I’m just guessing here, but I think more Catholics will nod their head in agreement with the following than did when the Church got upset about contraceptive coverage in health care plans.
Nearly 60 prominent theologians, priests, nuns and national Catholic social justice leaders released a statement today refuting Rep. Paul Ryan’s claim that his GOP budget proposal reflects Catholic teaching on care for the poor, which he made in an interview earlier this week with the Christian Broadcasting Network. The group of Catholic leaders — including a former high-ranking U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops official, a priest in Rep. Ryan’s district and the leadership team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas — called on Ryan to “reconsider his radical budget proposal and refrain from distorting Church teaching.”
“If Rep. Ryan thinks a budget that takes food and healthcare away from millions of vulnerable people upholds Catholic values, then he also probably believes Jesus was a Tea Partier who lectured the poor to stop being so lazy and work harder,” said John Gehring, Catholic Outreach Coordinator at Faith in Public Life. “This budget turns centuries of Catholic social teaching on its head. These Catholic leaders and many Catholics in the pews are tired of faith being misused to bless an immoral agenda.”
The leaders wrote: “Simply put, this budget is morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation and a commitment to the common good. A budget that turns its back on the hungry, the elderly and the sick while giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest few can’t be justified in Christian terms.”
I think that left a mark.
I certainly hope so.
.
See my recent diary and exchange of collegial letters – Archbishop T. Dolan, Paul Ryan and Catholic Teachings
I beg your pardon reverend, you missed a few lines the late pope JP II wrote in his papal letter. It’s about leadership, fraternal love and being there in person to get the unemployed, poor and abused back on track in society so he/she earns an honest wage and can care for his/her family. I’m thinking along the lines of community assistance, neighbours, buddies and the nuns (sister Theresa) who devote their lives in service of the meek, poor and sick.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."No it won’t. Not until those national Catholic social justice leaders tell leaders to vote for Democrats because of this. Until that happens, it’s all just a lot of bluster and ass-covering.
Catholic leaders do not speak for the Catholic church; Catholic bishops are presumed to.
Fathers Philip and Daniel Berrigan’s notion of Catholic doctrine in relation to the Vietnam War was dramatically different from the official position of bishops like Francis Cardinal Spellman.
I believe that the Catholic Church has changed when Rick Santorum and Paul Ryan are refused communion.
Philip Berrigan was a personal friend, and over the years I’ve known a lot of people from the Jonah House, Atlantic Life Community, and Catholic Worker circles. One of my closest friends is a former priest whose mentor was Dan Berrigan.
It’s impossible to overstate the degree to which the Catholic left’s interpretation of social obligation is not shared by church leadership, especially in America. Even though I don’t agree with them on issues like abortion, I have far more respect for both the internal consistency and practice of the Catholic left than its church leadership. (The Catholic left also has no record of covering up and enabling pedophilia.)
That said, someone like Paul Ryan won’t. He could not care less about a letter like this from a bunch of what he probably views as deluded apostates. Imagine, taking the teachings of Jesus seriously! HA!
“I’m just guessing here, but I think more Catholics will nod their head in agreement with the following than did when the Church got upset about contraceptive coverage in health care plans. “
I’d agree.