Faustian bargains

A friend sent along a link to this WSJ article titled "Transformers." Dealing largely with the HHS healthcare mandate that has caused such an uproar, the article also frames the issue through the Catholic Church's relationship with the federal government. And it's not pretty:

"For many years, Catholic Charities U.S.A. has taken federal money to enlarge its budget. The people who run the Catholic Church, though not everyone in the pews, thought this was a good bargain. Here is the head of Catholic Charities, in 1997, describing the relationship: 'We have been partners with government to help government do what it wants to do and what we believe it should do'..."

And this:

"Over decades, this deal with the federal government didn't change, even as Catholic bishops closed churches and parochial schools across the country for lack of funds...So here we are, with the government demanding that the church hold up its end of a Faustian bargain that was supposed to permit it to perform limitless acts of virtue. Instead, what the government believes the deal is about, more than anything else, is compliance."

Indeed.