Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Ann Rodgers has a nice piece in the PG from last week about religious leaders in the Catholic Church forming a committee to defend the religious liberties of INSTITUTIONS. Not people. Not their members. Not specific priest.

They claim:

“While recognizing religious freedom as an individual right, we see that religious freedom belongs also to churches and religious institutions comprised of citizens who are believers and who seek, not to create a theocracy, but rather to be leaven and light to their culture,” said Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the bishops’ new Committee on Religious Liberty.

“We look for a robust understanding of religious liberty extended to all faiths, an understanding that envisions not only the importance of being able to worship freely but also to bring into the public square truths and values that flow from faith and reason, expressed in works of education, health care, social services and charity.”

They actually compare a Mennonite person being exempted from military duty based on religious beliefs to a federally funded Catholic Charities division being exempted from anti-discrimination laws, healthcare laws and health insurance regulations.

Cause it is the same thing when a person exercises their civil rights as when the Church does. Wait …

I think we are actually getting to the point where the Catholic Church wants to reserve “personhood” for the fetus and the Church. Denying health insurance, loving homes to children and access to birth control helps eliminate all those pesky in-betweens from birth until they become a Bishop.

Give me a break. Don’t take the federal funds, Bishop. Rely on that old standby Catholic guilt to fund Catholic schools that pay next to nothing to teachers, lose students to public schools and so forth.  Perhaps the fish fry ladies will do some baking so you can have your cake and eat it, too.