More on the Church and the Modern World

Robert Araujo has raised concerns in several recent posts (see here and here) about efforts to force Catholic institutions to conform to norms that threaten their religious beliefs and faith.  Although I am still not convinced that the decision of the city of Philadelphia in the Boy Scout case is a step toward totalitarianism, there is certainly pressure on Catholic insitutions to conform to behaviors antithetical to the faith in a variety of ways.

Sister Margaret John Kelly, D.C., director of the St. John's University Vincentian Center for Church and Society, had this to say about a bill just approved by the Wisconsin state senate that, with no opt out ofr religious beliefs, would require hospitals to inform rape survivors that emergency contraception is highly effective at preventing pregnancy and to dispense the drug if requested:

"It seems to me that we are being forced into that "Mennonite Future" that Bryon Hehir cautioned us about. The choice seems to be homogenization or marginalization  because the pressures against Catholic integrity are mounting at a time when the Church is most vulnerable and financially challenged in many areas.  However, neither choice  is acceptable if we are to remain faithful to both the tradition and the vision of  our social service agencies and our hospitals. Perhaps this is a Thomas More era  calling  for a time-out for broad,  serious reflection on Catholic identity. We may also need to do a cost-benefit study of the Church as sponsor of  service institutions, a model which served well the Church of the 19th and 20th centuries. It may also be the time to go back and study again Dulles' models of the Church and Burghardt's application of those models to health care.  I suspect we will find  in them affirmation , inspiration and even direction."