A word to my fellow Catholics
about the HHS contraception mandate:
The question is not restricted to
Catholic institutions and hospitals. It is not, on the one hand, a violation of
the right of conscience if Catholic institutions are required to pay for artificial
birth control (including abortifacient birth control), yet not, on the other
hand, a violation of that same right if other Catholic employers are required
to do the same. More to the point, if our religion prohibits a Catholic
institution to pay for artificial birth control, it also prohibits individuals
to pay for it or provide it.
It is critical that this aspect
of the issue be understood. The Catholic prohibition against artificial birth
control applies to individuals as well as institutions. Thus, a Catholic businessperson
may not, consistently with his religion, pay for artificial birth control, and
this holds true regardless of whether the federal government will impose
sanctions for the failure to do so.
The Catholic bishops have taken
the position that compliance is not possible, even if the political and legal
fight is lost. They say this because they understand that we will make
ourselves ridiculous if, after asserting that the HHS mandate compels us to
violate our religion, we simply comply after all political and legal remedies
are exhausted. A requirement of our religion is just that, and cannot be
altered or overturned by government fiat. It also applies regardless of whether
we are operating a charity or engaged in an ordinary for-profit business.
This does not exclude finding
ways to legitimately avoid the imposition of sanctions, provided everything is
done out in the open and according to law. But payment for artificial birth
control is not an option for any Catholic serious about his religion.
In the last analysis, for us,
this issue is not ultimately about what politicians should be in power or how
the Supreme Court should rule. It is about how we who are members of a Church
that has been nourished by the blood of martyrs ought to respond to the threat
of government sanctions. If we can be bludgeoned into compliance with the
threat of mere monetary sanctions, the contrast between those martyrs and us
will make a ridiculous picture indeed.
