Letter
Joint Letter to the Senate on ENDA, October 2013
Joint Letter to the U.S. Senate from Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, Archbishop William E. Lori, and Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA), October 31, 2013
We write to you regarding S. 815, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA). Our purpose is to outline some of the serious concerns we have with this legislation and why we oppose it.
All people are created in the image and likeness of God and thus possess an innate human dignity that must be acknowledged and respected by other persons and by law. Furthermore, “work,” as Pope Francis recently said, “is fundamental to that dignity.” Thus the Catholic Church has consistently stood with workers in this country and continues to oppose unjust discrimination in the workplace. No one should be an object of scorn, hatred, or violence for any reason, including his or her sexual inclinations (see Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], no. 2358).
Our dignity as children of God extends to our sexuality. Being a male or a female is a reality which “is good and willed by God,” and this complementarity is essential for the great good of marriage as the union of one man and one woman (CCC, no. 369). Sexual acts outside of marriage serve neither these goods nor the good of the person and society as a whole.
Given these principles, the USCCB continues to promote the dignity of both work and marriage and to oppose unjust discrimination on any grounds, including those related to homosexual inclination or sexual identity. But we cannot support a bill, like ENDA, that does not justly advance the dignity of all workers and authentic non-discrimination, but instead:
- Lacks a BFOQ exemption
- Lacks a status/conduct distinction
- Supports marriage redefinition
- Rejects the biological basis of gender
- Threatens religious liberty