I have mentioned this here before, but the mischaracterization persists.
This morning on Meet the Press, Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen, ranking member of the House Budget Committee said that Catholic Charities is fine with the HHS mandate. He said that the White House “accommodation” (which is not, by the way reflected in the final rule that appears in the Federal Register, filed after the president’s remarks a week ago Friday) “is a fair compromise, that it accomplishes the goal of both women’s health as well as religious freedom.”
This is what Catholic Charities USA has to say on its website:
In response to a great number of mischaracterizations in the media, Catholic Charities USA wants to make two things very clear:
1. We have not endorsed the accommodation to the HHS mandate that was announced by the Administration last Friday.
2. We unequivocally share the goal of the US Catholic bishops to uphold religious liberty and will continue to work with the USCCB towards that goal.
Any representation to the contrary is false.
Jack Lew, Jay Carney, and now Chris Van Hollen have repeated the falsehood. Sometimes flooding the media zone with falsehoods works. Do not let it — educating, pushing back against unnecessary confusion, is the least we can do. People have certainly done more on behalf of protecting religious liberty in our history.