ROME—Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., believes that the Church can win its fight against the Obama administration’s contraception mandate if it takes its case to the public.
“We still have before us the opportunity to make the case to the American people,” Cardinal Wuerl told CNA Jan. 21.
“Americans by our tradition, by our heritage, are a people who tend to be very fair and don’t readily admit to excluding blocks and groups of people from participation in the common good,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Jan. 20 that it would not expand a religious exemption for employers who object to a requirement that their insurance plans cover contraception as part of a list of “preventative services.”
The policy requires free coverage for sterilization and contraception, including some drugs that can cause abortions.
Cardinal Wuerl underscored that the mandate will affect Catholic schools, hospitals, universities and charitable outreach to the poor.
“This is all new, in the sense that never before in our history has any government simply issued a decree emptying the religious convictions and conscience protections of all the institutions that serve the poor,” he said.
“All of a sudden, with one stroke of the pen, this administration has indicated that our objections to doing what the government wants us to do, our objections have no place.
“It is an outrageous situation.”
Cardinal Wuerl was in Rome as part of a delegation of bishops from the Mid-Atlantic states. The group spent the week updating the Vatican on the health of the Church in their dioceses.
On Thursday, Jan. 19 they met with Pope Benedict who warned them of a “grave threat” to religious liberty in the U.S., something he described as “the most American of freedoms.”
Cardinal Wuerl thought the Pope’s address was a very timely reminder that the Gospel “implies and even demands that we be engaged in the public effort to mold a good and just society.”
With this in mind, the Pope told the bishops that the preparation of a new generation of “committed lay leaders” should be the “primary task of the Church in your country.
“I think this new generation that the Pope is speaking about is already present,” said Cardinal Wuerl.
He believes that after two generations of young Catholics who suffered from “a devastating lack of solid catechetical teaching,” there is “a generation coming along that has been nurtured in the faith.” He credits that change to the production of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992, and the influence of Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
“This generation is already rising up to say, ‘What can we do to restore the sense of gospel values in our lives, in our families, in our institutions, in our communities?’
“We’re seeing something wonderful happening.”
Cardinal Donald Wuerl at the March for Life 2012.
– CNA US Catholic News
Edward Pentin: Images of Rome's 2013 March for Life
Benjamin Wiker: Benedict XVI: Doctor of the Church
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No doubt, we are living in a Time of great deception due to an ideology that denies the self-evident Truth that all persons, regardless of race or ethnicity, from the moment of their conception, have been created in God’s Image, equal in Dignity, while being complementary as male and female. No doubt, this mandatum is an attempt to coerce us into forming our conscience in this administration’s image. I fear, however, that for many who profess to be Catholic, their dissent to this mandatum, has nothing to do with The Deposit of Faith and everything to do with a desire to have “a true autonomy…in the face of authority of whatever kind”, and for this reason I Pray that all of The Bishops will sound a “wake-up” call, for many have been sleeping in Gethsemane.
The first thing we can do to restore the sense of gospel values in our lives, in our families, in our institutions, and in our communities, is to recognize the self-evident truth that being in communion with His Church, is not a matter of degree.
So Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., believes that the Church can win its fight against the Obama administration’s contraception mandate if it takes its case to the public.
Well, we’ll see. Since 90% of American Catholics don’t believe contraception is wrong I’m guessing that the general public isn’t going to be extremely sympathetic. Perhaps more importantly, very few American Catholics—much less non-Catholics—have bothered to understand the legalistic, letter-of-the-law-to-heck-with-the-spirit thought process that allows natural family planning but forbids condoms and pills. I mean, yes, we should eat less fats and exercise more, but the Catholic Church is totally OK with drugs to reduce cholesterol and to reduce blood pressure, even if the people taking them are unable to summon the willpower to change their diet and non-exercising lifestyle. Sure, relax and take the pills. But only if they’re not BIRTH CONTROL PILLS.
Is an institution run by Jehovah’s Witnesses allowed to exclude blood transfusions and related procedures (use of plasma, and/or platelets, cryoprecipitate) from the insurance policies they provide to employees who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses? How many Americans are in favor of this, if it is true? Are heart valve transplants from pigs excluded from insurance plans offered by Islamic institutions? Is this Constitutional? What about Jewish employers? Or are Jewish employers sane?
How impressed with Catholic martyrdom is the public going to be when Catholic employers terminate insurance coverage for employees who aren’t even Catholic based on principles the public doesn’t even understand?
“This hurts you more than it does us, but we have to end your insurance coverage based on our conscience problems.”
“Oh, yes, we grieve for your conscience problems, as we desperately struggle to get coverage for our child’s pre-existing condition, which was a strategic sacrifice made by you, without our input, to protest the Obama administration’s demand that insurance policies cover contraception, which we are now using to ensure that we don’t have another child with serious birth defects, because we can’t handle any more.”
Don’t anyone hold his/her breath waiting for applause.
The bishops and the Catholic press should be clear that the fight against the contraceptive mandate is not only on behalf of religious organizations but also for all employers who do not wish to purchase abortions or contraception coverage for their employees.
This from the one that won’t refuse Holy Communion to the so-called “catholic” politicians that support birth control/abortion &/or homosexual activities? The American Church needs to take a strong Holy stand against these evils & all of those that support, use or encourage them. In other words: WALK YOUR TALK!! We need to stop OBAMANISM, NOW!! +JMJ+
We find it “interesting” that the Cardinal suggests that the Catholic Church can “win its fight against the Obama administration if it takes its case to the public.” Are the lambs going to fight against the wolves, or is that the job of the shepherds?
A little over a week before the contraception mandate, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Hosanna-Tabor Lutheran Church and School v EEOC that, under the Constitution of the United States, religious freedom prohibits government from using discrimination laws to force its agenda on religious organizations. As such, the laity of the Catholic Church is waiting for the USCCB to immediately file suit in Federal Court against the Administration, using the “Hosanna Tabor” ruling as a precedent. As soon as the Cardinals and Bishops take a united stand before the Court in this matter, the laity will certainly be energized to stand beside them in the public domain.
As we see it, a line has been drawn in the sand as it was in the time of Moses (Ex 32: 21-29), and the Church is being called to choose between obedience to God or obedience to Caesar.
I fear that too often we are ignoring the most important Truth: We do not need the permission of any man, government agency or Court to follow and stand up for the Truth. Absolute truth is not subject to negotiation or compromise. There is only one and immediate answer to any government that directs us to violate the tenets of our Faith: No! Never! We will not comply!
Cowalker: Not sure what side you are taking or where you are coming from ... but I do agree this is a huge hill to take. But your analogies, are off base if you don’t put them into the context of the employer provideing the coverage ... if it’s a JW run hospital (don’t believe they exist) that was forced to cover transfusions in their policies .. then it 100% matters. Is the Jewish Charities office is required to cover the pig heart transplants ... it matters. This is but a massive pebble being tossed into our liberties pool. The waves could become enormous.
Cardinal Wuerl, who seems to have done little, if anything, to be a good shepherd, can expect his flock to wander all over the place and not heed his weak and ineffective call when he finally sees danger for them.
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