Cardinal Sean O’Malley could put a stop to Obama’s birth control coverage by backing new bill
As head of anti-abortion committee he backs GOP bill to keep “traditions of religious freedom”
Published Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 7:40 AM
Updated Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 7:40 AM
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Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley and head of an anti-abortion committee within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is a main contender for position of Pope
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Before entering the Vatican conclave, where the next pope will be chosen, Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley wrote to lawmakers urging support for a bill that could weaken President Obama’s birth control coverage mandate.
Irish American O’Malley is now looking like a possible contender to be the next leader of the Catholic Church, according to a poll in Corriere della Sera, and rumblings around Rome.
On Friday, O’Malley wrote in his capacity as head of an anti-abortion committee within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He urged support for Rep. Diane Black's (R-Tenn.) legislation, which states that an employer who objects to birth control being included in employees’ health care could be exempt.
O’Malley wrote that Black’s legislation preserves the “vitally important traditions of religious freedom and the right of conscience.
“Providers of healthcare, as well as those who offer or purchase insurance, should not face an unacceptable choice between preserving their religious and moral integrity and participating in our healthcare system,” reports The Hill.
Obama’s healthcare law has received constant criticism from Catholic leaders such as the New York Cardinal and President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Timothy Dolan.
Under Obama’s law, houses of worship and Churches are exempt from the birth control inclusion. Insurance companies will offer the coverage independently to other religiously affiliated institutions, such as Catholic hospitals and colleges.
Black's bill would allow employers who have “a moral or religious objection” to birth control to opt out of this aspect of health care for their employees. It would also allow religious healthcare professionals to sue if they are forced to perform an abortion.
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seanomelb | Mar 16, 2013, 03:19 AM EDT
I suppose Bishop Sean we will not agree on the right of one to follow their conscience even though as individuals we might find them inconvenient. Love of humankind is nor predicated on any relious doctrine and that is not to religous doctrine does not teach love and respect.. I do respect your point of view and may your God go with you.
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BishopSean | Mar 15, 2013, 08:30 PM EDT
But you see, Seán Og, this gets us back to a discussion of personal and public morality and the role of human society to determine on some objective grounds what is righteous or not. The march onwards towards secular humanism with its democratically-decided moral code leaves society in great confusion. The great apostle of secular humanism, John Dewey, taught that truth is no longer discovered; it is constructed. Who now decides, and on what grounds, what is truth or morally or ethically good behavior? More and more, this is becoming the reserve of government, which we should find very scary indeed. We all do have to decide, perhaps now re-starting with “least common denominators,” where to draw boundaries in order to preserve or reconstruct the common good and individual rights. The old saw is true, that the immorality we tolerate will eventually control us. The Nüremberg trials after World War II should have given us a good wake-up call and starting point.
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seanomelb | Mar 15, 2013, 08:10 PM EDT
BisopSean a Chara I personally do not believe in abortion in most cases as it is sometimes used as a vehicle of convenience. My point is I have no right to sit as judge and jury for others who have abortions. I am not the custodian of their conscience.
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BishopSean | Mar 15, 2013, 10:23 AM EDT
Thanks for keeping the thread going, Seán Og. To me simplistic is to overlook the CDC factual reporting--98% of recorded abortions in USA have nothing to do with incest, rape or life-threatening situations of the mother. What, in your view, would be sufficient justification for the direct taking of these innocent defenceless persons? Besides, I have known some teenage girls who were raped and decided against abortion and thank God they stood on the high moral ground. Others who had abortions have suffered for years and decades later. With respect, Seán Og, I think you are not giving good advice in this matter. Regards.
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seanomelb | Mar 14, 2013, 07:02 PM EDT
A pregnant teenager (probably raped) is far removed from Mengele. Your comparisons are simplistic and irrelevant.
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BishopSean | Mar 14, 2013, 05:26 PM EDT
Hi, Seán Og. Even a stopped clock is right twice daily, Seán, but we want better than this for atheists. Some things should be evident in the light of natural reason alone but truth gets easily distorted by clever rhetoric and reasonings. Jesus Christ has given us the greatest moral code ever. You say “It is none of your business, Bishop Seán, what other people do,” including “in their bedrooms and surgeries.” Let me ask you, Seán Og, was it nobody else business what Michael Jackson was doing in his bedroom with little boys, or what sex tourists are doing in Thailand? Was it nobody else’s business what surgeries Nazi surgeon Joseph Mengele performed? In recent years, many cases have been exposed concerning those houses of horror known as abortion clinics. I’m sure a man of your good heart would recoil upon being exposed to such depravity. Unfortunately, post-Christians, sometimes even more so than other atheists, are clueless concerning where moral borders are or need to be established. Regards.
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seanomelb | Mar 13, 2013, 07:20 PM EDT
I'm glad to read that Bishop Sean acknowledeges that some atheist are against abortion. Unfortunately it is not about BishopSean's view on abortion.It is about the right of every individual to chose what they believe in and there right to abortion no matter how abhorrent one feels about it. The trouble with some religious types they just cannot keep out of the bedrooms/surgeries of other people. In short it is none of your business BishopSean what other people do.
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BishopSean | Mar 13, 2013, 02:48 PM EDT
Hi, Eiriamach. Reyr statement "equal insurance for males and females," having worked in the health field, I was perplexed upon reading this. According to NIH article PMC 1361028, "total lifetime health care expenditure is 34% higher for females than for males." And rightly so. I think you should refine your argument. Best regards.
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Smyrnian | Mar 13, 2013, 02:16 PM EDT
Religion in all it's forms is very inconvenient for liberals hence their rabid denunciation of any religion's standing vs. abortion and various other leftist causes. Religions can be judgmental, they have rules and as such present an obstacle to the 'no rules and no judgments do what you want' lefty agenda.
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BishopSean | Mar 13, 2013, 12:49 PM EDT
Hi, MoWalsh. Please bear in mind that it is not only the Roman Catholic clergy; and not only orthodox Bible-believing Christians who consider abortion in all stages to be the direct taking of innocent and defenseless life: even some atheistic scientists hold the same views and this is why some Japanese and Korean scientists have beautifully advanced research on adult stem cells so as to get away from embryonic stem cell research. There have been thousands of remarkable cures now using adult stem cells. Using embryonic stem cells was disliked by most scientists because it caused the destruction of the embryion. Furthermore, there have been no known cures using embryionic stems cells. Moreover, I would argue that the views of Bible-believing Christians and Jews, whose moral philosophy undergird the most foundational legal documents of the USA such as the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, allowed for the development of the greatest freedoms and economic development in all history. For Jews and Christians, who are some 85% or more of the USA to willingly vote out laws enacted on these bases, (based on the specious argument of equality of all ethical ideas) would seem bizarre and counter-productive, would you not agree? Blessings!
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Maureen Hawkins | Mar 13, 2013, 12:57 AM EDT
The Church loves this issue; it allows them to claim the high ground and divert attention from their pedophilia scandals & abuse of women in the Magdalene Landries.
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seanomelb | Mar 12, 2013, 06:32 PM EDT
O'Malley may be more of the same old opus dei types who run the church. The last two Popes ensured the liberal thinkers would never become cardinals. I suppose one could say they have cooked the books.
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eiriamach | Mar 12, 2013, 03:39 PM EDT
Until I read O'Malley's words about the Affordable Care Act, I did not believe that he could be a contender for the pope job. But now it's clear to me that he has one essential qualification -- he knows how to take care of his Church's money. The only "unacceptable choice" the ACA imposes on Catholic employers is a stiff fine for not covering all employees with health insurance that includes women's health services. "religious freedom and the right of conscience" is a smokescreen for billions of dollars that Catholic hospitals, colleges, and agencies would pay out in fines and would lose in eligibility for government grants if they do not provide equal insurance for their male and female employees.
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Nicomax | Mar 12, 2013, 03:09 PM EDT
The Church has not just recently become 'socialist in nature' as some are saying, but if anything such a position would be going back to the original message of the person who founded what was named after him. It was those who followed, consumed by power and coins, that concocted rules and regulations which allowed the Church to become a monolithic dictatorship.
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