{"id":685,"date":"2012-03-14T16:29:23","date_gmt":"2012-03-14T23:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=685"},"modified":"2018-03-05T21:49:56","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T05:49:56","slug":"bishops-promise-to-continue-vigorous-efforts-against-hhs-violations-of-religious-freedomin-health-care-reform-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=685","title":{"rendered":"Bishops promise to continue ‘vigorous efforts’ against HHS violations of religious freedom in health care reform mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Declare government has no place defining religion, religious ministry<\/h2>\n

Seek protection for conscience rights of institutions, individuals<\/h3>\n

Stress action with the public, White House, Congress, courts<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEWS RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

US Conference of Catholic Bishops<\/a><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON\u2014The U.S. bishops are strongly united in their ongoing and determined\u00a0 efforts to protect religious freedom, the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said in a March 14 statement.<\/p>\n

The Administrative Committee, chaired by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the USCCB, is the highest authority of the bishops\u2019 conference outside the semi-annual sessions of the full body of bishops. The Committee\u2019s membership consists of the elected chairmen of all the USCCB permanent committees and an elected bishop representative from each of the geographic regions of the USCCB.<\/p>\n

[Full statement<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The Administrative Committee said it was \u201cstrongly unified and intensely focused in its opposition to the various threats to religious freedom in our day.\u201d The bishops will continue their vigorous work of education on religious freedom, dialogue with the executive branch, legislative initiatives and efforts in the courts to defend religious freedom. They promised a longer statement on the principles at the heart of religious freedom, which will come later from the bishops\u2019 Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.<\/p>\n

The bishops noted that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that forces all private health plans to provide coverage of sterilization and contraceptives \u2013 including abortion-inducing drugs \u2013 called for an immediate response. Of particular concern, they said, are a religious exemption from the mandate that the bishops deem \u201carbitrarily narrow\u201d and an \u201cunspecified and dubious future \u2018accommodation\u2019\u2019\u2019 offered to other religious organizations that are denied the exemption.<\/p>\n

The bishops thanked supporters from the Catholic community and beyond \u201cwho have stood firmly with us in our vigorous opposition to this unjust and illegal mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is your enthusiastic unity in defense of religious freedom that has made such a dramatic and positive impact in this historic public debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bishops said this dispute is not about access to contraceptives but about the government\u2019s forcing the Church to provide them. Their concerns are not just for the Catholic Church but also for \u201cthose who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church \u2013 consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions \u2013 to act against Church teachings,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The Church has worked for universal healthcare in the United States since 1919, they added, and said the current issue \u201cis not a Republican or Democratic, a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bishops called the HHS mandate \u201can unwarranted government definition of religion,\u201d with government deciding who is a religious employer deserving exemption from the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe introduction of this unprecedented defining of faith communities and their ministries has precipitated this struggle for religious freedom,\u201d the bishops said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment has no place defining religion and religious ministry,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this definition is allowed to stand, it will spread throughout federal law, weakening its healthy tradition of generous respect for religious freedom and diversity,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The bishops said the government\u2019s foray into church governance \u201cwhere government has no legal competence or authority\u201d is beyond disturbing. Those deemed by HHS not to be \u201creligious employers,\u201d the bishops said, \u201cwill be forced by government to violate their own teachings within their very own institutions. This is not only an injustice in itself, but it also undermines the effective proclamation of those teachings to the faithful and to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bishops also called the HHS mandate \u201ca violation of personal civil rights.\u201d\u00a0 The new mandate creates a class of people \u201cwith no conscience protection at all: individuals who, in their daily lives, strive constantly to live in accordance with their faith and values,\u201d the bishops said. \u201cThey too face a government mandate to aid in providing \u2018services\u2019 contrary to those values \u2013 whether in their sponsoring of, and payment for, insurance as employers; their payment of insurance premiums as employees, or as insurers themselves \u2013 without even the semblance of exemptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bishops called for the Catholic faithful, and all people of good will throughout the nation to join them in prayer and penance \u201cfor our leaders and for the complete protection of our First Freedom \u2013 religious liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrayer is the ultimate source of our strength,\u201d the bishops said, \u201cfor without God we can do nothing. But with God all things are possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Sr. Mary Ann Walsh<\/strong><\/p>\n