Catholic Bishops

The Catholic Church, embroiled in a dispute with the Obama administration over new health insurance rules, has chosen Baltimore to kick off a national campaign it says is aimed at promoting religious liberty. Archbishop William E. Lori is scheduled to celebrate mass at the Baltimore Basilica on June 21 to open the "Fortnight for Freedom," a two-week national campaign of special liturgies, prayer services and other events leading up to the Fourth of July. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is the oldest Catholic diocese in the United States.

The Catholic Church, embroiled in a dispute with the Obama administration over new health insurance rules, has chosen Baltimore to kick off a national campaign it says is aimed at promoting religious liberty. Archbishop William E. Lori is scheduled to celebrate mass at the Baltimore Basilica on June 21 to open the "Fortnight for Freedom," a two-week national campaign of special liturgies, prayer services and other events leading up to the Fourth of July. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is the oldest Catholic diocese in the United States.

The argument by Catholic bishops and other conservatives that providing contraception and reproductive health services for all women is a denial of Catholics' religious freedom is without merit ("O'Brien's quixotic fight," Feb. 9). The law is not forcing anyone to use contraception. It is saying it should be available without cost for those who want it, even those employed by religious-run institutions like universities and hospitals. Let's relegate to the past the many women who suffered debilitation or death because of too frequent pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases.

In arguing the First Amendment right of employers to choose what coverage they should be exempt from providing based on conscience, the Republicans who supported the Blunt amendment (and the three Democrats who sided with them) are guilty of short-sightedness and an absence of humility. The essence of the First Amendment is the right of all to their own interpretation of religion, not just the right to their own convictions. To maintain that order of tolerance, the First Amendment mandates that the government must not establish religion, but rather allow the practices of all people.

The nation's Catholic bishops approved a broad new document on marriage Tuesday, laying what its writers described as the foundation for the American church's efforts to promote the institution as the joining of one man and one woman. "Thank goodness this is out there, clearly stated, with ample documentation and very reasonably put forward," said Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of Baltimore, which is hosting the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week.

WASHINGTON -- When the nation's 300 Catholic bishops gather in Washington for their annual meeting tomorrow, the most controversial topic within the U.S. Catholic church, the role of women, won't be a major point of discussion.The bishops delayed a position paper on women for another year because of opposition from both conservative and liberal Catholics.In controversial areas outside the church, the bishops take clear stands, putting them in direct opposition to recent Bush administration policy on drugs, gun control and the death penalty.

NEW YORK -- In their first meeting since Pope John Paul II "definitively" ruled out the possibility of female ordination, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops are convening in Washington tomorrow for discussions on promoting church leadership and equality for women.Similar issues will confront the members of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in debates on the use of inclusive -- "gender-neutral" -- language in certain parts of the liturgy, an area in which past efforts have been stymied by the Vatican and by some clerics in the United States.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops have delayed action on a pastoral letter concerning women after widespread criticism of it and demands that it be dropped.The National Conference of Catholic Bishops had been scheduled to vote in November on a final draft of the policy-setting pastoral letter on women's concerns, but the conference's administrative committee postponed the vote yesterday after the Vatican requested that they consult their fellow bishops in other nations on the matter.The pastoral letter has sharply divided Catholics who want more change in church practices regarding women and those who uphold traditional restrictions.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops wound up their annual meeting yesterday with a tense discussion of a pastoral letter on women, indicating that the role of women in the church is almost sure to be a matter of violent controversy for years to come.In their four-day meeting, the bishops dealt with women in a statement on sexuality, in the new guidelines for the use of gender-neutral language in some church readings, and in a proposed pastoral letter condemning sexism in society and in the church.

Led by two Baltimore prelates, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops today were warning of an intensified campaign to mobilize millions of members of their church against any health care plan that requires all health insurers to cover abortion as part of a standard package of benefits.In a letter to congressional leaders this week from Archbishop William H. Keeler and Bishop John R. Ricard, both of Baltimore, and others, the bishops reaffirmed their support for changing the health system to achieve universal coverage.

As a woman and a life long Roman Catholic, I would like to comment on the recent debate between U.S. bishops and the federal government on requiring birth control insurance coverage for employees of Catholic institutions. Despite what Republican politicians insist, Catholic bishops' refusal to provide such coverage relates to their stand on birth control, not to concern about denial of religious freedom. I believe the bishops' statements are based on strict adherence to religious tradition rather than to any reasonable interpretation of Christ's teachings as applied to family life.

The argument by Catholic bishops and other conservatives that providing contraception and reproductive health services for all women is a denial of Catholics' religious freedom is without merit ("O'Brien's quixotic fight," Feb. 9). The law is not forcing anyone to use contraception. It is saying it should be available without cost for those who want it, even those employed by religious-run institutions like universities and hospitals. Let's relegate to the past the many women who suffered debilitation or death because of too frequent pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases.

In their standoff with the Obama administration,Archbishop O'Brienand the other Catholic bishops should blink ("O'Brien's quixotic fight," Feb. 9). Catholics long ago declined to follow the Church's teaching that contraception is immoral. It demeans the important principle of religious freedom to make a stand on behalf of this discredited doctrine. John C. Murphy

At a time of staggering poverty, rampant unemployment and growing income inequality, Catholic bishops will gather for a national meeting in Baltimore today and remain largely silent about these profound moral issues. A recent Catholic News Service headline about the meeting - "Bishops' agenda more devoted to internal matters than societal ills" - is a disappointing snapshot for a church that has long been a powerful voice for economic justice. The U.S. bishops' relative silence contrasts with a recent Vatican document that urges stronger regulation of the financial sector and a more just distribution of wealth.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, died Wednesday of complications from surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, church officials said. The 73-year-old Italian prelate had undergone lung surgery nearly three weeks ago and had been on assisted ventilation for much of his postoperative care. Archbishop Sambi, whose title was apostolic nuncio, was one of Pope Benedict XVI's first major appointees and had served in the U.S. post since 2006. He fell ill when he was preparing to return to Rome, where it was widely expected he would be named a cardinal.

The rite, those few priests who have performed it say, can unfold as a quiet prayer session or a show of violence. The afflicted person may curse the cleric, speak in a voice not his or her own, even assume facial features that one priest described as "reptilian. " But in the great majority of cases in which a Catholic seeks an exorcism, church officials say, what the person really needs is help of a less dramatic nature: a doctor, a therapist or simple pastoral counseling.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Underscoring the widening chasm between ordinary Roman Catholics in the United States and the church hierarchy, a new Gallup Poll has found that two out of three Catholics believe that women should be admitted to the priesthood, and 75 percent say that priests should be allowed to marry.The poll's dramatic findings were unveiled as nearly 240 U.S. bishops meeting at the University of Notre Dame deadlocked on a proposed pastoral letter on women's role in the church. A pastoral letter is an authoritative teaching of the church.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Roman Catholic bishops yesterday condemned California's Proposition 187, which denies health and education benefits to undocumented immigrants, and reaffirmed the Catholic Church's position that every person has a right to health care until the moment he dies.However, doctors may give pain medication to a terminally ill person even if it indirectly hastens his death -- as long as the sole goal is patient comfort, the bishops said.At the heart of both actions is the belief that all people have a basic human right to health care, said the 280 bishops, here on the last day of their semiannual meeting.

Sister Mariella Frye, a member of the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart and a nationally known figure in Roman Catholic education who was associate director of the National Catechetical Directory, died Friday of complications from a stroke at The Villa, the assisted-living facility that her order shares with the Sisters of Mercy in the Woodbrook section of Baltimore County. She was 88. "Sister Mariella was one of the great catechetical leaders and one of the great leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in the 20th century," said Sister Angela Ann Zukowski, a member of the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart who is director of the Pastoral Institute at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

The Revs. Tracy Bruce and Stephen Davenport travel to Haiti every January to visit the music school in Port-au-Prince, the church in St. Etienne and the other development projects they support in the poorest nation in the Americas. But with the school and the church now destroyed, and no word yet from many of the friends with whom the husband-and-wife Episcopal clergy members have worked over the decades, they expect this month's trip to be different. "There's nothing that's coming out of Haiti at all in terms of communication right now from anybody on the ground," Bruce, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Glyndon, said Friday.