Bishops defend opposition to health care reform

BALTIMORE (RNS) The outgoing head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops vigorously defended the bishops' opposition to the health care
reform bill, asserting that only bishops can speak for the church on
matters of faith and morals.


"All the rest is opinion," Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said
on Monday (Nov. 15), "often well-considered and important opinion that
deserves a careful and respectful hearing, but still opinion."


George's three-year presidential term ends Tuesday, when the bishops
will elect his successor.


George and nearly 300 other U.S. bishops are meeting here through
Thursday for their annual fall assembly. In his farewell address, George
touched on several highlights of his term, including Pope Benedict XVI's
2008 visit to New York and Washington, and President Obama's election as
the nation's first black president.


But George acknowledged he has presided over a deeply divided
church, which has challenged the bishops "to keep the Catholic people
united visibly around Christ in his body, the church."


George devoted the bulk of his address to rehashing the health care
debate, lamenting the "wound to the church's unity" as umbrella groups
of Catholic hospitals and nuns broke rank with the hierarchy to support
the bill.


The cardinal, however, asserted that developments since the bill's
passage in March "have settled the empirical issue" that it expands
federal funding for elective abortions.


"Our analysis of what the law itself says was correct and our moral
judgments are secure," the cardinal said without elaborating on which
developments had settled the debate.


The Obama administration, health care experts, and lay Catholics
have contested George's claim. A press conference that was to include
George after his address was abruptly canceled.


Chris Korzen, executive direct of the progressive political group
Catholics United, said anti-abortion groups and the bishops continue to
assert that the bill funds elective abortion, but have not been able to
produce any examples.


"Until they do so, their accusations ring hollow," Korzen said.


Supporters say the legislation and a related executive order signed
by Obama maintain federal prohibitions on funding abortion except in
cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life -- restrictions
that have been in place since 1976.


But only bishops can speak for the church on matter of faith,
morals, "and the laws surrounding them," George said, even as they "have
no illusions about our speaking for everyone who considers himself
Catholic,"


Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic
social justice lobby based in Washington that supported the health care
bill, agreed bishops are the church's chief spokesmen on faith and
morals, but said it is the role of lay people to apply Catholic
teachings.


Campbell, who said she's tried unsuccessfully to meet with bishops
about the health law, said the bill is "being carefully implemented to
ensure there will be no federal funding for abortion."


"It breaks my heart that we cannot put our energy into having a real
conversation about applying our Catholic faith, which is so deep a part
of our lives -- as well as of the bishops' -- to practical reality,"
said Campbell, who's also an attorney.


George, too, lamented the deep divisions that emerged among
Catholics during the argument over health care reform, even as he
insisted the bishops were correct.


"We need to be deeply concerned ... about the wound to the church's
unity that has been inflicted in this debate, and I hope, trusting in
the good will of all concerned, that means can be found to restore the
seamless garment of ecclesial communion."


While the tensions among Catholic are "acute," they are not
necessarily novel, George said, calling on bishops to "strive to keep
everyone together in Christ with the authority given us by him."