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WUERL-ROSEMASS Mar-25-2009 (620 words) With photo. xxxn
Archbishop Wuerl urges support for conscience rights in health care
By Maureen Boyle
Catholic News Service
BETHESDA, Md. (CNS) --If a federal regulation protecting the conscience rights of health care providers is revoked, Catholic doctors, nurses and others may be required to participate in abortion or other procedures that violate their moral or religious principles, warned Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl.
"This strikes at the very heart of our freedom. There has always been freedom of conscience so that no one is forced to do a procedure they find morally reprehensible," said Archbishop Wuerl, speaking March 22 to more than 250 members and guests of the John Carroll Society during a luncheon that followed the 18th annual Rose Mass.
In his remarks, the archbishop strongly urged Catholics to "make their voices heard" by contacting their legislators, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is inviting public comment until April 9 on the proposal to rescind the conscience protection rule.
The December 2008 federal rule implements and enforces three federal laws that safeguard the conscience rights of health care providers. The regulation is one part of the range of legal protections for doctors, nurses and others, especially those at risk of being discriminated against because of their moral or religious objection to abortion.
"Conscience does count. We do have a voice," the archbishop said. "It is so important to carry on in our work in true freedom, so that in the future we can say we will continue to carry out our ministry in true freedom in all that it means to be American citizens."
The Rose Mass, which is sponsored yearly by the John Carroll Society, takes place on the fourth Sunday of Lent at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda. The Mass invokes God's blessings on the medical, dental, nursing and allied health care workers, as well as hospital chaplains and the many health care institutions in the archdiocese.
"We have just celebrated doctors who all their lives have had the freedom to exercise medical skills according to their minds, hearts and souls and what they know to be right," Archbishop Wuerl said. "All of that is in grave danger."
Earlier in his talk, Archbishop Wuerl cited another example of a recent attack on religious freedom -- Connecticut legislation that would have removed the authority of the bishop and pastor from control over finances at individual Catholic parishes in that state.
The Connecticut bill was killed for the 2009 legislative session in large part because of public outcry from the state's Catholics.
Archbishop Wuerl was the main celebrant for the Rose Mass. The concelebrants were Cardinal William W. Baum, retired archbishop of Washington; Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services; Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington, Va., who served as the homilist; Washington Auxiliary Bishops Martin D. Holley and Barry C. Knestout; Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi, pastor of Little Flower Parish and chaplain of the John Carroll Society; and several other archdiocesan priests.
In his homily, Bishop Loverde said the Rose Mass offers health care providers "a grace-filled opportunity to be renewed in mind and heart."
He described health care workers as living images of "God's mercy revealed to countless women, men and children who are ill and their families, especially the poorest among us."
The bishop also praised the efforts of the Washington Archdiocesan Health Care Network, a program made up of nearly 300 volunteer health care workers who provide about $4 million annually in free health and dental services to the area's needy and uninsured. He also thanked priests, men and women religious, and laity involved in hospital ministry.
"Your generous love is a reflection of the merciful love of God," Bishop Loverde said.
END
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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