After meeting in Washington, the top committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said they would “continue to accept any invitation to dialogue with the executive branch to protect the religious freedom that is rightly ours.'” However, they called Obama’s plan to address their concerns “unspecified and dubious.”

“This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive,” the bishops said in a statement. “This is not about the church wanting to force anybody to do anything. It is instead about the federal government forcing the church — consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions — to act against church teachings.”

A White House spokesman declined to comment.