BY AJ TRAGER
LANSING — The Michigan Catholic Conference, in a letter sent mid-March to pastors and employees of the Catholic Church in Michigan, said that it will be modifying its health care coverage to extend coverage for legally domiciled adults.
Legally domiciled adults are those who are above 18, have lived with an employee for at least six months and are financially interdependent with the employee. The decision made by the Catholic Conference, which oversees the health care for Catholic employees in the state, complies with changes in federal law post-marriage equality. Despite changes to church health coverage, the Catholic Church maintains its opposition to same-sex marriage and the intimate moments that happen between two consenting adults.
"Due to recent changes in federal law regarding the provision of health benefits, Michigan Catholic Conference has adopted a modification to MCC benefits to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The inclusion of the LDA (Legally Domiciled Adults) benefit allows for the MCC health plan to be both legally compliant and consistent with church teaching," the MCC letter reads.
Stephanie White told the Washington Post that the eligibility change highlights the benefit of having federal agencies take a lead on "issues of fairness" and is glad to see the Catholic Church taking steps to protect families.
"The policy also shows that even groups and businesses that are resistant to basic nondiscrimination protections can find a way to follow the law and treat everyone equally," White said.
Patrick Brewis, former director of stewardship at a Catholic Church in southeast Michigan and in New York City, moved back to Michigan in the past two years to take care of his mother. As a member of a group of families, parents and allies called Fortunate Families who affirm and celebrate LGBT people striving to continue to embrace their Catholic faith, Brewis is skeptical that MCC intended on helping LGBT Catholics.
"In the language that the Catholic Conference put out, nowhere do they mention the words gay, same-sex marriage, gay relationship or the like," Brewis told BTL. "It's important from the legal perspective and that the Catholic Church can now say it's compliant with the federal law, and it's important from an LGBT perspective in that gay couples, for example, can now have coverage extended to them and that's fantastic news. But I think it's a mistake to construe this as any kind of overture by the Catholic Church to the LGBT community. I think it's more about ensuring that they are compliant."
Church employees may now have the option of extending healthcare coverage to their partners, but they would still be fired for discussing their same-sex union with their coworkers.
As a former employee of the church, Brewis used to receive their healthcare coverage but could not extend it to his partner and remembers the silencing behaviors used by the church against any employees who may have been closeted.
"I could be reprimanded or fired from my job for being in a same-sex relationship. I had to sign a document that said I wasn't to engage in activities contrary to the Catholic Church," he said.
Brewis believes the only way for change to happen within the church is visibility. If LGBT Catholics come out and show the church who they are, what they look like, what their relationships look like and how living authentically empowers someone to be their whole self, then the world might see change.
"The only way for change and transformation to happen in the church is to make yourself visible," he said. "What I've found is that the fears were more unfounded than the reality of the situation."
