Top bishops fight birth control deal
Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, gestures during an interview at the North American College in Rome, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012. / AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia
ROME - The top U.S. Catholic bishop vowed legislative and court challenges Tuesday to a compromise by President Barack Obama to his healthcare mandate that now exempts religiously affiliated institutions from paying directly for birth control for their workers, instead making insurance companies responsible.
Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an interview with The Associated Press that he trusted Obama wasn't anti-religious and intended to make good on his pledge to work with religious groups to fine-tune the mandate.
"I want to take him at his word," Dolan said in Rome, where he will be made a cardinal Saturday. But he stressed: "I do have to say it's getting harder and harder," to believe Obama's claim to prioritize religious freedom issues given the latest controversy.
Obama sought to quell fierce election-year outrage on Friday by abandoning his stand that religiously affiliated institutions such as Catholic hospitals and universities must pay for birth control. Instead, he said insurance would step in to provide the coverage.
The administration's initial position had outraged evangelicals and Catholic bishops and emboldened many Republicans who charged that it amounted to an assault on religion by forcing religious institutions to pay for contraception, sterilization and the morning-after pill against their consciences.
The mandate also raised greater philosophical questions about which institutions would qualify as religious and could therefore be exempt.
"Does the federal government have the right to tell a religious individual or a religious entity how to define yourself?" Dolan asked. "This is what gives us greater chill."
Initially, Dolan had termed Obama's compromise as "a first step in the right direction" after hearing about it Friday morning. But later that day, Dolan's USCCB issued a statement rejecting it, saying the arrangement was unacceptable and raised "serious moral concerns."
Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said the main concern is that the so-called "choking mandates" remain. In addition many Catholic entities are self-insured. It remains unclear how they would get around the mandate to provide services that they consider morally illicit.
"Was what was intended to be a concession, and what gave us a glimmer of hope at the beginning ... really just amount to a hill of beans? And it seems as if it does," Dolan said.
He vowed to support legislation under way in Congress that would allow any employer to deny birth control coverage if it runs counter to their religious or moral beliefs. The White House on Monday termed the proposed legislation "dangerous and wrong."
Dolan said the U.S. bishops will now work hard to support passage of the new legislation. "I couldn't see why the president would have any consternation, because he said to me that religious freedom remains sacrosanct. Well, let's legislatively guarantee it," Dolan said.
Separately, he said, the bishops will back court challenges to the mandate being undertaken by others. He said he didn't think the USCCB itself, however, would sue the government over the issue.
Dolan spoke at the North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome, where he was a student in the 1970s and served as rector starting in 1994.
On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI will make Dolan and 20 other bishops cardinals, the red-capped princes of the church who will elect the next pope.
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"Bishops plan aggressive expansion of birth-control battle"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/14/us-usa-contraception-catholics-idUSTRE81D21920120214
I don't want the government in my bedroom decisions AT ALL, so lets drop the regulations that require health insurers to provide contraceptives altogether and the issue is settled, plus we can all pocket some extra money through lower health insurance rates.
Obama's first lie, is that insurance companies will do this for FREE. They don't do anything for free.
The second lie, is that insurance companies will pay, and NOT the religious organization. Many Catholic and Baptist organizations are "self insured", there is no insurance company.
Many Catholics do use BC, but very few of them support abortion, which most of us believe is murder.
Even if this belief is old fashioned, we have a Constitutional right to religious freedom. The first amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, ...............
Forcing religious, non profit organizations to finance birth control and abortion is unconstitutional.
Even the Amish have an "excemption" from social security taxes, so there is a history of granting excemptions to established religious organizations.
Even if you want to define BC and abortion as heathcare, which it isn't, people don't have a Constitutional right to free healthcare.
State laws may ask the same thing, but I don't believe these laws apply to "self funded" healthcare funds. Even if they do, it's a state law, not a federal law. Most states don't do it, so why should we follow the lead of the minority ?
I don't even think it's a huge cost savings for people. Aren't generif BC pills about $10 a month ? I'll check with my four daughters. They all use BC, but none of the support murder, by abortion.(or any other type of murder)
Now, I wasn't in every Catholic Church on Sun, but the Bishop's letter was read. It was repeated in thousands of churches and read to millions of Catholics. If my parish is an indicator of how we all feel, Obama is WRONG. Many of us are liberal enough to use BC, but not liberal enough to finance the murder of your unborn child.
In 2008, 54% of us voted for President Obama. We all thought he was against abortion. Turns out, we were mistaken. He will not get 54% of our vote again. He's lost millions of religious, supporters on this issue.
If we are gun owning Catholics, we have two huge reasons to vote against President Obama. We suspect he will trample our Constitutional "right to bear arms".
What the catholic bishop want is an outright elemination of contraceptive. If the catholic affiliated businesses have an employee that is not oppose to contraceptive, why should the catholic church be able to impose their will on that employee. What stop other religious leaders from claiming other exceptions. Should we make provision for the Jehova Witness to be able to deny blood transfusion to any of their employees who do not share their religious believe?
Enough politicing by these Bishops. This is an health care issue not a religious issue. I hope women catholics will stand up and let their voice be held by the church leaders whose position contradicts that of most catholics as it relate to contraceptives.