August 11, 2022
Dear Friends in Christ,
When encountering an ethical dilemma in our day-to-day lives, we rely on Catholic teachings to ground and guide us. Without them, the world can seem a confusing and unforgiving place. So, when I read that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had issued proposed changes to a rule implementing the Affordable Care Act, which could force health care workers to perform gender transition procedures, require health insurers to cover them, and potentially remove federal conscience protection for health care professionals who object to performing abortions, I wanted to address this with you.
First let me say that there is more that we could do to form the faithful on issues surrounding people who experience discordance about their sexual identity. Transgender people, like all human beings, are children of God and deserving of our love and compassion. As the archdiocesan chaplain for Courage International, I minister to people with same-sex attractions, people experiencing discordance about their sexual identity, and their family members. Courage International is a Catholic apostolate that helps people who experience same-sex attraction receive pastoral support, including spiritual guidance, community prayers, and fellowship. The aim of Courage is to help people with same-sex attractions and those who experience discordance about their sexual identity live chaste lives, foster a community of fellowship, and help them serve as an example to others. I and my brother priests serve the person – but, here, it is a proposed policy and its impact on health care professionals about which I am gravely concerned.
This proposed regulatory change issued July 25 to the Affordable Care Act calls for HHS to change its mandates on health plan coverage and performance to include surgical abortion, cross-sex hormones, gender-transition surgeries, gender-affirming cosmetic surgeries, and voice modification. It could take away the protections Catholic health care providers have in lodging moral and religious objections to performing medical procedures that conflict with their Catholic faith and force them to conduct gender reassignment surgeries. It would likely apply to all health care providers, clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, group health insurers, and third-party administrators of self-funded plans. Read more in an article in America magazine.
In essence, the change calls for adopting a standard of medical care that is based on gender ideology, not science – a slippery slope on which we do not want to go. It also conflicts with the primary tenet of Catholic social teaching: the life and dignity of the human person, who is created in the image and likeness of God.
On July 27, four U.S. bishops – Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, chair of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth; and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chair of the Committee for Religious Liberty -- issued a statement in response to the HHS proposed rule change. It is worth reading, in part, here:
“Catholics have been called to care for the sick since the earliest days of our faith. Today, the various agencies and social service ministries of the Catholic Church taken together are equivalent to the largest nonprofit health care provider in the country. We do this work in fulfillment of the direct command of Jesus Christ and in imitation of his divine ministry here on Earth.
“Catholic health care ministries serve everyone, no matter their race, sex, belief system, or any other characteristic. The same excellent care will be provided in a Catholic hospital to all patients, including patients who identify as transgender, whether it be for a broken bone or for cancer, but we cannot do what our faith forbids. We object to harmful procedures, not to patients.
“Sadly, Monday’s proposed regulations threaten our ability to carry out our healing ministries, and others’ to practice medicine. They mandate health care workers to perform life-altering surgeries to remove perfectly healthy body parts. Assurances that HHS will honor religious freedom laws offer little comfort when HHS is actively fighting court rulings that declared HHS violated religious freedom laws the last time they tried to impose such a mandate. This is a violation of religious freedom and bad medicine.”
The Church has long recognized the co-existence of science and faith because both are creations of God. But when we begin developing and implementing wide-reaching, federal policies that are devoid of moral ethics and the option to object based on one’s religious beliefs, then we are entering an unjust arena where the common good is no longer being served.
HHS has opened a 60-day comment period on the proposed rule that will close October 3. I realize there is more to learn on this issue, and I promise to pass along additional resources, as they become available. In the meantime, I hope you will learn more about this topic and consider submitting public comments on the Federal Register, which must be reviewed by HHS before it issues its final rule. Comment here.
I wish you all a blessed and wonderful week. Thank you for being willing to live out your faith in the public square, one of our callings as Catholics and citizens of this country. I also invite anyone seeking information about Courage International or its ministry to contact me at the Parish Office at (301) 840-1407.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. John
Thursday, August 11:
- Evening Prayer at 7:30 pm. Hosted by parishioner Lois James.
Friday, August 12:
- Morning Prayer at 7:30 am. Hosted by parishioner Lois James.
- Mass at 9 am in church. Celebrated by Fr. John Dillon.
- Eucharistic Adoration from 9:30 am-noon in the church.
- Virtual parish Rosary at 4 pm. Led by Fr. John Dillon.
- Evening Prayer at 7:30 pm. Hosted by parishioner Lois James.
Saturday, August 13:
- Morning Prayer at 7:30 am. Hosted by parishioner Donna Ruffin.
- Confession from 3:30-4:30 pm in the St. Clare Chapel of the Rectory. Heard by Fr. William Brailsford.
- Vigil Mass at 5 pm in the church. Celebrated by Fr. Tom Weinandy. Mass Readings.
- Evening Prayer at 7:30 pm. Hosted by parishioner Donna Ruffin.
Parish Resources:
Remembering the Dropping of the Atom Bombs
At approximately 8:15 am on August 6, 1945, in Hiroshima, Japan, the United States from the Enola Gay dropped the first atom bomb. It fell six miles in 43 seconds before exploding 2,000 feet above the city, killing that moment and in its aftermath hundreds of thousands of people.
St. Francis of Assisi’s Pax Christi Ministry invites you to visit the Peace Pole on the northwest side of the church, to kneel or stand in silence for 43 seconds and contemplate that moment and pledge, “Never again!”
A Reading from Pope John XXIII Excerpt from “Pacem in Terris” (Peace on Earth), nos. 112, 113, April 11, 1963
Nuclear weapons must be banned… Everyone must sincerely cooperate… But this requires that the fundamental principles upon which peace is based in today’s world be replaced by an altogether different one, namely, the realization that true and lasting peace among nations cannot consist in the possession of an equal supply of armaments but only in mutual trust.
All: We pray in the spirit of the great prophet Isaiah: may we work to disarm nuclear weapons. We pray to remember our call from Christ to be makers of peace and to become the children of God.
Excerpt from Pope Francis’ Apostolic Address at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, November 24, 2019
With deep conviction, I wish once more to declare that the use of atomic energy for purposes of war is today, more than ever, a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home. The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral, as I already said two years ago. We will be judged on this. Future generations will rise to condemn our failure if we spoke of peace but did not act to bring it about among the peoples of the earth. How can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war?
All: We pray in the spirit of the great prophet Isaiah: may we work to disarm nuclear weapons. We pray to remember our call from Christ to be makers of peace and to become the children of God.
