Little Sisters of the Poor to be his guests at President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address. Ryan said he would continue to advocate for the nuns because people serving in religious nonprofits bless their communities through their work and America needs to protect their rights to live by their own moral convictions.

Ryan’s remarks came the same day NBC News and SurveyMonkey released a national poll showing more Republicans trust presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump to lead the party than him. “Please pray for me and all our elected officials that we may be instruments of God’s will,” Ryan said.

Sarah, the cardinal from West Africa, was the keynote speaker of the breakfast and unabashedly dismissed political correctness in defense of religious freedom.

He received bursts of applause for calling out the federal government’s stance on people using public restrooms according to their gender identities, not biological sex: “Should not a biological man use a man’s bathroom? It is as simple as that.”

Sarah said religious liberty is about more than having freedom of conscience; it’s also the right to live by moral convictions in both private and public life. He noted the Little Sisters of the Poor do not have religious freedom unless they can work without having to condone abortifacient use.

The cardinal called the LGBT agenda a crushing blow to family structures, where a generation of children will grow up confused about love and relationships. Sarah said the devil wants to destroy the integrity of families because it is the best witness for Christ. And violence against Christians is not just physical harm— it is political, ideological, and cultural attacks on faith.

“I pray this country will experience a new great spiritual awakening,” Sarah said. “For in the end, it is God or nothing.”