Fellas, you may want to review No. IX again.
This week, the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), led by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and the president of the bishops' conference,
met to decide whether they still hate women's health care.
Guess what? They do!
In a statement issued by the committee, the bishops insisted that they are "strongly unified and intensely focused" in their "opposition to the various threats to religious freedom." Religious freedom, as we all know by now, means their right to demand that women be denied access to health care the bishops don't like.
The bishops then proceed to do some serious false-witness-bearing:
This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive, even when it is not provided by the Church’s hand and with the Church’s funds.
First, yes, this
is about access to contraception. Second,
no, it is not inexpensive. Third, no one is requiring the Church to provide it. And fourth, no one is forcing the Church to pay for it.
But the lies don't end there:
The mandate includes an extremely narrow definition of what HHS deems a “religious employer” deserving exemption—employers who, among other things, must hire and serve primarily those of their own faith.
Riiiiiiight. That "extremely narrow" definition of "religious employer" is so narrow, it doesn't even cover someone who
opens a Taco Bell! Which, as you may recall, was the demand issued by Anthony Picarello, general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
But the false witnessing doesn't end there. Oh no. According to the bishops, the mandate also is a "violation of personal civil rights":
The HHS mandate creates still a third class, those with no conscience protection at all: individuals who, in their daily lives, strive constantly to act in accordance with their faith and moral values.
That's a whole steaming pile of Ninth Commandment violation right there too. Why? Because the mandate doesn't force any individual to do anything. The government is not preventing any individuals from going on about their lives, believing whatever they want to believe, living in accordance with whatever they think their faith demands of them. You think your faith prohibits you from using birth control? Guess what? You are still free to not use birth control! Your religious liberty is still totally intact!
The bishops have laid out the "next steps" in their war on women's health care, including "pursu[ing] legislation" and "explor[ing] our options for relief from the courts." And, oh yes, continuing to beg American Catholics, who have roundly rejected this idiocy, to support them in their war. Good luck with that one, fellas.
The bishops conclude by stating:
Prayer is the ultimate source of our strength—for without God, we can do nothing; but with God, all things are possible.
Suuuuuure. Of course, they don't really believe that either, and they're not going to take their chances by leaving it up to God and prayer. Hell no! Thus, they'll continue to
spend millions of dollars lobbying their Republican friends in Congress and perhaps even seek "relief from the courts."
Who would Jesus sue, right?
