tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2010:/news//3 2010-02-26T01:58:56Z Relevant news for Catholic Democrats Movable Type 3.31 tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2010:/news//3.576 2010-02-26T01:46:31Z 2010-02-26T01:58:56Z

Calls on them to "give up" divisive rhetoric for Lent and pass health-care reform by Easter FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 25, 2010 Media Contacts: media@catholicdemocrats.org Ph: 617-817-8617 Boston, MA - Catholic Democrats, a national advocacy organization, is calling on the...

Catholic Democrats Staff Calls on them to "give up" divisive rhetoric for Lent and pass health-care reform by Easter FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 25, 2010 Media Contacts: media@catholicdemocrats.org Ph: 617-817-8617 Boston, MA - Catholic Democrats, a national advocacy organization, is calling on the Catholic members of Congress to "give up" partisanship for Lent, in the wake of the historic summit in Washington DC hosted by President Obama to advance critical health care reform legislation. In a letter to all 160 Catholic Senators and Representatives, signed by the organization's president and national director, Catholic Democrats urged these leaders to draw on their shared religious values in addressing one of the Church's longest standing social priorities - ending the denial of health care to large portions of the US population due to preexisting medical conditions, lack of employer-based insurance, and economic instability. "Because health and healing are at the heart of the Gospel message," the letter begins, "and because our Church has advocated a right to universal health care so forcefully for nearly a century, we are asking today that you and all Catholic members of Congress follow the tradition of 'giving up something for Lent': namely the divisive politics that has pitted groups of Americans against one another and jeopardized our shared Catholic commitment to achieve universal health care." The Catholic Democrats letter also outlines the social and economic impact the nation faces if health-care reform is not passed. The group is also hailing President Obama's plan, released on Monday, that bridges the differences between the House and Senate versions of the health-care reform passed last fall with majority support. In short, the President proposes helping all states with coverage of their poorest citizens; plugs the "donut hole" in Part D Medicare that threatens the medical budgets of many of the nation's elderly; seeks regulation of the massive health insurance premium increases; and most importantly, provides coverage for 31 million additional people who currently depend on emergency rooms for their routine medical care. "From a Catholic perspective, it is the escalating human cost that is so compelling," said Dr Patrick Whelan, president of Catholic Democrats. "25 percent more people have no health insurance compared to 9 years ago. Half of all family bankruptcies hit people with insurance who have suffered a major health crisis. And we continue to tolerate perpetuation of grave health disparities based on race and income level. Our current system perpetuates these immoral realities, and it has to stop." "Lent is an opportunity for Catholics in Congress to help move the nation forward on the issues that divide us," said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. "There is a strong Catholic presence in Congress, with Catholics comprising 30 percent of the 535 members. The Catholic Social Tradition is one that we hope and pray would inform them, at this time, in both their dealings with each other and in the conclusions they reach to provide this fundamental human right for millions of Americans - lest we become callous to the injustices and tragedies unfolding before us every day. They are in a unique and historic position, and to paraphrase St. Paul, 'Now is the time.'" //End]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2010:/news//3.575 2010-02-24T06:53:43Z 2010-02-24T07:34:42Z

In 1993, as the new Clinton Administration was taking office and broadcasting its determination to advance comprehensive healthcare reform, the US Catholic bishops issued a public resolution entitled, "A Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform: Protecting Human Life, Promoting Human...

Patrick Whelan On Monday, President Obama issued his own plan for accomplishing what had previously eluded the Federal Government for 17 years. Since the end of the Clinton years, the rate of increase in healthcare costs has grown 15% faster than gross domestic product, and these costs have proven to be an immense burden on the US economy. But from a Catholic perspective, it is the escalating human cost that is so compelling: 25% more people with no health insurance over the past 8 years, continued increases in bankruptcy because of a personal health crisis (half of all family bankruptcies), and perpetuation of grave health disparities based on race and income level. The Obama plan bridges the differences between the House and Senate versions of healthcare reform that passed with majority support last fall. In short, the President proposes offering more help to all the states for coverage of their poorest citizens through Medicaid in the early years of the program, particularly in the face of an economic crisis that has led to massive budget cuts by state governments across the country. The plan also plugs the "donut hole" in the medical budgets of elderly people that was left unfunded when the Part D Medicare drug benefit was enacted during the Bush Administration. The plan would for the first time seek to prevent the kind of massive health insurance premium increases that have recently come to light in Michigan and California, focused on small business owners who would suffer devastating new levels of un-insurance due to lack of affordability without passage of the new reforms. Perhaps most importantly, the plan would create conditions that provide coverage for 31 million additional people who currently depend on emergency rooms for their routine medical care, at great cost to local governments and all the other patients who actually have insurance coverage. The ten-year cost for this critical social priority, projected by the administration to be about $950 billion, is significantly less than the money that the US will have spent for the first ten years of war in Iraq, according to estimates published in 2008 by Professors Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz. The president's plan draws on both the House and Senate versions in order to fund the legislation, combining a reduction in the Bush tax cuts for upper income Americans with a more slowly implemented tax on employer compensation represented by high end health insurance plans. In stark contrast to the Iraq War, which was funded outside the budget with emergency appropriations, the Obama healthcare plan would not add to the budget deficit. Many Catholics and others have been concerned about the prospect of healthcare reform resulting in abortion services being funded with federal dollars. Despite news reports to the contrary, the 11-page outline of the Obama plan makes no reference to abortion funding. But in his speech to a joint session of Congress last September, President Obama laid those fears to rest when he said, "One more misunderstanding I want to clear up: under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place." Nearly half of all Americans currently live in the 17 states that pay for abortion services with state Medicaid dollars, health plans that are currently supported with federal funds--though such funds are rarely paid directly to abortion providers. Conservative opponents immediately lambasted the Obama plan because it did not explicitly adopt the language of the House Stupak Amendment. But at the center of the Stupak language was a prohibition against "the public option" offering any plans that cover abortion. The problem with the logic of these critics is that the Obama plan not only makes no reference to abortion, it makes no reference to a public option. The key question on abortion, then, is whether some version of the Stupak language, even in the absence of a "public option," would be required to attract the votes of more conservative members of Congress. But theoretically, any prohibition on a contribution by the Federal Government to insurance policies that cover abortion would also affect Federal support for care of all poor people in the 17 states that subsidize abortion services. This would represent a clear break from the Catholic consensus early last year, articulated by the US bishops, that sought only to retain an abortion-neutral approach to funding in the context of the whole healthcare reform effort. Conservative critics also continue to ignore the administration's encouragement of Democratic legislation that seeks to better support pregnant women and aims to significantly decrease the number of abortions in the United States. Particularly in light of January data from the Guttmacher Institute that both teen pregnancy and abortion began rising in 2006, late in the Bush Administration, the Obama initiatives to decrease abortion take on a new urgency that complements efforts to provide expanded healthcare for the millions of Americans currently without it. Opponents of the efforts by President Obama, the Catholic bishops, and others to expand healthcare were quick to wave the flag of "a massive government takeover," in the words of House Minority Leader John Boehner. He implicitly denied an assertion on the White House website that "Throughout the debate on health insurance reform, Republican concepts and proposals have been included in legislation. In fact, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted during the committee mark-up process. As a result, both the Senate and the House passed key Republican proposals that are incorporated into the President's Proposal." Thursday, February 25, President Obama will convene a historic meeting of Republicans and Democrats to find common ground on the healthcare bills that have already passed Congress. He has responded to critics who said that there was too little transparency with regard to the details of the Democratic legislation by putting his proposed final bill on the White House website. Americans will have a chance to judge for themselves what is the best way forward in solving the complicated healthcare puzzle that currently neglects so many, and casts a shadow of anxiety for millions more. In the end, the Obama plan represents a healing effort to bridge the differences in funding strategies and the extent of universality between the House and Senate versions of the health reform legislation. As the bishops asserted in their August 2009 Statement on Healthcare, "In our Catholic tradition, health care is a basic human right. Access to health care should not depend on where a person works, how much a family earns, or where a person lives. Instead, every person, created in the image and likeness of God, has a right to life and to those things necessary to sustain life, including affordable, quality health care." President Obama has put his own reputation on the line with a specific plan that could represent a giant step forward in fulfilling this critical Catholic imperative, in service to the common good.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2010:/news//3.574 2010-02-05T14:18:29Z 2010-02-05T14:27:41Z

Remarks of President Barack Obama National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, February 5th, 2009 Washington, DC Good morning. I want to thank the Co-Chairs of this breakfast, Representatives Heath Shuler and Vernon Ehlers. I'd also like to thank Tony Blair for coming...

Catholic Democrats Staff Remarks of President Barack Obama National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, February 5th, 2009 Washington, DC Good morning. I want to thank the Co-Chairs of this breakfast, Representatives Heath Shuler and Vernon Ehlers. I'd also like to thank Tony Blair for coming today, as well as our Vice President, Joe Biden, members of my Cabinet, members of Congress, clergy, friends, and dignitaries from across the world. Michelle and I are honored to join you in prayer this morning. I know this breakfast has a long history in Washington, and faith has always been a guiding force in our family's life, so we feel very much at home and look forward to keeping this tradition alive during our time here. It's a tradition that I'm told actually began many years ago in the city of Seattle. It was the height of the Great Depression, and most people found themselves out of work. Many fell into poverty. Some lost everything. The leaders of the community did all that they could for those who were suffering in their midst. And then they decided to do something more: they prayed. It didn't matter what party or religious affiliation to which they belonged. They simply gathered one morning as brothers and sisters to share a meal and talk with God. These breakfasts soon sprouted up throughout Seattle, and quickly spread to cities and towns across America, eventually making their way to Washington. A short time after President Eisenhower asked a group of Senators if he could join their prayer breakfast, it became a national event. And today, as I see presidents and dignitaries here from every corner of the globe, it strikes me that this is one of the rare occasions that still brings much of the world together in a moment of peace and goodwill. I raise this history because far too often, we have seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us from one another -- as an excuse for prejudice and intolerance. Wars have been waged. Innocents have been slaughtered. For centuries, entire religions have been persecuted, all in the name of perceived righteousness. There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we're going next -- and some subscribe to no faith at all. But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know. We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to "love thy neighbor as thyself." The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." In Islam, there is a hadith that reads "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule -- the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth. It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging. For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue. Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or resolve ancient hatreds. And that requires a living, breathing, active faith. It requires us not only to believe, but to do -- to give something of ourselves for the benefit of others and the betterment of our world. In this way, the particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us. Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America, and it will be the purpose of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships that I'm announcing later today. The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another -- or even religious groups over secular groups. It will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state. This work is important, because whether it's a secular group advising families facing foreclosure or faith-based groups providing job-training to those who need work, few are closer to what's happening on our streets and in our neighborhoods than these organizations. People trust them. Communities rely on them. And we will help them. We will also reach out to leaders and scholars around the world to foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith. I don't expect divisions to disappear overnight, nor do I believe that long-held views and conflicts will suddenly vanish. But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, then perhaps old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge. In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding. This is my hope. This is my prayer. I believe this good is possible because my faith teaches me that all is possible, but I also believe because of what I have seen and what I have lived. I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I've ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done. I didn't become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck -- no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God's spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose -- His purpose. In different ways and different forms, it is that spirit and sense of purpose that drew friends and neighbors to that first prayer breakfast in Seattle all those years ago, during another trying time for our nation. It is what led friends and neighbors from so many faiths and nations here today. We come to break bread and give thanks and seek guidance, but also to rededicate ourselves to the mission of love and service that lies at the heart of all humanity. As St. Augustine once said, "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." So let us pray together on this February morning, but let us also work together in all the days and months ahead. For it is only through common struggle and common effort, as brothers and sisters, that we fulfill our highest purpose as beloved children of God. I ask you to join me in that effort, and I also ask that you pray for me, for my family, and for the continued perfection of our union. Thank you. ]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2010:/news//3.573 2010-01-20T02:59:51Z 2010-01-20T03:18:30Z

Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown garnered more than a million votes in a surprise victory for the Republican candidate in a special election to fill the remaining 34 months of Ted Kennedy's US Senate term. Brown was among the first...

Patrick Whelan Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown garnered more than a million votes in a surprise victory for the Republican candidate in a special election to fill the remaining 34 months of Ted Kennedy's US Senate term. Brown was among the first national Republican candidates to advance an Obama-style abortion reduction strategy, one which was ignored by Massachusetts Citizens for Life and other conservative abortion groups that had previously condemned such an approach. Brown's candidacy was fueled with out-of-state contributions, but there was a tangible enthusiasm across the state that grew over the last two weeks of the campaign. His platform was essentially one of pledging to stop the Obama agenda of providing healthcare for all, holding the financial services industry accountable for the abuses that led to the profound worldwide recession of 2009, and applauding the Bush/Cheney approach to national security. The willingness of the conservative abortion groups to set aside their core principals to elect a Roe-v-Wade-supporting Republican could be interpreted two ways. One might hope that it signaled a new receptivity to finding common ground on the abortion issue. But it seemed more likely that this was a clarion reminder that conservatives have for years simply been playing the abortion card as a way to exploit Catholics and other people with deep convictions about abortion, while lacking any particular concern about the wellbeing of the unborn or any specific intention to solve the problem. tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2010:/news//3.572 2010-01-18T21:17:19Z 2010-01-18T21:23:26Z

Catholics and many other people of faith have strong feelings about the morality of abortion -- and questions regarding the impact on their lives of the current health care reform effort in Washington. So it's not surprising that conservative political...

Patrick Whelan Catholics and many other people of faith have strong feelings about the morality of abortion -- and questions regarding the impact on their lives of the current health care reform effort in Washington. So it's not surprising that conservative political groups have sought to use these issues to elect Republican candidates. Perhaps the surprising thing is how quickly groups like Massachusetts Citizens for Life (MCFL) were willing to abandon their principals on abortion to reveal their real priority: electing a Republican to the US Senate regardless of his views on abortion in order to kill health care reform. MCFL has a history of heavy-handed language when it comes to presidential politics. During the 2008 presidential election, they condemned Barack Obama as a "pro-abortion" candidate, and chose to ignore the groundbreaking efforts by the Obama Campaign to advance a message of abortion reduction. Now MCFL has endorsed State Senator Scott Brown for the US Senate, frequently referring to him as a "pro-life candidate"--despite his unequivocal support for Roe-vs-Wade. The major reason may be conservatives' determination to defeat any healthcare reform that might provide coverage for the nearly 50 million Americans who don't have it. Wrote President Jack Rowe on the MCFL website, "Here is the very exciting part. We in Massachusetts can actually save the whole country from this awful health care. Our PAC has been supporting Scott Brown because he will be a pro-life vote in the Senate. Scott Brown will also vote against the health care bill." It is difficult to understand how the defeat of healthcare reform can be considered a 'pro-life' position. According to a recent study from Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, 40,000 Americans die on average every year as a consequence of having no health insurance. Despite all the misinformation that the "tea party" movement and other extremists have put out regarding healthcare, the bills offered by the House and Senate will allow poor and low income individuals much greater opportunity to access needed medical care. With regard to abortion, it's worth noting that Republican candidate Brown has views that are largely the same as Attorney General Coakley and President Obama. Like the Democrats, Senator Brown believes that adoption should be made easier. But he goes even further on his website. He writes, "While this decision should ultimately be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor, I believe we need to reduce the number of abortions in America." In other words, Senator Brown's stated position on abortion is virtually indistinguishable from President Obama's, and MCFL is now apparently supporting an abortion stance that they vehemently opposed in the 2008 presidential election. The primary objective is clear: regardless of one's actual views on abortion, MCFL supports the Republican despite the fact thatMCFL and other conservative abortion-focused groups appear to have no qualms about a whole array of other life issues: Senator Brown's opposition to a national carbon emissions program that would begin to decrease the threat of global warming; his support for torture (eg. waterboarding) in interrogations; his support for increasing the deficit through extending the dramatic Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, while opposing healthcare reform for the same reason. Catholics and other voters who care about abortion should recognize the truth obscured by the endorsements of these conservative abortion groups: that both Martha Coakley and Scott Brown have embraced an approach to abortion that is primarily focused on supporting women and working to decrease the number of abortions. The balance of life and social justice issues--addressing the dramatic rise in poverty in our country, a crackdown on Wall Street abuses that led to our economy's meltdown and fixing the economy so it lifts everyone's opportunity, the creation of a clean energy economy, or finally solving the problem of 50 million medically uninsured Americans--should give any religiously-minded voter pause for thought about supporting the Republican in this race. tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.571 2009-11-26T08:40:19Z 2009-11-26T09:16:55Z

Several Catholic bishops, led by Cardinal Justin Rigali, signed on to a September 2009 statement by a New Jersey lawyer, Robert George, that trumpets the Republican social agenda. Few in the conservative movement realize what a toxic effect George had...

Catholic Democrats Staff Several Catholic bishops, led by Cardinal Justin Rigali, signed on to a September 2009 statement by a New Jersey lawyer, Robert George, that trumpets the Republican social agenda. Few in the conservative movement realize what a toxic effect George had on the public debate this past year, particularly in his writing during the presidential campaign. His oratorical flourishes scaled new summits of scorn in ideologically blistering indictments of then candidate Obama that were cloaked in Catholic language. Rev Charles McCarthy, a co-founder of Pax Christi USA, responds to this conservative manifesto that was co-signed by Tony Perkins, James Dobson, George Weigel and Bill Donohue. The Manhattan Declaration is a PR trick. It is condemning in a public forum what Jesus certainly would have rejected, while approving--via public and private silence and active support in daily operation for decades--what Jesus equally and unequivocally rejects. All the signatories, I know, are old hands at doing this nationally and locally: taking the moral high ground on denouncing what is inconsistent with the Way of Jesus on some issues, while saying nothing on or overtly endorsing other matters that are equally contrary to the Will and Way of God as revealed by Jesus. Natural human reason is their universal loophole to justify overriding the self-evident teachings of Jesus on Nonviolent Love of friends and enemies and thereby follow Him by killing and maiming millions in war. But, remember, Jesus is the Logos (Word) of God, the Source and ultimate norm of what they call natural human reason (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person. A Jesus, that is Logos, de-nuded understanding of natural human reason [See my "Christian Just War Theory: Spiritual Quicksand" essay in my book Christian Natural Law Just War Theory:The Logic of Deceit ] is how they all attempt to by-pass those logical network of implications and applications of the teaching of Jesus that they find inconsistent with their interests to be faithful and obedient to. God is not illogical, says Pope Benedict XVI in his Regensburg University address. His exact words are Not to act reasonably (with logos) is contrary to the nature of God...(T)he truly divine God is the God who has revealed himself as logos and, as logos, has acted and continues to act lovingly on our behalf...Consequently, Christian worship is "logic latreía" -- worship in harmony with the eternal Word and with our reason...Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature. However, Jesus is the Logos, who is the incarnation of God, God, and who is the source and creator of natural law and therefore cannot communicate one truth as God's Will and Way in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on Golgotha and the logical opposite of that truth as also truth via natural law, i.e, via the proper use of natural human reason in the very nature of the human person--that the Logos created. Natural human reason itself logically tells us with transparent clarity that if a use of Logos-given and Logos-imbued natural human reason arrives at a moral conclusion logically contrary to what the Logos incarnate, Jesus, taught, when He dwelt among us, a man like us in all things but sin, then it is self-evident we have to be employing our Logos-given and Logos-imbued understanding of the Logos-created natural law incorrectly. The Manhattan Declaration is but the latest strategy in the ancient game of moral charades which Constantinian Christians and Churches--that have bonded with the economic and political powers of one of the kingdoms of this world--have played for 1700 years. The Manhattan Declaration is an arch-misrepresentation of what Jesus taught and meant by "Follow me." It intentionally mis-directs people away from other equally serious and grave logical applications of the teachings of Jesus on the sanctity of life and the Will and Way of God, e.g. war. Therefore, it is an exercise in deceit--and hence a contemporary instrument and blatant example of intentional half-truth-false-witness. Rev Charles E McCarthy]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.570 2009-11-08T13:35:50Z 2009-11-08T19:25:03Z

House Democrats late Saturday night overcame a mountain of insurance industry opposition to pass the first substantive healthcare reform legislation since Medicare passed more than 40 years ago. Some conservatives sought to use the abortion issue as a foil to...

Catholic Democrats Staff Conservatives had increasingly sought in recent years to portray the Democrats as a "pro-abortion" party, but sixty-four Democrats voted in favor of Stupak's amendment. Democrats who opposed the amendment generally indicated that they felt the legislation itself had provided adequate assurance that the status quo on abortion funding would be maintained. The original bill had included language maintaining current restrictions on federal funding for abortion and guaranteeing conscience rights for doctors. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, in pastoral letters issued in 1981 and 1993, had called for universal healthcare coverage. In bulletin inserts distributed across the country, the bishops asserted the importance of opposing federal funding for abortion in the new healthcare legislation. The final bill incorporated language addressing all the bishops concerns about that issue, and advanced a key Catholic public policy priority--to stop the suffering and death that had accelerated in recent years among Americans who could not afford health insurance. "This is a day for celebration among Catholics and all Americans who believe that life's greatest test is how deeply we care for one another," said Dr Patrick Whelan, president of Catholic Democrats. "Those who attempted to use the abortion issue to defeat health reform put their dishonesty on full display Saturday by opposing this life-saving legislation despite the extraordinary precautions that were included to address the expressed concerns," he said. 39 Democrats voted against the legislation, including ten Catholics. Among them was Rep Dennis Kucinich from Cleveland. In contrast to many others, Kucinich indicated that his opposition was a result of the fact that the legislation did not go far enough to address the needs of people without insurance. "An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies." Rep Eric Massa, from a large district in Western New York, also complained about what he saw as the shortcomings of the legislation, saying, "This bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period. There's really no other way to look at it. I believe the private health insurance industry is part of the problem." The other Catholic Democratic members of Congress opposing the legislation were Jason Altmire (PA-4), Gene Taylor (MS-4), Jim Marshall (GA-8), Charlie Melancon (LA-3), Betsy Markey (CO-4), Michael E. McMahon (NY-13), Tim Holden (PA-17), John Boccieri (OH-16), and Jason Altmire (PA-4). Their reasons for opposing the measure were varied. Another Cleveland area representative, John Boccieri, said he supported providing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, but was concerned about the cost. He had joined other House Democrats earlier in the day on a procedural vote to permit debate on the health care bill to begin. Staten Island Rep McMahon issued a statement that applauded many of the goals of the legislation, but explained his 'no' vote by saying, "I do not believe that the House bill goes far enough in containing the cost curve in which healthcare spending takes up a larger and larger share of our GDP." Attention now moves to the Senate, where Republicans have vowed to block insurance reform. "We urge the Catholic members of Congress to support this landmark legislation, and the progress it represents in helping to realize the Gospel imperative of making health and healing available to all Americans," said Dr Whelan.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.569 2009-10-09T13:58:10Z 2009-10-10T06:32:26Z

The Norwegian Nobel Committee stunned the political world Friday with news that President Obama had been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the...

Catholic Democrats Staff "By championing dialogue over confrontation, and respect over scorn, President Obama has shown the way to the kind of peaceful world for which we as Catholics have been praying so earnestly all our lives," said Dr Patrick Whelan, president of Catholic Democrats. "He has called for a world without nuclear weapons, for an unprecedented effort to reduce abortions, for an end to torture and wars of conquest. As Catholic Christians, these have been our highest priorities through more than a century of unequaled human suffering." In his speech at the University of Notre Dame in May, President Obama called for a new era of dialogue about issues like abortion--urging a search for collective solutions, rather than the self-aggrandizement and name-calling that had paralyzed both sides on that issue. In Cairo he called for recognizing the humanity of one's adversaries, and reaching out to them for shared solutions. In Berlin, after 65 years of all nations living in fear of nuclear destruction, Mr Obama became the first sitting US president to call for a world without nuclear weapons. Conservative Catholics have criticized his methods, but the whole-hearted embrace of the full spectrum of Catholic priorities cannot be ignored. Eventually all Americans will have healthcare. Some day, all the nuclear weapons will be put to rest. In the future, all Americans will shake their heads at the thought that the US government sanctioned torture and permanent imprisonment of its enemies--measures that further fueled the world's hatred of the United States. Although nominations closed shortly after Mr Obama took office, the Norwegian panel had not selected the winner until mere days before the announcement. The Nobel Committee was headed by former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, who was also recently elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe. In remarks quoted in the New York Times, he likened this year's award to the one in 1971 that recognized Willy Brandt, the chancellor of West Germany, and his "Ostpolitik" policy of reconciliation with Communist Eastern Europe. "Brandt hadn't achieved much when he got the prize, but a process had started that ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall," Mr. Jagland said. "The same thing is true of the prize to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, for launching perestroika. One can say that Barack Obama is trying to change the world, just as those two personalities changed Europe." In Pope Benedict's remarks last week, welcoming the new US Ambassador to the Vatican, he foreshadowed the Nobel Prize Committee statement when he said, "I appreciate your acknowledgement of the need for a greater spirit of solidarity and multilateral engagement in approaching the urgent problems facing our planet. The cultivation of the values of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' can no longer be seen in predominantly individualistic or even national terms, but must rather be viewed from the higher perspective of the common good of the whole human family. The continuing international economic crisis clearly calls for a revision of present political, economic and financial structures in the light of the ethical imperative of ensuring the integral development of all people. What is needed, in effect, is a model of globalization inspired by an authentic humanism, in which the world's peoples are seen not merely as neighbors but as brothers and sisters." The Committee citation read as follows: The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened. Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population. For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges." ]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.568 2009-10-02T22:09:29Z 2009-10-02T22:13:26Z

Remarks of Pope Benedict XVI on Oct 2, 2009 in Vatican City, as rendered by the New York Times: Your Excellency, I am pleased to accept the Letters by which you are accredited Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United...

Catholic Democrats Staff by the New York Times: Your Excellency, I am pleased to accept the Letters by which you are accredited Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America. I recall with pleasure my meeting with President Barack Obama and his family last July, and willingly reciprocate the kind greetings which you bring from him. I also take this occasion to express my confidence that diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See, formally initiated twenty-five years ago, will continue to be marked by fruitful dialogue and cooperation in the promotion of human dignity, respect for fundamental human rights, and the service of justice, solidarity and peace within the whole human family. In the course of my Pastoral Visit to your country last year I was pleased to encounter a vibrant democracy, committed to the service of the common good and shaped by a vision of equality and equal opportunity based on the God-given dignity and freedom of each human being. That vision, enshrined in the nation's founding documents, continues to inspire the growth of the United States as a cohesive yet pluralistic society constantly enriched by the gifts brought by new generations, including the many immigrants who continue to enhance and rejuvenate American society. In recent months, the reaffirmation of this dialectic of tradition and originality, unity and diversity has recaptured the imagination of the world, many of whose peoples look to the American experience and its founding vision in their own search for viable models of accountable democracy and sound development in an increasingly interdependent and global society. For this reason, I appreciate your acknowledgement of the need for a greater spirit of solidarity and multilateral engagement in approaching the urgent problems facing our planet. The cultivation of the values of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" can no longer be seen in predominantly individualistic or even national terms, but must rather be viewed from the higher perspective of the common good of the whole human family. The continuing international economic crisis clearly calls for a revision of present political, economic and financial structures in the light of the ethical imperative of ensuring the integral development of all people. What is needed, in effect, is a model of globalization inspired by an authentic humanism, in which the world's peoples are seen not merely as neighbors but as brothers and sisters. Multilateralism, for its part, should not be restricted to purely economic and political questions; rather, it should find expression in a resolve to address the whole spectrum of issues linked to the future of humanity and the promotion of human dignity, including secure access to food and water, basic health care, just policies governing commerce and immigration, particularly where families are concerned, climate control and care for the environment, and the elimination of the scourge of nuclear weapons. With regard to the latter issue, I wish to express my satisfaction for the recent Meeting of the United Nations Security Council chaired by President Obama, which unanimously approved the resolution on atomic disarmament and set before the international community the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. This is a promising sign on the eve of the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Genuine progress, as the Church's social teaching insists, must be integral and humane; it cannot prescind from the truth about human beings and must always be directed to their authentic good. In a word, fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom and real development. For her part the Church in the United States wishes to contribute to the discussion of the weighty ethical and social questions shaping America's future by proposing respectful and reasonable arguments grounded in the natural law and confirmed by the perspective of faith. Religious vision and religious imagination do not straiten but enrich political and ethical discourse, and the religions, precisely because they deal with the ultimate destiny of every man and woman, are called to be a prophetic force for human liberation and development throughout the world, particularly in areas torn by hostility and conflict. In my recent visit to the Holy Land I stressed the value of understanding and cooperation among the followers of the various religions in the service of peace, and so I note with appreciation your government's desire to promote such cooperation as part of a broader dialogue between cultures and peoples. Allow me, Mr. Ambassador, to reaffirm a conviction which I expressed at the outset of my Apostolic Journey to the United States. Freedom -- the freedom which Americans rightly hold dear -- "is not only a gift but also a summons to personal responsibility;" it is "a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over to the cause of good" (Address at the White House, 16 April 2008). The preservation of freedom is inseparably linked to respect for truth and the pursuit of authentic human flourishing. The crisis of our modern democracies calls for a renewed commitment to reasoned dialogue in the discernment of wise and just policies respectful of human nature and human dignity. The Church in the United States contributes to this discernment particularly through the formation of consciences and her educational apostolate, by which she makes a significant and positive contribution to American civic life and public discourse. Here I think particularly of the need for a clear discernment with regard to issues touching the protection of human dignity and respect for the inalienable right to life from the moment of conception to natural death, as well as the protection of the right to conscientious objection on the part of health care workers, and indeed all citizens. The Church insists on the unbreakable link between an ethics of life and every other aspect of social ethics, for she is convinced that, in the prophetic words of the late Pope John Paul II, "a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized" (Evangelium Vitae, 93; cf. Caritas in Veritate, 15). Mr. Ambassador, as you undertake your new mission in the service of your country I offer you my good wishes and the promise of my prayers. Be assured that you may always count on the offices of the Holy See to assist and support you in the fulfillment of your duties. Upon you and your family, and upon all the beloved American people, I cordially invoke God's blessings of wisdom, strength and peace. ]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.567 2009-09-18T03:12:51Z 2009-09-18T03:25:23Z

A 63-yr-old Catholic man in Owosso, Michigan, was killed by another man who was apparently angry about the nature of the protests. Mr. James Pouillon was in front of Owosso High School doing what he did just about every day,...

Catholic Democrats Staff A New York Times story described the pain Mr Pouillon had experienced following a divorce, and how he had translated his grief into one man protests against abortion.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.566 2009-09-15T12:52:14Z 2009-09-15T12:56:42Z

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today awarded $35 million to 38 states and Puerto Rico for increasing the number of children adopted from foster care. States use the funds from the adoption incentive award to enhance...

Catholic Democrats Staff here.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.565 2009-09-10T05:21:07Z 2009-09-10T05:40:37Z

"In our Catholic tradition, health care is a basic human right. Access to health care should not depend on where a person works, how much a family earns, or where a person lives. Instead, every person, created in the image...

Patrick Whelan "In our Catholic tradition, health care is a basic human right. Access to health care should not depend on where a person works, how much a family earns, or where a person lives. Instead, every person, created in the image and likeness of God, has a right to life and to those things necessary to sustain life, including affordable, quality health care." --US Bishops' Statement on Healthcare, August 2009. President Obama, in a nationally-televised address to a joint session of Congress, asserted his leadership in framing the key questions regarding reform of the dysfunctional US health insurance system. Received with thunderous applause from both Democrats and Republicans, he began this critical speech by reminding the audience about the peril that had threatened the US economy at the time of the inauguration. While acknowledging the suffering still endured by many families, he indicated that Congress had acted boldly to pull the country back from the brink of economic disaster. He invited them to do the same for healthcare. "I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last," Mr. Obama said by way of introduction. Then he pointed out that a Republican, Theodore Roosevelt, had first proposed the creation of a national healthcare system nearly 100 years ago. President Obama then laid out three principles that he said were at the heart of any true reform effort: the system he seeks should provide more security and stability to those who already have health insurance. Second, it should provide insurance to those who don't have insurance. And finally, it must slow the growth of health care costs for families, businesses, and government. The legalities of the plan would dictate "consumer protections for those with insurance, an exchange that allows individuals and small businesses to purchase affordable coverage, and a requirement that people who can afford insurance get insurance." Alluding to some religious conservatives who had sought to defeat health reform by suggesting that the administration might expand abortion rights under the guise of new healthcare legislation, President Obama responded forcefully, "One more misunderstanding I want to clear up: under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place." The President ended his speech on a deeply personal note, citing the inspiration of Senator Ted Kennedy and calling on the lawmakers to honor his memory by working together to solve the healthcare puzzle. The President read from a letter he had received posthumously in recent days from Senator Kennedy, saying, "Ted Kennedy's passion was born not of some rigid ideology, but of his own experience. It was the experience of having two children stricken with cancer. He never forgot the sheer terror and helplessness that any parent feels when a child is badly sick." He quoted from the letter itself, which made a specific plea for victory in the healthcare fight: "It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me--and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination." Using resonant Catholic language, Senator Kennedy said that such reform "concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country." In the end, President Obama's remarks were rousing, and reenergized the fight against the interests that profit so much from the current system. He pointed to Senator Kennedy's logic, that America's future economic success was contingent on solving the healthcare problem. With a list of specific ideas drawn from both Republicans and Democrats, he called for his plan to become a starting point in the weeks ahead. "We did not come to fear the future," he said. "We came here to shape it."]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.564 2009-08-29T21:38:59Z 2009-09-02T13:17:15Z

Senator Edward Kennedy was mourned by 1500 attendees Saturday at his funeral in the Mission Hill Basilica of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Boston, along with a world-wide television audience. For many non-Catholic Americans, it was likely the first...

Patrick Whelan Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, presided over the ceremony. He warmly greeted President and Mrs Obama when he arrived, and during the exchange of peace offered good wishes to four presidents who were seated at the front of the beautiful Basilica. Cardinal O'Malley offered the concluding blessing before incensing the casket and commending Senator Kennedy to the procession that would carry his body to Arlington National Cemetery for interment Saturday evening. The congregation was welcomed by Fr Donald Monan, the president emeritus of Boston College, who leant a somber and wise presence to the occasion. Fr Monan's greeting set the tone for a very prayerful occasion, praising Senator Kennedy and the sense of fellowship created by so many friends coming together. The Kennedy Family participated in abundance in the service. Caroline Raclin declaimed with great conviction the powerful passage from Romans 8, "For I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor powers, neither height nor depth nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord." Fr Mark Hession, pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish on Cape Cod, read the Gospel that had come to be so closely identified with Senator Kennedy's life goals. With smiling calm, he read the words from Matthew 25, "I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brethren, you did it for me." Then in the reassuring tone of a confessor, he homilized about the connection between Senator Kennedy's own spiritual life and his advocacy for the common man. It was a measured, warm, brilliant sermon that seemed perfect for the audience and the occasion. Like the speakers who would follow him, Fr Hession paid special tribute to Mrs Victoria Kennedy. He recalled sitting with them in their home at Hyannis Port and contemplating the beauty of life. He spoke about the dignity of dying in the company of a supportive family--a theme that was richly illustrated by the stream of Kennedy grandchildren, nieces and nephews who marched to the pulpit afterward to offer the individual prayers of the faithful. His grandson, Ted Kennedy III, spoke with great seriousness and conviction as he prayed--using the words so often spoken by Senator Kennedy--that Congress would succeed in assuring that healthcare became a right for every morning, rather than an expensive privilege for the few. After Communion, three eulogists rose to offer their reflections on Senator Kennedy's life. Ted Kennedy Jr described in emotional terms the inspiration he took from his father after he suffered bone cancer at age 12. Having lost his leg, he lamented his inability to walk on the ice and to go sledding. He recalled his father saying, "We're going to climb this hill together, even if it takes us all day." He told a funny story about being out sailing many Friday afternoons with his father. He said they would stay out late, practicing their sailing maneuvers, long after the dinner had gotten cold. "Dad, why are we always the last boat out here?" he remembered asking. Senator Kennedy responded, "Because the other sailors are all much smarter than we are. But we will work harder and be better prepared than any of them!" Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) offered a similar reflection on his experience with asthma as a child, saying that when the family traveled he often got the best room ("non-smoking, hypoallergenic"), along with the full attention of his father who cared for him at night. His words yielded to those of Barack Obama. In the confident, calm fashion for which he has become known, President Obama offered a genteel portrait of a man who had been so generous with gifts and cards, and who had been a mentor and an inspiration. He said, "The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy's shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became." President Obama concluded, "Ted Kennedy has gone home now, guided by his faith and by the light of those that he has loved and lost. At last he is with them once more, leaving those of us who grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good that he did, the dream he kept alive, and a single, enduring image -- the image of a man on a boat; white mane tousled; smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for whatever storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon. May God Bless Ted Kennedy, and may he rest in eternal peace." The ceremony was one of great beauty, in a Basilica that had come to be associated with healing in its 131 years, and subsequently had helped spawn a fleet of Harvard-affiliated hospitals and the medical school nearby. The church serves as home to one of the original artistic renderings of one of Catholicism's most recognizable images: Our Mother of Perpetual Help. The image idealizes the mother and child, flanked by the angel saints Michael and Gabriel. St Michael is of course God's enforcer, and St Gabriel the patron of diplomats-- balancing principled conviction with humanizing flexibility, a theme to which so many of Senator Kennedy's friends had attested in the days leading up to Saturday's funeral. The music was superb, featuring an offertory reflection by Yo-Yo Ma. During Communion, Cesar Franck's Panis Angelicus was rendered by tenor Placido Domingo, with the same strength and spiritual resonance as his performance of it at Pope John Paul II's Mass in New York's Central Park in 1995. At the end of the Mass, there was a stunning bel canto performance of the Schubert Ave Maria by mezzo-soprano Susan Graham of the Metropolitan Opera, a Midland TX native who had performed at the second Bush Inauguration. Senator Kennedy was a very public Catholic, and the Mass of Bereavement attested to the central place his faith had played in both his own spiritual life and his lifelong commitment to the common good.]]> tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.563 2009-08-26T08:36:40Z 2009-08-26T08:38:34Z

Edward M. Kennedy -- the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply --died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the...

Patrick Whelan Edward M. Kennedy -- the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply --died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it's hard to imagine any of them without him. tag:www.catholicdemocrats.org,2009:/news//3.562 2009-08-26T08:18:08Z 2009-08-29T00:02:29Z

Senator Edward Moore Kennedy passed away Tuesday night after a year of courageously confronting cancer. His life was truly a witness to what is dearest to us as Catholics: searching for truth, persevering in the face of adversity, and living...

Patrick Whelan ' He believed in forgiveness and redemption. His phone messages were full of humility. He always began with his name, never presuming the recipient knew who he was, and wasn't shy about giving out his home number with an invitation to call late at night. He believed in the power of imagination to solve problems, and recognized how often brute force was doomed to failure. He believed that God had to have a sense of humor, and his laugh had a way of filling the room. He was such a good story teller, woven from his remarkable web of acquaintances and personal experiences. He was deeply devoted to his family, a relationship that neither ever seemed to take for granted. In all these things he was deeply Catholic, and an inspiration to the rest of us striving to live in God's love. Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus; O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. ]]>