Archbishop Dolan Protests Healthcare Coverage with eBook

West County native, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, released an original eBook, True Freedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Freedom (Image Books, June 19) in conjunction with the U.S. bishops’ call for Catholics and others to protest U.S. health care mandates for contraception and other policies they deem threaten religious freedom.

Dolan writes:

“In only the last few years we’ve experienced rampant disregard for religious beliefs in this country with the approval of embryonic stem cell research; legal justification for the torture of prisoners; the provision of tax dollars to abortion providers; the HHS mandates; and, most recently, a redefinition of marriage by many of our leading political figures. We can see that there is a loss of a sense of truth here, and objective moral norms -- rules of conduct that apply always, to everyone, everywhere -- and an ‘eclipse of a sense of God and of man’.”

Dolan serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) which is calling the two week protest on June 21-July 4 the “Fortnight for Freedom.

The special period is for prayer, study, catechesis and public action that emphasizes the Christian and American heritage of freedom.

“This is not a Catholic issue. This is not a Jewish issue. This is not an Orthodox, Mormon, or Muslim issue. It is an American issue,” the bishops said in a statement.

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Editor's note: Dolan is from the St. Louis area, attended schools and church in Ballwin, MO. He was named Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church this year, and archbishop of NY in 2009. Dolan's cousin-in-law, the Reverend Pamela Dolan, is rector at Town and Country's .