Posted on 12/17/2009 2:57:39 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o
Dear Bishop ________,
Groups claiming the title Catholic are working effectively to support legislation which violates core Catholic social teachings.
Catholics across the political spectrum should lend their full-throated support to this [Health Care Reform] legislation. The bishops' stamp of approval means that this bill is unambiguously pro-life, and we will vigorously oppose those who suggest otherwise.
Chris Korzen
Catholics United
http://www.catholics-united.org/>
Here, Chris Korzen is speaking of the Health Care Reform that passed the House in November which --- despite the Stupak Amendment --- is still objectionable in part from a Catholic point of view.
This is a Bill which would re-route hundreds of millions of dollars away Medicare at a time when Medicare is almost insolvent, significantly reducing medical care available to the elderly. *
....A Bill whose vast regulations usurp the legitimate independence of judgment and action of every intermediate institution: local, private, church-related, profit and non-profit. *
A Bill which vests major power in centralized control mechanisms, preempts the decision-making of patients and their families, and interposes itself between patients and their physicians. *
Yet groups like the misnamed Catholics United are not only claiming that the House Bill has the bishops stamp of approval, but are similarly misrepresenting the Senate version, which in addition would provide massive funding for abortion and end-of-life protocols which are fraught with moral danger--- to say the least.
The details of the deceptive Catholic groups misrepresentations can be read here:
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7361&Itemid=48>
Or, if you like, you can read about their activities at their own websites and in their own words:
http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/news/>
http://www.catholicsinalliance.org/node/21100>
http://www.catholics-united.org/>
LifeNews has this to say (excerpts):
http://www.lifenews.com/nat5767.html>
Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common
in new interviews with the Christian Science Monitor today (Dec. 11), are hoping to water down the concerns over the massive government expansion of abortion under the auspices of the health care bill.
"In a story that will likely confuse Catholics even further, the CSM gave the groups a platform to make their case that health care trumps the taxpayer funded death and destruction of perhaps hundreds of thousands of unborn children a year under the health care bill.
"For months, bishops have made their guidance plain: If the final bill weakens a ban on public funding for abortion, then Catholics should oppose it. But they are finding many of their antiabortion adherents willing to embrace what they see as a greater good improving access to healthcare even if it undercuts the stand against abortion," CSM writes.
Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United, which claims a membership of 50,000, said that Catholics should have "open minds" on forcing Americans to fund abortions.
The wrong thing would be for anyone to be so firmly entrenched in their positions on federal funding of abortion that they're not willing to come
and talk about a compromise," he said.
There can be no doubt that Catholic Social Justice teaching favors a genuine reform which secures more equitable access to health care for all: employed and unemployed, born and unborn.
We support reforms embodying our obedience to Christ, our solidarity with the needy, and our commitment to subsidiarity. This means we must preserve the legitimate liberty and active role of many forms of organization: profit and non-profit, religious and secular, public and private, with an emphasis upon keeping health-care decision-making as personal and local as possible.
The exasperating problem is that this Bill is not that reform. The only thing we are confident that it secures is public funding for abortion.
How hard will you, and the rest of our Bishops, press back against so-called Catholic groups who, in their push for this dubious piece of legislation, misrepresent their advocacy as embodying the teachings of the Church and has having "the bishops' stamp of approval"?
The answer to that question should draw a bright line between true and false.
Praying for Divine guidance and protection for you and for the Church in this time of peril, I remain
Yours faithfully,
[signed]
And I can get you YOUR Bishop's fax number ---I have a list of the fax numbers of all the Catholic Bishops in the United States. Personal Message me for the info.
Here's what I'm suggesting: write your own letter to your Bishop, using the information found in my letter, if you like, but in your own words.
Please contact me on this. Every one of us has access to two free faxes per day, thanks to
I would like to make a list of all the Catholic FReeper activists who are willing to get active on this, and other similar issues as they come up in the future.
Thank you and God bless you.
You can send 2 faxes today for free from this website:
And I can get you YOUR Bishop's fax number ---I have a list of the fax numbers of all the Catholic Bishops in the United States. Personal Message me for the info.
Here's what I'm suggesting: write your own letter to your Bishop, using the information found in my letter, if you like, but in your own words.
Please contact me on this. Every one of us has access to two free faxes per day, thanks to
I would like to make a list of all the Catholic FReeper activists who are willing to get active on this, and other similar issues as they come up in the future.
Thank you and God bless you.
well Bill Donahue claims to speak for all Catholics and his group (the Catholic League) has a membership of one (him).
Really? I thought the league membership was coming up on a quarter million. Where did all that money come from that they have in their account?
But none of us --- and that includes my bishop --- can give an opinion on prudential (purely how-to) questions which is authoritative; and nobody who isn't a bishop should claim to be speaking for the bishops (as Korzen has.)
If Donahue claimed misleadingly to be giving "the bishops' stamp of approval" on a prudential judgment, I'd blow the whistle. And if I did that, I hope somebody would blow the whistle on me!
ping
I’ve been a member of the Catholic League since it was founded, and there are a lot of other members, too.
BTTT
Will do, and thanks.
Yes, and make sure it is every bit as long or longer, just to guarantee he never reads it.
+{{{:o)
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