This is very sobering. I was thinking that the diocese where I live serves one million Catholics + I don’t know how many non-Catholic poor. Not only are we talking about clergy, religious and diocesan employees going without insurance or even unemployed, but we’re also talking about many people going without services that the Catholic Church offers and that the State cannot afford to offer, unless it raises taxes.
The average American does not realize how much money the religious institutions save the taxpayer. We have a hospital here that is run by Orthodox Jews. Orthodox Jews do not subscribe to the HHS mandate. That hospital has 1300 beds and I don’t know how many employees. We have a Catholic hospital that has 800 beds. That’s just one medium size city. Imagine huge cities like NY, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, the millions of dollars that go into those cities that do not come from government funding is astronomical.
While it is true that many organizations receive government funding, none are not totally subsidized by the government as are state organizations. A lot of money comes from donations, campaigns, parishes, diocesan drives, religious orders, even school children who do fundraising for the poor.
Cardinal Dolan and the bishops are fighting to keep the Church free to serve these people, which the state cannot afford to serve without the help of the Church. Even if the state pays 60% of the bill, the other 40% comes through the Church. If Church run organizations close, the state has to come up with the other 40%. Think about it. What’s 40% of $1 billion. That’s a lot of taxes. The taxpayers are never going to agree to such a tax hike. The economy is in horrible shape.
People who think that Cardinal Dolan is not an influential American should think again. He’s fighting for justice for many people.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF