01-02-2012 - Traces, n. 2 inside america our liberty and  the Hearts of All In the uproar among Catholics and others over the government healthcare mandate to cover “services” to which the Church is opposed, the universal desires of all offer hope for appeal. by lorenzo albacete A ruling by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of the Administration of President Barack Obama will force nearly all private health plans to include coverage for all FDA-approved prescription contraceptive drugs and devices, as well as surgical sterilizations. Listed as “preventive services for women,” all health plans will have to cover without co-pays or any other co-sharing–regardless of whether the insurer, the employer, or any other plan sponsor, or even the woman herself objects to such coverage. The heated public discussion that has followed this ruling has mostly framed the issue as one of religious liberty or even the morality of contraception. I believe, however, that the best way to reflect on the issues involved is in terms of the liberty of the Church–as an integral part of its social doctrine. A good source to consult is the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church issued by the Holy See. The Compendium states it clearly: “The Church has the right to the legal recognition of her proper identity. Precisely because her mission embraces all of human reality, the Church... claims the freedom to express her moral judgment on this reality, whenever it may be required to defend the fundamental rights of the human person, or for the salvation of souls” (#426). The Compendium lists exactly what freedoms the rights of the Church entail: - freedom of expression, teaching, and evangelization; - freedom of public worship; - freedom of organization and of her own internal government; - freedom of selecting, educating, naming, and transferring her ministers; - freedom for constructing religious buildings; - freedom to acquire and possess sufficient goods for her activity; - freedom to form associations, not only for religious purposes, but also for educational, cultural, healthcare, and charitable purposes. Note that the liberty of the Church is a consequence of her ecclesiology, of her “identity.” Here we face the heart of the matter. For the Catholic Church, the identity of the Church is a mystery that cannot be detached from the Mystery of Christ and His revelation of the Trinitarian God. On the other hand, political decisions are based on what appears to be reasonably possible. In classical terms, the Church/State question confronts us with the encounter between the natural and the supernatural. In the United States, the dominance of the Protestant way of the intersection of the natural and the supernatural makes it difficult for many to distinguish the difference between the religious rights of individual believers (the Protestant view) and the liberty of the Church as a communion of persons that can act as one subject in history. The intersection between the natural and the supernatural known as the Mystery of the Incarnation is the One Person of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, who acts in the world today through His Body the Church. The recognition by a human society of the rights claimed by the Church listed above are all expressions of a society open to the Presence of Jesus Christ. The Compendium reminds us again and again that Christ’s revelation of the Trinitarian Communion is at the same time the revelation of the mystery of the hearts of all men and women. That is why the Church is convinced that non-Christians and non-believers will recognize those rights as corresponding to the desires of their hearts. For this reason, the Compendium underlines the importance of the “juridical experience of the Church and the State” defining “stable forms of contact and suitable instruments for guaranteeing harmonious relations.” It is only at this level that the HHS attack on these rights can be reversed for the good of all.