Here Comes Everybody ... on HHS

"Here comes everybody," author James Joyce once said in describing the Catholic Church.

The response to the January 20 announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandating private health insurance programs to cover all FDA-approved contraceptives (including those that can induce an abortion) has brought new life to the expression. Everybody is weighing in on this.

First, the bishops:

• We had the initial reaction of the Conference, followed by a video message from Cardinal-designate Dolan, president of USCCB.
• At the National Prayer Vigil for Life (another decidedly "here comes everybody"-style event), both Cardinal-Designate Dolan and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, USCCB's Pro-Life chairman, both raised the issue in their homilies.
• Cardinal-designate Dolan also ran sharply worded op eds in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.
• Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, chair of USCCB's Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, ran a piece on the Washington Post's On Faith blog.
• Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington issued a statement and posted a video message online.
• Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta wrote a letter to all parishes (in Spanish too) and hit the local airwaves.
• Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh got a lot of attention with his provocatively-titled column, "To Hell With You."
• Retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington appeared on FOX News, explaining that in order to qualify for a religious exemption, Catholic charities and health care providers would be forced to turn away non-Catholics, something opposed to our faith.
• Bishop Patrick Zurek of Amarillo did a Q&A on the matter.

Letters, statements and other messages also came from:

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans; Cardinal-designate Edwin O'Brien, administrator of Baltimore; Archbishop Roger Scwietz of Anchorage, Alaska; Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine; Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa; Cardinal DiNardo; Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Illinois; Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana; Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington (who also issued a joint letter with Bishop Francis DiLorenzo of Richmond); Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York; Archbishop Jose Gomez and Cardinal Roger Mahony on Los Angeles; all of the bishops of Michigan (courtesy of the Michigan Catholic Conference); Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis; Bishop Patrick McGrath of San Jose, California; Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri; Bishop David Kagan of Bismark, North Dakota; Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island; Bishop Peter Christensen of Superior, Wisconsin; Bishop Michael Jackels of Wichita, Kansas; Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona; Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington, Delaware; Bishop Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa; Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois; Bishop John Noonan of Orlando, Florida; Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock, Arkansas; Bishop Alexander Sample of Marquette, Michigan; Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh, North Carolina; Archbishop John Myers of Newark, New Jersey; Bishop Joseph McFadden of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Bishop David O'Connell of Trenton, New Jersey; Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland, Oregon; Bishop Lawrence Brandt of Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, Massachusetts; Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky; Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota; Bishop Felipe Estevez of St. Augustine, Florida; Bishop Frederick Campbell of Columbus, Ohio; Bishop Joseph Bambera of Scranton, Pennsylvania; Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati; Bishop Matthew Clark of Rochester, New York; Bishop Gregory Hartmayer of Savannah, Georgia; Bishop George Coleman of Fall River, Massachusetts; Bishop Glen John Provost of Lake Charles, Louisiana; Bishop Roger Foys of Covington, Kentucky; Bishop Gerald Barnes of San Bernardino, California; Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin; Bishop Michael Driscoll of Boise, Idaho; Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu, Hawaii; Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami; Bishop Michael Sheriden of Colorado Springs; Bishop Robert Gruss of Rapid City, South Dakota; Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth, Texas; Archbishop Jerome Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa; Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Florida; Bishop Richard Lennon of Cleveland; Bishop John Gaydos of Jefferson City, Missouri; Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, Texas; Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida; BIshop Terry LaValley of Ogdensburg, New York; Bishop Armando Ochoa, administrator of El Paso, Texas; and Bishop Timothy McDonnell of Springfield, Massachusetts.

And not just bishops, an array of other organizations, as well as both Catholic and secular media have weighed in on the topic:

• The Catholic Health Association had this strongly worded statement and have since followed it with another.
• Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, said this.
• Father Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, offered this statement.
• America Magazine offered an initial reflection, as well as a full editorial on the matter.
• Our Sunday Visitor ran a full editorial as well.
• Michael Gerson writing for The Washington Post calls the rule the most anti-Catholic law since the 1800s. E.J. Dionne pretty much takes the bishops' side too.
• USCCB's own Sister Mary Ann Walsh took the bishops' argument to the Huffington Post.
• National Catholic Reporter even excoriated the administration over it and has said some supportive things about the bishops.
• The Los Angeles Times reports that the rule is probably not going to pass muster with the Supreme Court.
• Other secular outlets to run editorial content favoring the Church's view have included The Atlantic (particularly good piece), Detroit News, and National Journal.
• National Review has run at least three separate bits of commentary.
• National Public Radio ran this piece, with good soundbites from Bishop Zubik and Archbishop Wenski.
• Meanwhile CNN muses on an increasingly pertinent question. (Great quotes from Cardinal Wuerl here.)
• And as NPR noted, even the Evangelicals have taken up this issue, as evidenced by this response from the Baptists.
• There have been innumerable other blog posts and op eds worth reading.
• And this petition on WhiteHouse.gov already over 9,000 signatures. (Be sure to sign it!)

Elizabeth Scalia at The Anchoress blog encapsulates all of this by noting that the silver lining of this rule has been how it's brought about a so much unity in an often fractious Church.

A true "here comes everybody" moment.

Note: Catholics wishing to take additional action on this matter can go here for more information and an action alert.

On Health Care, the Bishops Show the Way Forward

In the recent debate and votes to repeal last year's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. the health care bill, the U.S. bishops were largely absent from the "to repeal or not repeal" debate. That's not to say the bishops didn't weigh in. The chairmen of the USCCB committees relevant to health care reform (Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Pro-Life Activities; Bishop Stephen Blaire, Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Archbishop José Gomez, Migration) sent the same letter to the U.S. House and Senate as each body prepared to vote on repeal:

Dear Represenative/Senator:

As the House/Senate prepares to resume debate on health care reform, we wish to make clear the position and priorities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on this vitally important issue.

Throughout the last Congress the Catholic bishops of the United States affirmed our strong support for universal access to health care. Basic health care for all is a moral imperative, not yet completely achieved. It has never been, and is not now, for the bishops to decide the best means to realize that essential goal. However, regardless of which means are chosen, they must fall within certain fundamental moral parameters, which the bishops have a duty to articulate strongly and clearly. We have urged and continue to urge that legislation on health care reform reflect the following three moral criteria:

- Ensure access to quality, affordable, life-giving health care for all;

- Retain longstanding requirements that effectively protect conscience rights and that prohibit use of federal funds for elective abortions or plans that include them; and

- Protect the access to health care that immigrants currently have and remove current barriers to access.

Rather than joining efforts to support or oppose the repeal of the recently enacted health care law, we will continue to devote our efforts to correcting serious moral problems in the current law, so health care reform can truly be life-affirming for all.

In the 111th Congress, H.R. 5111 was introduced by Congressmen Pitts and Lipinski to ensure that the new health care law will maintain longstanding federal policies on abortion in the areas of federal funding and conscience rights. H.R. 6570 was also introduced by Congressman Fortenberry to ensure that all people -- Catholics and others alike -- maintain their current ability under federal law to provide and purchase health coverage that is consistent with their faith and values. We will strongly support laws like these in the new Congress and we will seek ways to ensure a more just health care system for immigrant families.

For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have called for reform of our health care system so all may have access to care that recognizes and affirms their human dignity. As Pope Benedict recently stated, in the health care sector “it is important to establish a real distributive justice which, on the basis of objective needs, guarantees adequate care to all.” Moreover, “if it is not to become inhuman, the world of health care cannot disregard the moral rules that must govern it” (Message to the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, November 15, 2010). We wholeheartedly commit ourselves to health care reform that achieves these worthy goals. We will advocate for addressing the current problems in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as well as others that may become apparent in the course of its implementation.

So rather than entering the new debate, the bishops reaffirmed, as they did time and again during last year's health care debate, their principles that health care reform must make health care accessible and affordable to all, that it must protect human life and conscience and that it must be fair to immigrants.

Now that the repeal movement has ended with yesterday's vote in the Senate, the position of the bishops really seems to offer a way forward, that is, fixing the serious moral flaws of health care reform one piece at a time.