Letter
Joint Letter to Senate on ENDA July 9, 2013
Joint Letter from Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, Archbishop William E. Lori, and Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to Senate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA), July 9, 2013
We write to you regarding S. 815, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA). Our purpose is to outline the serious concerns we have with this particular piece of legislation and why we must oppose it.
For the sake of clarity, permit us to state a few basic truths found in nature that the Catholic Church affirms in its teachings on this subject. First, being a male or a female is “a reality which is good and willed by God,” and “everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his [or her] sexual identity.” Second, persons with a homosexual inclination “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” while “under no circumstances can [homosexual acts] be approved.” Catechism of the Catholic Church (“CCC”), nos. 369, 2333, 2357-58.
Catholic teaching states that 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. No one should be an object of scorn, hatred, or violence for any reason, including sexual inclination. The Church affords special concern and pastoral attention to those who experience a homosexual inclination and stands committed to avoid “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard.” CCC, no. 2358.
The Catholic Church makes an important distinction between actions and inclination. While the Church is ardently opposed to all unjust discrimination on the grounds of sexual inclination, whether homosexual or heterosexual, it does teach that all sexual acts outside of a marriage between one man and one woman are morally wrong and do not serve the good of the person or society. Homosexual conduct, moreover, is categorically closed to the transmission of life, and does not reflect or respect the personal complementarity of man and woman. The Catholic Church’s teaching against this conduct cannot, therefore, be equated with “unjust discrimination,” because the teaching is based on fundamental truths about the human person. In contrast to sexual conduct within marriage between one man and one woman—which does serve both the good of each married person and the good of society—heterosexual conduct outside of marriage and, a fortiori, homosexual conduct has no claim to any special protection by the state. Thus, the USCCB continues to oppose “unjust discrimination” against people with a homosexual inclination, but we cannot support a bill, like ENDA, that would legally affirm and specially protect any sexual conduct outside of marriage.
We are well aware that many persons and groups in our American society do not agree with this teaching. They have every right to make their argument and be heard with respect. Like every other group in our society, the Catholic Church enjoys the same rights to hold to its beliefs, organize itself around them, and argue for them in the public square. This is guaranteed by our Constitution. This includes the right to teach what it holds to be the truth concerning homosexual conduct—and to act as an employer consistent with that truth—without the threat of government sanction.
Because ENDA, if enacted, could be used to punish as discrimination what the Catholic Church teaches, the USCCB has always sought as comprehensive a religious exemption as is achievable, in order to protect the religious freedom of the Church, and of all others who hold similar views. One partial solution to this problem is to apply Title VII’s prohibition on religious discrimination, which is already incorporated in the current version of the bill. But this is insufficient alone, as the Title VII protection covers only a subset of religious employers, and recent experience shows that even covered employers may face government retaliation for relying on such exemptions. Without such additional protection, ENDA would be applied to jeopardize our religious freedom to live our faith and moral tenets in today’s society.