WASHINGTON, March 2, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Joseph M. Starrs, director of American Life League’s Crusade for the Defense of our Catholic Church, reacted to the decision by the California Supreme Court that Catholic Charities must provide access to contraception as part of its employee healthcare benefits. It called on Catholic bishops to defend the faithful. “The state’s Catholic bishops have a moral responsibility to courageously speak out against this ruling. A tepid or lackluster response will only serve to further erode the rights of the Catholic Church and all religious institutions in the state. We call on all the Catholic bishops in California to stand firm against this unjust and immoral ruling,” said Starrs.
Starrs suggested, “There are many ways the bishops can oppose the law which this ruling upholds. They could simply ignore it as an act of civil disobedience; they could counter this act by withholding the countless services they offer to state residents or they could simply stop offering any prescription medical benefit to their employees.”
Starrs said the state supreme court must realize “it has no right to force its morality of secular humanism onto the Catholic Church.”