NEW YORK (RNS) In the wake of President Obama's controversial decision to mandate that religious groups pay for contraceptives for their employees, much of the coverage focused on how the president had disappointed progressive allies by giving religious groups an extra year to comply.
But the decision also had New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, feeling personally betrayed.
"I have to say, there's a sense of personal disappointment," Dolan said Tuesday (Jan. 24) after he gave a lecture on "Law and the Gospel of Life" at Fordham Law School.
Last November, amid deepening tensions between the bishops and the administration over the pending contraception mandate and other issues, Obama invited Dolan to the Oval Office, where the two men shared what Dolan called a productive and "extraordinarily friendly" meeting.
"The president seemed very earnest, he said he considered the protection of conscience sacred, that he didn't want anything his administration would do to impede the work of the church that he claimed he held in high regard," Dolan recalled on Tuesday. "So I did leave a little buoyant."
That optimism ended last Friday, however, when Obama phoned Dolan to tell him that he was not expanding the conscience exemption to include religious institutions -- such as Catholic hospitals, universities and social service agencies. In a bid to appease critics like Dolan, the White House gave church organizations an extra year to find a way to comply with the mandate that all health insurance plans provide free contraceptive coverage.
"I had to share with him that I was terribly let down, disappointed and disturbed, and it seemed the news he had given me was difficult to square with the confidence I had felt in November," Dolan said.
Dolan indicated that his preference is to keep the lines of communication with the administration open. But Dolan is already facing pressure from other bishops to take a more confrontational stance toward the White House.
Dolan was scheduled to leave Wednesday for a nine-day spiritual pilgrimage to Israel; after a brief return to New York, he will head to Rome where he will be formally elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.
bd90 | Jan 26, 2012 | 2:13pm
How do you know if a politician is lying? He is talking . . . yes it is an old one but o so true with BHO.
flylow95 | Jan 26, 2012 | 2:37pm
I’m sooooo disappointed to hear any catholic feels betrayed by Obama because Obama’s record of lies and evil views and accomplishments are more widely publicised than Satan’s. I wish the article read, What else did you expect from the right hand man of the devil.
Inviting the opposition to The White House is a #1 trick of a President. It plays on your PRIDE in hopes to seduce you to the president’s agenda.
raymondjsuda | Jan 26, 2012 | 4:55pm
To begin, I agree with the previous comments. Turning the other cheek is a principle that I believe true. That doesn’t mean that we must all learn to be like Linda Blair. The time has come to take a stand and profess to your flock what we as Catholics believe. If you don’t, someday you will be looked on as Boenhoffer was in Germany. He was right about identyfying evil but couldn’t rally the people to fight the evil off. Strong language is needed to teach your flock about the secular leadership that is trying to change our Judeo/Christian culture forever. Life is a transformative issue, if we can’t make our point on this black and white issue, how, can you ever expect to traverse the difficult issues of faith.
scavokwj | Jan 26, 2012 | 5:18pm
Obama…is…Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello! Is it not true?? If you haven’t seen the play, go see it.
Wikipedia (sorry!) puts it this way:
Iago is “a villain. He hides his real nature under the veil of ‘honesty’...it is Iago who manipulates all other characters at will, controlling their movements and trapping them in an intricate net of lies. He achieves this by getting close to all characters and playing on their weaknesses while they refer to him as ‘honest’ Iago, thus furthering his control over the characters.”
Poor Archbishop Dolan is smarting because he, too, was tricked!
HCSKnight | Jan 26, 2012 | 5:43pm
Really, the Bishop feels betrayed.
Seriously, Bishop Dolan is either an idiot or a liar.
johnadamsxii | Jan 26, 2012 | 9:07pm
These government actions, despite being immoral, will result in driving the churches out of social services. The problem with that is the churches provide most of the social services in this country. How many hospitals in your town have Baptist or Saint in the name? Who in your town is running the homeless shelter? Prison ministries and at least in the past, adoption services.
mparks | Jan 27, 2012 | 2:17pm
hahahahahahahahahaha! That is such a funny story. What rubes our bishops must be! How gullible and naive! They can be conned by the flimsiest of hucksters that everyone else is on to, it appears!
c505ber | Jan 30, 2012 | 9:32am
Well Cardinal Dolan this is what we the “church” said to you when the USCCCB chose to lie down with the government dogs and support their proposal for universal healthcare. We screamed and pleaded for you to not start down that slippery slope. Now you are outraged when the government doesn’t believe in the same things we Catholics do? Well Happy Birthday. When have they ever. You were warned this would happen and now it has.
When you look to government to act as God then you will be required to bow at their alter. Thanks for nothing.
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