Cardinal Designate Timothy Dolan's Article on the HHS Mandate

Cardinal Designate Timothy Dolan’s Article on the HHS Mandate*

“THE RELENTLESS PROCLAIMATION OF THE TRUTH ON THIS HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES MANDATE”

*“The Wall Street Journal”, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012: “ObamaCare and Religious Freedom”

Religious freedom is the life blood of the American people, the cornerstone of American government. When the Founding Fathers determined that the innate rights of men and women should be enshrined in our Constitution, they so esteemed religious liberty that they made it the first freedom in the Bill of Rights.

In particular, the Founding Fathers fiercely defended the right of conscience. George Washington himself declared: “The conscientious scruples of all men should be treated with great delicacy and tenderness; and it is my wish and desire, that the laws may always be extensively accommodated to them.” James Madison, a key defender of religious freedom and author of the First Amendment, said: “Conscience is the most sacred of all property.”

Scarcely two weeks ago, in its Hosanna-Tabor decision upholding the right of churches to make ministerial hiring decision, the Supreme Court unanimously and enthusiastically reaffirmed these longstanding and foundational principles of religious freedom. The court made clear that they include the right of religious institutions to control their internal affairs. Yet the Obama administration has veered in the opposite direction. It has refused to exempt religious institutions that serve the common good- including Catholic schools, charities and hospitals – from its sweeping new health-care mandate that requires employers to purchase contraception, including abortion-producing drugs, & sterilization coverage for their employees…

Since then, hundreds of religious institutions, and hundreds of thousands of individual citizens, have raised their voices in principled opposition to this requirement that religious institutions and individuals violate their own basic moral teaching in their health plans. Certainly many of these good people and groups were Catholic, but many were Americans of other faiths, or no faith at all, who recognize that their beliefs could be on the block. They also recognize that the cleverest way for the government to erode the broader principle of religious freedom is to target unpopular beliefs first.

Now we have learned that those loud and strong appeals were ignored. On Friday, the administration reaffirmed the mandate, and offered only a one-year delay in enforcement in some in some cases – as we might suddenly be more willing to violate our conscience 12 months from now… The rule forces insurance companies to provide these services without a co-pay, suggesting they are “free” – but it is naïve to believe that. There is no free lunch, and you can be sure there’s no free abortion, sterilization or contraception. There will be a source of funding: you. Coercing religious ministries and citizens to pay directly for actions that violate their teaching is an unprecedented incursion into freedom of conscience.

The Catholic Church defends religious liberty, including freedom of conscience for everyone. The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and other object to killing even in wartime and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors.

BY ITS DECISION, THE OBAMA ADMINISTRTATION HAS FAILED TO SHOW THE SAME RESPECT FOR THE CONSCIENCES OF CATHOLICS AND OTHERS WHO OBJECT TO TREATING PREGANCY AS A DISEASE…

DUPLICATE & SHARE: “The Washington Post” is opposed to this HHS mandate. All newspapers must do likewise.