“Why are these women being harassed… women…who are caring, out of love for Jesus Christ, for the elderly poor?”

With a little wildly appropriate righteous anger, Bishop Robert Barron posted a video Wednesday evening reacting to the federal district court ruling against the Little Sisters of the Poor, calling the decision “ridiculous,” with the Little Sisters “incredibly” being targeted again.

It all goes back to the Obamcare mandate that compels the Little Sisters “to provide in their insurance coverage for contraception and abortafacients, both of which run against Catholic morality.”

“This is a gross violation of the religious liberty of these women. And of the Free Exercise of religion that is guaranteed by the First Amendment,” Barron says. “It should concern every American.”

He then mentions the recent “equally crazy” law in Washington State going after priests, obliging them to reveal what they have been told in the Confessional, if it pertains to a crime — despite the sacramental seal of confidentially. Repeating what has been confessed — breaking the seal — would be a matter for excommunication for the priest.

Barron warns of the “aggressive secularist agenda” behind these attacks on religious liberty. In our conversation earlier, Mark Rienzi and I also suggest, as Barron does, that there’s some good old-fashioned anti-Catholicism behind the Washington matter, especially, too. Barron calls it all “a deep anti-Americanism, because it’s a violation of our religious liberty.”

Bishop Barron serves in the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota and is known for his popular media engagement as founder of Word on Fire.

In May, he was appointed as a member of the White House religious-liberty commission. He promises to bring these two attacks to the commission for discussion.