Outpouring helps convince Obama to change contraception policy

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Updated: March 13, 2012 10:32AM

JOLIET — Bishop Daniel Conlon’s letter read at Masses last weekend generated dozens of emails, phone calls and letters to the office of the Joliet Diocese, offering a sample of the outpouring that led to a change in White House policy by the end of the week.

President Barack Obama on Friday announced that he would no longer require Catholic hospitals and schools to pay for free birth control for employees through their health insurance, a proposal that clashed with church teachings on contraception. But the insurance company would be required to provide the coverage at no cost to the employer.

It was not clear at all whether the matter was settled.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops responded with a statement saying it would “reserve judgment on the details until we have seen them.”

The response in the Joliet Diocese showed Catholics are not sitting on the sidelines on the issue, said Doug Delaney, executive assistant to Conlon.

He said the response to Conlon’s letter, read at Masses on Feb. 4 and 5, was as big as any he has seen on an issue raised by the diocese.

“It wasn’t all positive,” Delaney said.

Some people criticized the church for speaking out on birth control, Delaney said. But, he noted, “We tried to make it clear that it wasn’t all about birth control.”

Conlon in the letter acknowledged that there is wide dissent among Catholics on the church’s teachings against artificial contraception. He and other bishops said the health insurance mandate was an issue of religious freedom, a topic that caught fire beyond Catholic Masses on Sunday and became a talking point among Republicans looking to replace Obama in the presidential election in November.

While the diocese received some negative comments about Conlon’s letter, Delaney said, “The response was overwhelmingly positive. People said, ‘Thank you. We’ve reached a point where we have to say something and do something.’”

Obama acknowledged that the outcry forced quicker action than the original one-year deadline that the administration had set to work things out with the Catholic Church.

“After the many genuine concerns that have been raised over the last few weeks, as well as frankly the more cynical desire on the part of some to make this into a political football, it became clear that spending months hammering out a solution was not going to be an option. That we had to move faster,” the president said.

Obama said he believed the revised policy protected both the church’s rights while providing women with access to contraception, which the administration sees as a health issue.

“Religious liberty will be protected and a law that requires free preventative care will not discriminate against women,” Obama said.

The response from the Catholic bishops indicated they were not so sure.

“Today’s decision to revise how individuals obtain services that are morally objectionable to religious entities and people of faith is a step in the right direction,” Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in his statement.

Dolan did not specify what concerns the bishops might still have.

Delaney was not speaking for the bishops. But his response to the new Obama policy suggested why bishops did not immediately embrace the idea that the insurer, not the Catholic-affiliated employer who provides the insurance, would pay for birth control coverage.

“We pay for the insurance,” Delaney said. “It’s the same thing. It’s just a different way of saying the same thing.”

Still, the Catholic bishops are not the only ones speaking out on the matter. Leaders of women’s groups have spoken in favor of better access to contraception.

And, Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, a trade group representing hospitals that had fought against the birth control requirement, appeared to be satisfied with the revised policy, issuing a statement that said, “The framework developed has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.