Catholic organisations in Michigan have decided to extend healthcare benefits to "legally domiciled adult" or LDA, or anyone over 18 years old who are living with an employee.
This is in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last June that legalised gay marriage in the U.S.
The LDA can be a same-sex partner, sibling, uncle, mother or best friend, according to LifeSite News.
Under the new policy, an LDA can have medical, dental and vision coverage, according to the Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC), an umbrella organisation that negotiates health care coverage for about 8,400 employees of Catholic churches, schools and agencies in the state.
MCC said this will make its benefit plans compliant with the law while adhering to Catholic teachings at the same time.
David Maluchnik, MCC communications director, said Obergefell v. Hodges changed its decision.
If they did not make the change, "we would be open to litigation and we would have lost," he said as the existing plan only covered employees, their children and spouses as defined in Catholic teachings on marriage.
But James Bopp, counsel for the National Right to Life, Catholic organisations have a strong defence using "freedom of religion" in any lawsuit since Catholic teachings are opposed to same-sex relations.
"If a Catholic church couldn't cite the First Amendment in its defence, I don't know who could. The concern is that how we define spouse in our health plan according to the teachings of the Catholic Church is contrary to how the federal government understands spouse," he said.
The MCC said the new policy is based on residence and not relationship.
"We will have no way of knowing what is the nature of the relationship" between the employee and the LDA.
"What we're looking for is that the employee and the legally domiciled adult have been living together at the same address for six months and are financially interdependent and could swear on an affidavit as such," Maluchnik said.
Father Alexander Webster, an Orthodox archpriest, pastor and moral theologian, said Michigan bishops are "yielding to secular progressive forces that are anti-Christian and anti-Jesus."
"When you put saving bricks and mortar ahead of standing up for teachings, you are saving a shell. I was very disappointed when the Michigan Catholic Conference caved in," Webster said.
Bopp agrees, saying "What's the point of being a religious organisation if you completely abandon your religious beliefs because of the pressure of litigation?"
Maluchnik said the MCC "consulted with Catholic ethicists across the country, including the National Catholic Bioethics Center."
"The Catholic Church believes in providing health coverage and believes in supporting families in this way," he said as the MCC rejected options to scrap its entire health plan or get rid of benefits for spouses and LDAs.
