Four Catholic organizations from outside the diocese are seeking to file briefs in the case siding with the government and against the diocese in federal court in Erie.
The organizations are arguing the diocese's suit is legally misguided and damaging to the public perception of the Catholic Church. The organizations are also arguing that most American Catholics disagree with the church's teachings on birth control, according to a May 22 Gallup poll, and that the diocese's employees "should be free to make their own decisions" about using birth control covered under the Affordable Care Act.
The organizations are Call to Action Pennsylvania, Catholics for Social Justice, Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi and the Association of Pittsburgh Priests. They are seeking permission from U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin to file what are known as amicus briefs, or friend-of-the-court briefs, in support of the federal government, which the diocese sued on May 21 as part of nationwide litigation. The lead plaintiff in the Erie case is Bishop Donald W. Trautman.
"The complaint inappropriately inserts the church into a civil dispute publicly viewed as partisan," the organizations wrote in a filing on Monday.
"Becoming embroiled in the public, highly partisan controversy surrounding the issues raised in this complaint and quoting vitriolic comments of officials of one political party directed at officials of the other political party creates a divisiveness that harms the mission of the church to serve all people."
In addition, the organizations said, they are concerned the diocese has "chosen to join the attack on an important legislative effort to provide universal health care -- a vital human right that church teaching has supported for decades as a natural right possessed by all people as a matter of social justice."
The organizations are claiming the contraception mandate is to be fairly applied to all employers' insurance plans, and does not violate the First Amendment. They equate following the mandate to paying taxes.
"Churches and church-affiliated entities are subject to numerous legal burdens when they are employers," the organizations wrote.
"They ... have the financial burden, for example, of collecting and remitting state and local taxes withheld from their employees even though these taxes pay for wars or the death penalty, both of which have been condemned by the Catholic hierarchy."