Catholic Health group approves of mandate, despite bishops

Photo ~ Cardinal George clearly remarked that “Sr. Carol and her colleagues are to blame” for the passage of the health care bill. He continued by revealing that the bishops repeatedly tried to reach out to Sr. Keehan both before and after the vote. “I personally met with her in March to no avail,” the cardinal reported.

Washington D.C., Jul 9, 2013 / (CatholicNewsAgency).- Days after the U.S. bishops indicated the HHS contraception mandate remains unacceptable, the Catholic Health Association has approved the government's accommodation.

“CHA had two principal concerns. The first was the four-part definition of what constituted a 'religious employer.' That concern has been eliminated,” Sister Carol Keehan, president of CHA, announced in a July 8 memo to members of the organization.

On June 28, the Obama administration issued its final rules regulating the federal contraception mandate, which requires employers to offer health insurance plans that cover contraception, sterilization and drugs which can cause early abortions.

On July 3, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York, explained that the U.S. bishops' conference “has not discovered any new change that eliminates the need to continue defending our rights in Congress and the courts,” and that the mandate continues to threaten the Church's ability “to carry out the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.”