USCCB President says Obama offered next to nothing; expresses disappointment with Sr. Keehan

From Catholic News Service

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) -- Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan of New York said Feb. 13 that President Barack Obama's proposed revision to the contraceptive mandate in the health reform law did nothing to change the U.S. bishops' opposition to what they regard as an unconstitutional infringement on religious liberty.

"We bishops are pastors, we're not politicians, and you can't compromise on principle," said Cardinal-designate Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "And the goal posts haven't moved and I don't think there's a 50-yard line compromise here," he added.

"We're in the business of reconciliation, so it's not that we hold fast, that we're stubborn ideologues, no. But we don't see much sign of any compromise," he said.

"What (Obama) offered was next to nothing. There's no change, for instance, in these terribly restrictive mandates and this grossly restrictive definition of what constitutes a religious entity," he said. "The principle wasn't touched at all."

Obama's proposed revision of the Department of Health and Human Services' contraceptive mandate left intact the restrictive definition of a religious entity and would shift the costs of contraceptives from the policyholders to the insurers, thus failing to ensure that Catholic individuals and institutions would not have to pay for services that they consider immoral, Cardinal-designate Dolan said.

For one thing, the cardinal-designate said, many dioceses and Catholic institutions are self-insuring. Moreover, Catholics with policies in the compliant insurance companies would be subsidizing others' contraception coverage. He also objected that individual Catholic employers would not enjoy exemption under Obama's proposal.

"My brother-in-law, who's a committed Catholic, runs a butcher shop. Is he going to have to pay for services that he as a convinced Catholic considers to be morally objectionable?" he asked.

Cardinal-designate Dolan said he emailed Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who heads the Catholic Health Association, on Feb. 10 to tell her that he was "disappointed that she had acted unilaterally, not in concert with the bishops."

Read the rest at CNS: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1200596.htm

Further Reading:

• Six more things everyone should know about the HHS mandate (USCCB blog)
• Archbishops Kurtz and Chaput join protests over 'unacceptable' attack on religious liberty (N.C. Register)
• How the White House's 98% Contraception Figure for Catholics is Wrong (Tom Hoopes/Catholic Vote)
• Obama seen working to splinter Catholic community (Catholic Culture)
• Cardinal-Designate Dolan says bishops are not 'Obama Haters' (John Allen / I don't normally link to the NCR, but John Allen's articles are an exception because he is the exception there)
• Fr. Jenkins: Where is your signature? (Pat Archbold/N.C. Register)
• Just a minute Mr. President (Cardinal Roger Mahony)
• The Audacity of Power: President Obama vs. the Catholic Church (Charles Kadlec/Forbes)
• Intolerance is at the heart of Obamacare (James Taranto/WSJ)
• Obama has stranded the Catholic 'left' (Elizabeth Scalia / First Things)
• Democrats to Catholics: We don't want you (Rod Dreher)
• The pseudo-magisterium needs to be neutered (Te Deum Laudamus)

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Video and Text: Bp Slattery's response to Obama's "accomodation"

In the meanwhile, Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa, Oklahoma has released his own statement, and we may see other bishops doing the same.

Here is video; below is the text

My response to President Obama's HHS mandate "accommodation"
2/10/2012 - Bishop Edward J. Slattery
February 10, 2012
Saint Scholastica


Today, the President of the United States has issued what he referred to as an accommodation on the mandate from Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services issued on January 20 of this year. This mandate would have required - among other things - that religious institutions provide through their insurance policies hormonal contraception, abortifacients and direct sterilization, even though such a mandate violates our conscience and run counter to the 1st Amendment guarantee for the free exercise of Religion.


We are grateful that the President has begun to listen to the voices raised in opposition to this intrusion on our first amendment rights, and we are encouraged that he understands the urgency of this matter. However, we are dismayed that he does not understand the root issues which are involved here.

There will be a time, there must be a time, when Americans of good will and strong conscience discuss these points in a rational and non-idealogical conversation.

• First, no one is asking why it is that the Catholic Church is opposed to artificial birth control, direct sterilization and abortifacients. For two thousand years, the Church has understood that all of these methods that prevent life damage marriages and thereby weaken the fabric of society.

• Secondly, in describing artificial birth control, direct sterilization and abortifacients as “Preventive care” it is apparent that the ideology which underlies this governmental intrusion is that pregnancy is a disease and that the conception of life should be prevented.

• Thirdly, the question of who ultimately pays for this immoral coverage has remained unanswered by the President. Free coverage is never free; someone will have to pay for this coverage in their premium.

These three points will have to be addressed at some time, but what I want to address here is the constitutional issue. President Obama agreed that religious institutions would not compelled to directly pay for coverage which betrays their religious tenants or violates their conscience. This would include churches and those charitable institutions, schools and hospitals by which churches fulfill their mission.


However, the Constitution of the United States does not merely guarantee the freedom of religion to institutions, but to every American.


This includes every businessman or woman who willingly provides health insurance to his or her employees. It includes every single mother, every married couple, and every individual who does not wish to cooperate in this sin. No one should be required to betray their religious and moral beliefs or violate their conscience.


I want to encourage people not to be afraid of the sacrifices which are required to love one another with a genuine, faithful and life-giving love. Through these we are made holy and are formed more fully into what God wants us to be. Thank you.

The USCCB has issued a statement, which is, to my mind, a pass on making a more formal statement at this time. I'm perfectly fine with Dolan issuing his statement for the USCCB on Monday.  It will give him time to get buy-in on the language from other bishops.  I just hope he puts something out as good as what Bishop Slattery offered.

Before everyone gets upset thinking that +Dolan is giving in, you need to read very carefully.

February 10, 2012


New opportunity to dialogue with executive branch
Too soon to tell whether and how much improvement on core concerns
Commitment to religious liberty for all means legislation still necessary


WASHINGTON— The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sees initial opportunities in preserving the principle of religious freedom after President Obama’s announcement today. But the Conference continues to express concerns. “While there may be an openness to respond to some of our concerns, we reserve judgment on the details until we have them,” said Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, president of USCCB.


“The past three weeks have witnessed a remarkable unity of Americans from all religions or none at all worried about the erosion of religious freedom and governmental intrusion into issues of faith and morals,” he said.


“Today’s decision to revise how individuals obtain services that are morally objectionable to religious entities and people of faith is a first step in the right direction,” Cardinal-designate Dolan said. “We hope to work with the Administration to guarantee that Americans’ consciences and our religious freedom are not harmed by these regulations.”

First, I don't think it's all bad for a more formal statement to come out early next week. 

What I want to point out here is that the USCCB, in this, "we'll talk to you when we're ready" statement, Dolan talks about it being a "step in the right direction". Well, pay attention to the "it" he is talking about. I don't believe he is talking about the President's words, but the fact that Obama is recognizing something needs to change. Further up in the statement he says that the USCCB continues to express concerns. Stay tuned early next week for a more thorough response.

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Archbishop Dolan and Dr. Alveda King on the removal of prolife billboard in NY City

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York City

Archbishop Dolan reacts to the removal of a billboard which stated that the most dangerous place for African-Americans is the womb. 

While some have painted this as racist, Dr. Alveda King, the niece of slain civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Director of African-American Outreach at Priests for Life, had other thoughts. She blasted removal of the billboard as censorship. Says King: 



Dr. Alveda King



Black people in New York and all over the country should be outraged at the numbers of black babies we lose every single day to abortion. An astonishing 60 percent of African-American pregnancies in the five boroughs of New York City end in abortion. That’s unfathomable!



“Some people are angry about the billboard, but that anger is misplaced. We should all be upset and heartbroken that so many African-American women have bought into the lie that abortion will solve their problems. Legal abortion has been with us for 38 years, and the problems facing the African-American community have not gone away.”

Dr. King concluded: “The message of this billboard is totally accurate. The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb! It’s a travesty of justice that it is being taken down.”

The National Black Prolife Coalition had this to say in it's press release yesterday:

“New York has been dubbed, by the media, the abortion capitol of the nation. Where else should the debate take place than in the city where more black babies are aborted than are born alive”, said Catherine Davis of the Black Prolife Coalition. Sixty percent of the abortions in New York City are performed on black women. “That is not an accident, and we believe Planned Parenthood Founder, Margaret Sanger’s ‘Negro Project’ is why,” Davis continued. “Black women have been targeted by the abortion industry since its inception, and New York provides the snapshot of what it looks like when that succeeds.”

[snip]

On Monday, February 28, 2011 the National Black ProLife Coalition will hold a National Day of Mourning (http://www.blackprolifecoalition.org/) to call attention to the genocidal impact of abortion on communities of color. “We will mourn the loss of possibility in our aborted children. We will mourn for the women who have lost their lives or have been maimed at the abortionist’s hand,” said Arnold Culbreath of Protecting Black Life.

“And when the mourning is completed, we will continue to help women in New York City and across America to have access to free services that will help them keep and care for their children”, said Dean Nelson, Vice President of Underserved Outreach for CareNet, the nation’s largest network of Pregnancy Care Centers. The National Black Prolife Coalition, CareNet, EMC Pregnancy Centers and local leaders are fighting to defeat New York City Council Bill #371 that aims to shut down all Pregnancy Care Centers in the city.

I can't help but wonder if there is a higher rate of abortion clinic mishaps among African Americans in New York City to match the higher abortion statistics (infections, perforated bowels or other damaged organs, some requiring a hysterectomy, anesthetic overdose, etc.).

Where should the charge of racism be pitched?  Why not in the direction of media and officials who ignore hard data?   Let's face it, if 60% of African American babies were dying in the womb of any other cause but abortion, it would not be so conveniently dismissed. Who among those persons aborted might have discovered a cure for cancer or diabetes, invented technology to permit space travel, or just lived life as an ordinary person who graced us with his or her presence?

Archbishop Dolan of New York City didn't mince words in his post, "Unpleasant Truths":

Arcbp Dolan

It’s unpleasant to look at open heart surgery, or a pair of diseased lungs, or to see a person who has lost fingers, toes, or the esophagus, all due to smoking. The ads are nauseating, even hideous, to see. But the New York State Department of Health, among many others, sponsors these kinds of ads because they know that they can help to save lives.

Another ad has been generating some fierce reactions. Here in New York, a billboard was recently displayed, that simply stated “The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.” This message was accompanied by a photograph of a young, African-American girl.


Is that message unpleasant? Is it upsetting? Does it get our attention?


Yes!


Because the message is somberly true. The City of New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently released its vital statistics from a year ago which showed that 59.8% of African-American pregnancies in New York City ended in abortion. That’s even higher than the chilling city-wide average of 41% of pregnancies ending in abortion. (I joined other community leaders from a diversity of religious and ethnic backgrounds at a press conference sponsored by the Chiaroscuro Foundation about this a few weeks ago.)


So why has the billboard suddenly been taken down? What was it that moved many of our elected officials to condemn this ad and call for the gag order. Are they claiming that free speech is a right enjoyed only by those who favor abortion or their pet causes? Do they believe that unpleasant and disturbing truths should not be spoken? Or are they afraid that when people are finally confronted with the reality of the horror of abortion, and with the toll that it is taking in our city, particularly in our African-American community, that they will be moved to defend innocent, unborn, human life?

Perhaps I’m more saddened by this intolerance right now because on Monday I will be celebrating the funeral mass for Doctor Bernard Nathanson^(*), that giant of the pro-life movement, who died earlier this week. If you don’t know Dr. Nathanson’s story, you should. At one time, he fought hard to promote and expand abortion on demand in this state and in our country. He was one of the founders of the National Abortion Rights Action League. He ran what he called the “largest abortion clinic in the Western world,” and bragged about personally performing thousands of abortions. But, when Dr. Nathanson was confronted with the undeniable truth, when he could see the unborn baby in the womb through the use of ultrasound technology, he abandoned his support for abortion and became a crusader for the protection of the life of the baby in the womb.

His courage and bravery should be an inspiration to us, especially when we have to face unpleasant and sobering truths.

(*) Link added.
- Edited @10:36am

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Archbishop Dolan calls out the New York Times for anti-Catholic bigotry...

I'd say he told 'em off pretty good! 

Go to Archbishop Timothy Dolan's blog and read, "More from the Times"

Unlike the old days when the media was in full control of information, these days, you can't just shut a blogging bishop up by not presenting his views.  Of course, the NY Times, which advocates "tolerance" of every group except the Catholics it constantly persecutes, would never dismiss a rarely written letter of objection by the sitting archbishop.

Archbishop Dolan actually has a tag for the New York Times at his blog, so I'm sure it won't be the last time he takes them on.  But, as he pointed out previously, no one could keep up with the frequency with which they put out trashy, anti-Catholic stuff. 

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As secular things go....The New York Times introduces Archbishop Timothy Dolan to it's readers

"Big Tim" , with eyes widely opened, gazes in awe with a prize he has earned after calling St. John the Evangelist Cathedral home (see Milwaukee's cathedral before it was wreckovated by Abp Weakland - his predecessor, and after). His new home will be the ever-beautiful St. Patrick's in New York. PHOTO: AP/Seth Wenig

I'm home eating lunch and pounding away at the keyboard once again...

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee gets the New York City throne. The archbishop points out that unlike his appointment in Milwaukee, he was not asked if he would like it; he was told it was his. As an obedient son of the Church, he didn't second guess the Holy Father when word came through the Nuncio, Archbishop Pietro Sambi "some nine or ten days ago", that the Pope had appointed him as the next archbishop of New York City.

He will be installed on April 15th, the Wednesday following Easter.

From Hell's Bible, the New York Times article, Milwaukee Archbishop Chosen to Succeed Egan . (emphases in bold; comments mine bracketed in red)

Archbishop Dolan, who has a towering frame and a gregarious presence, is orthodox in his theology but more likely to use persuasion than punishment on Catholics who do not share his views [I agree that this is a trend in more recent appointments. The Holy Father wants to bring along as many people as possible out of their dissenting mode through reason rather than throwing them out. It requires more time and patience. Not to worry because God knows that many people have been misled, but now they have to be carefully led back. However, Dolan will do what he must if a situation warrants it. For that, read on....].

[snip]

Archbishop Dolan, by contrast, has earned a reputation for being convivial with parishioners, accessible to the news media [this is needed because when a bishop or cardinal is not accessible, the media fills in the blank] and not above smoking cigars with his seminarians [I'm anti-smoking, but never against a bishop or priest having a periodic stogie with his brothers and with seminarians - I think this is a good thing]. Yet behind the scenes, he has quietly reeled in theologians and priests who question church doctrine [this goes to the dignity of the person and another reason why I think the Holy Father is appointing men with this quality. What parent would work to correct a child in a public way? However, I think there is a limit here and a time for public correction lest others catch the same illness]

[snip]

“He’s the type of man that the pope is looking for as a bishop,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit scholar and close observer of American bishops. “He’s intelligent, he’s scholarly, he is pastoral and people like him. [Of course the NY Times would consult Reese. I found this interesting given that it is coming from the dissenting wing of the Church (no use of left or right here would be appropriate you are either loyal or dissenting). Reese is the former editor of American Magazine (a dissenting Jesuit periodical) who was unceremoniously removed by the Holy See resigned and is now with the Woodstock Theological Center (oy vey!). What is interesting is that there is no apparent jab here, given Dolan's orthodoxy. Will they listen to him? Can he disarm them?]

Well, it's time for me to head back to work. Click the headline above and read the entire article. It is lengthy. I'll have more later with links from around the blogosphere and news outlets.

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