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 - EWTN explains lawsuit against HHS in New York Times essay
New York City, N.Y., Feb 22, 2012 / 11:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The president of the world's largest religious media network has explained his reasons for suing the U.S. government, in a Feb. 21 New York Times editorial about the federal contraception mandate.
“Our donors send us money to spread Catholic teachings, not to subvert them,” wrote Michael Warsaw, president and CEO of the Eternal Word Television Network, in his essay “Contraception, Against Conscience.”
The Obama administration's mandate, finalized on Feb. 10, “makes it impossible for us to live up to that core mission, giving us the choice of either compromising our beliefs or being crushed by fines.”
“That ultimatum is unfair, unconstitutional and repugnant – which is why we have no choice but to fight it in court.”
On Feb. 9, EWTN sued Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, challenging her department's rule requiring many religious institutions to offer contraception and sterilization in their health plans.
That rule was made final on Feb. 10, although the administration also said it would modify the mandate in response to the outcry from organizations like the media network. The planned revision would still require religious employers' insurance providers to offer the controversial services without a co-pay.
In his editorial, Warsaw acknowledged the attempt at “accommodation,” but explained that it “would do nothing to solve the problem.”
“First, EWTN self-insures, so we are the insurer” – being forced to cover the drugs and devices directly, rather than through an outside contract.
“Second, even if we had an outside insurer, we would still be in the untenable position of facilitating access to drugs that go against our beliefs.”
These drugs, he noted, “include emergency contraceptives like Plan B and Ella that can destroy human embryos,” causing an early abortion.
“And if we refused to comply with the directive, we could be hit with annual fines starting at around $600,000.”
While he stressed the mandate's endangerment of religious freedom, Warsaw noted that the rule also threatens “the financial viability of any organization that disagrees with the administration’s politics.”
Such groups “could be forced to stop offering health insurance and be saddled with fines … They’ll lose employees who can’t afford to work for employers who offer no health insurance. They’ll lose donors who are scared off by the penalties.”
“The end result: organizations that agree with the administration or are willing to compromise their beliefs will thrive. Organizations that don’t will shrink or die.”
Supporters of the contraception mandate have accused EWTN, and other religious employers, of trying to impose their beliefs on employees who may not share them.
But Warsaw explained that the network is doing no such thing. “Our 350 employees, many of whom are not Catholic, freely choose to work here and can purchase and use contraception if they want to.”
The network, he said, is “simply choosing not to participate in the use of these drugs.”
“Instead, it is the government – which does not accept EWTN’s religious choice and can punish that choice by imposing fines – that is coercing us. But under the Constitution and federal religious liberties law, we cannot be forced to give up our beliefs as the price of participation in the public square.”
On this basis, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has filed suit on the network's behalf, “seeking to overturn this illegal mandate.”
- Gov. Christie praised for veto of New Jersey 'gay marriage' bill
Trenton, N.J., Feb 22, 2012 / 04:06 am (CNA).- The New Jersey Catholic Conference lauded Gov. Chris Christie's veto of a bill recognizing “gay marriage” in the state, but observed that better marriage formation for local Catholics is still needed.
“The governor had always indicated that that would be his action. So we are appreciative. We support his position,” state conference executive director Patrick Brannigan told CNA on Feb. 21.
On Feb. 17 Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the measure, saying “an issue of this magnitude and importance, which requires a constitutional amendment, should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide.”
The Republican governor encouraged the legislature to seek New Jersey citizens' input and allow them to vote on “a question that represents a profoundly significant societal change.”
The New Jersey Assembly passed the legislation by a vote of 42 to 33 and the local Senate passed the bill 24-16. While legislators can override the veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both bodies, such a vote is believed to be unlikely.
“There are clearly not enough votes to override his video,” Brannigan said. “Everyone realizes that as long as Chris Christie is governor of the state of New Jersey that there’s not a chance that a bill passed by the legislature will be signed into law. So there’s a hiatus of two, maybe six years before that.”
He added that New Jersey’s Catholic dioceses will continue to work in marriage preparation and support for troubled families.
“Marriage is a sacrament for Catholic where we come together and work together to become one,” he said. “We’re just going to continue to teach the Church’s teaching on marriage and hopefully that will resonate throughout our diocese and throughout our state.”
In particular, marriage preparation “is so important, especially in our society, which is a secularized society that looks towards individuals,” he said. “In marriage, you have to look toward your spouse and your children, the family. That is counter-cultural today.”
Brannigan noted that the bishops' statements on the bill all referenced the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which he said indicates that “there should be no discrimination against people, that everyone is a child of God, that everyone is made in the image and likeness of God, and that everyone deserves respect and dignity.”
This is important to say, he said, because opponents of same-sex marriage are sometimes accused of bigotry.
“One of the supporters of same-sex marriage in the state assembly said that if you don’t support same-sex marriage you're a bigot and you’re discriminating. That’s not true,” Brannigan said.
“Same-sex unions are not the same as marriage between a man and a woman,” he stressed, adding that it is not discriminatory to define something that is different as being different.
Though society aims to encourage and help single-parent families, “for government to say that you do not need a father, or do not need a mother, is far different.”
While it is possible for New Jersey legislature to call a ballot referendum on the issue, the Democratic leadership of the State Senate and the State Assembly will not likely propose it.
Brannigan said he believes this is because it will fail if put to a vote.
“I believe firmly that if the bill is on the ballot it will be defeated. We will maintain marriage as a union of a man and a woman.”
Brannigan explained that the New Jersey Catholic Conference has never called for a referendum issue.
“What the bishops have been saying is that government does not have the right to define marriage or to redefine marriage. Marriage, from the beginning of time, is a natural institution which flows from natural law that precedes government and precedes law,” ha said.
“If we’re saying that government can’t redefine it, why would we say that you can put it up for the vote and let the general public redefine it?”
The executive director also countered same-sex marriage advocates who say New Jersey's civil union act – which allows legal benefits for same-sex couples – is broken. He said that in five years there have been only 13 complaints related to the act. Ten of these complaints came in the act's first year.
While advocates claim that there are problems for same-sex couples at hospitals, Brannigan says the New Jersey Department of Health has not received any complaints and same-sex marriage advocates do not make charges against any specific hospitals.
“The suggestion that hospitals are discriminating … doesn’t hold water in New Jersey. The strongest argument that people are putting forward for same-sex marriage has no substance to it.”
- Insurers do not believe contraception mandate will cut costs
Madison, N.J., Feb 22, 2012 / 02:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new survey reveals that pharmacy directors across the country do not believe that a mandate requiring insurance companies to offer free contraceptives will cut costs as the Obama administration has predicted.
“It was interesting that no one thought the mandate would offset costs by preventing unintended pregnancies,” said Rhonda Greenapple, CEO of the firm that conducted the survey. “This is in direct opposition to the rationale for mandating these services.”
The survey, announced Feb. 17, was administered by Reimbursement Intelligence, a market research firm specializing in reimbursement issues for medical and pharmaceutical companies.
Fifteen pharmacy directors, “representing tens of millions of pharmacy-covered lives,” were asked about what impact they think the Obama administration’s new contraception mandate will have on their plans.
The mandate will require employers to offer health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and some drugs can induce early abortions.
Amid strong criticism that the regulation violates the religious freedom of employers that object to such coverage, President Barack Obama announced an “accommodation” on Feb. 10.
Under the revised policy, religious employers will not directly purchase the coverage but will instead be forced to purchase insurance plans from companies that are required to provide the coverage for free.
A White House fact sheet argued that requiring contraceptive coverage “saves money by keeping women healthy and preventing spending on other health services,” such as those associated with unintended pregnancies.
However, none of the firms surveyed believe that the new policy will lead to a net savings.
About 40 percent of survey participants think that the mandate will increase their costs thorough higher pharmacy expenditures.
Approximately seven percent believe it will increase pharmacy costs but decrease medical costs.
About 20 percent predict that their costs will not change because contraception is already embedded into their premiums, while about one-third of the participants are still unsure what effect the mandate will have.
Although survey participants were divided about the exact impact of the mandate, none believe that it will “lead to net cost savings by preventing unintended pregnancies among members.”
The survey’s findings reinforce concerns that insurance companies will transfer the cost of the controversial coverage to their clients.
One survey participant said that mandates create a “need to raise prices, change cost structures, and pass along additional costs to our customers.”
The U.S. Catholic bishops and numerous other religious groups have maintained President Obama’s Feb. 10 revisions to the mandate only appear to shift payment to insurance companies, but in reality the employer still pays at least part of the premium.
They have called for legislation to reverse the mandate and protect religious freedom.
- Some Philadelphia Catholic schools spared closure
Philadelphia, Pa., Feb 22, 2012 / 12:10 am (CNA).- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has accepted the final recommendations for elementary school closures in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia but has granted appeals from 18 of the schools.
As a result of the recommendations, 10 schools will close outright, while 49 schools will form 23 regional schools.
Decisions for the four archdiocesan high schools recommended for closure will be delayed for another week, the archdiocese announced Feb. 17. Potential donors have emerged who are working to keep them open.
“I recognize how anxious all of those affected by this decision are to hear the final outcome,” Archbishop Chaput said.
“I want to see this resolved too but this decision is too important to be made without considering absolutely every fact and all serious, substantive proposals even if they don't fit the time frame originally set. We owe it to our teachers, administrators, students and school families.”
Under the original plan, 20,000 students and 1,500 students would have been affected. Now, only about 13,000 students and 1,100 teachers will be affected, schools superintendent Mary Rochford told the Catholic Standard & Times.
There are presently 156 elementary or regional Catholic schools in the archdiocese and 17 Catholic high schools.
The Blue Ribbon Commission had recommended the closures and mergers. Members of the commission and archdiocesan administrators began hearing appeals on Jan. 12.
The archbishop said that only “hard facts” could change the recommendations because the commission is intended to create a “strategic plan” to stabilize and reinvigorate Catholic education in the archdiocese.
Some recommendations were altered for various reasons. Some schools will remain parish schools because they have demonstrated long-term stability. Other schools will form regional schools, though some will do so in a location better suited for their needs.
Other plans have been announced to structure and fund up to 14 mission schools to ensure their long-term viability. These schools would be operated independently from the archdiocese while providing a Catholic education.
“This entire process is just a beginning to reinvigorating Catholic education,” the Archbishop Chaput said Feb. 17.
He said greater school choice through opportunity scholarships and a “greatly expanded” tax credit program would be “a game changer for our schools in the future.”
Archbishop Chaput canceled his trip to the consistory for new cardinals in Rome because of the school closures and other issues in the archdiocese.
The archdiocesan website lists the affected schools by clicking here.
- Not all Catholic colleges freely choose to cover birth control, group says
Manassas, Va., Feb 21, 2012 / 06:08 pm (CNA).- The Cardinal Newman Society evaluated a list of twenty prominent Catholic colleges offering contraceptive coverage and found that most do so because of a state mandate or medical reasons but not for birth control purposes.
In a Feb. 17 blog post, Cardinal Newman Society writer Matthew Archbold called it “simply disingenuous” to use current contraceptive coverage by Catholic colleges to defend a controversial rule issued by the Obama administration.
The new federal mandate will soon require virtually all employers to offer health insurance plans that include coverage of contraception, sterilization and drugs that induce abortions, even if the employer has religious or moral objections to such coverage.
At a Feb. 16 Congressional hearing on religious liberty, The Catholic University of America president John Garvey argued that the mandate would require Catholic colleges across the country to violate their consciences.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) attempted to counter Garvey’s statement by submitting a list of Catholic colleges that currently provide contraceptive coverage.
However, Archbold pointed out, many of these approximately two dozen schools cover contraception for their employees for health reasons but not for purposes of birth control. Many others are required by state law to provide contraceptive coverage.
Archbold offered an analysis of the list submitted by Cummings, which Cardinal Newman Society determined to have originated from the National Women’s Law Center, which advocates abortion.
Many schools on the list, including the University of Notre Dame, Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of Dallas and King’s College, provide coverage for contraceptives but not for the purposes of birth control, said Archbold.
Numerous others, including Loyola University of Chicago, Santa Clara University and Marquette University, are mandated by state law to cover contraceptives, he added.
Only a handful of schools on the list, including Georgetown University, Loyola University of New Orleans and Dayton University in Ohio, cover contraception for non-medical use without being required by law to do so, he observed.
Archbold decried the idea that “the actions of Georgetown and a few others” should be allowed to “act as a mandate to every other Catholic institution in the country.”
“Georgetown should not be allowed to become the federally appointed new magisterium of the Catholic Church,” he said.
Archbold emphasized the importance of fighting mandates at both the federal and state levels.
He also stressed the need to strengthen the identity of Catholic colleges in America while addressing the actions of those that have fallen out of line with Church teaching.
- New Facebook page empowers Cubans to welcome papal visit
Havana, Cuba, Feb 21, 2012 / 04:05 pm (CNA).- The Christian Life Movement in Cuba launched a new Facebook page called “Waiting for Benedict XVI” to promote the pontiff's upcoming visit and defend the right of all Cubans to welcome him.
“We have created the group so that those in power in Cuba or those aspiring to power who have access to the internet know that we are defending the right of our Pastor to visit us and to bring to the suffering Cuban people the message of freedom, peace and reconciliation,” Christian Life Movement spokesman Regis Iglesias Ramirez told CNA on Feb. 17.
Ramirez, a former prisoner of conscience living in Spain since 2010, said the silence surrounding the Pope’s March 25-28 visit on the part of the state-run media and even the local Church is “striking.”
“Only loud and extremist voices against the visit from inside and outside the island are being heard. This is sad and dangerous,” he said.
“Many are silencing this message even within our own Church, but since we too are the Church we raise our voices for our Church, for our brothers and sisters and for our nation.”
Ramirez noted that most Cubans do not have access to the internet, and therefore they hope the comments on the new Facebook group will be seen by all those trying to stop Pope Benedict XVI's message from reaching the Cuban people.
“We want our message to reach all those who are intolerant, who are filled with hatred and detest the faith and detest us for defending the faith,” he said.
“By defending these principles we are defending the true sense of the Cuban Catholic and non-Catholic people, that needs and wants to listen to His Holiness, that needs and wants Benedict XVI, the pastor, to be with them,” Ramirez stated.
“We do not see this very important event as something political. For us it is a pastoral trip and we defend the right of our Pastor to visit us. We defend our right,” he added.
Ramirez said the Christian Life Movement is a political, social, yet “not a confessional movement,” that began in the parishes of Havana. “We are inspired by Christian humanism, the Social Doctrine of the Church and the liberating message of the Gospel.”.
The Facebook group “Waiting for Benedict XVI” can be found at http://www.facebook.com/groups/320339154667819/
- Pope names native son as new auxiliary of Galveston-Houston archdiocese
Houston, Texas, Feb 21, 2012 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI named Houston native Msgr. George A. Sheltz on Feb. 21 as the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston’s next auxiliary bishop.
“I am deeply humbled and honored that Pope Benedict XVI has named me an auxiliary bishop today,” Bishop-designate Sheltz said. “This Archdiocese has been my home my entire life and it is a joy and privilege to pledge my continued service to the wonderful people of Galveston-Houston who have been my brothers and sisters in faith these many years.”
“I also pledge my fidelity and communion with the Holy Father. I am deeply grateful for his expression of confidence in me,” he said in a Feb. 21 statement from the archdiocese.
The 65-year-old bishop-designate is presently the diocese’s vicar general, chancellor and moderator of the curia. He was born in Houston in 1946. He attended St. Mary’s Seminary of St. Thomas University and was ordained a priest for the diocese in 1971.
His father, Deacon George Sheltz, Sr., was in the first class of permanent deacons ordained for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston. The bishop-designate’s late brother, Fr. Anton Sheltz, was ordained for the diocese in 1976. His uncle, Msgr. Anton Frank, was the first native Houstonian to be ordained for the diocese in 1933.
Bishop-designate Sheltz “represents the long history of local priests who have given their lives in selfless service to the Lord,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “I look forward to working with him as my chief collaborator in this growing, diverse archdiocese.”
The future bishop has served at Houston’s Assumption Parish, Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral, St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Christ the Redeemer Parish, Prince of Peace Parish. He was pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in The Woodlands, Texas in 1999 and became Secretariat Director for Clergy Formation and Chaplaincy Services in 2007.
He will be ordained in late April at downtown Houston’s Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. He will become Titular Bishop of Irina.
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is the largest in Texas and the 12th largest in the U.S. It has a Catholic population of over 1.1 million out of 5.8 million people. There are 427 priests, 357 permanent deacons, and 687 vowed religious in the archdiocese.
- Cardinal O’Brien meets Cardinal O’Brien
Rome, Italy, Feb 21, 2012 / 01:55 pm (CNA).- You don’t have to be named O’Brien to become a cardinal, but it seems to help. Just after Cardinal Edwin O’Brien became a member of the College of Cardinals on Feb. 18, he was welcomed by a man with the same last name, Cardinal Keith O’Brien from Scotland.
“O’Briens are descendents of the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru, and I’m sure Edwin, like me, can trace his ancestry directly back to him.
“So it is only fitting that the two of us should be Princes of the Church at this present time,” laughed the Scottish Cardinal O’Brien.
The American Cardinal O’Brien was also amused that their family name is currently the only one to appear twice in the 213-member list of the Church’s Sacred College of Cardinals.
“I know there have been a lot of O’Brien bishops, but I doubt there have ever been two Cardinal O’Briens. It’s a great distinction, and I thought of that pretty soon after I was appointed,” the American cardinal told CNA.
The two men met at the Rome headquarters of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.
Cardinal Edwin O’Brien was appointed their Pro-Grand Master by Pope Benedict in Aug. 2011. The order supports the Church in the Holy Land, particularly the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, through prayer and good works.
Coincidentally, Cardinal Keith O’Brien is also a member of the order.
He explained to CNA that their next Scottish investiture is later this year and will include a pilgrimage to the historic island of Iona, the launching pad from which St. Columba re-evangelized much of Europe in the 6th century.
“Given Americans’ love of history and heritage, I do hope that Cardinal O’Brien, or ‘Cardinal Edwin’ as we will call him to distinguish between us, will be able to join us for that.”
Cardinal Edwin O’Brien said he didn’t know much about his Scottish counterpart, although he had read enough to know “he is a very strong leader” among the bishops of the British Isles in “speaking up for the Church.”
In return, the Scottish cardinal said he also knew “a little” of his fellow cardinal’s work in Baltimore, and was “delighted” to have him as a fellow member of the Sacred College where both, being under the age of 80, are eligible to vote for the next Pope.
“I just hope that when there’s a conclave for a new Pope that they get the initials right and don’t mix us up in any way at all, if we are ever considered to be in the running,” joked Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
- Abortion advocate draws ire for dressing up as 'bishop'
Bogotá, Colombia, Feb 21, 2012 / 12:05 pm (CNA).- Prominent abortion advocate Monica Roa, who helped legalize abortion in Colombia in 2006, posted a picture of herself on Facebook where she mocks the Catholic Church by dressing up as a bishop.
“This is more than just something humorous or a joke in bad taste, it’s actually disrespectful,” said Bishop Juan Vicente Cordoba, secretary general for the Colombian bishops' conference.
“It’s one thing to have different principles or ideas; it’s another to mock those in positions of authority or institutions, whether they are part of the Church or not,” he told CNA on Feb. 20.
Roa, who directs the Women’s Link International group which supports legal abortion, recently posted a picture taken last Halloween where she is wearing a miter and a purple chasuble.
She asked her followers to share their comments and to help her name her “costume,” with all of the replies directing insults against the Vatican and the Pope.
Local Catholics denounced the photo “not in a spirit of conflict, but because it was necessary to make a statement of disagreement with what she did. The Church must not be mocked in this way,” Bishop Cordoba said.
In her ongoing efforts to continue the legalization of abortion in Colombia, Roa is now targeting the country's Attorney General, Alejandro Ordonez Maldonado, for his public stance in support of life beginning at conception and traditional marriage.
Roa and other abortion advocacy groups in Colombia have launched a campaign against Ordonez's bid for reelection that includes a series of personal attacks.
Ordonez told the Colombian daily El Pais that the attacks against him demonstrate a kind of “Christophobia, which is manifested by attempts to drudge up moral failings.”
The attorney general noted that he is being criticized by a minority which ignores the beliefs of five million Colombians who voiced their opposition to abortion in August of 2011 by signing a petition calling for a constitutional amendment to protect the unborn.
- Ave Maria University challenges HHS mandate in federal court
Ave Maria, Fla., Feb 21, 2012 / 10:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ave Maria University has filed a lawsuit seeking relief from the federal rule forcing it to fund contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing drugs in employee health care plans.
“It is a sad day when an American citizen or organization has no choice but to sue its own government in order to exercise religious liberty rights guaranteed by our nation’s Constitution,” said Ave Maria President Jim Towey, speaking to reporters on a Feb. 21 conference call.
“As an American Catholic, I am in disbelief that I have to choose between being a good Catholic and a good citizen,” said Towey, who previously served as legal counsel to Mother Teresa and led the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives from 2002 to 2006.
“I will not, and the university will not, accept this false choice. The federal government has no right to coerce the university into funding contraceptive services that include abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization, in the health plan we offer our employees.”
On Feb. 21, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed the suit on behalf of Ave Maria in U.S. District Court, against Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
It is the Becket Fund's fourth lawsuit against the HHS contraception mandate, joining similar challenges by Belmont Abbey College, Colorado Christian University, and the Eternal Word Television Network.
On Feb. 10, President Obama announced a set of planned changes to the HHS rule governing religious employers' coverage of “preventive services.”
Originally, the mandate forced employers to offer contraception and sterilization explicitly in their health plans. The promised revision shifted the burden to insurance companies, requiring them to cover the same services without a co-pay in their contracts with religious employers.
Towey described the move as a “sleight of hand maneuver” that “fooled no one.”
“Ave Maria University pays 95 percent of the cost of the health plan we offer our employees,” he explained. “Under the federal mandate Ave Maria University would be paying for these drugs if we complied with the law. So we will not.”
“We are prepared to discontinue our health plan and pay the $2,000 per employee, per year fine rather than comply with an unjust, immoral mandate in violation of our rights of conscience.”
Becket Fund Senior Counsel Kyle Duncan noted that the promised change to the mandate had not actually been confirmed as law.
The original version of the law, Duncan told reporters, “actually became final without change” on Feb. 10.
The administration's “talk of a compromise and accommodation” is only “a promise, in the future … to maybe engage in some additional rule-making.”
Towey, who has criticized the Obama White House's approach to religious groups in the past, said it was “apparent that this administration does not want to strike a balance between its zeal to implement a new social policy, and the rights of religiously-affiliated organizations like Ave Maria.”
He made it clear that the issue at hand was not about women's access to contraception, but about the morality of forcing Catholic institutions to make insurance contracts under which it will be provided despite their objections.
“Allowing a U.S. president of any political party or religious affiliation to force conformance to his or her religious or secular orthodoxy through executive action, is a perilous precedent,” the university president said.
“I hope all of my colleagues in academia, including Catholic higher education, awaken to this danger.”
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