Joe, Joe, Joe, Towalski.  In his April 12th article on adoption and single parents, Joe Towalski plays the shell game of trying to show that the Catholic Church is even handed when it comes to adoptive families with single parents.  However, Joe cannot hide the true view of the Archdiocese against single family and same-sex adoptive parents in an adoptive family..

In April 12, 2012 the Catholic Spirit news service story about the Health and Human Services contraceptive proposal shows how radically flawed the U.S. bishops are in their never ending fight against this policy.  These bishops maintain that "the government has no place defining religion and religious ministry" and that HHS "attempt to do so here is unconstitutional."  Well, all I can say is that the church needs to stop the political attempt to change the law by portraying the fallacy that government has an interest in changing religion, because it doesn't exist. 

In an effort to have the Minnesota constitution changed to define marriage in its own image, the Archdiocese (aka the Catholic Church) has been misguided on the issue of religious freedom.  They are under the misconception that the Health and Human Services guidelines that require health plans (I repeat, health plans) to cover women’s preventive services are some sort of "infringement" on religious freedom and a "mandate" on the Catholic Church.  These guidelines ensure that women receive preventive health services from insurance companies at no additional cost and help prevent unwanted pregnancies.  They aren't going to stop the Catholic Church from having church on Sunday, or prevent it from publishing its own opinion in the Catholic Spirit and other religious publications (although the church will prevent others from publishing contrary opinions).

Did the archbishop have to go on and on and on about his trip to the Vatican in the March 15th issue of the Catholic Spirit?  I don't have a problem with the archbishop and his direct reports having an all expense paid trip to the Vatican to visit their boss.  I don't even mind the fact that he wants to tell all of us how wonderful it was (heck if I ever had a vacation to the Vatican and met the pope I'd want to tell my friends about it too).  I just mind the fact that the five articles about it take up so much print and they had to splash it all over the front page and not report on other more important issues.

There's an article that you should definitely read that articulates that the church really has a policy issue not a liberty issue with President Obama's health care compromise on contraceptive services.  It's an editorial in the America magazine called Policy, not Liberty.

Enough said...