{"id":4395,"date":"2013-09-30T19:04:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T19:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/"},"modified":"2013-09-30T19:04:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T19:04:00","slug":"bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishops push for conscience protections in government funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 \/ 01:04 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of government funding negotiations.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cProtection for conscience rights in health care is of especially great importance to the Catholic Church, which daily contributes to the welfare of U.S. society through schools, social services, hospitals and assisted living facilities,\u201d wrote Cardinal Se\u00e1n P. O'Malley of Boston and Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore in a Sept. 26 letter.<\/p>\n

\tThe bishops wrote regarding the federal contraception mandate \u2013 issued by the Department of Health and Human Services \u2013 which requires employers to provide employee health coverage for sterilization and contraception, as well as drugs which can cause early abortions.<\/p>\n

\tWhile the mandate has a narrow exemption for religious employers, many Catholic institutions do not meet the government's criteria. More than 200 plaintiffs across the country have filed lawsuits challenging the mandate, and some legal analysts believe the Supreme Court will take up the case in the coming months.<\/p>\n

\tCardinal O'Malley and Archbishop Lori \u2013 who head the U.S. bishops\u2019 pro-life committee and religious liberty committee, respectively \u2013 reminded the nation\u2019s lawmakers that the bishops \u201cstrongly support universal access to health care.\u201d However, they said, \u201csuch access is threatened by Congress' continued failure to protect the right of conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThey applauded the provisions of the Health Care Conscience Rights Act, which was introduced earlier this year by Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.).<\/p>\n

\tKey elements of this bill should be incorporated into \u201cmust-pass\u201d legislation as Congress considers a continuing resolution to prevent a government shut-down, the bishops said.<\/p>\n

\tTheir letter comes amid pressing discussions over the funding of the federal government, which will run out at the end of Sept. 30. If an agreement is not reached between Democrats and Republicans, non-essential government services will cease at the end of the day Monday.<\/p>\n

\tOn Sept. 29, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a government spending bill which would delay much of the 2010 health care law \u2013 including the contraception mandate \u2013 for another year. The bill also includes accommodations allowing employers to decline to provide insurance coverage for products and procedures to which they morally or religiously objected.<\/p>\n

\tHarry Reid, a Democrat and the Senate majority leader, maintained that the upper chamber would reject the House bill.<\/p>\n

\tIn addition to the issue of funding the federal government, it is likely that health care and religious liberty will play into debates over the debt ceiling, which Treasury secretary Jack Lew expects to be met by Oct. 17.<\/p>\n

\tSeveral Catholic conferences in states across the nation have encouraged Catholics to contact their representatives and senators to ask that they support the inclusion of conscience protections in legislation on government funding and raising the debt ceiling.<\/p>\n

\tCardinal O'Malley and Archbishop Lori urged that Catholic institutions serving the common good \u201cshould not be told by government to abandon or compromise those convictions in order to continue serving their own employees or the neediest Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cNor should individual Catholics or others be told they cannot legally purchase or provide health coverage unless they violate their conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThey noted that non-profit religious groups ineligible for the mandate\u2019s narrow religious exemption are only beginning to have their cases heard in court, but will be subject to the mandate\u2019s requirements on Jan. 1, 2014.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThose who help provide health care, and those who need such care for themselves and their families, should not be forced to choose between preserving their religious and moral integrity and participating in our health care system,\u201d said the bishops.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 \/ 01:04 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of governme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nBishops push for conscience protections in government funding<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 \/ 01:04 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of governme...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bishops push for conscience protections in government funding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 \/ 01:04 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of governme...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-30T19:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/\",\"name\":\"Bishops push for conscience protections in government funding\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-30T19:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-30T19:04:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 \/ 01:04 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of governme...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bishops push for conscience protections in government funding\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bishops push for conscience protections in government funding","description":"Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 \/ 01:04 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of governme...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bishops push for conscience protections in government funding","og_description":"Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 \/ 01:04 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of governme...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2013-09-30T19:04:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/","name":"Bishops push for conscience protections in government funding","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-09-30T19:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-30T19:04:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Sep 30, 2013 \/ 01:04 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- Leaders of the U.S. bishops have written to lawmakers insisting on the importance of including religious liberty protections and the conscience rights of health care workers as part of governme...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/09\/bishops-push-for-conscience-protections-in-government-funding\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bishops push for conscience protections in government funding"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}