Thank you, Nancy Pelosi.
Asked about the lawsuits filed against the Department of Health and Human Services in May in response to the coercive contraception, sterilization, and abortion mandate, the former speaker of the House, who we know is a self-described “ardent, practicing Catholic,” shut down a line of inquiry at her weekly press conference with: “You know what? I do my religion on Sunday in church and I try to go other days of the week. I don’t do it at this press conference.”
That is exactly the view behind the redefinition of religious liberty in America. It’s not granted by the Creator, a good for man and state, to be protected and encouraged, but rather it’s not fit for the public square except when convenient as a means to government ends.
Asked specifically about the lawsuits, Pelosi said: “Well I don’t think that is the entire Catholic Church. Those people have a right to sue, but I don’t think they’re speaking for the Catholic Church, and there are people in the Catholic Church, including some of the bishops, who have suggested that some of this may be premature.”
It’s hard to argue that the likes of Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the Catholic University of America aren’t representative of the Church here. The bishop of every diocese in the United States is on the record as alarmed by the HHS mandate and its unprecedented erosion of religious liberty. The Obama administration’s overreach in redefining religious liberty in America (an effort not confined to this particular mandate), has actually been a uniting force for Catholics.