Cardinal-Designate Dolan: President Obama Needs To Stop ‘Intruding Into Internal Life Of A Church’

Contraception Issue Just Won't Die Down, Much To White House's Chagrin

February 8, 2012 11:50 PM

Archbishop Timothy Dolan (file / credit: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — There was a sharp rebuke Wednesday from Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan that put even more pressure on the president to calm a widening election year uproar. The issue at hand was the president’s insistence that Catholic institutions provide free birth control to their employees.

Dolan came to the South Bronx to bless a library, but he had no blessings — just harsh words — for President Barack Obama, who wants Catholic institutions to pay for birth control, the morning after pill and other services for people who work for them.

“The federal government should do what it’s traditionally done since July 4, 1776, namely back out of intruding into the internal life of a church,” Dolan told CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.

The leader of the New York Archdiocese picked up support from Speaker John Boehner, who said either Obama reverses the policy or the House will.

“The federal government has drifted dangerously beyond its constitutional boundaries. This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country must not stand and will not stand,” Boehner said.

The attacks left the White House foundering. It wants to find some way to calm Catholic opposition, but will not back down on the policy, itself.

“I want to be clear today that the commitment to insuring the women have access to these important health care services remains very strong,” Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

And there are many others who are falling into line behind the president, including New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, reports CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez.

“The power to decide whether or not to use contraception lies with a woman, not her boss,” Sen. Gillibrand said.

“It’s time to tell those Republicans mind you’re own business,” Sen. Lautenberg said.

It has been suggested that one avenue of compromise could include granting leeway for a church-related organization not to cover birth control, but refer employees to another insurer that will provide the coverage.

Dolan would not comment on that proposal but said, “I would welcome the fact that officials of the government are saying we need to rethink that.”

The Catholic Church is still developing its strategy on how to deal with the issue. Dolan met Wednesday with members of the Catholic League and other organizations. Sources told Kramer a massive march on Washington is one of the possibilities.

The issue has also exploded on the campaign trail and in Washington. Carney made the unusual move of calling Mitt Romney by name, charging it is “ironic” for him to be against the policy, since as Massachusetts governor he presided over a similar one.

Please offer your thoughts in the comments section below …

Cardinal Designate Dolan: President Obama Needs To Stop Intruding Into Internal Life Of A Church

Old Cannonballs

What do you mean? Are you one of those clueless losers who thinks that anybody who doesn’t support that criminal in the White House is racist? Give me a frickin’ break!!!
Prognosticator Guy

The church has 2 nuclear options: (1) deny employer sponsored health care to all employees, paying the fine which is probably less than they spend anyway; or (2) hire and serve only Catholics. Either way, if they choose, the employees that Obama wants to help will be worse off. In fact, he has wanted to help since he took office, but we are all worse off.

Martin Gray

No, they have a third option; close down just like they did the Catholic Adoption Services which was the largest service in the country. 1 in 6 Americans is served health care by a Catholic Hospital. This is the ultimate nuclear option. This is why Obama is so bad for this country. Not only does his ideology divide us like nothing since the Civil War, he sows chaos wherever he goes.

Jaime B

Democrats are bent in destroying the Catholic Church. This is just another attack on it. The Church has existed for 2012 years. We have faced worst enemies than Obama in our long history. We are ready to do battle. We are with the Archbishops. As Hispanics even more.

Los Democrats quieren destruir la Iglesia Catolica. No lo podemos permitir!

Cka Redstate America

Democrats/progressives/liberals/leftists are focused on destroying Christianity, of which Catholics comprise only about 26 percent or so (Protestants comprise approximately 50 percent).————Would that the Catholic Church would see its Christ Jesus and the Cross, not their church, that’s really the target.

Rob B

The Church recognizes its brothers in Christ. This is not the time to point out differences but to find common ground and recognize a common enemy.

irish261

Amen Brother!

Cka Redstate America

I merely pointed out what I haven’t heard or read: that, ultimately, his is a Christian, not Catholic-only, issue.———-And, yessir, it is time to educate the world of that fact.———-And if you read this as divisive, I suggest you step back, take a breath and re-read it.———-It is time for all Christians to stand against Obama and his Marxist gaggle. We cannot not act.

Rob B

God bless!

The Catholics have been an issue here because the Bishops spoke with one voice. Their are many separate voices in the Christian churches – it will be hard for them to be heard.

Rosie

There are one billion Catholics, a Church that was instituted by Christ himself. This is an attack on all religions, violating the first amendment. The moral teachings of the Church has been handed down for over 2000 years, they rule on the teachings of Jesus Christ, through years of Apostolic teachings.

zanne

Thank you Rob B.

Don Marco

bien dicho
Titainiumman

Jaime i believe you mama is calling you,seems like you up past you bedtime and you missed your last bottle feeding
Martin Gray

Pax Cristi, brother. This is worth being in the streets to fight.

leslei

It is the freedom of religion…not medicine. What’s next…Obama knows no boundaries. He is awful.
Syte

Since when has the morning-after pill become a critical health care benefit more important than Tylenol or insulin?
Obama has gone mad.
See A Tale of Two Presidents: Timothy & Barak:
http://sytereitz.com/2012/02/a-tale-of-two-presidents-timothy-barak/
GUTZ22

Is there any more clear examples of dear leader Obozo intent here.He has been using the constitution & rule of law as so much personal toilet paper.This monster must be stopped ,in November.He wants HIS state to rule & become every mans solution from cradle to grave & to BE IN CHARGE .
TexJacque

Don’t we already pay for free birth control through our tax money going to planned parenthood? Do we need to pay for it twice? Anyone, of any age, can get free contraceptives from pills to abortions from Planned Parenthood already. I think this area is already covered, so why do we have to make Church employers provide the same services if it goes against their moral values.
Pete

Wow! Thought liberals at least pretended to believe in the 1st Amendment. First, Obamacare applies to all employers and so the receipt of federal funds has nothing to do with the issue and the Catholic church or any other church could not avoid the mandate even if it received no funds whatsoever. But as an aside, I assume the people making this claim understand that the feds give tax dollars to the Catholic church and other organizations because the churches already have effective programs for the needy in place and it is much more efficient and effective to do so. To now say “gotcha, you have to do whatever we say” is bizarre and, as noted, completely irrelevant to the issue.
None of the 28 states go as far as Obama does. Aside from breaking his promises he made in order to gain the support to pass Obamacare, the President and so many on the left worship at the altar of abortion and would rather see the destruction of countless vital services and the 1st amendment than tolerate any break from their orthodoxy.
nilsine antonsen

Pog mo thoin, Darth.
James

Because religious people are unreasonable and can’t converse intelligently, right? Oh wait, sorry, your comment is unintelligent and unreasonable… .oops.
MilwaukeeBob

And the church must stop interfering with matters of state.

Rob B

Show me where the constitution says that the church can not voice its opinion on matters of state.

Patrick Henry was an ordained minster – do you think he should have shut up?
Mark Jaws

Hey moron, MilBob. The state is interfering with the CHURCH. Friggin leftist swine.
El Swede

We must immediately begin spraying bacon grease on all mosques, drop live pigs on muslim gatherings, force them to eat pork meat and then wipe their arses with pages ripped from the queran.

Rene DesCartes

The ACLU, Freedom from Religion, Planned Parenthood and all other secular organizations must now offer a bible class to each of its customers and employees.
Rod Anders

I’ve been saying that for 40 years. Now what?

Hijinks55

You can see the anti-Catholic bigots here very plainly.

Sad that there is so little intelligence in these people. Catholics are not your enemies, even though you despise them.

What for? Why the hatred? Oh yeah, you are liberals who support Obama.
Mike

Archbishop Dolan is leading by example. All US bishops are rising to the occasion, as they should. Under Obama, the US government is indeed trying to rule over every aspect of our lives. Obama underestimates Dolan. Dolan will not back down. He has my support, 100%.
edw987

No Compromise! Obama must go! There is only one solution – Ron Paul!

Abner Hale

Who will never get the GOP nomination and will never be President. Give up already.

Bill

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.
President Obama’s order forgot about the U.S.Constitution
HM

No compromise, have to totally overturn Obamacare. Freedom of religion is attacked.
It is not about Catholics only, it is about freedom of religion.
Anne Marie

This is not just about abortafacts, contraception, and voluntary sterilization. It is about FREEDOM of RELIGION guaranteed to all AMERICANS under the US CONSTITUTION.
OBAMA wants everyone to follow his personal unconstitutional beliefs – my way or the highway.
OBAMA’s admnistration will fine $$$$$$ any organization that will not provide abortafacts, contraception, and voluntary sterilization to their employees. Some of those writing do not seem to know this. Obama is not giving anyone a choice.

People who do not like the beliefs of any particular faith are not forced to work for them.
We all must be concerned about losing our Constitutional rights.
Lastly chemical and mechanical forms of birth control HARM the health of women. – just read the warnings on the package labels.

nightsong

He “is not giving anyone a choice” that is what and how he thinks. We know differently. We have a choice, as he will soon know. His impeachment would be welcomed by many, and the election is not far off. I agree with you, it is about Freedom.

IntelectOne

If it were not for the Roman Catholic Church, you would still be in the Dark Ages.
Obviously, if you think the taxpayer should be forced to pay for ‘Elective Abortions’ and also demand that the Medical Staff take part in such a travesty, you are in the
‘Dark Ages’

no

Are you retarded? The CHURCH is the reason we HAD the dark ages. The church has held back mankind’s progress by centuries. They burned studies and labs of great scientists (ever heard of Archimedes?). They burned books. They repressed knowledge and exploration. They killed great scientific explorers trying to better mankind. For things as simple as suggesting that the EARTH revolves around the SUN instead of the other way around.

Thanks to the CHURCH, we’re probably about three hundred years BEHIND where we could have been.

Old Cannonballs

Thanks to the organized attacks on the Church by you liberal yahoos, society is in a tailspin that it will take centuries to pull out of. Perversion and baby-murdering are rights, decency is hate, and on and on.

Cka Redstate America

The attack on the Catholic Church is really an attack against Christianity and its adherents — Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox — as well as Jesus the Christ.

Allan

And jews as well. I as a Jew stand with Catholics on this issue.

HowieG

It’s quite obvious that you never took a history course on the subject of Western Civilization. Because, if you did, you would not be showing your absolute ignorance of the early middle ages. It was the Church that kept the breakdown of the old Roman Empire and the subsequent attempts to keep civilization from a total collapse from doing so. BTW the term “dark ages” did not refer to society ignorance during the time period, but to the lack of strong central governments, much as they were.
Finally, your hatred of religion is showing. You must be a liberal.
Rob B

Archimedes was born 300 years before Christ and Copernicus was educated at Catholic Universities and a Catholic. Despite his house arrest, Galileo was also a Catholic and the Church admitted its error. Mendel was a Catholic Monk credited with the first study of genetics. If you have a week, I will educate you on many of the other inventors, scientists, doctors, mathematicians and philanthropists that make up Catholic history.

The Catholic Church is the largest educational organization on the planet.

What tradition or religion do you follow and what are their accomplishments?

Andrew

Rob, you’re not fighting fair. Don’t you know it’s not fair to hit libtards with facts? That only confuses them!

Fight with histrionic polemics and made-up “facts” from Daily Kos, then you will have sunk to the level of the libtard…

IntelectOne

You have no clue what the true history is. It was the Catholic Church that provided the platform from which Western Civilization was born.
America is a Judeo-Christian Nation. Again, Western Civilization was born from the Catholic Church in Europe. The Catholic Church does not believe in ‘Unethical Science’, but very active in ‘Ethical Science’.

jbspry

Carney made the unusual move of calling Mitt Romney by name, charging it is “ironic” for him to be against the policy, since as Massachusetts governor he presided over a similar one.

THIS is why Romney should not be the Republican candidate.
Canuck

If the Catholic Church decides to begin closing key facilities such as inner city hospitals Obamacare will collapse, unable to provide services (Underfunded or otherwise) to those that supposedly were to benefit from this legislation….that is the Democrat plantation voting dependent class. There is not a long line up by other providers to lose money providing care for this lot and their entitlement mentality.

Rob B

This is the goal of the system – rip out the caretakers and replace them with government services. It does not matter if they make money as the government will simply print more.

More people will be forced onto the plantation and they will effectively control the vote throught the goodies that they hand out.

deegeejay

The Obamanation is on its way out. Buh bye . . .
not abortive

Give em HE double LL Donlan!
Dan

There are already about 20 states that already require churches to provide this converage. Many of those are RED RED republican states like Georgia, so…another case of the black man not being able to do anything right, even if it’s been done by republicans before….then don’t take fed money churches…

SEE

That is not true. I’m a Catholic who lives in Georgia and it does NOT require churches to offer birth control, sterilization, and “morning after” pills as part of their insurance. BTW, this bill MANDATES that churches provide this coverage with their insurance of risk a fine…regardless of whether they take “fed” money or not. No, not even Catholic schools, who take no federal money, are allowed a break from this constitutional over ride.

James

Oh come on, See, can’t you SEE that Dan and the liberals have an agenda to push? They have no time to worry about facts.

The truth here is that the White House screwed up royally, and they wish they could take it back. But just look what happened to Komen when they tried to take back their support of a pro-death organization… they were crucified. Same thing would happen to Obama if he backed off the demands of his radical liberal base.

So this should be interesting. Thanks, Obama, for putting a well-deserved nail in your own political coffin.
Titainiumman

Is there a book of lies that you liberals are sent from DNC in order to post on the internet?

Sullivan

Dan, this has nothing to do with hospitals taking federal money. The Obama mandate applies whether the institution receives federal funds or not. Your suggestion that the Catholic Church is opposed to this because Obama is black is just mind-boggling.

Kirk

Dolan got it all wrong as usual…The Catholic Church especially his, should stop meddling in politics. If the church has to accept money from the federal government for certain programs, it is by not means exempt from any lasws that govern charity. If the Cahtolic Church wants to run a clinic or anything else, do so within its own confines. If you are going to venture off your property into other areas, guess what, your ground is no longer a shrine. Get real Dolan, Obama is not meddling in your affairs, on the contrary, you just can;t help but grab some press time. Why not tell us how many pedafile priest you know of, and what you have done about it ??? Until you do, shut up and move on…….

KirkSayItAintSo

Kirk,

Surely, as an American you cannot believe what you wrote??!!??

“If you are going to venture off your property into other areas, guess what, your ground is no longer a shrine.”

You do know we have a Constitution in this country? You do know that the first amendment to that Constitution guarantees the right of religious freedom? You do know that right is not limited to one’s “shrine” or what one does on or off your own property?

Please — you may hate the Catholic Church all you wish, but at lest honor the Constitution which so many men and women have died to defend.
Chris

This is the “church meddling in politics”? RUBBISH. I didn’t know there was a “location” clause to the religious freedom part of the Constitution. Boy, you can really learn things from liberals. I didn’t know the separation of church and state, and the protection of religious freedom was null and void once you left the church parking lot. Good to know.

Vivian

Then when your wife gets raped, Brainy Chris, call Dolan or the Pope. With their millions in assets and global power, I am sure they will be willing to help you care for it and raise it. You and the rest of these religous zelots are morons….

Andrew

Name-calling and visceral anger…the last refuge of the liberal without intellect.

Thanks for proving that, Viv…
THE REALITY TSAR

Angry Lib Alert

What does this have to do with the discussion Viv?

Rob B

Kirk,

I will forgive your statements because it is apparent that you are uneducated and ignorant.

The Catholic Church invented hospitals and libraries and many more of our charitable institutions.

The government has gone too far in this.

John

Don’t forget institutionalized pedophilia!

Cka Redstate America

Ah, another God-hater.———–Your spiteful words indicate you lack much understanding, if at all, of our Constitution, but especially the First Amendment.———-Your lack of comprehension that this is Obama and his administration’s meddling in the affairs of the Catholic Church — and, really, all Christians, Protestant and Catholic and Orthodox — is appalling.———-And your hatred of the Messiah leads to you writing the rubbish you have.———-But, fortunately for you, your right to say whatever is protected by the Constitution.
Rosie

Kirk you are an angry person! This is the first amendment being violated! I don’t think you get it. As far as our Church, the people are not perfect, nor is any family perfect. Our acts of charity are far greater than you can imagine. How dare you speak for one billion Catholics. Get a life!

Babs

Im sorry you are so misinformed Also since when is birth control and abortion “Health Care”? I hardly call abortion health care. Whos health is it for? Pregnancy is NOT an illness and its definatly NOT health care for the child.

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Cardinal-Designate Dolan: President Obama Needs To Stop ‘Intruding Into Internal Life Of A Church’

Contraception Issue Just Won't Die Down, Much To White House's Chagrin

February 8, 2012 11:50 PM

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