Dolan: White House is ‘strangling’ Catholic church
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The spat between Catholic leaders and the Obama administration over its contraception policies is heating up again, with one of the nation’s most prominent Catholic leaders charging that the White House is “strangling” the church over the matter.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan told “CBS This Morning” Tuesday that the compromise reached earlier this year is not sufficient because the exemptions made for churches are too restrictive.
“They tell us if you’re really going be considered a church, if you’re going to be really exempt from these demands of the government, well, you have to propagate your Catholic faith and everything you do, you can serve only Catholics and employ only Catholics,” Dolan said.
“We’re like, wait a minute, when did the government get in the business of defining for us the extent of our ministry,” Dolan said.
More than 40 Catholic organizations sued the Obama administration Monday over a government requirement that most employers provide birth control coverage as part of their employee health plans.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department adopted the rule to expand health care for women. Last year, an advisory panel from the Institute of Medicine, which advises the federal government, recommended including birth control on the list of covered services, partly because it promotes maternal and child health by allowing women to space their pregnancies.
However, faith leaders from across religious traditions protested, saying the mandate violates religious freedom. The original rule includes a religious exemption that allows houses of worship to opt-out of the mandate, but keeps the requirement in place for religiously affiliated charities.
In response to the political furor, President Obama offered to soften the rule so that insurers would pay for birth control instead of religious groups. However, the bishops and others have said that the accommodation doesn’t go far enough.
Dolan also criticized Georgetown University’s decision to invite Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to speak to graduates of its school of public policy last week because of her role in formulating the policy. [More]
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15 Comments
Long live Cardinal Dolan !! Praise the Lord !! We have you to “Defend” Religious Freedom and all the Catholic Bishop’s in The One True Catholic Church!! FIGHT ON !!!!!
Dolan is obviously losing his mind. He has dillusions of the power of a bishop. His relgion does not and should not control the US government policies. I say shut up and clean up your own house.
O’Bama’s WAY or the HIGHWAY!! Come Holy Spirit Come !!Pray for Cardinal Dolan and all our Bishop’s !! They are fighting the “GOOD” FIGHT !!! Pray that O’Bama will see the LIGHT ! So far he is leading us into the “DARKNESS” with himself and all his croonies !!
Dolan, like his cohort of other bishops, has lost his moral authority to lead. It is these bishops who have created the leadership vacuum that has furthered eroded any perceived loss of “religious freedoms”. Keep pushing, Timothy, and lose tax exemptions that are deemed “Catholic” for the rest of us. Know you can’t have it both ways.
And folks, let us remember the countless of research available all over the world. The catholic people of the world not only disagrees with the pope and bishops on Contraception but use it at whatever times in the lives they need to. most catholics woul;d not and could not accept abortion, so, hello folks, use preventative measures for this not to happen. The catholic church cannot and must not dictate to the government and the people of the United States. And can you imagine the President letting this happen?
I am confused. What is a “secular socialist agenda?” Maybe some dictionary definitions would help us to talk to each other instead of hurling around big words. Pres.Obama is no threat to our religion. We US Catholics are doing a good job ourselves of dismantling our deepest principles.
I agree with you Tom Mycals!
Instead of Obama trying to “strangle the church”,it seems to me that the Catholic Bishops – backed by the Vatican – are trying to hold the U.S. government and American people to ransom, as well as interfere in the politics and presidential election of the next American President. Back off Bishop Dolan and company. Back off Holy See state and Vatican mafia!
Jesus warned us about the Pharisees. Today the Church ordains them! The bishops, the trials in Philadelphia and Kansas City, the inquisition of the nuns and Girl Scouts – the list goes on, and you accuse Obama of doing the strangling? And Jesus wept.
I was prepared to write a comment, but ML Larson did a good job of expressing my opinion – even though I am not allowed to have one in todays church.
To Tom Mycals, Keep your bumper sticker on so that if Obama get re-elected, and he destroy’s the Catholic church for his socialist pagan agendas, he will see your sticker and spare you. Perhaps you can join Carol and go to the Episcopal church.
Tony is right on. This fight is only the beginning, Obama has a wider agenda and that is to deminish the role of the Catholic chutrch as a moral voice so that he can infect America with his secular-socialist agenda. Carol, if you are so ashamed of of church, go become a Episcopalian where you can have the trappings of Catholism and be a protestant at the same time. The months ahead are going to show the difference between the Orthodox Catholics and the Catholics in name only. But on your seat bealts.
Our poor church. Bishop are strangling American Catholicism. My car is one of those with a “Vote Obama” bumper sticker in the church parking lot.
Dolan is running for Shadow President of the USA. Clearly he wanys to run the whole show, from backstage.
I heartily disagree with you, Tony! Dolan makes me feel ashamed of this Church!
Good for Dolan, what frightens me is seeing Vote for Obama bumper stickers in our parish parking lot, there is a disconnect of the first oreder here.