I wrote the other day about conservative Catholic politicians whose views are at odds with church teachings, and asked if church leaders would offer guidance and instruction like they often do to liberal Catholic lawmakers. A high-profile example may be emerging with a letter drafted and signed by Catholic university professors to Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, who is set to give the commencement address at the Catholic University of America. The New York Times reports:
More than 75 professors at Catholic University and other prominent Catholic colleges have written a pointed letter to Mr. Boehner saying that the Republican-supported budget he shepherded through the House of Representatives will hurt the poor, elderly and vulnerable, and therefore he has failed to uphold basic Catholic moral teaching.
“Mr. Speaker, your voting record is at variance from one of the Church’s most ancient moral teachings,” the letter says. “From the apostles to the present, the Magisterium of the Church has insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor. Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic policy makers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it.”
The letter writers go on to criticize Mr. Boehner’s support for a budget that cut support for Medicare, Medicaid and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, while granting tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations. They call such policies “anti-life,” a particularly biting reference because the phrase is usually applied to politicians and others who support the right to abortion.
The signatories note that they are reflecting the views of US bishops who published a piece criticizing elements of certain budget proposals that would drastically reduce aid to the poor while leaving military and defense spending nearly untouched.
Read the full article here.
You make an excellent point. Our Catholic professors need to speak the truth to power even when it goes against the prevailing protocols of the left.
http://datinggod.org/2011/05/11/catholic-scholars-challenge-rep-john-boehner-on-church-teaching-before-cua-commencement/
On the other hand, there is a lot a government can do to raise the standard of living for all its citizens so that the even the poorest among us are doing better than they would without government help. The problem, always, is that all the good intentions behind government programs are matched by the greed and schemes of those who do not see goverment as their fellow citizens reaching out, but instead as an inhuman entity that can be exploited and cheated.
In other words, the reasoning behind some Republican positions is understandable. However, w?hen Republicans try to balance the budget by not nourishing the bodies and not nurturing the minds of the children of the poor, they impoverish the whole of society no matter that they are or are not in some way seeing themsleves as carrying out the will of God. ? ??C?o??m?m?o?n? ?s?e?n?s?e? ?w?o?u?l?d? ?m?a?k?e? ?i?t? ?c?l?e?a?r? ?t?h?a?t? ?t?h?i?s? ?i?s? ???p?e?n?n?y?-??w?i?s?e? ?a?n?d? ?p??o?u?n?d? ?f?o?o?l?i?s?h?.
Why good Christian people want to delegate their moral responsibilities towards their fellow citizens to a secular government is puzzling. Is it a matter of making sure that those who wouldn't otherwise contribute are forced to contribute via taxes? Doesn't sound very Christian to me.
The short response to Michael is that lots of people went through life with poor dental care, dietary deficiencies, etc. They died young. In our modern, complex society the communal, idyllic care ethos that you envision couldn't exist, at least not without government support. No one is stopping you from caring for family and other loved ones at home-Medicare/caid encourage that kind of thing.
As for the "secular government" cut, well, I happen to take my responsibilites as a citizen seriously-unlike Ronald Reagan I don't think that "government is part of the problem."
Yeah, cause the guy that produced Al Gore's documentary is a notorious right-wing propagandist! And it appears Joel Klien is another closet right-wing foot soldies in this so-called "attack" on public schools. And don't let me forget that hotbed right wing rag the New Yorker peddling the "attack's" propaganda what with detailing rubber rooms! My God, there IS a vast right wing conspiracy, and in the unlikliest of places!
If you think we'll reform the pubilc education system by giving yet MORE power to the teachers unions, I've got a beach-front property in Arizona you might be interested in.
But hey, I think you're a self-avowed Socialist, so you're probably comfortable with Kafkesque outcomes.
As for "school reformers" they come in all political stripes. I am well aware that many Democratic party moderates-especially those in finance & public policy (the elite)-are big backers of vouchers and attacking teachers' unions.
Why are some of my fellow bloggers so quick to attack this letter? Why not mull it over? Maybe these professors raise some good points.
Sorry about the accidental duplicate posts (here and in a couple of other places). I don't know what is causing this to happen.
Jeff Landry:
The early Church was socialist (Acts 2:44-45, 4:32), in addition to being anarcho-pacifist.
I think its called "dialogue", Vince. "Attack mode" is what people who think giving choices to poor kids about their education call "assaults on public education".
It was also hierarchical; but that doesn't seem to carry much weight with most.
Vouchers are a Republican means to an end...the end of U.S. public schools.
I would argue that school vouchers do not, in the long run, offer much "choice" for most poor children and damages our public education system. It is a system for all of us-it serves the citizenry in many ways and should not be narrowed to a single objective (a bit like our pulic university system).
BTW, how can something be anarco-pacifist and hierarchical?
If it is, its not the Republican's fault. People vote with their feet...and dollars.
It was true of East Germany; it would be true of public schools as well.
Vince, I'm confident I did respond to your "actual points", such as they were. No one's identity is a target for me other than how it explains your support for keeping disadvantaged kids locked in a system that we know will lead most of them to drop out (at best) and various social dysfunctions (at worst).
Greece, Ireland and Portugal have recently been severly economically impacted due to their high level of national debt. All government services wagesa and pensions were cut back across the board.
The International Monetary Fund,a worldwide organization that monitors all nations fiscal and monetary accounts, observed in its April 2011
semi-annual report "Fiscal Monitor" that the United States did not have a credible plan to control and manage its hugh and very rapidly growing national debt. The IMF "Ficsal Monitor" report further states that this level of debt and its rapid yearly growth is unsustainable. THe national debt to Gross Domestic Product is approaching 100%, a dangerously high level of indebtedness. Nationas such as Greece, Ireland and now Portugal with high debt to GDP ratios have been unable to continue to finance themselves and had to be bailed out and forced to impose drastically cut back all governemnt services programs and expenditures inclduing pensions and government employee salaries.
So it turn out as it always does that the moral picture painted by moralizers such as Catholic university professor does not represent all the critical technical facts need to made a fair and reasonable assessment of the urgent United States' governemnt need to establish a cretible budgetary to control the growth of our national debt.
Rather the Catholic college professor without technical knowldege or facts make extreme moral judgements proclaining with certainty and absolute terms condemnation on perfectly decent people of goodwill and ability such as John Boehner, the Speaker of the House. They would do well to give him a chance to speak and llisten to what he has to say. They would learn alot that they do not know.
I nowhere denied the early church had a hierarchy. As I said, the anarchism of the early Church was anarcho-pacifism - a rejection of Christians serving in the government or military because both implied formal cooperation in the use of violent police powers, when Christ's teaching rules out any and all uses of violence. Non-violent hierarchies within voluntary associations such as the Church obviously pose no moral problems for anarcho-pacifism.
Tom Maher:
See comment 7. on "Boehner and the Poor"
http://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=16977
But I submit that the Speaker's role in saving the DC Scholarship program (not to mention his overall cooperation on education policy with folks like Teddy Kennedy, Arne Duncan, and Pres. Obama) IS relevant to the criticisms being levelled against him in the letter. If the letter writers had bothered to mention (thank?) him for such action, then it would come off to me as a more sincere invitation to dialogue rather than simply caricaturing his record as "anti-poor".
I’d also be more impressed if those that signed the letter also wrote a similar letter to those politicians who fail to support the right to life of the poorest of the poor – the unborn.
"Medicaire and Medicaid have been around for a mere 50 years in our country's official230 year history. How did the country get along without them in the previous 180+ years? Churches, charities, family, friends."
Medicare was needed because insurance companies would not insure those over 65 and the disabled!
Are you saying that Churches, charities, family, friends should or would have be able to given that knd of support?
I have more problems with Representatve Ryan, who posts on his website that he is a member of St. John Vianney Church and says that he was motivated to go into public service by Ayn Rand.