The national debate over a Federal requirement that religious groups provide full health coverage — including contraception — to employees continues to simmer, with hearings yesterday in Washington.<\/p>\n
The issue also remains front and center on the Diocese of Ogdensburg’s website, with Bishop Terry LaValley’s letter<\/a> describing the Obama administration initiative as “a heavy blow” to religious freedom and tolerance.<\/p>\n You must know that we cannot\u2014we will not\u2014comply with this unjust law.\u00a0 Even those who may disagree with the Church\u2019s teaching on the sanctity of human life recognize that the government has no business forcing religious institutions to sponsor and pay for procedures which violate those teachings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We’ve asked Bishop LaValley for an interview and hope to sit down with him soon.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the New York Times<\/a> is reporting that Roman Catholic institutions in New York have been living with a similar state law for roughly a decade.<\/p>\n Although Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York has vociferously argued that a national requirement for religiously affiliated institutions to cover birth control in their insurance plans is immoral and unacceptable, some Roman Catholic organizations in his own backyard have for 10 years been grudgingly complying with a state law making them do precisely that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Many Roman Catholic institutions in NY now “self-insure” in order to avoid the state law (which Catholic leaders sued unsuccessfully to block) but others have added contraception services to their insurance policies.<\/p>\n