Archbishop Aymond Hopes White House Mandate Talks Yield Results
By David Kerr
Vatican City, Feb 01, 2012 - (EWTN News).- Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans hopes that continued discussions between the Catholic Church and the White House can break the current deadlock over the contraception mandate.
“I do not think this a time when you just declare war or pick up your marbles and go home. We have to sit at the table and come up with some options, conversations and dialogue,” he told EWTN News on Jan. 27.
“Hopefully through that we can come to some better understanding, and the administration of our government can come to some better understanding. But we must engage in this and be very careful we do so with thought, prayer and obviously with respect.”
The Department of Health and Human Services announced Jan. 20 that it had finalized rules for “preventive services” that must be covered free of charge by health insurance companies. The list of required services includes sterilization and contraception, including abortifacient drugs.
Archbishop Aymond says that ultimately the Catholic Church cannot and will not compromise on such matters.
“I think it’s very important that if we are to follow our conscience and the teachings of the Church we cannot roll over and play dead,” he said.
This past Sunday, all the parishes in the New Orleans archdiocese heard a letter read from Archbishop Aymond that explained the Church’s position.
“We are as the prophets of old in the Old Testament, or as Jesus Christ himself, and all those people over our 2,000 year tradition that have stood for, and have been very vocal about, the truth.
“I think we must do that too.”
Archbishop Aymond spoke to EWTN News during a Jan. 22 – Feb. 1 “ad limina visit to Rome, where he and 21 other bishops from several southern U.S. states briefed the Pope and various Vatican departments on the state of the Church in their region.
He said that the issue of religious freedom in the United States was “brought up either directly or indirectly in almost every one of our meetings.”
The general consensus was that the present situation is “very tragic and very disappointing,” especially because the idea “that someone from outside can tell us what is moral and what is not and how we should form our conscience” is alien to the traditions of the United States.
The bishops also made sure they raised the issue at a Jan. 23 meeting with staff from the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.
“I think what is very interesting is that in the United States we make many exceptions and alterations for many religious groups. And so I find this very confusing why they’ve come out with such strength in this circumstance,” he said.
Ultimately, Archbishop Aymond feels that Catholics have to become better at explaining what the Church teaches when talking to others.
“How do we present these things not just as ‘the teachings of the Church?’” was the question one bishop asked Pope Benedict in their Jan. 27 meeting.
Archbishop Aymond thinks that the answer lies with Catholics “knowing our faith and knowing it well.” There also has to be a “respectfulness and a courtesy” when entering into conversation with other people, he said.
“I think one of the characteristics of people in general is that if other people don’t agree with us we can easily write them off and just say, ‘you’re different.’”
By “remaining in conversation” and “sharing our faith,” however, Catholics have “a real opportunity for evangelization.”
In the short term, Archbishop Aymond would like all American Catholics to pray and be “in solidarity” with each other as the Church seeks to address the issue of the contraception mandate with the Obama administration.
We cannot sit back and just allow people to take our liberty away from us, he said.
Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans