Renewed effort to change the HHS imposed mandate

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church

The Pastor

My dear brothers and sisters, with the help and ideas of Regina Aune, who works with me as president of the Pastoral Council of the parish, I wanted to write these lines to reflect again on an issue that directly affects the Catholic Church in the USA.

Several weeks ago, a letter from Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller concerning the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate requiring religious institutions to provide contraceptives, abortifacient drugs, and sterilization in their insurance plans was read at all the Sunday Masses.  Because this is a serious and significant issue of the violation of all Americans’ religious liberties, I want to provide you with an update on further developments regarding the mandate. Although there was a supposed “accommodation” by President Obama and HHS regarding this mandate, there was in fact no change to the original mandate.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) lists six (6) things that everyone should know about the mandate.  These six things are:

1. The mandate does not exempt Catholic charities, schools, universities, or    

hospitals.

2. The mandate forces these institutions and others against their conscience, to pay 

for things they consider immoral.

3. The mandate forces coverage of sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs and

devices as well as contraception.

4. Catholics of all political persuasions are unified in their opposition to the mandate.

5. Many other religious and secular people and groups have spoken out strongly

against the mandate.

6. The federal mandate is much stricter than existing state mandates.

In a letter to all U.S. Bishops sent on 21 February, Cardinal Dolan, President of the USCCB, and Bishop Lori, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, said:

“Religious freedom is a fundamental right of all.  This right does not depend on any government’s decision to grant it: it is God-given, and just societies recognize and respect its free exercise. Recent actions by the Administration have attempted to reduce this free exercise to a ‘privilege’ arbitrarily granted by the government as a mere exemption from an all-encompassing, extreme form of secularism. In the United States, religious liberty does not depend on the benevolence of who is regulating us.  It is our ‘first freedom’ and respect for it must be broad and inclusive—not narrow and exclusive.  Catholics and other people of faith and good will are not second-class citizens.  And it is not for the government to decide which of our ministries is ‘religious enough’ to warrant religious freedom protection.  This is not just about contraception, abortion-causing drugs and sterilization—although all should recognize the injustices involved in making them part of a universal mandated health care program. . . This is first and foremost a matter of religious liberty for all. Much remains to be done.  We cannot rest when faced with so grave a threat to the religious liberty for which our parents and grandparents fought.  In this moment of history we must work diligently to preserve religious liberty and to remove all threats to the practice of our faith in the public square.  This is our heritage as Americans.  President Obama should rescind the mandate, or at the very least, provide full and effective measures to protect religious liberty and conscience.”

As Cardinal Dolan states, this is a religious liberty issue for all Americans.  On 22 February, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed House Resolution 29, which condemned the HHS mandate by a vote of 227-121.  Seven states—Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas--have filed suit to overturn the mandate.  Additionally, EWTN, Priests for Life, Ave Maria University, Belmont Abbey College, and Colorado Christian College have filed suit to overturn the mandate.  The group Evangelicals and Catholics Together has issued a statement, In Defense of Religious Freedom, signed by evangelical Protestants and Catholics.  In addition to Catholics who have been outspoken in defense of religious liberty, all the Orthodox bishops in the United States, Jewish groups, Mormons, Protestants of all denominations, and people of no particular religious beliefs have been outspoken in the call for repeal and rescission of the mandate. 

Charles Kadlec, in Forbes magazine, wrote the following:  “In one of the boldest, most audacious moves ever made by a President of the United States, President Barack Obama is on the brink of successfully rendering moot the very first clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’”

Additional and current information is provided on the USCCB website (www.usccb.org), at this site, information regarding the fight against the mandate is updated frequently with suggestions about how to work to rescind the mandate.  The only way in which this mandate will be rescinded is if the American people demand it.  One way to ensure the rescission of the mandate is to let our representatives in Congress know that we want action on this mandate.  The congressmen can be contacted through their web and/or email sites on the Internet.  Additionally, letters can be sent to the two state senators at their Washington offices. To contact the senators, use the following addresses:

Senator John Cornyn Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

517 Hart Senate Office Bldg. 284 Russell Senate Office Bldg

Washington DC 20510 Washington DC 20510

202-224-2934 202-224-5922

Go to the Internet to find the addresses of the House representative for the district in which you live.  Legislators can be contacted in support of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act through the action alert on the USCCB  web site, www.usccb.org/conscience

And, to quote again from Archbishop Garcia-Siller’s letter of several weeks ago, “as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail. Without God we can do nothing; with God nothing is impossible. . .”

Our actions must be prayer, fasting, and contacting our legislators to rescind this unconstitutional mandate. May the Lord give us all the strength we need to raise our voices together in defense of our rights, defending the teachings of our Mother, the Catholic Church, in defense of life!

Fraternally yours in Christ,

Fr. Agustin Estrada. 

Second Sunday of Lent 2012 (B)

Why Forty Days? Well, we find in the Old and New Testament a lot of examples for this time frame of prayer and fasting. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is actually forty-six days before Easter. We say that Lent is forty days in number because the six Sundays are excluded from the rigors of Lent in order to afford the faithful a time to pause and rejuvenate, gathering new strength. Since the restructuring of the Liturgical Year after Vatican II, the Easter Triduum, which begins on Holy Thursday, is not included in the Lenten season, so the actual days of rigorous Lenten observance are approximately forty days. The number forty is found frequently in the Holy Scripture to signify a time of penitential preparation sent from God. The Old Testament is replete with examples of the use of forty: God punished mankind by sending a flood over the earth that lasted forty days and forty nights[1]; the people of Ninevah repented with forty days of fasting when Jonah preached the destruction of Ninevah[2]; Moses and the Hebrew people wandered in the desert for forty years[3]; the Prophet Ezekiel had to lie on his right side for forty days as a figure of the siege that was to bring Jerusalem to destruction[4]; the Prophet Elijah fasted and prayed on Mount Horeb for forty days[5]; and finally, Moses fasted forty days and forty nights while on Mt. Sinai[6]. In the New Testament we find Our Lord fasting and praying for forty days and forty nights in the desert in preparation for the public ministry that would end in his redeeming death[7]. He is the new Adam who overcomes the temptations of the devil and remains faithful to God; the new Israel, who reveals himself as God’s Servant by his total obedience to the divine will, in contrast to those who provoked God in the desert.  The Church sets aside the forty days of Lent in order that we might imitate Our Lord by our fasting, prayer, self-denial and good works, and thereby prepare our hearts for an Easter renewal. “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.”[8] ■ Fr. Agustin, Pastor.

---

[1] Gen 7:12

[2] Jonah 3:4

[3] Num 14:34

[4] Ez 4:6

[5] 1 Kings 19:8

[6] Ex 34:28

[7] Luke 5:35

[8] Catholic Catechism, #540

II Domingo de Cuaresma 2012

Queridos hermanos en el Señor, estos dias de Cuaresma son muy buenos para practicar el silencio y la meditación, por eso quiero traer nuevamente aquí unos pocos párrafos del Mensaje del papa para la Jornada Mundial de las Comunicaciones Sociales. «Si Dios habla al hombre también en el silencio, el hombre igualmente descubre en el silencio la posibilidad de hablar con Dios y de Dios. Necesitamos el silencio que se transforma en contemplación, que nos hace entrar en el silencio de Dios y así nos permite llegar al punto donde nace la Palabra, la Palabra redentora. Al hablar de la grandeza de Dios, nuestro lenguaje resulta siempre inadecuado y así se abre el espacio para la contemplación silenciosa. De esta contemplación nace con toda su fuerza interior la urgencia de la misión, la necesidad imperiosa de comunicar aquello que hemos visto y oído, para que todos estemos en comunión con Dios[1]. La contemplación silenciosa nos sumerge en la fuente del Amor, que nos conduce hacia nuestro prójimo, para sentir su dolor y ofrecer la luz de Cristo, su Mensaje de vida. En la contemplación silenciosa emerge asimismo, todavía más fuerte, aquella Palabra eterna por medio de la cual se hizo el mundo, y se percibe aquel designio de salvación que Dios realiza a través de palabras y gestos en toda la historia de la humanidad. Este plan de salvación culmina en la persona de Jesús de Nazaret, mediador y plenitud de toda la Revelación. Él nos hizo conocer el verdadero Rostro de Dios Padre y con su Cruz y Resurrección nos hizo pasar de la esclavitud del pecado y de la muerte a la libertad de los hijos de Dios. La pregunta fundamental sobre el sentido del hombre encuentra en el Misterio de Cristo la respuesta capaz de dar paz a la inquietud del corazón humano. Es de este Misterio de donde nace la misión de la Iglesia, y es este Misterio el que impulsa a los cristianos a ser mensajeros de esperanza y de salvación, testigos de aquel amor que promueve la dignidad del hombre y que construye la justicia y la paz. Palabra y silencio. Aprender a comunicar quiere decir aprender a escuchar, a contemplar, además de hablar. Silencio y palabra son elementos esenciales e integrantes de la acción comunicativa de la Iglesia, para un renovado anuncio de Cristo en el mundo contemporáneo ■ Benedicto XVI.

---

[1] cf. 1 Jn 1,3

Lent 2012

My brothers and sisters in Christ, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the 40 days of preparation for the Easter season when Christians are called to renew their commitments to spiritual practices like Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving. The season is intended as a time for personal conversion leading up to Easter. The belief is that our consistent participation in these practices—like exercise we do for our physical health—is a form of purification that improves our spiritual well-being by stripping away all that is unnecessary and by becoming more mindful of our ultimate dependence on God in our lives. In his beautiful Lenten Message for 2012, Pope Benedict XVI calls attention to the duty of Christians to admonish and correct one another, stressing that such fraternal correction is an important form of charity. Lent begins this year with Ash Wednesday on February 22. The theme of the papal message is taken from the Letter to the Hebrews 10:24: Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works. To “be concerned” for others, the Pope writes, means first to “be attentive” to the activities of our neighbors. All too often, however, our attitude is just the opposite: an indifference and disinterest born of selfishness and masked as a respect for ‘privacy.’ This exaggerated concern with privacy is at odds with the Christian understanding that we are all brothers in Christ. The great commandment of love for one another demands that we acknowledge our responsibility toward those who, like ourselves, are creatures and children of God. Concern for others entails desiring what is good for them from every point of view: physical, moral, and spiritual. Also His Holiness reminds us that Christians have a duty to recognize and attend to the needs of others, particularly those who are in special need of help: “That duty applies also to those who are in spiritual need. An aspect of the Christian life, which I believe, has been quite forgotten: fraternal correction in view of eternal salvation. It is important to recover this dimension of Christian charity. We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness. Authentic fraternal correction should not be motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination but by genuine love for others and concern for their welfare. Christians should be prepared to accept fraternal correction, recognizing that we are all sinners and need constant reminders and encouragement to avoid sin. This custody of others is in contrast to a mentality that, by reducing life exclusively to its earthly dimension, fails to see it in an eschatological perspective and accepts any moral choice in the name of personal freedom. A society like ours can become blind to physical sufferings and to the spiritual and moral demands of life. This must not be the case in the Christian community!”

Benedict XVI reminds us that the Church is a community, in which the welfare of one member affects the welfare of all, so being concerned for the good of others advances the overall mission of the Church, and that charity teaches us that we are responsible not only for the material well being of others, but also for their moral and spiritual good. Pope Benedict says, “We cannot overlook the fact that a certain ideology which exalts the rights of the individual can have the consequence of creating isolation and solitude. When the call to communion is denied in the name of individualism it is our humanity that suffers, deceived by the impossible mirage of happiness obtainable alone.  The Church is moved by a sincere concern for mankind and for the world. Her activities are not moved by a desire to condemn or recriminate, but by a justice and mercy which must also have the courage to call things by their name. Only in this way can we expose the roots of evil, which continue to intrigue the mind of modern man. This task of the Church is called prophetic mission”. Finally he adds: “In a world which demands of Christians a renewed witness of love and fidelity to the Lord, may all of us feel the urgent need to anticipate one another in charity, service and good works[1]. This appeal is particularly pressing in this holy season of preparation for Easter. As I offer my prayerful good wishes for a blessed and fruitful Lenten period, I entrust all of you to the intercession of the Mary Ever Virgin”

In this edition of The Pastor's Bench I've only put a few ideas of the Pope's message for Lent of 2012. I highly recommend you to read the full text and you pray that after reading it, so that the ideas of God's Vicar on earth reach deep within your heart. The entire message can read it here: http://www.zenit.org/article-34255?l=english

■ Fr. Agustin, Pastor.

---

[1] Cf. Heb 6:10

Cuaresma 2012

Preparándonos para iniciar el tiempo de Cuaresma

Queridos hermanos y hermanas en el Señor, durante este tiempo especial de purificación que empezamos el próximo miércoles –Miércoles de Ceniza- los católicos contamos con una serie de medios concretos que la Iglesia nos propone y que nos ayudan a vivir la dinámica cuaresmal. Ante todo, la vida de oración, condición indispensable para el encuentro con Dios. En la oración, si el creyente ingresa en el diálogo íntimo con el Señor, deja que la gracia divina penetre su corazón y, a semejanza de Santa María, se abre la oración del Espíritu cooperando a ella con su respuesta libre y generosa[1]. También debemos intensificar la escucha y la meditación atenta a la Palabra de Dios, la asistencia frecuente al Sacramento de la Reconciliación y la Eucaristía, lo mismo la práctica del ayuno, según las posibilidades de cada uno. La mortificación y la renuncia en las circunstancias ordinarias de nuestra vida, también constituyen un medio concreto para vivir el espíritu de Cuaresma. No se trata tanto de crear ocasiones extraordinarias, sino más bien, de saber ofrecer aquellas circunstancias cotidianas que nos son molestas, de aceptar con humildad, gozo y alegría, los distintos contratiempos que se nos presentan a diario. De la misma manera, el saber renunciar a ciertas cosas legítimas nos ayuda a vivir el desapego y desprendimiento. De entre las distintas prácticas cuaresmales que nos propone la Iglesia, la vivencia de la caridad ocupa un lugar especial. Así nos lo recuerda San León Magno: "Estos días cuaresmales nos invitan de manera apremiante al ejercicio de la caridad; si deseamos llegar a la Pascua santificados en nuestro ser, debemos poner un interés especialísimo en la adquisición de esta virtud, que contiene en si a las demás y cubre multitud de pecados". Esta vivencia de la caridad debemos vivirla de manera especial con aquél a quien tenemos más cerca, en el ambiente concreto en el que nos movemos. Así, vamos construyendo en el otro "el bien más precioso y efectivo, que es el de la coherencia con la propia vocación cristiana"[2]. Pero, Father ¿Cómo vivir la Cuaresma? Bueno, aquí hay algunos puntos muy sencillos:  1. Arrepintiéndome de mis pecados y confesándome. Pensar en qué me he apartado de, si realmente estoy arrepentido. Éste es un muy buen momento del año para llevar a cabo una confesión preparada y de corazón. Revisa los mandamientos de Dios y de la Iglesia para poder hacer una buena confesión. Ayúdate de un libro para estructurar tu confesión. Busca el tiempo para llevarla a cabo. 2. Luchando por cambiar. Analiza tu conducta para conocer en qué estás fallando. Hazte propósitos para cumplir día con día y revisa en la noche si lo lograste. Recuerda no ponerte demasiados porque te va a ser muy difícil cumplirlos todos. Hay que subir las escaleras de un escalón en un escalón, no se puede subir toda de un brinco. Conoce cuál es tu defecto dominante y haz un plan para luchar contra éste. Tu plan debe ser realista, práctico y concreto para poderlo cumplir. 3. Haciendo sacrificios. La palabra sacrificio viene del latín sacrum-facere, que significa "hacer sagrado". Entonces, hacer un sacrificio es hacer una cosa sagrada, es decir, ofrecerla a Dios por amor. Hacer sacrificio es ofrecer a Dios, porque lo amas, cosas que te cuestan trabajo. Por ejemplo, ser amable con el vecino que no te simpatiza o ayudar a otro en su trabajo. A cada uno de nosotros hay algo que nos cuesta trabajo hacer en la vida de todos los días. Si esto se lo ofrecemos a Dios por amor, estamos haciendo sacrificio. 4. Haciendo oración. Aprovecha estos días para orar, para platicar con Dios, para decirle con mucha sencillez que lo quieres y que quieres estar con Él. Te puedes ayudar de un buen libro de meditación para Cuaresma, de las lecturas de los domingos, de las oraciones que se usan en la Liturgia de las Horas ¡de tantas cosas! Te dejo aquí una de las oraciones más bonitas que, por cierto, tiene la Liturgia de las Horas para que te acompañe a lo largo de éstos 40 días en que nos preparamos para celebrar con muchísima alegría la Pascua del Señor:

No me mueve, mi Dios, para quererte el cielo que me tienes prometido, ni me mueve el infierno tan temido para dejar por eso de ofenderte.

Tú me mueves, Señor; muéveme el verte clavado en la Cruz y escarnecido, muéveme ver tu cuerpo tan herido muévanme tus afrentas y tu muerte.

Muéveme, en fin, tu amor, y de tal manera, que aunque no hubiera cielo yo te amara, y aunque no hubiera infierno, te temiera.

No me tienes que dar porque te quiera; pues aunque lo que espero no esperara, lo mismo que te quiero te quisiera.

■ P. Agustín, Párroco.

---

[1] Cfr Lc 1,38

[2] Juan Pablo II.

American Bishops Renew Call To Legislative Action On Religious Liberty

February 10, 2012

The Catholic bishops have long supported access to life-affirming healthcare for all, and the conscience rights of everyone involved in the complex process of providing that healthcare. That is why we raised two serious objections to the "preventive services" regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in August 2011.

First, we objected to the rule forcing private health plans — nationwide, by the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen—to cover sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion. All the other mandated "preventive services" prevent disease, andpregnancy is not a disease. Moreover, forcing plans to cover abortifacients violates existing federal conscience laws. Therefore, we called for the rescission of the mandate altogether.

Second, we explained that the mandate would impose a burden of unprecedented reach and severity on the consciences of those who consider such "services" immoral:insurers forced to write policies including this coverage; employers and schools forced to sponsor and subsidize the coverage; and individual employees and students forced to pay premiums for the coverage. We therefore urged HHS, if it insisted on keeping the mandate, to provide a conscience exemption for all of these stakeholders—not just the extremely small subset of "religious employers" that HHS proposed to exempt initially.

Today, the President has done two things.

First, he has decided to retain HHS's nationwide mandate of insurance coverage of sterilization and contraception, including some abortifacients. This is both unsupported in the law and remains a grave moral concern. We cannot fail to reiterate this, even as so many would focus exclusively on the question of religious liberty.

Second, the President has announced some changes in how that mandate will be administered, which is still unclear in its details. As far as we can tell at this point, the change appears to have the following basic contours:

·It would still mandate that all insurers must include coverage for the objectionable services in all the policies they would write. At this point, it would appear that self-insuring religious employers, and religious insurance companies, are not exempt from this mandate.

·It would allow non-profit, religious employers to declare that they do not offer such coverage. But the employee and insurer may separately agree to add that coverage. The employee would not have to pay any additional amount to obtain this coverage, and the coverage would be provided as a part of the employer's policy, not as a separate rider.

·Finally, we are told that the one-year extension on the effective date (from August 1, 2012 to August 1, 2013) is available to any non-profit religious employer who desires it, without any government application or approval process.

These changes require careful moral analysis, and moreover, appear subject to some measure of change. But we note at the outset that the lack of clear protectionfor key stakeholders—for self-insured religious employers; for religious and secular for-profit employers; for secular non-profit employers; for religious insurers; and for individuals—is unacceptable and must be corrected. And in the case where the employee and insurer agree to add the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of the objecting employer's plan, financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the objecting employer. This, too, raises serious moral concerns.

We just received information about this proposal for the first time this morning; we were not consulted in advance. Some information we have is in writing and some is oral. We will, of course, continue to press for the greatest conscience protection we can secure from the Executive Branch. But stepping away from the particulars, we note that today's proposal continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions. In a nation dedicated to religious liberty as its first and founding principle, we should not be limited to negotiating within these parameters. The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services.

We will therefore continue—with no less vigor, no less sense of urgency—our efforts to correct this problem through the other two branches of government. For example, we renew our call on Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. And we renew our call to the Catholic faithful, and to all our fellow Americans, to join together in this effort to protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all.

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller issues a letter protesting HHS Mandate.

Our beloved Archbishop the Most Rev Gustavo Garcia-Siller has issued a letter to the Catholics of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.  In the letter the archbishop forcefully protests the recent federal mandate requiring virtually all private health plans to include coverage for all FDA-approved prescription contraceptives, and female sterilization procedures.  In his letter, the archbishop writes, "The recent disturbing decision in Washington represents a real threat to all Americans’ right to religious freedom…We cannot be silent in the face of this unjust edict.” The archbishop also urges the faithful to “contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Administration’s decision.” You can read the letter in English or Spanish, and you can learn more about this issue. 

Six Things Everyone Should Know About the HHS Mandate

 

1. The mandate does not exempt Catholic charities, schools, universities, or hospitals. These institutions are vital to the mission of the Church, but HHS does not deem them "religious employers" worthy of conscience protection, because they do not "serve primarily persons who share the[ir] religious tenets." HHS denies these organizations religious freedom precisely because their purpose is to serve the common good of society—a purpose that government should encourage, not punish.

2. The mandate forces these institutions and others, against their conscience, to pay for things they consider immoral.Under the mandate, the government forces religious insurers to write policies that violate their beliefs; forces religious employers and schoolsto sponsor and subsidize coverage that violates their beliefs; and forces religious employees and students to purchase coverage that violates their beliefs.

3. The mandate forces coverage of sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs and devices as well as contraception. Though commonly called the "contraceptive mandate," HHS's mandate also forces employers to sponsor and subsidize coverage of sterilization.And, by including all drugs approved by the FDA for use as contraceptives, the HHS mandate includes drugs that can induce abortion, such as "Ella," a close cousin of the abortion pill RU-486.

4. Catholics of all political persuasions are unified in their opposition to the mandate. Catholics who have long supported this Administration and its healthcare policies have publicly criticized HHS's decision, including columnists E.J. Dionne, Mark Shields, andMichael Sean Winters; college presidents Father John Jenkins andArturo Chavez; and Daughter of Charity Sister Carol Keehan, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States.

5. Many other religious and secular people and groups have spoken out strongly against the mandate. Many recognize this as an assault on the broader principle of religious liberty, even if they disagree with the Church on the underlying moral question. For example, Protestant Christian, Orthodox Christian, and Orthodox Jewish groups--none of which oppose contraception--have issued statements against the decision. The Washington Post, USA Today,N.Y. Daily News, Detroit News, and other secular outlets, columnists, and bloggers have editorialized against it.

6. The federal mandate is much stricter than existing state mandates. HHS chose the narrowest state-level religious exemption as the model for its own. That exemption was drafted by the ACLU and exists in only 3 states (New York, California, Oregon). Even without a religious exemption, religious employers can already avoid the contraceptive mandates in 28 states by self-insuring their prescription drug coverage, dropping that coverage altogether, or opting for regulation under a federal law (ERISA) that pre-empts state law. The HHS mandate closes off all these avenues of relief.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, RSM: Director of Media Relations, USCCB

Obama Care and Religious Freedom

Religious freedom is the lifeblood of the American people, the cornerstone of American government. When the Founding Fathers determined that the innate rights of men and women should be enshrined in our Constitution, they so esteemed religious liberty that they made it the first freedom in the Bill of Rights. In particular, the Founding Fathers fiercely defended the right of conscience. George Washington himself declared: "The conscientious scruples of all men should be treated with great delicacy and tenderness; and it is my wish and desire, that the laws may always be extensively accommodated to them." James Madison, a key defender of religious freedom and author of the First Amendment, said: "Conscience is the most sacred of all property." Scarcely two weeks ago, in its Hosanna-Tabor decision upholding the right of churches to make ministerial hiring decisions, the Supreme Court unanimously and enthusiastically reaffirmed these longstanding and foundational principles of religious freedom. The court made clear that they include the right of religious institutions to control their internal affairs. Yet the Obama administration has veered in the opposite direction. It has refused to exempt religious institutions that serve the common good—including Catholic schools, charities and hospitals—from its sweeping new health-care mandate that requires employers to purchase contraception, including abortion-producing drugs, and sterilization coverage for their employees. Last August, when the administration first proposed this nationwide mandate for contraception and sterilization coverage, it also proposed a "religious employer" exemption. But this was so narrow that it would apply only to religious organizations engaged primarily in serving people of the same religion. As Catholic Charities USA's president, the Rev. Larry Snyder, notes, even Jesus and His disciples would not qualify for the exemption in that case, because they were committed to serve those of other faiths. Since then, hundreds of religious institutions, and hundreds of thousands of individual citizens, have raised their voices in principled opposition to this requirement that religious institutions and individuals violate their own basic moral teaching in their health plans. Certainly many of these good people and groups were Catholic, but many were Americans of other faiths, or no faith at all, who recognize that their beliefs could be next on the block. They also recognize that the cleverest way for the government to erode the broader principle of religious freedom is to target unpopular beliefs first. Now we have learned that those loud and strong appeals were ignored. On Friday, the administration reaffirmed the mandate, and offered only a one-year delay in enforcement in some cases—as if we might suddenly be more willing to violate our consciences 12 months from now. As a result, all but a few employers will be forced to purchase coverage for contraception, abortion drugs and sterilization services even when they seriously object to them. All who share the cost of health plans that include such services will be forced to pay for them as well. Surely it violates freedom of religion to force religious ministries and citizens to buy health coverage to which they object as a matter of conscience and religious principle. The rule forces insurance companies to provide these services without a co-pay, suggesting they are "free"—but it is naïve to believe that. There is no free lunch, and you can be sure there's no free abortion, sterilization or contraception. There will be a source of funding: you. Coercing religious ministries and citizens to pay directly for actions that violate their teaching is an unprecedented incursion into freedom of conscience. Organizations fear that this unjust rule will force them to take one horn or the other of an unacceptable dilemma: Stop serving people of all faiths in their ministries—so that they will fall under the narrow exemption—or stop providing health-care coverage to their own employees. The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience, for everyone. The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease. This latest erosion of our first freedom should make all Americans pause. When the government tampers with a freedom so fundamental to the life of our nation, one shudders to think what lies ahead ■ His Excellency, the most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan, tenth Archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.