I wish commentary writer Susan Hogan and other reporters would take a moment and ask whether their prejudices are getting in the way of honest reporting on American bishops and Catholics ("Bishops seek religious liberty, but suppress a religion's shame," June 7). The question is whether Catholic charities, universities and other organizations should be forced to purchase contraceptives when Catholic theology teaches that the use of these substances is morally wrong. The Obama administration's "compromise" that insurers should provide these substances "for free" is an accounting trick. Where does the money for "free" contraceptives come from? From the fees and premiums paid by the organizations and their subscribers. There is no "conjured up" battle for religious liberty. The bishops are not "flexing their ecclesiastical muscles" in an attempt at misdirection. They are trying to point out that, once freedom of religion is denied to one group, the liberty of everyone is at stake.


CATHERINE WALKER, MINNEAPOLIS