Bishop Thomas Doran

From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops . . .

BISHOPS RENEW CALL TO LEGISLATIVE ACTION ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
February 10, 2012
Regulatory changes limited and unclear
Rescission of mandate only complete solution
Continue urging passage of Respect for Rights of Conscience Act

WASHINGTON – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued the following statement:

The Catholic bishops have long supported access to life-affirming healthcare for all, and the conscience rights of everyone involved in the complex process of providing that healthcare. That is why we raised two serious objections to the "preventive services" regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in August 2011.

First, we objected to the rule forcing private health plans — nationwide, by the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen—to cover sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion. All the other mandated "preventive services" prevent disease, and pregnancy is not a disease. Moreover, forcing plans to cover abortifacients violates existing federal conscience laws. Therefore, we called for the rescission of the mandate altogether.

Second, we explained that the mandate would impose a burden of unprecedented reach and severity on the consciences of those who consider such "services" immoral: insurers forced to write policies including this coverage; employers and schools forced to sponsor and subsidize the coverage; and individual employees and students forced to pay premiums for the coverage. We therefore urged HHS, if it insisted on keeping the mandate, to provide a conscience exemption for all of these stakeholders—not just the extremely small subset of "religious employers" that HHS proposed to exempt initially.

Today, the President has done two things.

 First, he has decided to retain HHS's nationwide mandate of insurance coverage of sterilization and contraception, including some abortifacients. This is both unsupported in the law and remains a grave moral concern. We cannot fail to reiterate this, even as so many would focus exclusively on the question of religious liberty.

Second, the President has announced some changes in how that mandate will be administered, which is still unclear in its details. As far as we can tell at this point, the change appears to have the following basic contours:

It would still mandate that all insurers must include coverage for the objectionable services in all the policies they  would write. At this point, it would appear that self-insuring religious employers, and religious insurance companies, are not exempt from this mandate.

It would allow non-profit, religious employers to declare that they do not offer such coverage. But the employee and insurer may separately agree to add that coverage. The employee would not have to pay any additional amount to obtain this coverage, and the coverage would be provided as a part of the employer's policy, not as a separate rider.

Finally, we are told that the one-year extension on the effective date (from August 1, 2012 to August 1, 2013) is available to any non-profit religious employer who desires it, without any government application or approval process.

These changes require careful moral analysis, and moreover, appear subject to some measure of change. But we note at the outset that the lack of clear protection for key stakeholders—for selfinsured religious employers; for religious and secular for-profit employers; for secular non-profit employers; for religious insurers; and for individuals—is unacceptable and must be corrected. And in the case where the employee and insurer agree to add the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of the objecting employer's plan, financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the objecting employer. This, too, raises serious moral concerns.

We just received information about this proposal for the first time this morning; we were not consulted in advance. Some information we have is in writing and some is oral. We will, of course, continue to press for the greatest conscience protection we can secure from the Executive Branch. But stepping away from the particulars, we note that today's proposal continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions. In a nation dedicated to religious liberty as its first and founding principle, we should not be limited to negotiating within these parameters. The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services.

 We will therefore continue—with no less vigor, no less sense of urgency—our efforts to correct this problem through the other two branches of government. For example, we renew our call on Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. And we renew our call to the Catholic faithful, and to all our fellow Americans, to join together in this effort to protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all.

Msgr. Daniel J. Deutsch

I was born in 1962 in St. Charles, IL. My mom and dad, Pat and Bernie Deutsch and my 5 brothers and sisters and I grew up in St. Patrick Church. Most of my family still lives in the parish with the rest not far away.

Raised and educated in a strong Catholic faith, I graduated from Northern Illinios University with a degeee in finance and economics. I worked in Chicago at the Mercantile Exchange trading Eurodollars for several years. All the while, even from my earliest days I felt a great attraction to the priesthood. Finally, I realized that God was not going to stop pursuing me so I let go of the life of a bond trader and began my journey to the priesthood.

After being accepted by the Diocese of Rockford, I attended the University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, IL for my formation and was ordained a priest in 1994. Upon serving as a priest in several parishes as an associate pastor and then pastor, I was appointed to lead Holy Cross in 2001. The joy of being the pastor of such a vibrant parish grows every day.

Fr. John Evans Born in Bristol, Connecticut, on the solemnity of our Lady's Immaculate Conception, December 8th, 1982, I have always lived under the mantle of our Lady, whether I knew it or not. I was baptized by my great Uncle, Rev. John Lane, CSV, on January 29, 1983. As my mother worked in the hotel business, we moved a lot. I've lived in Philadelphia and South Bend, Indiana, spending most of my life in the Chicago area. I received my first Holy Communion on May 4, 1991, and Confirmation on April 20, 1997, both at Holy Cross Church (providential) in Deerfield, Illinois. Having spent my high school years in South Bend, surrounded by the good example of countless priests, religious and laity, I went to the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC, to study philosophy and discern my vocation. It was there that I decided to study for the priesthood for our own Rockford Diocese, as that is where most of my family lives. I graduated from CUA with a Ph.B. (Ecclesiastical Bachelor of Philosophy) in 2005, and went to Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis, the following autumn. Four years later, I graduated with an M.Div. (Master of Divinity) and M.A. (Master of Arts in Sacred Theology, Old Testament) in the spring of 2009, and ordained to the sacred priesthood a week later, May 16, 2009. I am humbled and honored to serve here in Batavia, with such kind, holy priests and people. I could not have asked for a better assignment. God bless you, and let us pray for each other.

Fr. Keith Romke I was born in Elgin in 1985. After graduating from high school, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life, but God sure knew! During the summer of 2003, I felt a call to the priesthood and that led me to the Diocese of Rockford's summer vocations camp. While there I served Mass for the very first time. Right after communion, I approached the altar so that I could pour the water into the chalice, which was being held by the priest, Fr. Jim Parker. He looked at me and said, "Be generous, pour it all." At that moment immense peace came over me, and I knew that the Holy Spirit was telling me to be generous and to pour out all of my life for Him as a priest. Three weeks later I found myself in the seminary! I spent four years studying philosophy at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in the Diocese of Lincoln Nebraska. After that, I spent the next four years living at the North American College in Rome while studying Theology at the Angelicum, a university run by the Dominicans. Thinking about serving the Lord and the people of Holy Cross brings me nothing but joy. I am always amazed at the ways that the Lord uses us when we let Him, so I look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store here in Batavia! Be assured of my prayers for all of you and please keep me in your prayers as well.