It is unusual for me to have two articles back-to-back in the same day but I’m getting
ready to travel for several weeks in the U.S., Asia and Europe including my
upcoming visit to the Vatican. I am
unsure when I will have time to write again until perhaps the end of November
though I might have the privilege to meet some readers in person at the Call to
Action conference November 1-3. Regardless
of the rigors of my upcoming travel schedule, there is another topic of great
importance I think worthy of pondering.
This past week, the United States Congress put much of the world through unwarranted angst about my country’s willingness (not ability) to
pay its financial obligations. Globally,
markets and businesses sat in great anxiety anticipating whether the U.S.
legislature would “do the right thing” so that it could be a good global
citizen repaying its debts. Economists
predicted the U.S. defaulting upon its financial obligations would make the
2008 bank crisis pale in comparison to the global economic impact it would
wrought. This would have been felt especially by people already on society's financial margins but also likely
would have thrown many more people into that category by manufacturing more unemployment and poverty.
How did U.S. Catholics play in all this?
The U.S. Senate has 100 members and 28 of them are Catholic. 429 members of the U.S. House of Representatives
voted on the debt ceiling this past week and of them, 135 or 31% are Catholic. I commend the 24 Catholic U.S. Senators and
101 Catholic U.S. Representatives who supported the moral decision of paying
this country’s financial obligations. They include my own Representative, Mr. David Camp of Michigan.
I am sorry to report that there were any Catholics who voted that the
U.S. renege on its financial commitments to the world and likely manufacture additional
global unemployment, economic instability and poverty. However, there were 4 such Catholic Senators and 34 such Catholic Representatives. They are:
U.S. Senators voting for the U.S. NOT to honor its financial obligations:
James Risch of Idaho
Marco Rubio of Florida
Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania
David Vitter of Louisianna
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives voting for the U.S. NOT to honor its financial obligations:
Kerry Bentivolio of Michigan
Kevin Brady of Texas
Steve Chabot of Ohio
Chris Collins of New York
Ron DeSantis of Florida
Sean Duffy of Wisconsin
Renee Ellmers of North Carolina
Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee
Virginia Foxx of North Carolina
Phil Gingrey of Georgia
Paul Gosar of Arizona
Andy Harris of Maryland
Tim Huelskamp of Kansas
Walter Jones of North Carolina
Steve King of Iowa
Bob Latta of Ohio
Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri
Thomas Marino of Pennsylvannia
Michael McCaul of Texas
Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina
Steven Palazzo of Mississippi
Trey Radel of Florida
Tom Reed of New York
Jim Renacci of Ohio
Todd Rokita of Indiana
Tom Rooney of Florida
Keith Rothfus of Pennsylvania
Ed Royce of California
Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
Steve Scalise of Louisianna
David Schweikert of Arizona
Ann Wagner of Missouri
Brad Wenstrup of Ohio
Ted Yoho of Florida
You might ask what could have possibly motivated any Catholic to vote
to throw the entire world into severe financial turmoil. The answer might lie in a letter sent from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to members of Congress. In this letter, the bishops position as a
non-negotiable matter in the debt-ceiling discussions their desire that Catholics in the healthcare profession
be able to impose their religious beliefs upon others, allowing people like
doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and hospital workers to deny things of patients
such as filling a prescription for Sprintec – a medication which solves many
female reproductive health issues but which also is a contraceptive.
Specifically in the letter dated September 26, 2013 Cardinal
Sean O’Malley and Archbishop William Lori wrote on behalf of the entire U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops the following statement, “We have already urged
you to enact the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (H.R. 940/S. 1204). As
Congress considers a Continuing Resolution and debt ceiling bill in the days to
come, we reaffirm the vital importance of incorporating the policy of this bill
into such “must-pass” legislation.”
You see, my dear friends around the world, the U.S. Catholic bishops,
led by a U.S. Cardinal hand-selected by Pope Francis to be in his special gang
of eight advisors, wanted the entire world to suffer additional poverty and
unrest unless they could have their way continuing their crusade against women,
women’s rights and women’s health. Quite simply the bishops said the U.S. should not honor its financial commitments to the world unless Congress makes it more difficult for women to obtain certain medical services and medications.
What is the proper response to the bishops and members of the U.S.
Congress who were willing to do this? I
urge you, no matter where in the world you live, to communicate your opinions
on the morality of their stance and decisions to these politicians – both the ordained
and elected ones. It might be worth
expressing to Pope Francis any concerns you have about his judgment in
selecting as a top advisor Cardinal Sean O’Malley – a ringleader in trying to
bring about global financial devastation unless he got his way.
As a side note, Catholic hospitals in the U.S. are a growing force as they acquire
formerly secular hospitals. They operate
by a set of USCCB directives which already deny numerous types of care based on
claiming a moral high ground. What is
the proper response to this trend also?
