Catholic bishops gather with focus on Obama birth-control measure
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The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have long prided themselves on being political without being partisan, throwing themselves into the scrum of public affairs without aligning themselves with one party or the other.
Now, some Catholics are beginning to wonder out loud whether the bishops have abandoned their historic non-partisanship – or, at least, are at risk of being seen that way – as they press forward with a vigorous campaign against contraception provisions in President Barack Obama’s health care plan.
Led by the indomitable Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the bishops are arriving in Atlanta for their annual spring meeting this week determined to throw the spotlight on what they perceive as an assault by the Obama administration on religious liberty.
In that fight, the bishops have the support not just of many Catholics but of evangelical Christians and others on the conservative side of the religious and political spectrum – including Mitt Romney, the Republican challenger who has repeatedly portrayed Obama as an enemy of religious freedom.
Perhaps because of that, some liberal and moderate Catholics are uncomfortable with what they see as an inappropriate insertion of the church into a hot-button political issue at the outset of a presidential campaign.
“I think the real danger bishops need to confront is getting this dragged through the political mud just a few months before an election,” said John Gehring, the Catholic outreach coordinator for Faith in Public Life a liberal, faith-based advocacy group. “I think some of the alarmist rhetoric that some church leaders are using gives the impression that some bishops are quite happy making this part of a Republican campaign.”
Gehring said there was a risk that the bishops could come to be seen as “the Republican Party at Prayer” – which, he stressed, he does not believe is the case.
Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore insisted to the National Catholic Reporter last week that there was nothing partisan about the church’s campaign. “We’re not trying to throw an election,” he said. “We’re simply trying to defend fundamental freedoms.” [More]
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Los Angeles Times/The Kansas City Star
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10 Comments
U.S. court cases at the highest levels generally hold that you can believe whatever you want but you cannot always practice your beliefs. Believers in faith healing are prevented from practicing their beliefs on their seriously ill children, they may also be prevented from practicing faith healing on themselves because they are citizens and the government must protect them. The famous Holiness sect cases where the members drank strychnine and handled poisonous snakes is another illustration. However the recent O Centro case allowed believers to use an illegal drug.
It puzzles me that any “faith in an unproven and unprovable belief can be so sanctified when the outcomes of such a belief may be contrary to provable outcomes of an opposing belief. For example, regarding contraception and abortion–unwanted children increase the taxes for education ($10,000 per year per child) and increase the likelihood of antisocial behavior and prison expenses.
Many of these ideas are handled more fully in Book 4 of the free ebook series andgulliverreturns.info
That’s a short-term analysis, ProfBob. While a specific unwanted child may drive up social costs, contraception has more insidious, society-wide effects. As one example, as documented by Lionel Tiger, Ph.D. in his book “The Decline of Males,” the rate of abortion ALWAYS INCREASES in any country, including non-Western countries, when contraception becomes more widely available. Increasing abortion, in turn, leads us down the path of eugenics — life is valued only for what it is worth to society. This, of course, underlied Hitler’s philosophy. So, Bob, the Church has, for 2000 years, opposed contraception. The Catholic Church is not a fly-by-night church with strange practices. As of 1929, for example, every Christian church opposed contraception — so, the opposition to contraception used to be main-stream, until the Protestants took their own path.
Professor Bob,
If we read Humanae Vitae, you will see that Pope Paul VI, even on July 25, 1968, could see what would come if artificial contraception and abortion would be allowed. Keep in mind this was before Roe vs. Wade.
Everything against which he warned has come true because we did not listen. If we do not listen to our bishops this time, we face an even greater threat: not being able to openly practice our faith without persecution or incarceration.
One _HUGE_ difference between the faith healing religions you cite and the Catholic Church are the hospitals which give support (currently) not only to Catholics but to all God’s children. If the mandate is allowed to stand, then by giving medical services to members of other faith families, the Catholic groups which run these hospital (and indirectly all other Catholics) face being “cubby holed” if we do not practice civil disobedience. Imagine that: not being able to help someone because it’s against the law!!!
Again, it is _not_ just about artificial contraception and abortion!
Wow, Carlos, I love your post! I can see you have a meek and humble heart, one able to accept the teachings of the Church. May God continue to bless you.
You talk about those who are out of touch…
OK. I’m tired of hearing the term “Cafeteria Catholics;” however, this term applies to those who are not supporting the bishops’ fight against this mandate that violates our religious liberties.
Artificial contraception and abortion (one one end) and euthanasia (on the other) are not partisan issues, they are _life_ issues. Since every person is made in the image and likeness of God, every person shares in that dignity which _noone_ has the right to violate! Artificial birth control does just that. If you have read _any_ of the current documents (Vatican II and after), you will see that the Catholic Church’s Magisterium has _never_ wavered from their stance on that dignity.
The HHS mandate would have the Catholic Church, along with many other Christian faith organizations, violate that dignity. BTW, have you written your bishop about your concerns? That would be a good place to start to inform him of your stance. Either you believe in the teachings of the Church or you don’t. Either you are a “Cafeteria Catholic” or you’re not.
Too bad we don’t have a Catholic Party, that is on the side of the poor and marginalized and on the side of maintaining the dignity of human personhood from the first moment of conception through a natural pain free death.
Suffering is part of being Catholic. People who have cancer, for example, can marry their sufferings to those of Christ. It’s called Redemptive Suffering. They can be examples to the rest of us of what it means to suffer (and possibly die) with grace and comfort knowing that our Lord is with us even through the suffering. Personally, I would like a “pain free” death; but if the Lord has other plans for me… well then I’ll just remember 2Cor 1:3-5.
Wow, Carlos, I love your post! You are a faithful Catholic, my friend; your heart is humble, so you are able to accept the Truth as taught to us by our Church.
NO! We do not need a “Catholic Party” The Church needs to remain a prophetic voice OUTSIDE of politics in order to be credible in a pluralistic society. Pope evn said so.