There is a healthy struggle brewing among the nation's Roman Catholic bishops. A previously silent group, upset over conservative colleagues defining the church's public posture and eagerly picking fights with President Barack Obama, has had enough.
The headlines this week were about lawsuits brought by forty-three Catholic organizations, including thirteen dioceses, to overturn regulations issued by the administration requiring insurance plans to cover contraception under the new health-care law. But the other side of this news was also significant: That the vast majority of the nation's 195 dioceses did not go to court.
It turns out that many bishops, notably the church leadership in California, saw the litigation as premature. They are upset that the lawsuits were brought without a broader discussion among the entire membership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and wanted to delay action until the bishops' June meeting.
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Until now, bishops who believed that their leadership was aligning the institutional church too closely with the political right had voiced their doubts internally. While the more moderate and liberal bishops kept their qualms out of public view, conservative bishops have been outspoken in condemning the Obama administration and pushing a "Fortnight for Freedom" campaign aimed at highlighting "threats to religious freedom, both at home and abroad."
But in recent months, a series of events -- among them the Vatican's rebuke of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious encouraged by right-wing American bishops -- have angered more progressive Catholics and led to talk among the disgruntled faithful of the need for a "Catholic spring" to challenge the hierarchy's shift to the right.
Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, broke the silence on his side Tuesday in an interview with Kevin Clarke of the Jesuit magazine America. Blaire expressed concern that some groups "very far to the right" are turning the controversy over the contraception rules into "an anti-Obama campaign."
"I think there are different groups that are trying to co-opt this and make it into [a] political issue, and that's why we need to have a deeper discussion as bishops," he said. "I think our rhetoric has to be that of bishops of the church who are seeking to be faithful to the Gospel, that our one concern is that we make sure the church is free to carry out her mission as given to her by Christ, and that remains our focus.” Clarke also paraphrased Blaire as believing that "the bishops lose their support when the conflict is seen as too political."
Blaire's words were diplomatic. But in a letter to the bishops conference that has not been released publicly, lawyers for California's bishops said the lawsuits would be "imprudent" and "ill-advised." The letter was not answered by the national bishops' group before the suits were announced.
Already, there are reports that some bishops will play down or largely ignore the Fortnight for Freedom campaign, scheduled for June 21 to July 4, in their own dioceses. These bishops fear that it has become enmeshed in Republican election-year politics and see many of its chief promoters, notably Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, as too strident.
The irony in the current acrimony is that Catholics were broadly united last January across political lines in opposing the Department of Health and Human Services initial rules on contraception because they exempted only a narrow category of religious institutions from the mandate.
Facing this challenge, the president fashioned a compromise under which employees of Catholic organizations such as hospitals and social-service agencies would still have access to contraceptive services but the religious entities would not have to pay for them. This compromise was accepted by most progressive Catholics, though many of them still favor rewriting the underlying regulations to acknowledge the religious character of the church's welfare and educational work.
But where the progressives favor pursuing further negotiations with the administration, the conservative bishops have acted as if it never made any concessions at all. Significantly, Blaire identified with the conciliatory approach. As Clarke wrote, "Bishop Blaire believes discussions with the Obama administration toward a resolution of the dispute could be fruitful even as alternative remedies are explored."
For too long, the Catholic Church's stance on public issues has been defined by the outspokenness of its most conservative bishops and the reticence of moderate and progressive prelates. Signs that this might finally be changing are encouraging for the church, and for American politics.
(c) 2012, Washington Post Writers Group
For more coverage of the contraception mandate, click here.
Thank you Mr. Dionne. It was refreshing to hear that not all the USCCB members are marching in step with their conservative leaders. I recently posted a blog on my website that focuses on the abuse of the power of the political pulpit. I believe that the campaign that the USCCB has mounted is tantamount to declaring war on the Obama adminsistration and puts the Conferences in danger of losing their tax exempt status with the IRS. I hope the dissenting bishops can get more press to counter what I believe is the church crossing the line from advocating for policy to supporting a political party.
http://responsiblefaith.com/about/blog/onward-christian-soldiers-marching-as-to-war/
The Catholic Church will not die out, even if some American Bishops want to turn it into a politidal club.
Our faith in the Holy Spirit will not be misplaced. The Spirit´s light will shine where emotional discussions and right and left leaning spirits might have yielded to the temptation to sow darkness.
In the meantime, I have, and so adivsed my extensive network of somewhat influential friends and relatives, suspended all my donations and support to the U.S. Catholic Church until it returns to its pastoral duties and reject political temptations. We are all humans, we all fail at one time or another. But bounce back and correct our errors we must.
My support has shifted to other countries where the hierarchy is more attuned to our pastoral responsibilites and less alligned with the owners of their countries. Where abortion ranks as high in their teachings and concerns as infant mortality (appallingly high in the U.S.). And apparently, treat women like equals and not like, as I was told recently, abject afterthoughts.
Let's hope that what Mr Dionne reports spreads. I disagreed strongly with the first iteration of the HHS policy, and as time has gone by it seems that it was not a fully considered decision on the part of the Obama Administration. They need to be offered a way to climb down from that position, but this sort of nuance seems not to be part of the modus operandi in the bishops' leadership. Fighting over birth control is a no win issue. As someone said in a recent article in America, the bishops shouldn't expect the Government to make people do what the bishops haven't their people about. Abortifacient pills and sterilization are a different matter.
Those few "liberal or moderate" bishops we have left are now paying the price for electing Card. Dolan as president of the USCCB over his heir-apparent competition. They should have refused to "get on board" back then. Now, they're in for a long, long ride between stations, I fear. Or, maybe they can craft some innovative solution. One hopes so.
It wasn't until the 60's that the Church in MA (and I think CT, though I'm not sure) gave up the struggle to maintain laws that made the selling of contraceptives illegal. Having first opposed the relaxation of those laws, Cardinal Cushing eventually kept silent, recognizing that the laws (originally put into place by Protestants not Catholics) were no longer acceptable in a pluralistic society. No Catholic is being forced to purchase artificial contraception for themselves or for anyone else. Karen (above) is absolutely correct, the rights of non-Catholic women working for Catholic institutions to be covered for contraception should be incontrovertable. The effort to undermine the mandate - which is the only way the health care reform law will work - because of opposition to policies covering birth control is blatantly political. Thanks, E.J., I was unaware of this development among the bishops. It gives me hope. Even in Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, "One flower doth not a summer make." Let us all hope and pray that other bishops will have the intestinal fortitude to speak up. We can still have unity without uniformity! Let those who are not bucking for higher office be heard.
Has anyone seen the video that is an ad by the Catholic Church? I have gotten it via email. It is definitely powerful and well done, especially if you are trying to scare people into doing what you want. Can someone tell me if this is really done by the Church? I pray it is not.
Wayne Sheridan: "It is my understanding that the administration did not consult with the bishops when devising the first mandate, nor did they discuss the so-called "compromise" with them before imposing it. This does not seem like openness. the fact that the University of Notre Dame has joined the lawsuit gives me hope that the more liberal and moderate forces withing the Catholic community see the importance of challenging the government's attempt to define the ministry of the Church, which to me, is the key reason for the lawsuit."
The Health and Human Services administration apparently did not consult with the USCCB before initially deciding not to exempt most church-affiliated agencies from the mandate, which was a mistake, but certainly not an unprecedented one in US history. Religious exemption status is not governed by hard and fast rules. And initially virtually all the "liberal and moderate forces" you mention -- including E.J. Dionne -- came to the defense of the USCCB's protests over this.
HOWEVER, once the President got involved and came up with his compromise proposal, the bishops lost credibility with those initially on board with them because of their virtually instantaneous hostility and obvious partisan posturing, which was taken up immediately by Republicans in Congress. How did that come to pass so suddently? The whole thing certainly came as a shock to me; I can only guess how the President felt.
As for whether or not the President should have "negotiated" with the bishops privately before announcing his compromise, according to reports, he did try to talk with the leader of the USCCB, Cardinal Dolan, by phone, but apparently the Cardinal was miffed that a mere nun, the head of one of the institutions affected, the Catholic Hospital Association, had been in on the talks at the White House. She just happened to be one of the major Catholic health care leaders who had helped the President pass his health care bill to begin with, which had led some commentators to note that he "owed her" better treatment than to leave her out of the loop on this. So he didn't, but in including her even before he called Dolan, apparently put him in the dog house with the Cardinal. Too bad, but I'd certianly hope such a faux pas wouldn't be what's caused all the hostility and angry rhetoric about government "attacking religious liberty" we've heard ever since. It's long past time the USCCB cut that out and got down to serious negotiating.
Sandra's posting above, mentioned a video ad by the Catholic Church. I think she's speaking of Test of Fire. I have the ad below. But first here is a list of some of the other ads the same Company that produced the "Catholic" ad credit for: 1) Obama Admits He is a Muslim; 2) 53 Seconds that Should End a Presidency, which is a series of snippets of President Obama struggling with getting the right words out in a number of unrelated interviews; 3) Confirmed: Obama’s Birth Certificate Not Confirmed (2012). So, now that you have an idea of the type of the commercials they produce, here’s the commercial created for the USCCBs’ campaign, titled Test of Fire: Election 2012 (Catholic Version). But before you view it let me give you a synopsis of the plot.
The setting is a blacksmith’s shop. The room is dark and dismal. The only light is from the flickering fire in the hearth that the smithy is using to forge metal letters, which eventually will become three key words: MARRIAGE—LIFE—FREEDOM! The whole scene and background music create a spooky setting.
As the screens scroll on, each scene has a different message. One of the first messages is:
“This November—Catholics across the nation will be put to the test…Catholics across the nation—will have an opportunity to share the future—for our generation and generations to come…”
Skipping to the end of the commercial. At this point the screen shows a women coming out of a voting booth, she looks rather downcast the text continues“…Your vote will affect the future and will be recorded in eternity!” Recorded in eternity! Shades of fire and brimstones! I leave it to you to make a jugment of the tone of the ad.
Thank you Dr. Fausel for your response as well as your comment earlier. The comment that came with the email was...between the Catholic Church and the Koch brothers, we will get Obama. Surely the Church knows the dangerous ground they are on, not only politically but forever hurting loyal Catholics.