The Mandate against Catholic still stands . . .

Yesterday, Paul Ryan challenged the vice president on the administration's mandate against religious freedoms in the United States. Biden, who claims to be Catholic, made a "that is a fact" statement about the HHS mandate during the debate. . . and the American Bishops stepped into the fray and refuted his public but erroneous proclamation in front of the country.

Response from the bishops:

This is not a fact. The HHS mandate contains a narrow, four-part exemption for certain “religious employers.“ That exemption was made final in February and does not extend to ”Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital,” or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served.

 HHS has proposed an additional “accommodation” for religious organizations like these, which HHS itself describes as “non-exempt.“ That proposal does not even potentially relieve these organizations from the obligation ”to pay for contraception“ and ”to be a vehicle to get contraception.” They will have to serve as a vehicle, because they will still be forced to provide their employees with health coverage, and that coverage will still have to include sterilization, contraception, and abortifacients. They will have to pay for these things, because the premiums that the organizations (and their employees) are required to pay will still be applied, along with other funds, to cover the cost of these drugs and surgeries.

 USCCB continues to urge HHS, in the strongest possible terms, actually to eliminate the various infringements on religious freedom imposed by the mandate.