Joliet Diocese joins birth control challenge
fROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS May 21, 2012 4:58PM
Updated: July 2, 2012 8:46AM
JOLIET — The Catholic Diocese of Joliet joined other dioceses Monday in a dozen lawsuits that challenge the Obama administration mandate that most employers provide birth control coverage in health insurance plans.
Bishops have contended that the mandate puts church organizations in a position of funding contraceptive practices that violate Catholic teaching.
“The situation is a clear violation of the separation of church and state and an attack against the religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution,” Bishop Daniel Conlon said in a statement issued by the Joliet diocese.
The dioceses of Joliet and Springfield filed their lawsuits in federal court in Chicago. Other lawsuits were filed around the country.
Houses of worship are exempt from the mandate but religiously affiliated charities are not.
A proposal from President Obama that offered to allow insurers to pay for birth control instead of religious groups has not satisfied Catholic bishops.
