Catholic bishops prefer to talk about their religious liberty rather than defending their assertion that contraception is evil. By attacking the Obama Administration for requiring institutions receiving public funds to provide comprehensive health care to the public, the bishops are catering to the social conservatives and Tea Party Republicans. In the past two weeks, while the bishops and their defenders have ignored the issue of contraception itself and tried to make the whole issue a matter of religious liberty, how many times have we heard them attempt to justify the theory that contraception is immoral? I have yet to hear any reasoned defense of their position other than to refer to the Vatican's edict declaring contraception anathema -- reminds one of Imams issuing a fatwah.
Many Catholics and non-Catholics are of the opinion that, given the lack of a rational justification for the church's edict, the primary reason they oppose contraception is to increase the number of Catholics, especially at a time when the Church's retreat to a pre-Vatican II stance is causing many Catholics to leave the church.
Of course, there is a good reason the bishops want to politicize the issue and deflect discussion away from contraception -- most Catholics and many priests do not agree with the Vatican. the Guttmacher survey reveals that 98% of sexually-experienced Catholics use active methods of birth control. Catholics, for the most part, do not support the hierarchy as to the evil of contraception. On the other hand, The bishops are hoping practicing Catholics will support them when they attempt to politicize the issue as one of religious liberty.
Unfortunately for the bishops, even when phrased as primarily an issue of religious freedom, most Americans and most Catholics disagree with the them. In a survey last week, the Public Religion Research Institute learned that most Americans (57% to 39%) disagree with the religious liberty claim. And more importantly, Catholics disagree as well (53% to 45%). (MoJo,2/7/12, Kevin Drum)
What is left to the bishops? They do not want to discuss the justification for their position on contraception; they tried to frame the issue as one of religious liberty, but most Americans and Catholics are not buying that. Give them credit; they are trying to salvage something from this disaster by tying their contraception baggage to presidential politics, and the Republican candidates and social conservatives are all too delighted to kiss the bishops' ring and jump on the "we-are-being-persecuted" bus. Face it, anyone who is against Obama automatically becomes the GOP's best friend.
The irony: when Catholic priests in South America took up the cause of the poor and depressed, The Vatican warned them not to get involved in politics. When Catholic bishops in the US politicize health care issues, the Vatican is silent.
Other concerns are: why were the Catholic bishops and the Republicans not fighting the battle in the 28 states that already have this rule (8 of those states do not even allow the exemption the Obama ruling allows)? Why was Governor Mitt Romney in favor of providing contraception in Massachusetts, and now is against it? Why did Governor Mitt Romney attend a Planned Parenthood fundraiser? Why do so many Catholic institutions already provide contraceptive health care?
The answer is that it's politics, politics, and more politics.
P.S. A letter from Paula J. Kampf on Connie Shultz FB (2/9/12):
Dear hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church,
Here's an idea I --with a Master of Arts in Ministry degree and many years of professional parish ministry, among other things--would like you to consider:
If that teaching which you are promulgating is credibly communicated and taught, it won't matter whether your healthcare plan matches it or not: no one will USE that part of their healthcare plan.
If your healthcare plan includes actions that are contrary to what you teach and lots of people on your own payroll use that part of the plan anyway, you need to do some serious self-reflection about the credibility of the teaching itself, the communication and education you're providing and whether something YOU are doing needs to be addressed.
I offer this thought with the deepest of respect, and hope you'll consider it.
Just for the record: In 1966, Paul VI's birth control commission presented its preliminary report to the pope. It held big news: The body had overwhelmingly voted to recommend lifting the prohibition on contraceptives. (The former Archbishop of Brussels, Cardinal Leo Suenens, went so far as to say the church needed to confront reality and avoid another "Galileo case.") (MoJo,2/10/2012) In 1968 Pope Paul VI rejected the commission's recommendation in Humanae Vitae.
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