4 Mass. Bishops Urge Parishioners To Oppose Rule

By The Associated Press
Feb 4, 2012, 11:30 AM
3 Comments

BOSTON — The four Roman Catholic bishops of Massachusetts will urge parishioners to fight an Obama administration regulation requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control.

The regulation also requires employers to cover the morning-after pill, which some religious conservatives say is tantamount to abortion.

Both contraception and abortion are opposed by the Catholic church. In letters to be read or handed out at Mass, the bishops say the ruling forces religious organizations to violate their beliefs or face large penalties.

They say it’s a blow to religious liberty, and they will not “comply with this unjust law.”

Some Catholic groups who oppose the regulation supported Obama’s health care overhaul. But they thought religious groups would be more broadly exempted from the controversial regulation.

The administration says it won’t reconsider the decision.

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Grace Brophy

In the United States and in the most Catholic countries in Europe, Italy, Ireland, and Spain, Catholic women regularly use contraceptives–98% in the United States. In Ireland the morning after pill is available over-the-counter to those sixteen years and up, and at one-fifth our cost. The clergy knows this only too well so what is its purpose in condemning Obama and by implication, the Affordable Care Act? If the Church really expects its members to follow its rules, it could excommunicate all those Catholics who don’t practice natural methods of birth control (at least fifty percent of its congregation on any given Sunday) and welcome them back after menopause. Seems to me the bishops are pulling a Komen and inserting politics into health care, supporting the Republican Golden Rule, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
Barbara

I wonder how successful this move by the bishops will be. I heard the same statistic, that 98% of women have used/use contraceptives. Maybe it’s time for Catholic women to stand up for their views and for the Catholic church to change.
Anonymous

Until the bishops restrict their hospitals and other institutions to Catholics only, tell the bishops to take a hike.