Last February, the Obama Administration announced that it would be forcing all employers to include contraceptives into their employees' insurance coverage. The coverage would also have to include sterilization and abortion inducing drugs. That angered Catholic organizations, including the Diocese of Erie.

So now, Bishop Donald Trautman, the Diocese, and Erie's Saint Martin Center, have filed suit against the federal government.

"We're raising it up to a religious liberty issue," Trautman said. "We feel that our rights are guaranteed under the First Amendment, the first item in the Bill of Rights. All of that will be for us. I think the court will take a great interest in the case."

12 lawsuits were filed simultaneously in different courthouses nationwide including the Federal Court House in Erie.  The Erie groups are taking a key role in the case, alongside organizations such as the Archdiocese of New York and the University of Notre Dame.

"I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud that we are able to be a part of, I think, an historic lawsuit. We are firm in our conviction that this needs to be done," Trautman said.

The Obama Administration is excluding religious groups from the mandate, however, the Erie Diocese and Saint Martin Center do not qualify as religious groups under the law.  The government's reason is they employ and serve people of all faiths, and people with no faith at all.

"It really complicates our efforts to reach out and serve all people," says Trautman. "It goes against our conscience rights, as well, when we are forced to provide and pay for insurance coverage for services that are certainly against our beliefs."

Bishop Trautman, 75, is ready to retire, but he is also ready for a court fight, if President Obama does not back down. 

"We can only hope that reason would prevail and the constitution would be respected," Trautman said.