Bishops Must Protest This Ruling
Joseph M. Starrs, director of American Life League’s Crusade for the Defense of our Catholic Church, has issued the following response to the decision made by the California Supreme Court which ruled on Monday that Catholic Charities must provide access to contraception as part of its employee healthcare benefits:
Today’s ruling is an outrageous affront to all people of faith and a clear violation of the free exercise of religion. Justice Janice Roger Brown — the lone dissenter — clearly identified the real agenda behind this decision when she wrote, “The government is not accidentally or incidentally interfering with religious practice; it is doing so willfully by making a judgment about what is or is not a religion.”
It seems that the state of California is intent on convincing the world that up is down, that wrong is right. It seeks to recognize rights where they don’t exist, while usurping the constitutional right of Catholic Californians to the free exercise of religion.
The state’s Catholic bishops have a moral responsibility to courageously speak out against this ruling. A tepid or lackluster response will only serve to further erode the rights of the Catholic Church and all religious institutions in the state. We call on all the Catholic bishops in California to stand firm against this unjust and immoral ruling.
There are many ways the bishops can oppose the law which this ruling upholds. They could simply ignore it as an act of civil disobedience; they could counter this act by withholding the countless services they offer to state residents or they could simply stop offering any prescription medical benefit to their employees. Unfortunately, the net effect of the state supreme court’s decision is to exact a punishment on all Californians.
Through its hospitals, schools, soup kitchens, AIDS ministries and countless other outreaches, the Catholic Church has provided important services to millions of Californians. It has also strengthened the state’s economy by providing a stable work environment for countless residents. It would be a sad day for all Californians if this decision forced the bishops to cease offering any of these programs.
Until the state supreme court realizes that it has no right to force its morality of secular humanism onto the Catholic Church, we hope the bishops will speak and act in a united voice that proclaims the Gospel of Life and defends the Body of Christ.
This update courtesy of the American Life League. ALL, with more than 375,000 supporting families, is the nation's largest pro-life educational organization. ALL • P.O. Box 1350 • Stafford, VA 22555 • 540-659-4171.
The California Supreme Court has ruled that the Catholic Church's charitable institutions in the state must provide contraceptive coverage in health insurance plans for employees despite the Church's constant moral teaching that contraception is sinful.
The court ruled 6-1 that Catholic Charities is no different than other businesses in the state and must abide by a state law that requires employer-provide health care plans to include contraceptive coverage. While the law exempts “religious employers,” such as churches, the court concluded that because Catholic Charities provides “secular” services such as counseling, low-income housing, and immigration services to the public without directly preaching about Catholic values, then the law applies.
The court said that Catholic Charities employs workers and serves people of various religions, diluting the need to account for the Church's teachings.
The ruling could also affect thousands of employees at Catholic hospitals and other charitable organizations throughout California. Twenty states have similar laws requiring such birth control coverage.
Justice Janice Rogers Brown dissented, writing that the Legislature's definition of a “religious employer” is too limiting if excludes faith-based nonprofit groups like Catholic Charities. “Here we are dealing with an intentional, purposeful intrusion into a religious organization's expression of it religious tenets and sense of mission,” Brown wrote. “The government is not accidentally or incidentally interfering with religious practice; it is doing so willfully by making a judgment about what is or is not a religion.”
Brown was nominated last October by President Bush to a vacancy on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, but her nomination has been filibustered by Democrats who don't want a conservative black judge on the federal bench.
(This update courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
