WASHINGTON—The U.S. bishops have established a new Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty to address growing concerns over the erosion of freedom of religion in America.
Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, president of the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), established the ad hoc committee after consulting with the USCCB Administrative Committee during the Committee’s September 13-14 meeting in Washington. The Administrative Committee meets three times a year and conducts the work of the bishops’ conference between plenary sessions. He announced formation of the subcommittee in a September 29 letter to the U.S. bishops.
Archbishop Dolan also named Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, to chair the new committee. Support for the subcommittee work will include adding two full-time staff at the USCCB, a lawyer expert in the area of religious freedom law, and a lobbyist who will handle both religious liberty and marriage issues.
Bishop Lori said he welcomed “the opportunity to work with fellow bishops and men and women of expertise in constitutional law so as to defend and promote the God-given gift of religious liberty recognized and guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States.”
“This ad hoc committee aims to address the increasing threats to religious liberty in our society so that the church’s mission may advance unimpeded and the rights of believers of any religious persuasion or none may be respected,” he added.
In a letter to bishops to announce the subcommittee, Archbishop Dolan said religious freedom “in its many and varied applications for Christians and people of faith, is now increasingly and in unprecedented ways under assault in America.”
“This is most particularly so in an increasing number of federal government programs or policies that would infringe upon the right of conscience of people of faith or otherwise harm the foundational principle of religious liberty,” he said. “As shepherds of over 70 million U.S. citizens we share a common and compelling responsibility to proclaim the truth of religious freedom for all, and so to protect our people from this assault which now appears to grow at an ever accelerating pace in ways most of us could never have imagined.”
Archbishop Dolan said the committee will work closely with national organizations, charities, ecumenical and interreligious partners and scholars “to form a united and forceful front in defense of religious freedom in our nation,” and its work will begin immediately.
He added that “the establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee is one element of what I expect to be a new moment in the history of our Conference. Never before have we faced this kind of challenge to our ability to engage in the public square as people of faith and as a service provider. If we do not act now, the consequence will be grave.”
Dominican Father Peter Batts, professor of theology at Providence College, said that “it seems to be an appropriate response on the part of the American bishops in light of the challenging situations mentioned by Archbishop Dolan.”
Father Batts added that the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Religious Liberty makes it clear that just as the Catholic Church commits itself to the inherent right of religious liberty for all people, governments must also not interfere with the religious freedom of the church.
“In the American context, separation of church and state, if it is to be interpreted in a manner consistent with what seems to have been the mind of the Founding Fathers, must not be seen as hostile or detrimental to the free practice of religion,” Father Batts emphasized. “A number of developments in recent times in our country suggest that a negative interpretation of our historic understanding of separation is becoming more influential and threatens to become an integral aspect of public policy in a number of areas. I think that these concerns have prompted the American bishops to take this unprecedented action.”
Father Batts said those developments include government proposals to compel religious institutions to provide their employees with insurance coverage for contraception, sterilization, and the full range of reproductive services even though contrary to the beliefs of the religious institution; and a lack of clarity about the exemption of Catholic clergy from performing same-sex marriages which the church rejects as incompatible with its teaching on the sacrament of matrimony.
Archbishop Dolan said that, although he and his predecessor as USCCB President, Cardinal Francis George, had sent private letters to President Obama on religious liberty in the context of redefining marriage, none of those letters received a response.
“I have offered to meet with the President to discuss these concerns and to impress upon him the dire nature of these actions by government,” Archbishop Dolan said.
Providence attorney Scott Spear said that the establishment of the ad hoc committee is “certainly a welcomed step for Christians.”
“Many, but not all law makers in R.I. view religious liberty as merely the freedom to embrace moral beliefs in the home or within the four walls of the church,” he stated.
“Even so, if those beliefs conflict with the advancing liberal secular state they must be suppressed, ridiculed or even outlawed. We live in dangerous times. It will take great effort to push back the growing tide of hostility and animosity toward religious liberty.”
Brian J. Lowney, assistant editor, contributed to this article.
