The presidential election might be over, but the fight for religious freedom will go on with the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) saying the Church will “not obey” the Obama Administration’s HHS mandate.
LifeSiteNews.com is reporting that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and president of the USCCB, said he has no intention of obeying the mandate, which he calls “immoral”. The mandate, which will force all employers to offer insurance that covers contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilizations, is scheduled to take effect in eight months.
When asked if he was prepared to close hospitals and other agencies rather than pay the exorbitant fines that will be levied for non-compliance, the Cardinal said: “The only thing we’re certainly prepared to do is not give in, not violate our consciences, and not obey what we consider to be something immoral. How we do that and what doors would remain open to us to see if there’s some way consonant with our high moral principles to be able to do it, that’s something we’ve got to start to tackle…and we’re prepared to tackle.”
Now that the election is over, he said, “We better get back to work and decide just what we’re going to do. No door is closed except the door to capitulation.”
The Cardinal made his comments a day after Baltimore’s Archbishop William Lori, head of the U.S. Bishops’ religious liberty campaign, said the bishops were prepared for a “long-term” fight for religious freedom.
“In the short- to mid-term … the political landscape is the same, but so also is the resolve to eliminate the HHS mandate and most especially the four-part definition that it contains of what constitutes religious activity such that a church or a church institution could qualify for an exemption.”
Lori said the four-part definition “draws lines in our mission where we do not draw them,” and said that as it stands today, the bishops “would not be able to live with” the mandate.
“I think as this evolves, as the rule making process gets a little more clear and as we study this and monitor it, as we see how the court cases are proceeding, then our range of options will probably become a little more clear,” he added.
The comments come in the wake of a federal court decision handed down on Nov. 16 which stopped enforcement of the mandate against bible publisher Tyndale House Publishers. The Obama Administration argued that Tyndale was not religious enough to qualify for an exemption from the mandate but the court disagreed, ruling that the company’s ownership structure is designed to ensure that it never strays from its faith-oriented mission.
“The Court has no reason to doubt, moreover, that Tyndale’s religious objection to providing insurance coverage for certain contraceptives reflects the beliefs of Tyndale’s owners,” the court ruled.
“Nor is there any dispute that Tyndale’s primary owner, the Foundation, can ‘exercise religion’ in its own right, given that it is a non-profit religious organization; indeed, the case law is replete with examples of such organizations asserting cognizable free exercise and RFRA [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] challenges.”
This ruling represents the third time that a court has ruled against the mandate in recent months. Dozens of cases are presently making their way through the court system.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
