Washington, D.C. — Seeking to fortify the Church’s response to the “erosion of freedom of religion in America,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has formed an Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.
The new committee will be headed by Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport.
The announcement to form the committee was made Sept. 30, the same day as the deadline for comments registering concerns about the interim rules — issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — which mandate that contraceptive services and surgical sterilization be included in virtually all employee health coverage.
The coincidence, whether intentional or not, signaled that the bishops possess firsthand experience with First Amendment challenges posed by a range of legislative, judicial and federal actions.
“The bishops have concluded that religious liberty is under assault from a variety of fronts in the U.S. — at the federal, state and cultural level,” said Bishop Lori, in an interview following the announcement today. “They have identified this issue as an important priority, and I am humbled and happy to help lead this effort.”
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, the president of the bishops conference, signaled that the new subcommittee would be one of several initiatives designed to strengthen the conference’s response and bring together a broad cross-section of churches and legal scholars to oppose attacks on the First Amendment.
“[T]he establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee is one element of what I expect to be a new moment in the history of our conference,” stated Archbishop Dolan in a letter to conference members. “Never before have we faced this kind of challenge to our ability to engage in the public square as people of faith and as a service provider. If we do not act now, the consequence will be grave.”
Archbishop Dolan expressed concern about the “increasing number of federal government programs or policies that would infringe upon the right of conscience of people of faith or otherwise harm the foundational principle of religious liberty.”
A press release that included Archbishop Dolan’s letter provided a list of “six religious liberty concerns arising just since June.”
Church Being Pressured
Beyond the HHS rules mandating free coverage of contraceptive services, another concern has been an HHS requirement that the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) provide the “full range of reproductive services” — meaning abortion and contraception — to trafficking victims and unaccompanied minors in its cooperative agreements and government contracts.
Meanwhile, Catholic Relief Services now faces new requirements by the United States Agency for International Development to provide condom distribution in HIV prevention programs, as well as requiring contraception within international relief and development programs.
Further, the Justice Department has begun “presenting DOMA’s support for traditional marriage as bigotry. The Department started filing briefs in July actively attacking DOMA’s constitutionality, claiming that supporters of the law could only have been motivated by bias and prejudice,” reported the USCCB press release.
“If the label of “bigot” sticks to us — especially in court — because of our teaching on marriage, we’ll have church-state conflicts for years to come as a result,” Archbishop Dolan said.
Archbishop Dolan’s own New York State, he continued, redefined marriage this year to include members of the same sex, and the law grants “only a very narrow religious exemption. Already, county clerks face legal action for refusing to participate in same-sex unions, and gay rights advocates are publicly emphasizing how little religious freedom protection people and groups will enjoy under the new law.”
At present, the HHS mandate remains the most urgent concern. Bishop Lori described the “religious exemption” included in the interim regulation as “unacceptably narrow and as an attempt by the government to define our own mission — to indicate that our mission, beyond our borders forces us, in their minds, to violate our conscience and teaching.”
Bishop Lori also noted a key First Amendment case that will be addressed by the Supreme Court this term. The high court next week will hear oral arguments in the Hosanna-Tabor case, in which the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have filed briefs supporting a former teacher at a Lutheran school who challenged the Lutheran Church’s right to fire her. The “ministerial exception” in the constitution has given religious institutions in the United States the right to hire and fire individuals working in their institutions, not only ordained ministers.
Bishop Lori described “ministerial exception” as constitutional doctrine that gives us the freedom to discern who should or should not be a minister. The Justice Department’s position in this case “attacks the ministerial exception at its roots.”
Connecticut Victory
Two years ago, Bishop Lori effectively fought back a legislative effort in Connecticut that challenged the right of bishops and pastors to administer Church institutions, bringing thousands of Catholic protestors to the state capitol. Since then, he’s written a pastoral letter and spoken out in public forums on religious liberty. That legacy may have played a role in his appointment as the chairman of the new subcommittee.
“What is happening in our culture is that organized religion is being marginalized. This means that religion is being reduced to a private avocation — if you want to go to church on Sunday, fine. But if you want to have institutions that function in the culture and seek to exert an influence on the culture, that is not fine. We have to struggle. The Church and its institutions are mediating structures between the power of the state and the individual. Religious freedom is vital to our culture.”
The conscience issues posed by the passage of the new health bill and its attendant regulations have led some critics to question whether the USCCB should continue to express conditional support for Obamacare. Bishop Lori acknowledged that it won’t be easy to overcome the problems created by mandated contraceptive services and other conscience issues. But he insisted the bishops must fight for the right of Catholic institutions to remain in the mainstream.
“We should not abandon the goal of helping the poor and needy, nor abandon the need to assert our religious liberty,” he said.
New Assertiveness
Archbishop Dolan established the ad hoc committee after the USCCB Administrative Committee Sept. 13-14 meeting in Washington, D.C. The formation of the new committee will fortify the conference’s effort to remain informed, strengthen alliances with other Christian denominations and religions and confront challenges posed to religious freedom throughout the nation. The subcommittee will have two full-time staff member at the USCCB, a lawyer “expert in the area of religious freedom law, and a lobbyist who will handle both religious liberty and marriage issues,” according to the press release.
In his letter, the archbishop noted that the former USCCB president, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, had sent private letters to President Obama on religious liberty in the context of redefining marriage and that none of those letters received a response.
Archbishop Dolan added that he had also offered to discuss religious liberties with the president; he did not confirm whether he had received a response to that invitation.
The establishment of the subcommittee marks an effort to organize a broad-based response to threats against religious freedom. The initiative suggests Archbishop Dolan’s more assertive style of leadership than his scholarly predecessor, and suggests that the bishops are prepared to take a leadership role in a new chapter of the culture wars.
The new committee will collaborate with top legal scholars. Among those likely allies is John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America, and a former professor of law at the University of Notre Dame and Boston College. Today, Garvey wrote an op-ed article for The Washington Post calling for broader religious exemption of the HHS rules for contraceptive services.
Religious freedom groups and constitutional scholars applauded the decision to form the new subcommittee.
“The formation of this committee could not come at a more important time for believers of all faiths,” said William Mumma, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who said his organization had filed an official response to HHS regulations.
Stated Richard Garnett, an associate dean of Notre Dame Law School, and a top scholar on constitutional issues who is likely to be part of the subcommittee’s brain trust, “This is good news.”
Register senior editor Joan Frawley Desmond writes from Chevy Chase, Maryland.
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One would have to be sleeping in Gethsemane to not notice that there are many who profess to be Catholic who are among the group of those who are a threat to our Religious Liberty. Such is the tangled web they are willing to weave in an attempt to coerce the Magisterium of His Church to change The Word of God in regards to sexual ethics due to their hardened hearts. We cannot transform The Truth of Love, Christ transforms us.
“To whom much has been given, much more will be expected.”-Christ
One can only hope that this, too, will not prove to be “too little, too late.” As an active pro-life Catholic, I have watched and waited in vain for my church leaders to speak out in defense of life in all its stages for more than 30 years. The response I have seen from our leaders has often been hesitant and lukewarm, at best, and non-existent at worst. At the very least, let us unleash the mighty power of the people in the pews to petition their legislators to do the right thing in regard to the gift of life and let the church lead, through its ministers, in a decisive way before it is too late.
The (SOP) Standard Operating Procedure from fringe groups, the ACLU and activist judiciaries is this, that or the other violates the Separation of Church and State clause in the Constitution, under the Bill of Rights : Amendment I
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The key phrase here is “prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” Our governments are denying our freedom of exercising our religious freedom.
Furthermore, if(?)by excercising my religious freedom I am in violation of The Separation of Church and State, how is it the State has the right
to violate the clause and arguement of The Seperation of Church and State when the State impose law which is contrary to my religious beliefs, in effect the reverse of their interptertation or use of the law. It is the State that violates my Seperation of Church and State when they ram inmoral law upon me.
This country was founded as a Just and Moral Nation, our foundations were built on Christian Priciples and our founding fathers believe in God, relied on God and wanted us to do the same, in whatever way we saw fit. I believe that governments cannot and should not govern mortality, the moral character of a person is not out there somewhere, but inside every man, woman and childs heart.
Oh, goodie the bishops have formed another committee, a sub-committee of a larger committee. I was afraid that they might actually do something. Now they can leave it to the committee’ s committee.
They seem not realize that each of them is the head of a diocese. More effective would be their working through the dioceses. Ten phone calls from the local voters would be more effective than yet another unreadable report from the episcopacy’s bureaucracy.
I hope that it’s not the eleventh hour, but if it is—better to fight at the eleventh hour than not at all. This is a full-scale assault on religious liberty AND on the Catholic Church.
This is awesome news…now if the powers that be will listen…
I, too have waited for our archbishop to mobilize this archdiocese against the erosion of religious freedom, especially during the Obama administration. An ad hoc committee is better than nothing, but it does not absolve each individual bishop from shepherding as he has been mandated to do. It is so sad to see so many of our bishops actually giving this administration a pass by their inactivity.
These are the same folks who support every socialist, statist government initiative that comes down the pike—including National Health Care. Then they are surprised when the scorpion does what it was born to do.
For years the Catholic Church has been in the background, letting the Evangelicals do all the heavy lifting. Some years ago, when the Archdiocese of New York was dealing with a textbok in the Public schools call “Heather has Two Mommies”, it was the Evangelicals who sent thousands of books attacking the book’s arguments to Cdl O’Connor. The Alliance Defense Fund, if my information is correct, while a Catholic is the president, is an Evangelical entity with a war chest of millions of dollars, which defends pro-lifers around the U.S. of whatever denomination. It is really time for Catholic men to put on long pants, stop beating their breasts and get out and REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
AS a physician who has failed to be hired,in spite of excellent credentials, for being pro-life and who has had my salary halved by a chairman of a medical school department for defending a nurse forced to participate in an abortion, I sincerely hope this effort on the part of the bishops, is not too little too late. I wrote to the USCCB about a decade ago about what was happening in medicine, not just to myself but to nurses, MD’s, PA’s nurse practitioners and MA’s across the board: I recieved no reply.
I applaud the current effort, but suspect there will be no support from the pews, as controversial issue s and sin are never discussed in church. I also suspet that under the curren administration, too much progress has been made in the arena of eliminating the unwanted and the barn door is already wide open. However, God is on our side, and one never knows what a concerted effort will do.
Archbishop Dolan deserves a standing ovation for standing up to the Marxist Democrat Party. So far, only the internet news is carrying this event. The Liberal Establishment Media is “Blacking this out”. If I had not read it here and one other site, I would never know anything about what Archbishop Dolan is doing. I do hope that the Bishops get louder in the public square.
Our bishops supported National Health Care nearly all the way, despite the fact that it included a major alliance with Planned Parenthood from the beginning. Recently, they wrote a letter saying that the U.S. needs to raise taxes to solve the debt crisis. They are still giving millions to left-wing community organizing groups via Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Now they are surprised that the collectivist, statist scorpion is doing what it was born to do.
Note from the reader of this article:I have never heard a sermon defending chastity, challenging the culture, challenging cohabiting adults , explaining why abortion is so very wrong, that theses are butcher mills-literally they dismember and decapitate these fully formed babies,(babies in womb have all of their limbs, beating heart and brain waves by 8 weeks into prenancy), how schools are propagating fornication, contraception, the gay agenda (is it any wonder that 58% of American Catholics believe homosexuality should be accepted by society.)etc. . Without the Church we are in deep trouble!!!}
If we fail to deal with the social issues of our culture from the PULPIT, from educating and informing the public of what is going on in our society in the death & destruction of the innocent lives of the unborn, of euthanasia, of the devastating effects fornication, cohabitation, the gay agenda, all of which are destroying marriage and families and damaging our future posterity namely the children then we have failed to uphold the Gospel teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. We will have failed then to uphold both the Spiritual and Corporal works of Mercy. And we all know how the Gospel of Mat 25:34-46 ends with the separation of the sheep from the goats.
How much longer till gov’t mandates insurance coverage for all for abortions?? Till govt becomes involved through national rationed health care determines who lives and dies based on costs to keep someone alive? Once gay marriage becomes the norm in States all across this country and therefore a protected right before they will mandate churches to perform gay marriages ordain gay ministers etc.
We are loosing the social cultureal war on all fronts because too many church leaders will not preach on these issues, abortion, contraception, marriage, fornication, divorce, euthanasia will not teach the truths and why from the pulpit. All the while our gov’t schools, main stream media and gov’t are preaching and teaching the religion of humanism to our youth and everyone else.
All of these comments have merit. However, I want to say that “the longest journey begins with a single step,” and that, while it would be valuable to hear voices from the pulpit speak about our concerns, I believe firmly that the voices of parents would have much more influence in changing attitudes and behaviour toward sex, marriage, birth control, alcohol consumption, drug use, bullying, and the myriad of ills we now nurse as a culture. Let us pray. And let us remember that actions speak much louder than words.
It is about time the slumbering giant started to awaken. We have continually been under attack in America. Before the 1960’s we stuck together as a solid unit. It is time to reunite and rally the troops. We need to be the church millitant and fight for Christ. The attacks have become worse now than ever before.
Many of us have been aware of what has been going on for a long time. There is no excuse for this being an eleventh hour effort.
Their efforts must reach down to the pews to wake up our “sleeping Catholics”.
One way we can fight back is to with hold our donations to the church and instead, donate to effortstruly devoted to bringing down this administration and the Democratic which has been insulting us for years.
In answer to Wes’ proposal, I believe it would be much more effective to withhold financial support from those who have been working to bring down the church and all its good work. Perhaps we could start by voting for pro-life candidates. Most of my state purports to be Catholic, but when the votes are tallied, pro-aborts win every time. How can that be? We need to ask ourselves some hard questions before we start withholding the funds to pay the electric and heating bills for our churches. Wouldn’t our opponents crow loudly to see more and more Catholic churches abandoned for lack of funding and more Catholic schools and hospitals closed for the same reason? Let’s think this through, people, and keep asking for discernment. “...and if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves adn pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land.” 2 Chron. 7:14
In response to Katherine ... Thank You for not only hearing the Word but actually putting it into action. Jesus said the Servant would suffer. You have been persecuted for standing for the Truth as a physician. Suffered REAL discrimination for being pro-life and defending a nurse forced to participate in an abortion, I too sincerely hope this effort on the part of the bishops, is not too little too late.
It is pretty damning that after your sacrifices that you did not even get the courtesy of a reply from the apparatchiks at the USCCB when you wrote about a decade ago about what was happening in medicine, not just to yourself but to nurses, MD’s, PA’s nurse practitioners and MA’s across the board. If it is any comfort to you God knows what a burden this is. For what it is worth let me affirm to any Priest or Bishop or other Catholic reading these messages that the fact is that you have surrounded yourself with a Bureaucracy that isolates you from what is happening out there. Katherine a similar thing happened to me in about the same time frame. I went to the Cathedral and after Mass for 6 Sundays in a row asking to have an appointment “anytime, any hour any day of the week” to go before the mast as they say in the Marines. I filled out the little appointment form each time. My children watching; ... never got an appointment ... meanwhile found out that the Bishops fund “ACORN” to the tune of 7 Millions ... There is a lot of talk these days about discrimination; the facts are that the new “N-word” folks around are the faithful Catholics. They can be mocked, they can be discriminated against, they do not count ... but God knows and watches and He will turn this all to good some how in His good time. So tighten your belt and keep the Faith not because anyone cares but because it is the right thing to do. God bless you Katherine for standing up for the unborn and keep praying that God will finally awaken the Church so that it can be real “Salt” preserving the body politic from spoilage and corruption and not salt that has lost it’s effectiveness fit only to be cast out and trod upon.
The battle continues, the battle is great, the troops are graying, their powwer is in prayer and the young must be educated, loved, and be covered by His grace and mercy as we go into the future as did David against Goliath…Let us Pray..
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