Freedom of conscience has been in the forefront of the US Catholic Bishops’ engagement
with the broader national discourse since the Obama Administration issued a regulation
under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act forcing most employers, including
Catholic institutions, to provide coverage - at no cost to employees - for sterilizations,
contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs.
The US Senate on Thursday voted
narrowly to table the bipartisan Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, which would
have provided protection against the regulation: one the Catholic bishops, together
with other religious leaders and several prominent experts in United States Constitutional
law believe to be a grave threat against religious liberty.
Bishop William
E. Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who chairs the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty
of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, responded to the news by saying
the bishops “will continue [their] strong defense of conscience rights through all
available legal means.” Bishop Lori added, “Religious freedom is at the heart of democracy
and rooted in the dignity of every human person.” He promised that the bishops, “will
not rest until the protection of conscience rights is restored and the First Amendment
is returned to its place of respect in the Bill of Rights.”
Religious liberty
has been a central topic of concern during the course of the US Bishops’ ongoing ad
limina visits, and emerged as a focal point of his allocution to the bishops on January
19th:
[I]t is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the
United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness
presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political
and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated
at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being
made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.
While
here for his ad limina visit in February, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois
– the state that incumbent President Barack Obama represented in the US Senate before
his successful 2008 bid for the presidency – about how the bishops are planning to
engage the public conversation. “It is important to engage the culture as a whole,”
he said, adding that the fight against the HHS mandate is shaping up to be a centrepiece
of the bishops’ efforts.
The next group of US bishops arrive for their ad limina
visits this coming week. Listen