Cardinal Burke sees 'no excuse' for employers covering contraceptive costs
April 10, 2012
Cardinal Raymond Burke has stated that employers who provide contraceptive coverage for their workers are guilty of both formal and material cooperation in contraception.
The cardinal--who is now one of the top-ranking Americans at the Vatican, where he serves as head of the Apostolic Signatura—said that there is “no way to justify” a health-care program that includes contraceptive coverage. He urged resistance against the Obama administration’s drive to make such coverage mandatory.
In an interview with Thomas McKenna, the head of the American lay group Catholic Action, Cardinal Burke was asked whether an employer who provided birth-control coverage as part of a health-care plan for employees would be guilty of cooperating in the sin of contraception. The cardinal replied:
It is not only a matter of what we call “material cooperation” in the sense that the employer by giving this insurance benefit is materially providing for the contraception but it is also “formal cooperation” because he is knowingly and deliberately doing this, making this available to people. There is no way to justify it. It is simply wrong.
Cardinal Burke voiced his hearty support for the US bishops who are leading the fight against the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate. He encouraged lay Catholics “not to be deceived by any kind of false accommodations which in fact continue this same kind of agenda.”
McKenna’s interview with Cardinal Burke will be broadcast by the EWTN network on Wednesday evening, April 11.
- Cardinal Burke Clarifies: Employers Providing Contraceptives “Materially and Formally” Cooperating with Sin (Catholic Action)
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Posted by: -
Apr. 11, 2012 1:32 PM ET USA
The IRS has very strict guidelines in determining if a "contractor" is an employee. Not an option.
Posted by: wsw33410 -
Apr. 10, 2012 8:46 PM ET USA
I wonder what's Cardinal Burke's plan on dealing with e.g. educational institutions run by the religious orders, such as the Jesuits, which are guilty of that sin?
Posted by: -
Apr. 10, 2012 7:31 PM ET USA
So, tell me again why Burke was speaking up like this as an American bishop when states were passing similar mandates? What does he have to say to Bishop Morlino of the Diocese of Madison where under state mandate they cover contraception? Of course, they've threatened to fire anyone that uses it, but have no way of knowing unless she volunteers the information.
Posted by: AgnesDay -
Apr. 10, 2012 6:10 PM ET USA
How many employees will become independent contractors--entrepreneurs--if this legislation is given a pass by the Court? Providence is an interesting phenomenon.