On contraception, Catholic Church again shows shameless hypocrisy

Cardinal Mahony

Frank Bruni of the New York Times has a blistering column on today’s website that points out this glaring hypocrisy: the Catholic Church claims the Obamacare law would violate Catholic teachings, yet the church blatantly violates or ignores laws in many instances when it’s to the church’s advantage.

Beyond all the lawlessness intertwined in the ongoing church sex abuse scandal, Bruni reports on a court case brought against a Catholic hospital in Colorado that was sparked by the death of a patient, a young pregnant woman, and her twin fetuses.

Despite Catholic doctrine that says life begins at conception, the church’s legal team argued in court that the 28-week-old fetuses’ demise could not result in a claim of wrongful death because, according to several court rulings, they were not legal persons.   

The same Catholic hierarchy responsible for this deceit, the same church leaders that covered up thousands of cases of rape or sexual misconduct involving young boys, now forcefully says that the church should be exempt from the health care law’s mandate that employers provide insurance coverage for contraception.

I would point out that public surveys show that well above 90 percent of Catholics in their child-bearing years ignore the church’s archaic ban on contraception. At the same time, sexual abuse of children is viewed in our culture as one of our society’s most heinous crimes.

Bruni details the many immoral and illegal acts conducted by Cardinal Roger Mahony in the Los Angeles diocese, according to newly released documents. All along the way, the church justified its cover-up by claiming that scrutiny from law enforcement officials would violate the free exercise of religion.

“But the church has simultaneously reserved the right to behave just like any other institution,” Bruni wrote, “leaning on legal technicalities, smearing victims and demonstrating no more compassion than a tobacco company might show. 'In the name of Jesus,' (attorney Jeffrey) Anderson told me, 'they do things that Jesus would abhor.'

“... And it’s hard to keep track: just when is the church of this world, and when not? It inserts itself into political debates, trying to shape legislation to its ethics. But it also demands exemption: from taxes, from accountability, from (individuals’) health care directives.”