Conservative
Repent, America!
When it comes to mandatory contraception coverage under health reform the Affordable Care Act, the nation's Catholic bishops won't budge an inch.
Yes, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, New York Archbishop and Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, initially said he would study President Obama's newest variation of the requirement.
But that didn't last long. Now, it's no sale unless the mandate is lifted from any person of faith who objects to facilitating contraception coverage for employees.
Their position today is essentially unchanged from what they said August, through their general counsel Anthony Picarello when they blasted the requirement that
...private insurance plans to cover contraception—including abortifacients—and sterilization, calling the mandate "unprecedented in federal law and more radical than any state contraceptive mandate."
The comments also criticize the narrow "religious employer" exception to the mandate, explaining that it provides "no protection at all for individuals or insurers with a moral or religious objection to contraceptives or sterilization," instead covering only "a very small subset of religious employers."
The comments issued then called this
..."nationwide government coercion of religious people and groups to sell, broker or purchases 'services' to which they have a moral or religious objection." This represents "an unprecedented attack on religious liberty..."
Now, after Dolan once more spoke with President Obama, Bishops still say,
...the lack of clear protection for 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.
And the rallying call is still religious liberty vs. "government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions." The newest press release from the USCCB concludes:
... The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for (Health and Human Services) 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... 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.
So, Obama is exactly where he was before with Catholic leadership.
http://content.usatoday.com/communi...bama-catholic-bishops-contaception-abortion/1
