Catholics to rally against Obama birth control mandate
John Gehring, FPL’s Senior Writer and Catholic Outreach Coordinator, is quoted in this article.
In the April issue, Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, wrote that the contraception mandate will force his organization “to use membership dues and money generated through insurance sales to fund health care that provides drugs and procedures that violate the moral teaching of the Catholic Church on the transmission and sanctity of human life.”
Anderson started out in politics, working as a legislative aid to Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., in the 1970s and 1980s. He later worked in President Ronald Reagan’s White House. He’s also taken fellow Catholic Joe Biden to task for comments the vice president made while still a senator from Delaware that Anderson said “cast doubt on the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church on abortion.”
John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group in Washington, said while the Knights’ charitable works was “commendable … its leadership has steered a fraternal organization into political waters in ways that should raise questions.”
Asked by reporters in Atlanta last week if the Knights’ involvement in the religious liberty campaign introduces at least the perception of partisanship, Lori said no.
“Think of what the Knights of Columbus does for the Catholic Church and for many other humanitarian causes,” he said. “To try to say that is in some way partisan is … an injustice.”
Other groups have contributed to the campaign, he said, mentioning Our Sunday Visitor and the Order of Malta.
