Congress should avoid measures that harm at-risk students, low-income families and the global poor who benefit from international assistance, said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., and Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, in a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate on Nov. 13. The bishops oversee the justice and peace efforts of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “As you work to avoid sequestration and enact responsible deficit reduction…we hope longstanding moral principles and values will inform your decisions,” they wrote. The bishops said Pope Benedict XVI warns against “downsizing of social security systems” and emphasizes “solidarity with poor countries” and asked Congress to weigh the “human and moral consequences” of numerous policy choices. The bishops said the “important goal” of long-term deficit control “must not be achieved at the expense of the dignity of poor and vulnerable people at home and abroad.”
Do No Harm
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
Around the affluent world, new hostility, resentment and anxiety has been directed at immigrant populations that are emerging as preferred scapegoats for all manner of political and socio-economic shortcomings.
“Each day is becoming more difficult, but we do not surrender,” Father Igor Boyko, 48, the rector of the Greek Catholic seminary in Lviv, told Gerard O’Connell. “To surrender means we are finished.”
Many have questioned how so many Latinos could support a candidate like DonaldTrump, who promised restrictive immigration policies. “And the answer is that, of course, Latinos are complicated people.”
Catholic voters were a crucial part of Donald J. Trump’s re-election as president. But did misogyny and a resistance to women in power cause Catholic voters to disregard the common good?