By E. J. Montini
From The Arizona Republic

On Tuesday, Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, issued a statement saying, essentially, that President Obama’s concession to Catholic-based hospitals, saying that it would be insurers and not hospitals that had to pay for contraception, was not good enough.

The bishop is standing with others around the country.

Olmstead said in part, “President Obama's so-called ‘accommodation’ for religious organizations strongly emphasizes that health care insurers would be required to subsidize the costs associated with acts that are intrinsically immoral.”

He added, “These revisions to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate do not respect the religious liberty and moral convictions of all stakeholders in the health coverage transaction. Religious freedom is given to us by God, not conceded to us by the State. The State has a duty to respect this first freedom of every citizen. We must stand strong in our opposition to the HHS nationwide mandate of insurance coverage that does not respect our freedom to practice our faith, which in this case mandates some religious employers to provide for contraception, sterilization and abortion-producing drugs.

“I join with my brother bishops of our country in encouraging the faithful to use their God-givenvoice in the legislative process by contacting their legislators in order to halt the government's intrusion into the affairs of the Church.”

Here’s where the bishop’s argument goes off the tracks:

A hospital is not a church.

Particularly a hospital that treats patients of all different faiths, employs people of different faiths and accepts taxpayer money.

A hospital like that is a business, and should be required to follow the same requirements of any other business that so happily accepts government funds.

In fact, by the church’s own estimate, Catholic Charities gets 67 percent of its money from the government. See their charts here.

I understand the objections that the Catholic hospitals raised when the issue of contraception first came up. But the “accommodation” that Olmsted dismisses strikes me as a fair compromise.

Instead, he wants Catholic hospitals to take the taxpayer money but not play by the same rules as other hospitals.

There is no requirement that a church open a hospital or any other business. But when it does…

If the government were trying to tell Catholics how to worship no one would stand for it. I know the church doesn’t like this word, but it made a … CHOICE. It chose to get into the health care business.

And a hospital is not a church.