The Catholic Diocese of Erie's lawsuit against the federal government highlights the rift between some in the Catholic hierarchy and the White House over birth-control coverage.The suit also reveals local tension over the very same issue.
Not all Catholic institutions within the diocese are adhering to the tenets that the diocese, in the suit, said are sacrosanct for Catholics and Catholic organizations.
Mercyhurst University, founded by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy, currently has a health-insurance plan that provides coverage for artificial contraception.
The Catholic Church, according to the diocese's suit, considers birth control "intrinsically evil."
The diocese believes it would violate the Catholic Church's teachings if it and other Catholic organizations were required to follow the Obama administration mandate and provide contraception coverage.
But the type of coverage the diocese is arguing against is the same type of coverage Mercyhurst is providing its employees voluntarily. The situation has not gone unnoticed by Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman.
"It is a concern. My understanding is that the bishop hopes to pursue this with Mercyhurst," said Anne-Marie Welsh, spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Erie.
She said the diocese's 56-page suit -- part of a flood of litigation over the mandate from Catholic organizations nationwide on Monday -- is part of a larger debate that is occurring throughout the United States on issues such as religious freedom. That debate, Welsh said, has "given the church a good opportunity to look a little more closely" at the practices of different Catholic organizations.
Locally, she said, the Erie diocese's suit has provided a chance to "examine a little more closely how we are living out our faith."
Mercyhurst said it has no immediate plans to change its insurance coverage in light of the diocese's lawsuit, which does not include the university as a plaintiff. The university has a total of about 635 employees at all its campuses.
"Mercyhurst is not directly impacted by the lawsuit because we provide a health-care plan that includes contraceptive coverage," the university said in a statement.
"The university has established a task force of lay and religious faculty and administrators to review our health-care policy in light of the ongoing situation. They will continue to meet and consider information as it becomes available. To date, no changes to our existing coverage have been recommended."
The university also referred to a statement it released in February, when President Barack Obama modified the contraception mandate in an attempt to mollify Catholic groups and other religious organizations.
"For many years the university has provided its diverse population of faculty, staff and administrators with a health plan that includes contraceptive coverage," Mercyhurst said in that statement.
"It chose to offer a plan that enables its employees to receive benefits in light of their unique situation and in accordance with their conscience and religious beliefs. However, Mercyhurst respects the right of other religious institutions to provide health-care coverage to their employees within the framework of their religious beliefs and opposes any government intrusion in this area."
Welsh, the diocesan spokeswoman, did not elaborate on what type of discussions Trautman might have with Mercyhurst. Trautman was unavailable for comment for this story, but he said Monday that the diocese was suing the federal government to block the contraception mandate and to protect the diocese's First Amendment rights to religious freedom.
"We are challenging a federal regulation mandating religious organizations to provide and pay for insurance coverage for services against our consciences," Trautman said.
Gannon's position
The mandate would affect about 100 employees of the Catholic Diocese of Erie, which covers 13 counties in northwestern Pennsylvania and serves 220,000 Roman Catholics. But the suit could also have ramifications for about 4,000 other people who work for other Catholic organizations in the diocese, including Mercyhurst, Gannon University and Saint Vincent Health Center.
Of those organizations, only Mercyhurst is known to currently offer insurance coverage for contraception. The 831-employee Gannon, which is self-insured, does not.
"While Gannon University is not involved in the lawsuit filed by the Diocese of Erie, the university is in close communication with Bishop Donald Trautman, chairman of the Gannon University board of trustees," Gannon spokeswoman Karla Wludyga said in a statement.
"Gannon remains committed to providing quality health insurance coverage that is consistent with our Catholic identity and our university's mission as a diocesan institution."
At Saint Vincent Health Center, the hospital, as a Catholic institution, follows the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services," by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a Saint Vincent spokeswoman said.
Those directives hold that "Catholic health institutions may not promote or condone contraceptive practices," meaning that Saint Vincent, with about 3,000 employees, does not provide insurance coverage for contraception, except under circumstances covered in the directives. They include the use of contraceptives to treat a medical problem rather than for birth control.
Gannon and Mercyhurst, while both Catholic universities within the Catholic Diocese of Erie, have different relationships with the bishop.
Gannon is a diocesan university, dependent on the diocese financially and administratively, with the bishop having the final authority.
Mercyhurst is financially and administratively independent of the diocese.
But, as a Catholic-affiliated institution, Mercyhurst still must answer to the bishop on matters of church teaching.
"The bishop has a moral influence over all Catholic institutions in the diocese," Mercyhurst said in its statement.
Saint Vincent, which has its own board of trustees, is in a similar situation as Mercyhurst in relation to the bishop.
A changing mandate
The contraception mandate that is the subject of the Erie diocese's suit grew out of the Obama administration's health-care overhaul, which the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing.
The original rule generally allowed churches and other houses of worship to opt out of providing coverage for contraception, but kept the mandate in place for religiously affiliated nonprofits, including hospitals, universities and charities.
Obama adjusted the mandate in February in response to intense pressure from Catholic groups and other religious organizations. The new rule, which the Obama administration said is still under discussion with religious leaders, would allow insurers to pay for contraceptive services rather than religious groups.
Trautman and other Catholic bishops decried that change, arguing that religious organizations would still pay for contraception through insurance premiums. The Catholic Diocese of Erie is self-insured, which the diocese said raises other complications.
Trautman said the Catholic Diocese of Erie had no choice but to go to court. He said the diocese joined other, larger Catholic entities in suing "because of our firm convictions and early on we were part of a consortium in discussing this matter."
Trautman was unsatisfied with Obama's modification, said Welsh, the diocesan spokeswoman.
"The accommodation still requires religious organizations to sponsor and subsidize plans that include things they find morally objectionable," she said. "The Diocese of Erie is self-insured, so there is no insurance company to whom the costs of the mandated coverage could be transferred."
The Catholic Diocese of Erie sued in U.S. District Court in Erie. It is one of 43 Catholic organizations that filed 12 suits in federal district courts nationwide on Monday.
The law firm Jones Day is handling the lawsuits pro bono. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not said how of many the 195 dioceses nationwide opted not to sue.
Among the other organizations who have sued are the Archdioceses of New York, Washington and St. Louis; the Diocese of Pittsburgh; the Dioceses of Dallas and Fort Worth; and the University of Notre Dame. In the Erie case, the plaintiffs, in addition to the Catholic Diocese of Erie and Trautman, are two Catholic social-service organizations: St. Martin Center in Erie and Prince of Peace Center in Farrell.
The suit claims the "plaintiffs cannot, without violating their sincerely held religious beliefs, subsidize, provide and/or facilitate these or other procedures or services that are inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church."