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‘We Will Not Comply’: Bishop’s letter to faithful calls for opposition to HHS mandate
COLORADO SPRINGS. In a letter read at all Masses in the diocese the weekend of Feb. 4-5, Bishop Michael Sheridan condemned a recent mandate by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that would require nearly all religious organizations to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization services.
Despite an attempt on Feb. 10 by the administration of President Barack Obama to “accommodate” religious organizations who believe their religious liberty is threatened by the mandate, the U.S. bishops have remained firm that the only solution to the situation is for the government to rescind the mandate.
HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Jan. 20 that non-profit groups that do not provide the services because of their religious beliefs will have one year to “adapt to this new rule.” Under the plan, after Aug. 1 of this year, new or significantly altered health plans will be required to provide all FDA-approved contraceptives, including some that can cause abortions, without co-pays or deductibles as part of preventive health care for women.
The mandate states that a religious organization could be excused if it: “(1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a nonprofit organization” under specific sections of the Internal Revenue Code.
Those sections “refer to churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches, as well as to the exclusively religious activities of any religious orders,” according to a footnote to the interim final rule.
Catholic Charities USA president Father Larry Snyder said the exemptions are so narrow that “the ministry of Jesus Christ himself would not be considered a religious entity.”
On Feb. 10, the Obama administration announced an “accommodation” that essentially would transfer the financial burden of the mandate from religious organizations to the insurance companies. But the USCCB rejected the plan.
“The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for (the Department of Health and Human Services) to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services,” said the USCCB in a statement released Feb. 10 after President Obama’s press conference.
Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, the USCCB president who is in Rome for the Feb. 18 consistory, told CNS Rome Bureau chief Francis X. Rocca on Feb. 13 that no compromise is possible on moral issues surrounding the federal mandate that employers provide contraceptives at no cost as part of health coverage. The bishops also are looking toward judicial and legislative solutions, the cardinal-designate added.
Below is the complete text of the Bishop Sheridan’s letter, dated Feb. 1:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be “of, by, and for the people,” has just dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people — the Catholic population — and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees’ health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.
In so ruling, the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.
We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.
And therefore, I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience, to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Administration’s decision.
Sincerely Yours In Christ,
Most Rev. Michael J. Sheridan
Bishop of Colorado Springs
(NOTE: Catholic News Service contributed to this article.)
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