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Local Catholic officials upset over healthcare requirement

LAWTON, Okla. – The Catholic Church is upset with the Obama administration over a new requirement in the healthcare program.  Workplace health plans must cover all forms of contraception starting next year.  Worship groups are exempt, but religions that provide services to all faiths, such as hospitals, would have to comply. 

Birth control measures would include the morning after pill, which some religious groups regard as an abortion drug.  That decision has now caused an uproar in the Catholic Church.

Father Joseph Ross of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Lawton, and the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Archbishop Paul Coakley, both say they believe the idea is ridiculous and are not quite sure why President Obama would be forcing the regulation upon the church.

Birth control pills, sterilization, and the morning after pill are all opposed by devout Catholics, but the President's healthcare plan would force the church to include insurance coverage for them.

Ross says he understands the need for reform, but disagrees with the mandate when it comes to churches.

"The surprise that there isn't a better combination worked out, where the religious liberties of Catholics can be respected, at the same time the goals of the healthcare plan can be achieved," said Ross.

Coakley recently sent out a letter to Catholic churches across the state, saying "We cannot, we will not, comply with this unjust law."  He calls it a religious liberty issue and a violation of the first amendment.

"The federal government is asking, is really forcing the Catholic Church to do something that fundamentally violates its core principles and teachings," said Coakley.

"This is the kind of intrusion of the federal government into the life of the church that is violation of our rights of…religious liberty," said Ross.

And while both Catholic leaders wish the ruling would cease all together, they know it will be a tough battle in the coming months.

"I'm concerned because it doesn't seem more steps are planned for discussing this, but I hope that they do take place," said Ross.

"I think the whole mandate ought to be rescinded.  I think I'm naïve enough to expect that to happen, but I think the religious exemption of that that is supposedly a part of this mandate needs to be broadened, greatly," said Coakley.

Coakley also says President Obama is making it very difficult for Catholics to further support him, especially with the upcoming election.  But he says the election is not their primary concern.  The healthcare reform requirements will not go into effect until August 2013.