Utah’s Catholic Bishop John Wester on Friday welcomed President Barack Obama’s proposed compromise that would allow church-affiliated hospitals, schools and charities to refuse to cover contraception.
In those cases, insurance companies then would have to provide the free service.
The change came in response to strident opposition from Catholic bishops, who saw the original mandate on birth control as violating religious liberty.
"I’m encouraged by the president’s initial statement today," Wester said in a phone interview Friday. "It’s a good sign that there’s movement on the issue."
But the bishop, leader of Utah’s 300,000 Catholics, said he still is "waiting to see how it plays out."
"It remains to be seen," he added, "what actually gets etched in stone."
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the move "a first step in the right direction," but reserved judgment.
"We hope to work with the administration," Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan said in a statement, "to guarantee that Americans’ consciences and our religious freedom are not harmed by these regulations."
Earlier this week, Wester joined the chorus of national voices condemning the administration’s original plan.
It reveals an "utter disregard ... for long-established protections for religious freedom," Wester wrote in this week’s Intermountain Catholic. "The idea that people should be free from government coercion that contradicts their conscience or beliefs is well established."
Many Catholic bishops have written letters to their flocks outlining reasons for opposing birth control. The church teaching is, essentially, that all sex acts should be open to the possibility of conception.
Wester distributed a similar statement throughout the Salt Lake City diocese that explains "my concerns in greater detail."
Due to Obama’s announcement Friday, Wester now plans to add a statement responding to the administration’s latest overture.
Two years ago, Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, discussed religious freedom at Brigham Young University in a show of solidarity with the LDS Church and other faiths. "The speech," wrote Wester, "resonated across religions."
Indeed, several other faiths have stepped up to support the bishops’ opposition to a federal mandate.
Leaders from the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, National Association of Evangelicals, Southern Baptists, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and others condemned the rule "as an assault on religious liberty," according to a release from the Institute on Religion & Democracy.
Megachurch pastor Rick Warren declared, according to the release,"I’d go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands us to do."
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