The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is criticizing steps taken by the Department of Labor to enforce a
presidential executive order that forbids federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating "on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,"
CNS News reported.
The bishops issued a statement asserting that while they oppose "unjust discrimination" against gays, adhering to the order would force Catholics to violate the teachings of their Church.
President Barack Obama signed the order after Congress repeatedly rejected passing similar mandates into law,
Catholic Review reported.
The clerics said the regulations pose "a serious threat to freedom of conscience and religious liberty," according to CNS.
The rules forbid using sexual orientation and gender identity to justify workplace discrimination by any agency that accepts taxpayer dollars.
Critics say the order could require a Catholic adoption agency to place a foster child with a sex-same couple. It could also make it harder for a Catholic institution to terminate a gay employee who uses their position to advocate for a homosexual lifestyle.
The bishops characterized "gender identity" as a "false ideology" and say prohibiting the Church from disapproving of same-sex sexual conduct "creates a serious threat to freedom of conscience and religious liberty," CNS reported.
They said it was unjust for the Obama administration to exclude Church agencies from federal contract work "because they have religious or moral convictions about human sexuality and sexual conduct that differ from the views of the current governmental authorities," according to CNS.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, New York, and Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami signed the statement.
At least one strictly Orthodox Jewish group, Agudath Israel of America, has also lobbied against the order,
Baltimore Jewish Life reported.
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