Creighton Abrams, arguably America’s best general in recent history, was an uncommon man. A biographer said that “he touched those who came to know him in a way they valued and would never forget.” It’s easy to see why. He led by example. He embodied the virtues of courage, honesty, dedication to mission, personal humility and unfailing fidelity to his wife and six children over a marriage of 38 years.
Abrams never degraded his opponents. He never demeaned himself by demeaning others. He lived by the highest ethical standards, and he demanded the same from the people around him. One of his favorite sayings was “Never wrestle with pigs: You get dirty, and the pigs love it.”
Those words came back to me this past week. The trigger was the fierce public debate over the Obama administration’s misleading February 10 “compromise” on a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate. The original HHS mandate, announced on January 20, would have forced nearly all Catholic institutions, organizations and private employers to provide contraception and abortifacients as part of their health coverage.
As many Catholic legal scholars have observed: The February 10 “compromise” does not solve the problem. It continues, in its practical effect, to force faithful Catholic employers to violate their religious beliefs. In short, the HHS mandate is coercive and deeply troubling in its implications for the rights of conscience. Nor is this accidental. The administration, despite the good will it has enjoyed from many Catholics, has taken a path that it knows to be unnecessary and knows to be hostile to Catholic belief.
The contempt dumped on Catholic teaching in our mass media over the past few days of debate tells us quite a lot about our critics. It also underlines the need for fighting respectfully but vigorously for what we believe. When a columnist in a major news daily claims, for example, that “The Catholic Church basically endorses one form of birth control, the rhythm method, which is contraception for stupid people,” we can learn two things: Neither accuracy nor civility matters when it comes to demeaning how faithful Catholics try to live their lives. In the task of pushing birth control, sneering is fully licensed.
Of course, people are free to join or leave the Catholic community. They’re free to criticize Catholic belief in any way they choose. But they’re not free to force Catholic institutions, organizations and individual employers into violating their religious convictions. They’re not free to mislead the public about a flawed and dangerous HHS mandate. And they’re not free to ignore the concerns of Catholic citizens who are rightly angry about the current administration’s indifference to religious freedom and the rights of conscience.
A friend of Creighton Abrams once said that, despite his humility and mastery of self, when it came to matters of principle, he “could inspire aggressiveness in a begonia.” It’s an interesting line. The Christian life does not need aggression. It doesn’t return hatred with more hatred. Living the Gospel depends on virtues like justice, charity and mercy. But it also depends on courage. It does require fortitude. And that means a great many Catholics need to wake up and take a hard look at what’s happening to our country. They may not like what they see. They shouldn’t like what they see. And if they don’t, they need to fight — without apologies — to turn things toward the good.
The current HHS mandate is not a real “compromise.” It’s bad law with very dangerous implications. It needs to be rescinded, and it doesn’t matter how ugly or deceptive our critics choose to be. I ask every Catholic who reads these words and takes his or her faith seriously, to please contact your U.S. senators and representative. Do it today. Press them to rescind this destructive HHS mandate.
I know: We all have so many issues that compete for our daily attention. We’re often tempted to ignore the whole lot.
But this one is urgent. This one really matters.
Please visit the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference website at http://www.pacatholic.org to learn how to contact your federal Representative and Senators.
PREVIOUS: Catholic Charities and the Work of the Gospel
NEXT: Re-orienting our lives to the things that matter
A need to know when defending our Religious LIberty in the face of the HHS mandate from the Beckett fund
Debunking HHS Mandate Myths
By Kathryn Jean Lopez
March 5, 2012 6:45 A.M. Comments
4Via the Becket Fund:
Myth #1: “28 states — more than half — in the country have laws with contraception coverage mandates.”
Truth: The federal mandate actually goes much deeper. In states where there are mandates religious organizations can simply opt out by self-insuring or dropping prescription drug coverage. The federal mandate does not allow any of these alternatives, and does not protect our religious liberty.
Myth #2: “If you receive federal funding you have to comply by federal rules. You can’t have your cake and eat it too!”
Truth: The mandate forces every group health plan in America to cover these drugs whether the group gets federal funds or not. There is no opt-out. The government is making religious groups choose between offering services they believe to be immoral or closing their doors. That would have the terrible consequences of withdrawing charitable religious organizations from our country’s social safety net. Who will bear the brunt of this backwards policy? The poor, the homeless, the sick and the hungry.
Myth #3: These drugs don’t cause an abortion! Catholics should learn a little bit about biology.
Truth: Biology does not dictate theology. Reasonable people may disagree about when a pregnancy begins, but for individuals who believe that human life begins at the moment of fertilization, not implantation, these drugs destroy innocent life. More specifically, the mandate requires religious organizations to cover Plan B, the morning after pill, and Ella, the week after pill, both of which can terminate a human life after fertilization. Also, RU486, A.K.A. the abortion drug, is currently being tested, and if approved by the FDA as an emergency contraceptive would automatically be mandated as well.
Myth #4: Employees who do not share the same faith of their religious employer should not be deprived of health care because of their employer’s religious beliefs.
Truth: Religious groups believe in promoting the well-being and health of their employees and students, which is why they provide health insurance; but as part of their religious commitment, they cannot cover services that are inconsistent with their religious faith. Employees are free to purchase these services even if they are not covered under a religious employer’s plan. And employees and students at religious organizations know — when they accept a job or enroll as a student — they do so at a religious institution that takes seriously its faith commitment.
Myth #5: The federal mandate actually protects women’s health because it increases access to free birth control.
Truth: Access isn’t the issue. 9 out of 10 employer-based insurance plans already cover these services. There is no need for the government to force religious groups to provide these services against their religious convictions.
Watch the videos Becket has created to further illustrate the truth here.
ArchBishop Chaput is correct in saying that this mandate, or whatever you want to call it, is an attack on both religious freedom and constitutional rights to choose. If one goes down, they all go down, and then where is the country? Will the women affected by this mandate be allowed to make a choice? Contraception? No contraception? If no contraception, will the choice be no abortion? Abortion? Raise the child? Give it up for adoption? All of these questions due to one mandate.
With the Right to Life movement, you would hope the choice is no abortion and give the child up for adoption, or to raise it. But if you decide to raise, who will help to raise it – the father? the mother? or the grandparents? which ones? (maternal or paternal) All this because the boy(man) and girl(women) made an incorrect choice. Where is the final answer?
It is not with those of us discussing the options. It is the man and/or woman who chose not to use contraception or who chose intercourse over abstention. Do they pay for the decision? Do they pay together, or apart as single parents?
This whole discussin does not look at the choice made by the parties. They had to make the right decision in the first place. If both have the same view, then there is no problem. They will accept the choice and move on. If they are not comfortable with that choice, then they have to search themselves to find the answer that is acceptable.
It would be nice to have the choice of contraception available, but everyone knows that is not possible. Employers will make the choice as to what is carried and/or paid for under any insurance plan. Will the choice be to everyone’s liking, No. Will it hurt all the participants of the plan? Maybe, but it will cause people to again make choices. Right or wrong, the people made the choice to be part of the plan. Right or wrong, they have to live with their choices. Catholic churches have the right to determine whether or not they will join a certain plan. If birth control will be paid by the plan, they have the right of choice. It is not mandated, or should not be, on them. The US HHS can not force a church to join a particular plan. That church will have a choice. If churches get together and choose a plan that does not offer birth control, HHS can not force the plan to pay for birth control. The employees of the church have a choice of choosing a plan, whether or not it offers birth control. If the employees opt for birth control, the church should honor those employees wishes for that option, not terminate the employees because they made a wrong free choice. It does not matter that it is against the church’s stated beliefs. It is that persons beliefs that s/he is following. The chhurch has a choice to make – follow the mandate or find an option that will give it or them the best choice when following this particular incorrect mandate, and hope it will be rescinded or overturned.
According to an article in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:
Last year, however, a more scientific look at sterilization practices was published as a doctoral dissertation at Baylor University by Sandra Hapenney, a Catholic in Waco, Texas.
Using standardized hospital discharge data, she found that between 2007 and 2009, more than 20,000 women who gave birth at Catholic hospitals in New Jersey and six other states then had their “tubes tied.” Eighty-five hospitals – almost half of those providing obstetric services – were doing sterilizations to end fertility.
Among these were Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden and Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro, where Hapenney found that 282 women – 6 percent of those who gave birth – were sterilized in 2008 and 2009.
What does Catholic teaching say about these procedures? What is the position of the US Bishops regarding tubal ligation procedures being conducted in Catholic affiliated hospitals?
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/20120220_Bishops_decry_Obama_birth_control_plan__yet_Catholic_hospitals_report_sterilizations.html
I am so proud of our bishops for standing up against this attack. And ‘No’ the battle is not won by saying it is ‘free’. Anyone in business knows this is ridiculous; nothing is free. The cost will be passed on to the institutions one way or the other. This is a gross infrigement by the Feds and anyone who thinks this is just about the Catholic Church’s stance is crazy. This is the first of many and if the churches do not stand together, they will be picked apart one by one.
Dear Michelle,
Many Catholic organizations provide their own insurance–because they are self insured. Because of this, those organizations will, in effect, be indirectly paying for contraception etc. Others, like the Catholic League use the Christian Brothers insurance.
The church is not sanctioning any form of contraception or sterilization and never has. As far as the Catholic Health Association (Sr. Carol Keenan) and Fr. Jenkins, President of Notre Dame are concerned–they are a liberal crew who should be ashame of themselves. Sr. Carol Keenan even received a signing pen from Obama for her help in supporting the horrid Obamacare bill. Fr. Jenkins disobeyed the Pope (because Obama is publically pro-abortion)in inviting him to the graduation exercises at ND and giving him an Honoray Doctor of Law Degree. What a total disgrace! However, a large number of Professors at Notre Dame (about 50) disagreed with his recent support and signed their own petition.
Regardless of all the issue of contraception, our government has NO right to tell us what to do! Every one knows that when one right is ‘gently’ taken away, the next one will be lost right around the corner.
Our wonderful Bishops are taking a firm stand to not only protecting the church but will ultimately be protecting all of our freedoms down the road! We cannot ignore this threat! God bless Archbishop Chaput!
The HHS Mandate issue gives me the opportunity to express my opinion on the general topic of the “public square”:
(1) I really don’t think there is any difference between a Conservative Catholic and a Liberal Catholic except that Liberal Catholics believe in the Jeffersonian concept of the Separation of Church and State while Conservative Catholics do not;
(2) If a Conservative Catholic wishes to enter the “public square” then they have to be prepared for a major push back from those with opposing views.
Your Excellency,
It’s a vain hope, but could you please come back to Denver? We miss you!
Sincerely Yours,
A Native
The battle is not won. It is only beginning in earnest. How could you possibly miss that?
Dear Michelle:
You wrote above that:
“I would never want to make a Catholic organization pay for people to use contraception. BUT NO ONE IS MAKING THEM! Period. The battle was won.”
From my cursory undestanding by following the issue from afar, the problem is NOT that Catholic organizations “may” not have to pay for providing contraception and abortion. The problem is that these Catholic organizations will still be required to provide coverage for them.
This is precisely the attempt “to force faithful Catholic employers to violate their religious beliefs” that His Archbishopness mentioned in this article.
Lastly, I also find the following audio interview with the now Cardinal Timothy Dolan on EWTN to be quite informative:
http://ewtn.edgeboss.net/download/ewtn/multicast/audio/mp3/snl212.mp3
Let’s pray that we all be one.
Thanh Hai Tran, First thank you so much for being kind and expressing your concern and opinions so elequently. Throughout this string of comments you have been nothing but kind and respectful. Thank you. I wish I was able to get my point across the same way. I understand what you are saying, but the Bishop’s original argument was that they did not feel that it was right for them to have to pay the insurance companies for the coverage of contraception. The president accommodated that concern by making the insurance company provide that coverage without making the Catholic organization pay for it. So they do not have to pay for it. The insurance company will. The Church has no problem taking money from the government when it claims its organizations as tax exempt. It also currently has no problem providing coverage for erectile disfunction drugs and vasectomies. So I find the Bishops either confused or calculated in their further fight.
Dear Michelle,
But what if the insurance company is itself an organization that wants to be faithful to the Church’s teachings?
I cannot comment on the erectile disfunction drugs and vasectomies because I don’t know the details.
You seem to feel very strongly about your views and want to be faithful to The Church. I encourage you to have a chat with your local diocesan priest or bishop on these matters. He may be able to explore these issues with you in more depth than what this forum can do. Written words, no matter how well meaning, can sometimes easily be misunderstood, which is why we Catholics have faith in The Church as the authority to interpret The Word of God. But you probably already know that.
I originally come from a country where oppresions against the Catholic Church have turned some of the believers themselves against their own shepherds. We must strive not to let that happen in this wonderful country.
Have faith in our bishops. They need our prayers and support more than we may realize.
The Church’s teaching on marriage, family, and sexual morality is right. It is a life of freedom and joy. I love G.K. Chesterton. He said the Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. If a little mouse of a girl like me can trust God enough to have ten kids anybody can. I would be the last person anyone would have thought to have the nerve or health. It’s true that you CAN do all things through God who strengthens you. I look back on our 25 years of God’s faithfulness and I wish everybody could know how good He is. My husband and I have our trials and sorrows, but they are far outweighed by joy and a growing love for God and each other. You have to be all in though. And no we are not rich. We always just make it, though. I hope you all take this the right way. It is said with humility because I know it’s been God’s grace, not anything my husband and I could have done alone. I just felt compelled to share this because everything I read and hear now is negative about Church teaching, like it’s impossible or out of date.There are families like us, too, who go to Mass, confession, and say the Rosary every night. I thank Archbishop Chaput for his fortitude and courage.
In contrast to the position of the Catholic bishops, many significant Catholic organizations directly affected by the HHS rule – such as the Catholic Health Association, the University of Notre Dame, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and Catholic Charities USA- publicly supported and welcomed the Obama Administration’s willingness to accommodate their religious concerns.
Catholic Charities USA did not endorse it:
http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/
And the fact that the other organizations listed may have accepted the “accommodation” which was, after all, only words and never formalized, is neither here nor there. It is still unconstitutional.
Thank you again for your measured and thoughtful response to the latest chapter of the HHS mandate. Your steadfast defense of religious freedom and all issues protecting and defending life are like a light to the people of the Catholic Church in the United States. We’re blessed by your service and leadership. May God keep you close to His Heart always.
Your Excellency, Reverend Father, and all brothers and sisters in Christ,
Grace and peace be with you.
I am an Orthodox Christian who is following my own bishops in following the leadership of the Catholic bishops in this country in protesting this action. As a student of Christian unity at the Catholic University of Ukraine, I am filled with joy that in the midst of this persecution Christians are joining together to oppose something that is an obvious assault on the holy faith.
I do have an honest question, however. I signed the petition White House site, but they sent me a reply back and said that President Obama had compromised in saying that if a Catholic Hospital did not wish to provide it, then the insurance of the employee would need to cover it. Is this what His Excellency is saying here by a deception, since the insurance would still be forced to do it? Could someone please explain more in detail (in the law itself) what makes this deceptive?
with respect,
Timothy Flanders
Grand Rapids, MI
quiesincaelis.wordpress.com
Most large employers are self-insured. The insurance company simply acts as an administrator and bills the employer for the cost of the medical services. Therefore, the employer, not the insurance company, is actually paying the cost.
The issue before us is Religious Freedom and the evil emmergence of tyranny! This law will hurt the freedom of all believing people!
General Abrams also said “They’ve got us surrounded again, the poor …..”
We need to pray for those surrounding us and promoting tyranny! They are poor in so many ways! The Lord will set things right if we beg Him in humility! This is His battle to freely gain souls! We need to be His dutiful army and move to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness! We need to do this through prayer, contrition, fasting, forgiveness, love and courageous action! We are being called to put our lives on the line with joyful confidence in the Lord’s protection! Now before it is too late.
Thank you again your Excellency for your heroic witness! May the Angels and Saints surround you and protect you for His Mission! You are in my prayers!
I would like to make several points:
(1) I read that Catholics are offended by the HHS Mandate yet 98% of Catholic women use birth control – it would be more truthful to say that the Catholic Bishops have decided to be offended by the HHS Mandate;
(2) I have not heard a sermon on birth control in the last 45 years;
(3) Given the performance of the Catholic Bishops in regard to the child sex abuse scandal, they are probably not the group who should be speaking about moral issues;
(4) I suspect that this fake shock in regard to the HHS Mandate in particular and religious freedom in general is part of a strategy to attempt to awaken the Catholic Church in America by creating a false threat.
Dear Robert,
98% of Catholic women use birth control?
1)Where were my family and friends when this poll was taken?
Just how many were polled? I don’t use birth control and I was not included in these results.
2)We do need to hold our priests and bishops accountable to be holy and preach the truth. Part of this is SUPPORTING them with our prayers, our presence in the church and RESPECTFULLY keeping them in check when they aren’t preaching the truth or aren’t saying what needs to be said.
3) See number two.
4) False alarm? First you are condemning the bishops for not acting, now that they are, you are saying they are crying wolf? False threat? I don’t think so. If ever there was a time for American citizens, particularly Catholic and Christian ones to wake up and get involved in the decisions affecting their lives and liberty, it’s now.
God bless you,
Sarah
Dear Robert:
You raise a very good point. We need more formation in the Truth espeically on Natural Law!
The Bishops are our primary teachers and, today, I find many of them to be courageous and virtuous! They have risen to the challenge! I have learned not to judge our Church by the past failures of fragile men but by the accomplishments of our heroic Saints. For awhile I was very discouraged with a lack of virtuous leadership. However, the Scandal has shaken away the false and has awoken the Saints to rise! Our Shepherds are rising to a heroic defense of the Truth for the sake of the faithful. It is a new day for our Church! Carpe Diem!
I wish it were a false threat. It is not. Without a doubt this a forceful attack on our religious Freedom which is the first of all Freedoms. If it topples the whole Constituiton topples. As unimaginable as it seems, this is a very real scare!
God Bless You!
Women in position of power, like Sevelious and Pelosi, are in the fore front,embracing the haters of catholics that take their faith seriously. In this hour of confusion, when serious sins have been done: like sexual license with the young, rampant homosexuality and prostitution, coohavitation. In this hour when the outcry is: do your thing and I will do mine, the haters of catholic people that live and will live acording to catholic morality, are pushing to fish in dirty waters. The filth in the catholic church is beeing deal with, it is an dificult task, that it is beeing done by leaders as Archbishop Chapu. The root of the sins against sexual morality, are in contraception, because they tell us that sex is just an entreteinment,so opening the door to divorce, one night stands, prostitution, homosexuality, pedophilia…so one and so forth. The advocates of the new morality are trying to impose they new religion with our one money. Yes the words of The American Patriot should be aour cry ” Give me liverty or give me death” We will die fighting.
There is a lot of debate going on here that misses the point. First let me briefly clarify something. I am a physician, but not an OBGYN. Nonetheless we know this about the mechanism of action of birth control pills, most of the time it is thought that they suppress ovulation, or alter the cervical mucous in ways preventing fertilization and thus are contraceptive. They have secondary actions that may prevent implantation of the embryo ( therefore be abortifacient) How often the abortifacient actions are the actions at work is unknown, and probably not knowable. There is a debate over this which is muddied because of pro-contraceptive groups would like to minimize the association with abortion, and those who agree with the Church’s position on contraception ( which I do) are trying to link it to abortion. This is not the central issue however, contraception would be immoral or not without this link. I agree the potential link makes them more troublesome. Even more troublesome still are agents that may be even more likely to have an abortifacient mechanism of action, like the moring after pill ELLA which contains an agent very similar to the abortion drug RU-486.
To Michelle. The Church is in fact paying for abortion ( even right now the federal government funnels money to planned parenthood, the money if fungible so we are subsidizing an abortion group) But think about this carefully, the issue is not the Church per se, the issue is your fellow Catholics. If I am an employer making me buy insurance that pays for ELLA which I think is abortifacient at least some of the time forces me to either close my practice. I am not even covered by the Obama’s fig leaf of an accomodation. Can you explain to me how this is fair? What if I told you unlike most employers I am particularly generous and pay the whole health care premium ( unlike only a portion of it) The only think I ask Is that I not be forced to pay for contraception and abortifacient. Can you not see how this infringes on my conscience? Why is someones need to have free contraceptives ( which are pretty cheap OCPs cost about 20 dollars a month without insurance or 5 dollars a week) Does my consience really not matter more than 4 dollars a week? Why are you so unsympathetic to your fellow Catholics? What issue other than this is more important. All earthly evils will pass away, Our relationship with God and the fate of our immortal soul is eternal. Do you not see how this mandate tempts some to sin?
In this process of expressing my opinions. I have been called “wrong” “hypocritcal” been accused of “obtusely refusing to accept the teachings of the Church” and my priorities have been brought into question. I have attacked NO ONE. I am a mother, a wife, and a FELLOW Catholic. I struggled to bear children. I value their lives and the life of the baby I lost in the process of trying to get pregnant. I know the process of conception probably better than most of you, especially the men! I know that because of complications and almost dying with my last birth, I am no longer able to bear children. DO NOT question my concern of the lives of children. Again and again I have said, I do not use or promote the use of contraception. I would never want to make a Catholic organization pay for people to use contraception. BUT NO ONE IS MAKING THEM! Period. The battle was won. The Bishops made their point and they are not being made to fund contraception! So please if we could stick to the issue at hand and not attack me personally, this dialogue would be much more informative and helpful for those that want to understand the ISSUES. MY QUESTION STANDS as I RESPECTFULLY asked Archbishop Chaput in my first comment, the fight is won, why must we make contraception forbidden to those who choose not to follow the Faith?
the fight is won, why must we make contraception forbidden to those who choose not to follow the Faith?
the issue was. and is yet, the government’s attempt to force a religion to violate the sacred belief in its doctrine.
Contraceptives: Catholic or not, you make the choice, you pay the cost. NOT me. Not a health issue. Contraceptives designed to prevent pregnancy.
How annoying it is read the smug and self-exalting comments of women who try to hold their argument above the rest of us by claiming an exceptional hardship that the rest of us (men) could never know or understand. Michelle, dear, the issue for the Church is that no matter who gets the birth control / abortifacient / sterilization, in being forced to make these things available, the Church will have abandoned the very moral principle it is committed to promulgate. By attempting to force the Church to supply the very thing it teaches is a grave error to use, the Obama administration is attempting destroy the influence of the Catholic Church in defining issues of morality, and is moving to install some secular-based taxpayer-funded morality-of-the-moment in its stead. Hitler tried eliminate Church influence, as have many other despots over the ages. Simply put, the Church cannot be persuaded to do anything otherwise.
Paul, “dear,” I am sorry if I sounded “smug.” That was not my intent. Just thought since I was being personally attacked, I would add a bit of my personal story. The issue is, the Church is NOT being forced to make contraception available. PERIOD. The insurance companies will be on the hook for that. The fight was won! There is no law that requires a religious orgainization to employ workers. Employing workers is not a religious act. Churches are still subject to ALL other rights of workers guaranteed by laws, federal and state (OSHA, etc.). If religious organizations are not comfortable with obeying one or more of the laws that guaranteed basic workers rights in this country, for whatever reason, then they are by law allowed to stop employing. The law does not force them to employ people and fund insurance. As long as there is always a way for a religious organization or individual to not take an action against their beliefs they are not being forced to do anything.
My question is not attack. I am not suggesting that 100% of Catholic institutions cover vasectomies. I am saying that SOME Catholic institutions cover vasectomies 100%. My question is why are the US Catholic Bishops NOT fighting to prevent vasectomies from being covered?
Great point, Lilian. I would like the answer to that also. It seems as if the Bishops are not as outraged by MEN, who medically prevent getting a woman pregnant, but when a woman wants to do the same, it is held akin to abortion.
Lilian & Michelle, the estimates I have read on the number of men in the US having vasectomies puts the figure at around 6% of the population, which I contend may be a little high, but let’s accept that figure. The number of tubal ligations performed was estimated at 16% of the female population. Although, I will note that neither is being made the subject of dispute here, you can get three times the results for the same effort by focusing on tubal ligation.
Now, between vasectomies, tubal ligations, and contraception, which would you think is the most widely prevalent practice, and hence, if you were to focus on teaching the Church’s message, where would you get the most results from? That’s right. Contraception. It is not about taking away women’s rights. It is about getting people out of sin and into heaven. Women would still have the right to buy their own contraception, just with their own money. What is wrong with that?