I received a call recently asking me for comment on the ongoing disagreements of the Catholic Bishops with the administration over health care coverage for contraception. My interviewer was seeking support for the government’s position and she was surprised to find that so many “progressive” (her word) Catholics were supporting the Bishops’ stand. I said that I was among that number. While I had nothing to add on the specific contents of the dispute, I could offer a map of some of the religious and social dynamics operating in the conflict.
Yes, Catholics who do not agree with the current Church teaching on contraception and other sex and gender issues can agree with their Bishops’ stand on the larger principles of religious liberty and conscience involved. These reform minded Catholics like myself can be ardently in favor of the peace and social justice pro life teachings on abortion, war, capital punishment, immigration, poverty, torture and rights to healthcare. As Christians in opposition to present government policies we can clearly recognize the need for an independent Catholic institutional witness against unjust laws of the land.
Reform minded Catholics who support their Bishops on the principles of religious liberty and Church independence have a realistic awareness of past, present and potential abuses by state governments. Ever since imperial Rome, totalitarian, dictatorial or authoritarian regimes have persecuted the Church for its intransigence on a long list of conscience issues. If you stand up and recite the Creed in gratitude for the faith you should expect trouble.
Thus the principle of religious liberty is worth a dust up even though the Bishops may be misguided to take their stand on such poorly defensible theological grounds. Neither a majority of theologians or Catholic laity (as the sense of the faithful) support the present teachings on contraception. Negotiations are definitely in order. But everyone can understand the importance of the principle of religious liberty and the rights of conscience. After all, Catholic dissenters apply these principles inside the Church as well as outside.
In a future that is sure to be filled with disputes I have a dream. An ever evolving pilgrim Church will renew its Gospel witness to Christ’s teaching of peaceful and loving nonviolence. Then Bishops will protest and champion the cause of noncompliance with war and killing. Upholding the principle of religious liberty and the rights of conscience can, and will bear fruit in many ways.