In Roman Catholic churches across the country this past weekend, priests read statements from their local bishops urging the faithful to fast, pray, protest and take action against a new health-care mandate issued by the federal government.

The Jan. 20 ruling by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will require virtually all employers, including Catholic hospitals and educational institutions, to provide health insurance that includes surgical sterilization and prescriptive contraceptives without charging employees a co-pay or a deductible.

That would be in direct conflict with Catholic doctrine, which has consistently condemned all forms of contraception except natural methods. The nation's Catholic bishops are gearing up for a fight, calling the mandate "literally unconscionable" and "an unprecedented attack on freedom of conscience and of religion."

Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, in a letter to be read at all 131 parishes in the 19-county diocese, called the ruling "an alarming and serious matter ... that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith."

The letter says the debate is not about Catholic doctrine or the morality of contraception, but religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all citizens.

"We cannot -- we will not -- comply with this unjust law," Bishop Blair said in his letter. The bishop declined requests from The (Toledo) Blade to be interviewed for this story.

The Health and Human Services mandate was issued as an "interim final rule" in August, 2011, and takes effect for most employers on Aug. 1. The department gave a one-year extension, to Aug. 1, 2013, for nonprofit employers who for religious reasons do not currently provide contraceptive coverage.

"In effect, the President is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences," Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement.

'Appropriate balance'

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, said the decisions were made "after very careful consideration, including the important concerns some have raised about religious liberty. I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services."

She said the department "will continue to work closely with religious groups during this transitional period to discuss their concerns."

Concerns among religious groups are many, touching on a complex array of constitutional, moral, ethical, and cultural grounds.

Some say that if the federal government can order religious groups to go against their own teachings, what will be the next step and where will it end?

"To force a religious institution to perform those services strikes me as an egregious violation of conscience," said Peter Feldmeier, professor of Catholic studies at the University of Toledo. "I think the government is overstepping its bounds in a big way."

A 2005 Harris Poll found that 93 percent of all adults, including 90 percent of Catholics, support birth control and contraception.

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI told visiting U.S. bishops that core values of American culture are being threatened by "radical secularism." In an apparent reference to the Health and Human Services' ruling, the Pope said many bishops had told him of "concerted efforts" against "the right of conscientious objection ... to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices."

Drop health care?

Among the difficult options Catholic institutions are now considering are eliminating all health-care coverage to employees, refusing to obey the federal rules and facing the penalties, or cutting their direct ties to the church, as did the 60,000-employee Catholic Healthcare West. That San Francisco-based group, which changed its name to Dignity Health, has been adding non-Catholic medical centers and says on its Web site that it is "rooted in the Catholic tradition, but is not an official ministry of the Roman Catholic Church."

Penalties for noncompliance with the new federal rules can be substantial.

In his letter read at churches this weekend, Bishop Blair is urging Catholics to contact Congress to support legislation that would reverse the HHS decision.

__

By DAVID YONKE AND JULIE McKINNON - The Blade, Toledo (MCT)

(c)2012 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)

Visit The Blade (Toledo, Ohio) at www.toledoblade.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services