US bishops' spokesperson rips Health and Human Services for interfering in Religion

August 09, 2011: United States’ bishops' spokesperson Sr. Mary Ann Walsh blasted on Monday the Department of Health and Human Services for interfering in the work of religious hospitals that want to opt out of providing free contraceptives. Government “must not stick its proverbial camel's nose under the church tent,” Sr. Walsh said in an Aug. 8 Huffington Post editorial. “Now, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has gone beyond nuzzling its nose where it does not belong.”
“It has plunked itself right in the middle of the sanctuary. It is trying to define what a religion does and does not do.” Walsh's remarks come in the wake of the department's announcement on 1^st August that the new health care plans must cover contraceptives and sterilizations under regulations for preventive care created in response to the 2010 health care legislation.
The spokeswoman noted that Catholic hospitals, charities and educational institutions provide about $30 billion worth of service annually in the country. The Catholic hospitals admit about 5.6 million people annually, “one out of every six persons seeking hospital care in the United States,” with Catholic Charities serving more than 9 million people a year. “The commitment to serve those in need, the sick, the hungry, the uneducated, is intrinsic to Catholicism,” she added.