Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, in his final address as president of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, called on them Monday to take up the cause of Christians in places like Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and India who are persecuted and killed for their faith.
It was a notable shift in priorities. For the last two years the bishops have poured their time and resources into a campaign to fight what they saw as serious threats to religious liberty in the United States. Their prime concern has been a provision in President Obama’s health care overhaul that would force even some Catholic employers to provide contraception in their insurance plans, when Catholic teaching prohibits the use of artificial contraception....