Bishops, Catholic Charities Speak on HHS Rules

Well--I hope that if this passes, they actually hold their ground, otherwise this will have been much ado about nothing.

But when some of these people appear in the same story on the same side (they got the Archbishop for the Archdiocese of Military Services to speak publicly against rules proposed by a cabinet level department?  Sister Carol Keehan on the same side on healthcare as Franciscan University of Steubenville?) From NCRegister:

“Under the new rule our institutions would be free to act in accord with Catholic teaching on life and procreation only if they were to stop hiring and serving non-Catholics,” explained Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee.

“Although this new rule gives the agency the discretion to authorize a ‘religious’ exemption, it is so narrow as to exclude most Catholic social-service agencies and health-care providers,” he warned...

“The administration’s brazen attempt to attach the binding strings of its secularist agenda to something as basic as health insurance constitutes an unprecedented threat to individual and institutional religious freedom,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Archdiocese said on Sept. 23...

“Unintended or not, this mandate is an attack on Catholic beliefs and on the religious liberty of Catholics to adhere to their beliefs as they serve the community in which they live,” Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh wrote in a Sept. 15 letter to Sebelius.

The bishop noted that Catholic Charities in his diocese alone has served more than 80,000 people last year “without regard to the religious belief” of those they ministered to.

But “under this mandate, Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh would either be forced to cease to exist or restrict its employees and its wide-ranging social services to practicing Catholics alone...”

The Catholic Health Association was also critical of the exemptions, with executive director Sister Carol Keehan saying that she is “very concerned about the inadequacy of the conscience protections with respect to the coverage of contraception.”

“As it stands, the language is not broad enough to protect our Catholic health providers,” Sister Carol added.

“Catholic hospitals are a significant part of this nation’s health care, especially in the care of the most vulnerable. It is critical that we be allowed to serve our nation without compromising our conscience...”

And CWNews:

“Recent history demonstrates that many religious employers will exit from the marketplace rather than abandon their mission to offer faithful witness in the course of providing service,” they write. “Those behind the new regulations must be willing to accept this effect, and perhaps even desire it. This is revolutionary. Never before in American history has any administration—state or federal—been so willing to force religious institutions out of business...”