5 minute read
Little Sisters Have Big Win
Little Sisters Have Big Win
8 in Supreme Court Decision
Life, Marriage & Family WASHINGTON D.C., July 8, 2020 (CNA) - The Little Sisters of the Poor had a vicIn a 7-2 decision, the Court’s majority sided with the sisters in the latest round of lawsuits against them cost-free coverage for contraceptives, sterilizations, and “emergency birth control” in employee health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Although the Obama administration granted an “accommodation” to the Little Sisters and other objecting religious non-profits, the sisters sued the government in 2013 saying the process still required them to essentially give a “permission slip” for contraceptive coverage to be delivered through their health plans. In 2016, a divided Supreme Court sent the case Peter Martin Director of Faith Formation and Life, Marriage & Family pmartin@dowr.org tory at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, over the mandate, this time brought by the states back to the lower courts and instructed both the nine years into the religious order’s bouts of litigation of Pennsylvania and California, who argued that the administration and the non-profits to reach a comproover the Obama-era “contraception mandate” which exemption crafted by the Trump administration for mise where cost-free contraceptive coverage could obliged employers to provide for contraceptive coverorganizations with religious or moral objections to still be offered to employees while respecting the age for employees through their health care plans. the mandate shifted the cost of providing contramoral objections of religious groups.
“For over 150 years, the Little Sisters have ceptive coverage to the states and was procedurally In 2017, the Trump administration granted a reliengaged in faithful service and sacrifice, motivated flawed. gious and moral exemption to the mandate for the sisby a religious calling to surrender all for the sake of “We hold today that the Departments had the ters and other objecting groups, but then the states of their brother,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas for the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as Pennsylvania and California filed lawsuits saying that majority. the contemporaneously issued moral exemption,” the the burden of providing coverage was being shifted
“But for the past seven years, they—like many majority found. “We further hold that the rules proonto the states and claiming that the administration other religious objectors who have participated in mulgating these exemptions are free from procedural violated the Administrative Procedure Act in setting the litigation and rulemakings leading up to today’s defects.” up the exemption. decision— have had to fight for the ability to continue The near decade-long court battle of the Little The Supreme Court took up their case against the in their noble work without violating their sincerely Sisters of the Poor dates back to 2011, when the states in January, hearing arguments by phone in April held religious beliefs.” Obama administration required employers to provide following the coronavirus pandemic.
By KEVIN JONES
DENVER, July 29, 2020 (CNA) - The Catholic apostolate Courage has published online the latest edition of its chaplain’s handbook to better help clergy and others ministering to people with same-sex attractions and their families.
“Since we believe that the handbook can be helpful to many people involved in ministry, not only those who are formally serving as Courage or EnCourage chaplains, we wanted to make it as accessible as possible,” Father Phillip Bochanski told CNA July 28.
The Courage apostolate aims to help people with same-sex attractions practice their Catholic faith and live according to Church teaching. It was founded in New York by Father John F. Harvey, OSFS in 1980 at the request of then-Archbishop of New York Cardinal Terence Cooke. This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the first Courage meeting, held Sept. 26, 1980.
The apostolate’s goals are chastity, prayer and dedication, fellowship, support, and good example.
A partner organization, EnCourage, was launched in 1985. It aims to provide spiritual support for parents, spouses, and other relatives of people who have same-sex attractions or identify as LGBT. Its goals similarly emphasize prayer and dedication, but also formation, charity, unity and witness.
The 40th anniversary edition of the Courage and EnCourage chaplain’s handbook is now publicly available at the Courage website, couragerc.org. Previously, the handbook was only distributed within the apostolate.
Bochanski has served at Courage International since 2015, and as executive director since 2017. For him, the 40th anniversary year of Courage is a time to be “mindful of the rich legacy we received from our founding members.”
Courage founder Father Harvey had invited the first members to compose the Courage goals themselves.
“The language and priority of the goals comes directly from the needs and desires of our founding generation,” said Bochanski. “Revising and expanding the handbook, and structuring it on a discussion of the goals, seemed the perfect way to celebrate our legacy and to hand it on to the next generation of Courage and EnCourage members.”
The handbook’s latest edition is an opportunity “to present the insights we have received over the past four decades, both from the rich development of the Church’s pastoral teaching, and from the shared experience of our members.”
It is the first edition to have an entire section dedicated to the EnCourage apostolate. Despite the similar structures of Courage and EnCourage meetings, Bochanski said, their members have different experiences, questions and needs.
The handbook has a Jubilee prayer for the Courage and EnCourage apostolates. It discusses topics like establishing a Courage chapter, publicizing local chapters, guidelines for the use of personal testimonies, questions of sexual identity and gender identity discordance, and collaboration with other groups.
The handbook includes Catholic teaching on same-sex attractions and sexual morality: excerpts from the Catechism on the Catholic Church; documents from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2006 document Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care. The U.S. bishops’ document is included in the print edition of the handbook, but not in the internet version due to reasons of copyright.
Bochanski said making the chaplain’s handbook public would help respond to false understandings of the work of the Courage apostolate.
He said “there are more than a few people in the Church and in the wider society who have misunderstandings, or have been told deliberate mischaracterizations, of our approach to ministry.”
“Some individuals and groups opposed to the Church’s teaching use such mischaracterizations in an attempt to discredit our apostolate or marginalize it,” he continued. “I am hopeful that, by posting the Handbook online, we will have a greater opportunity to speak for ourselves to anyone interested in understanding our approach, and in doing so finally put these misunderstandings to rest.”
The latest handbook edition was drafted with comment from Courage staff, members and chaplains of Courage and EnCourage, the apostolate’s board of directors, bishops on its episcopal board, and diocesan staff responsible for granting church approval and imprimaturs.
Bochanski characterized the handbook as “the work of many hands, minds and hearts.”
