Federal Health Mandate A Threat To Freedom

The Health and Human Services mandate regarding contraceptives and sterilization procedures has caused quite a stir among Catholics. Here’s why.

The mandate requires some Catholic institutions such as hospitals (Mercy Hospital in Rogers, for example), universities (Notre Dame, for example), and businesses to pay (through their insurance carriers) for contraceptives and sterilization procedures for their employees who request these procedures. The mandate applies primarily to institutions or agencies that serve a wide clientele and employ anyone who qualifi es for the job, regardless of the employee’s faith. This means Catholic parishes and parochial schools are not under the mandate because they primarily serve Catholics and employ mostly Catholics;

the majority of Catholichospitals and colleges serve and hire more than just Catholics.

The Catholic Church is well known for its teaching against artifi cial contraceptives, sterilization and abortion. What many don’t understand about this stance is it is based on a long tradition not only of respect for human life in all its stages (conception to natural death), but also a respect for the natural functioning of the human body, including the reproductive system.

Though many Catholics do use artifi cial contraceptives, it’s not for a lack of teaching by the Church that doing so goes against the nature of the human body as created by God and is therefore considered morally wrong.

Catholic reasoning, which fl ows from biblical belief, is the person, created in God’s image, has a physical integrity that mirrors the spiritual integrity of the Creator. This mirroring is, of course, imperfect, but we still are not meant purposefully to distort the image by, say, mutilation or impairment of a properly functioning part of the body, such as the reproductive system, unless disease demands its removal or repair. The Catholic Church sees itself as responsible for upholding the integrity of the human body as part of the good news, which Christianity is meant to spread. It’s a tough sell because even good news can be demanding.

As it is, contraceptives are simply too easy to use and any effective method such as Natural Family Planning encouraged by the Church is often dismissed as too muchtrouble or unfairly equated with the old, ineff ective “rhythm method.” The Catholic Church of Arkansas requires all couples preparing for marriage in the Church take an NFP course. No one can be forced to use this method, but education in it can show couples the advantages of NFP - psychological, spiritual, physical, emotional - and how its eff ectiveness is nothing like the rhythm method and equal to that of contraceptives.

Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical letter Humanae Vitae (“On Human Life,” 1968), warned in paragraph 17 about the “consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control,” among them: the greater possibility of marital infi delity; a general lowering of moral standards;

incentives for the young to break the moral law (e.g .,contraceptives in schools);

a loss of reverence for women by men in the easy use of contraceptives. These predictions have come true.

And, prophetically, Paul VI said, “It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent diftculties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.”

This is the cause of the concern among Catholics over the HHS mandate: now the government is telling some faith-based institutions and businesses run by Catholics that they must provide something they hold to be immoral, conscience be dashed.

The Catholic Churchcan’t impose its morality on anyone, nor does it seek to do so. It’s not telling people not to use contraceptives simply because it off ends the Catholic conscience. It is trying to teach another way of family planning that can benefi t people of all faiths, denominations and persuasions, while at the same time saying its institutions shouldn’t have to pay for something that violates its long-held beliefs and practices. In America there should be a way that both honors and protects the needs and the rights of conscience of all who have a stake in the issue, because in the end this is not just a “Catholic” problem. The HHS mandate represents a threat to everyone’s freedom of conscience.

REV. DAVID LESIEUR IS PASTOR OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ROGERS.