Catholic Charities has second thoughts

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 13, 2012

Catholic Charities USA has revised its official public response to the Obama administration’s “compromise” contraceptive mandate. Originally readers will recall, the statement from Father Larry Snyder was unambiguously supportive of the White House plan. As revised, the statement is now ambiguous. That is—if I may use a currently popular phrase—a first step in the right direction.

Here are the key passage of the old and new statements, with emphasis added to highlight the contrast:

Old statement (no longer accessible):

This compromise enables Catholic Charities USA to not only continue to provide access to quality healthcare to its 70,000 employees and families across the country of many different faiths and backgrounds, but also guarantees the continued delivery of vital services to the more than 10 million people living in need across the country.

New statement:

We are hopeful that this is a step in the right direction and are committed to continuing our work to ensure that our religious institutions will continue to be granted the freedom to remain faithful to our beliefs, while also being committed to providing access to quality healthcare for our 70,000 employees and their families across the country.