HHS at work: eroding Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience

On January 19 Pope Benedict XVI delivered a deeply poignant, Ad Limina address to the bishops of the United States warning of the rising threat of secularization in America resulting in the inevitable erosion of religious freedom. His words, succinct, direct - clearly packing quite a punch - remarkably came on the eve of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement that religious institutions will be required to cover contraception - including abortifacients - and sterilization procedures in their employee health plans. Opponents to this mandate, most vociferously the Catholic Church, had lobbied hard for an exemption that would have permitted religious institutions who employ people of differing faiths, such as Catholic colleges and hospitals to opt out of providing such coverage. However, in the end, the exemption applies solely to parishes, houses of worship and non-profit religious entities that primarily employ or serve people of the same faith.

President Obama was 'kind enough' to telephone Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, president of the United Stated Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to deliver the blow. (It has been difficult not to imagine how pleased Mr. Obama was to 'rub Archbishop Dolan's nose in it'.) Dolan, responding in a WSJ.com opinion piece, addresses the HHS offer of a one year delay in the enforcement of this rule for colleges and hospitals, stating "... as if we might suddenly be more willing to violate our consciences 12 months from now." Surely HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic, cannot expect the Church to decide one year from now, to ignore or strip away more than 2000 years of history where countless martyrs spilled their blood in defense of religious liberty and conscience?? Catholic institutions will be subject to stiff fines if they choose to drop health insurance altogether in violation of the employer mandate.

Clearly this mandate is a violation of our first amendment rights. Despite the fact that part of me believes this is a direct and deliberate attack on the Catholic Church, it comes as a huge smack in the face to anyone concerned with religious liberty and freedom of conscience. The issue really isn't about the lawfulness of providing contraceptive services for all employees; it is about the totalitarian and pernicious financial (or otherwise) coercion of those whose consciences simply cannot permit them to provide these types of services. Besides, these services are readily available elsewhere at little or no cost.  

It is imperative that all Catholics (and others) heed the Holy Father's words to the U.S. bishops:

"At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation's founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature's God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such."

And further ...

"In light of these considerations, it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church's public moral witness presented by a radical secularization which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of  a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience."

Throughout the centuries our popes - prophets for all eras - have called on the faithful to fight the rising tides of injustice. Sadly, many of our bishops haven't always listened. I can't help but wonder if more of the faithful, led by all of our bishops, had heeded the clarion calls of past popes would we now find ourselves sinking in the mounting muck of radical secularism? Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, for his part, is asking all of the faithful (and others) to speak out in protest to the HHS mandate.  It's a good move; it's the right move. But is it too late?