Critics of Vatican efforts to reform the LCWR have their talking points down in lockstep so well that everyone now just assumes that the reform initiative was triggered by concerns over these nuns pushing for ObamaCare.
All of them are wrong, and it is not a matter of opinion. Just consider a couple of important dates.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) legislation wasn’t introduced in the House until September 17, 2009. The decision to undertake a doctrinal assessment of the LCWR was announced on April 8, 2008, while George W. Bush was president. In other words, the narrative about “payback” is simply faulty: the timeline undercuts the critics’ argument.
