BISHOP MURPHY ON HHS MANDATE:

Last Friday President Obama announced that he had worked out “accommodations” to respond to the legitimate concerns about religious freedom that Catholic bishops and faithful, along with many others, have been raising to the HHS regulations that mandate coverage of artificial contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs in virtually all health plans as of August 2013. Hopeful as always that truth and common sense would prevail, many of us watched his televised announcement with mounting disappointment. Putting aside some of the president’s remarks that reinterpreted what he has actually said to officials of the USCCB (the U.S. Catholic bishops conference), Mr. Obama raised more difficulties than he claimed he had resolved. While there still may be some hope that meetings with administration officials might clarify some of the issues, the leadership of the U.S. bishops and this bishop remain disappointed and dissatisfied, determined to continue the effort to protect religious freedom and freedom of conscience not only for Catholics but for all Americans.

Put simply, we bishops are more convinced than ever that we need rigorous legislative guarantees of religious freedom in the face of this administration’s continued effort to force coverage of religiously objectionable procedures as part of a universal mandate for all Americans regardless of their religious or conscience reservations. Without ironclad guarantees that to date we have not been given, we will continue to work for the repeal of the mandate.

Sometime this week at least part of the president’s “accommodation” will appear in the Federal Register. At present we are deeply concerned about the inadequacy of what has been proposed to date. What are our reservations?

The administration continues to insist on an overly narrow definition of what persons and what institutions can exercise the right of conscience or religious belief. This is problematic on two levels: the definition in itself is objectionable because government has no right to determine what religious beliefs or conscience will be afforded the right of free exercise. The Constitution guarantees this freedom to all. Second, the administration’s narrow definition leaves out untold numbers of persons who would and will be forced to violate their conscience and their beliefs or else be subject to stiff penalties.

It remains unclear how the shift of responsibility to pay for these objectionable products and services from the employer to the insurer will be paid for. The only logical conclusion is that the insurer will pass on the increased costs to the insured and we have the same objection as before; using the force of government to compel insureds to pay indirectly for products and services that violate the tenets of their faith is just as objectionable as compelling them to pay directly for these products and services. It makes sense to offer many women’s health services such as mammograms without co-pay. These help diagnose disease. But I have yet to discover how pregnancy can be categorized as a disease. In addition, insurers that now offer plans that do not include these objectionable procedures will, if the HHS mandate stands, have no choice but to offer them. Fidelis Health Care, the largest HMO providing health care coverage for the poor in New York is a Catholic organization that has a corporate membership comprised of  the New York Catholic bishops. What happens here?

There are instances in which a religious organization is both employer and insurer. It seems that, notwithstanding President Obama’s announced “accommodation,” these religiously based institutions, as well as student health plans in Catholic colleges, would have to offer this objectionable coverage. One such self-insured religious body is the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

A whole other category of countless persons who would be forced into violating their consciences would be Catholics and others who operate in the secular sphere or work for secular employers. Catholics who own businesses or those who work in businesses who share our moral objections to such products and procedures as abortifacients are forced by government into compliance without any consideration for their religious convictions or their consciencious objections.

When these regulations were presented on January 20, we were informed that the churches and religious organizations which would be exempt in the narrow definition of the mandate would be given a “grace period” of one year until August 2013 to find out how we must comply. The president of our bishops conference, Cardinal-designate Dolan, referred to this as a year to learn how to violate our consciences. That “grace period” now seems to have been changed to a year-long “process” to determine what religious organizations or individuals may or may not qualify for the new “accommodation.” This is a grave concern for us bishops. It reduces a God-given right, protected by the First Amendment, to a “privilege” to be negotiated with an administration that swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States. The HHS mandate and its support by the administration are deleterious to the life and liberty of citizens who should be able to live secure in the conviction that their right to religious freedom is not being undermined. Indeed, our right to religious freedom must be re-affirmed as soon as possible by all those in our government who have caused this grave situation to surface. The clear assertion of religious liberty is a matter of justice this administration owes to all Americans.

For all these reasons, I am convinced that we need to pass the Restoration of Religious Freedom Act being sponsored in the United States Senate by Senators Rubio and Blunt and many others. While I await the counsel of those who are far more expert than I, it would not surprise me if we will have to have recourse to the courts because of the administration’s intransigence. The First Amendment, conscience protection and the right to religious freedom and its exercise are too valuable, too inalienable, too God-given, too essential for human freedom and dignity for us to let this mandate become the law of the land.

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