Why would anyone be surprised?

The courts have ruled against EWTN regarding the HHS mandate.  Yeah, that HHS mandate.  Remember when the Bishops nearly declared holy war against that?  Protests were formed.  Promises of resistance were made. Bishops required every parish priest to read a condemnation of the mandate one Sunday.  Our priest at the time, who was not exactly right of center, did so reluctantly.  He all but apologized.  He read it quickly.  He visibly took it and put it under a stack of papers.  And that was it.  It was never brought up again.

That seems to be how many Catholics who don't support the logical consequences of liberalism, but in all ways embrace every idea and narrative of liberalism, have come to deal with this.  When there is a story about a setback or a victory they might mention it.  But normally it's swept under the rug and forgotten about.

And why not?  If you've adopted the conciliatory approach to the post-Christian Left, then you have to admit this is what lies in your future.  The HHS mandate, in addition to being a brilliant piece of maneuvering on the part of President Obama, is not a fluke.  The secular Left, for want of a better label I have yet to come up with, is a religion.  It is a new faith.  And it does not suffer rivals lightly.  There just isn't enough room in this world for it and any competing faiths.  If you water down your own particular faith to conform to the Left, that's fine.  But the next time more compromise is demanded, there will be no option but compromise.

So get used to it.  As so many Catholics seem content with this quasi-masochistic relationship with a movement that sees our faith as a lie, an evil, and a force that should be eliminated for the betterment of humanity, they will have to get used to little things like this story.  And even if we win in the courts for a time, it will be no use.  Already the majority of Americans, who only a few years ago rejected the idea of the mandate and its impact on religious liberty, now fully support it.  A minor setback in the courts is small potatoes next to winning the hearts and minds of a nation.