What the federal government calls ‘fair and balanced’ is but a continued assault against religious freedom.
Is the hand quicker than the eye? That’s the question that always precedes the magician’s game in which you must guess which shuffled walnut shell conceals the pea. I used to enjoy watching a baseball version of this played on the scoreboard in Busch Stadium between innings of St. Louis Cardinals games. But as I listened to President Obama on Feb. 10, when he outlined the so-called accommodation to his contraceptive mandate for health care, I felt the only thing missing was the question to introduce the press conference: “Is the hand quicker than the eye?” I may have perfect vision in only one eye, but this much I know: the mandate did not magically disappear, it’s just concealed under a different shell.
When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decision was announced on Jan. 20, requiring coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization in all health-care policies, I was traveling to Rome for what is commonly called an ad limina visit. The official title is ad limina apostolorum, which means “to the threshold of the apostles,” and by Church law every bishop is required to make this visit, generally every five years. During this visit each bishop must present himself to the Holy Father and also venerate the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul, both of whom were martyred for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which no power on earth has the right to suppress or restrict.
Unfortunately, we are now witnessing just such an effort in our country. In effect, the Gospel of Christ is now subject to the interpretation of the federal government, with line-item veto authority to strike out any passage of Scripture that conflicts with its agenda. Religious freedom is no longer viewed as an inalienable right that comes from our Creator but as one that is subject to the government, which can define what that right entails.
It no longer suffices to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” and “to God what is God’s” (Mark 12:17). Now we are mandated to give to Caesar what belongs only to God—our conscience—and are given one year to do so, as though our right of conscience were a perishable item on a store shelf with an expiration date stamped on it.
Nothing in what I wrote upon my return from Rome in response to the HHS mandate has changed since President Obama’s press conference (see dioknox.org/home/stika-hhs/). Under the HHS mandate, fertility and pregnancy are viewed as diseases to be prevented or cured and the life of a newly conceived child as though it were a parasite to be chemically flushed out of a woman’s body. But when we speak of health care, the Church defends not only the health of the body but above all that of the soul and its inner temple, our conscience.
Before his martyrdom, St. Thomas More said, “I am the king’s good servant, but God’s first.” This is one of the reasons bishops present themselves to the successor of Peter during ad limina visits and venerate the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul. Mindful that Jesus instructed Peter to “strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32) and of St. Paul’s command “to preach the word . . . in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2), we draw courage to be God’s servant first. Our citizenship should never force us to wager our faith like a bet on a shell game and to compromise our citizenship in heaven.
As we continue to fight this unjust mandate, I encourage you to visit www.usccb.org/conscience for updates. You will also find information on contacting elected officials to ask them to pass legislation that protects our religious liberty and rights of conscience. Please pray for me and be assured of my continued prayers for you as we endeavor to be faithful witnesses of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
