Posted on 03/20/2010 7:05:58 AM PDT by IbJensen
WASHINGTON, DC — White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs revealed to reporters today that President Barack Obama actively promoted the Catholic Health Association's public break with the American Catholic bishops to support his health care legislation.
Gibbs also suggested that the CHA and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious' (LCWR) break with the U.S. Bishops has provided legitimate political cover for pro-life Democrats to switch their votes from "no" to "yes."
"I think over the past twenty four hours we have seen strong indications from those in the Catholic Church that support our belief that the legislation is about health care reform, and that it shouldn't and doesn't change the existing federal law [on abortion]. The Catholic Health Association and the order of nun's support is very important," Gibbs told reporters on the White House lawn for Thursday's press conference.
CHA president Sr. Carol Keehan and LCWR sparked an uproar this week after they came out definitively in favor of the Senate health care bill, which top pro-life organizations such as the National Right to Life Committee and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in addition to countless others, have strongly condemned as unacceptable for its abortion funding provisions. Since then, in their quest to woo the final pro-life Democrat holdouts among House lawmakers, party leaders have attempted to paint CHA's support for the bill as a bona fide endorsement from the Catholic community.
So far, the president's strategy appears to have paid off: some lawmakers have evidently already taken the two groups' endorsements as an excuse to switch their vote.
Gibbs cited Congressman Dale Kildee's (D-MI) Wednesday press conference - in which he explained how CHA's endorsement had "affected his thinking" to get him to support the bill - as a sign that Democrats may be able to get more lawmakers on board in the same way.
Gibbs said that the president had been engaged on the issue, and a reporter asked if he had reached out personally to the groups.
"The President met earlier this week with Sr. Keehan of the CHA," said Gibbs, saying the meeting took place in the Roosevelt Room, but that he "did not get a detailed run-down of the pitch that [Obama] made."
"I do know that he was effusive about her support and her as a person for making the courageous statements that she has," he said.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), one of the pro-life Democrat holdouts against the bill, pointed out this week that, as a trade association, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) has more at stake with the bill's passage than it may openly admit.
"I think the hospitals have a different perspective because they're running large institutions," Kaptur said. "They have a lot of issues at stake. They have to balance their budgets and so forth. I think that the Bishops are probably in a different position. I don't think that they're really managerially responsible for these institutions."
Unlike the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, CHA is a for-profit entity, and analysts have pointed out that it would greatly benefit financially from the passage of the bill. CHA had already promised large sums of money to the Obama administration in July to help pass the legislation - before it was ever crafted.
Traditional Catholic Nuns Back Bishops against Health Bill
Immediately after a leading group of religious sisters flouted US bishops to announce support for the Senate health care bill as "the REAL pro-life stance," a group of traditional Catholic nuns have backed the bishops' condemnation of the bill as a serious threat to Catholic pro-life values.
The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) entered into the health care scrap after the US Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops was challenged by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). LCWR, a left-leaning nationwide organization of religious sisters, joined the Catholic Health Association yesterday in demanding the House pass the Senate health care bill. The USCCB has urged Representatives to oppose the Senate bill, as the legislation does not have strong enough restrictions against federal dollars subsidizing abortion coverage, and gives seven billion dollars to “community health centers” to serve the urban poor. That section of the bill leaves funds open to go to sexual and reproductive “health” clinics that provide abortions, such as Planned Parenthood. The CMSWR, which claims to represent 10,000 Catholic sisters (20 percent of US women religious groups), announced that they stood with the US Bishops in opposing the Senate version of ObamaCare. “Recent statements from groups like Network, the Catholic Health Association and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) directly oppose the Catholic Church's position on critical issues of health care reform,” wrote Mother Mary Quentin Sheridan, R.S.M, President of the CMSWR on behalf of the organization. “The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, the second conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious in the United States, believes the Bishops' position is the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church,” she continued. “Protection of life and freedom of conscience are central to morally responsible judgment.
"We join the bishops in seeking ethically sound legislation.” Sheridan’s letter gives much needed support to the embattled US Catholic Bishops, who have found the Catholic front on health care undermined by the Catholic Health Association, several retired bishops, and the LCWR, which have all thrown their endorsement behind the Senate bill, despite the grave objections of the US Bishops and the leading pro-life organizations.
The White House has eagerly turned the defections into political gold, but the architect behind the break with the bishops was revealed to be none other than the President himself. Today White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters in a press conference that Obama was involved both in convincing the LCWR to break with the bishops on Wednesday, and had met personally with Sr. Carol Keehan of the CHA to get her public support for the health care bill.
The endorsements have hammered bishops' efforts to support a fragile coalition of pro-life Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) united against the health care bill. Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), who formerly supported the Stupak amendment, announced Wednesday morning that he would now support the Senate bill, saying he believed the Senate language sufficiently prevented federal money from subsidizing abortion.
Gibbs told reporters that pro-life Democrat Rep. Dale Kildee’s (D-Mich.) support for the health care bill had been enabled in part because these Catholic groups came on board endorsing the Senate bill.
Pro-Life House Dem: CHA Has Financial Incentive to Support Health Bill
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), one of the pro-life House Democrats facing tough pressure for opposing the abortion-laden Senate health care bill, has pointed out that, as a trade association, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) has more at stake with the bill's passage than it may openly admit.
"I think the hospitals have a different perspective because they're running large institutions," Kaptur said. "They have a lot of issues at stake. They have to balance their budgets and so forth. I think that the Bishops are probably in a different position. I don't think that they're really managerially responsible for these institutions."
Unlike the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, CHA is a for-profit entity, and analysts have pointed out that it would greatly benefit financially from the passage of the bill. CHA had already promised large sums of money to the Obama administration in July to help pass the legislation - before it was ever crafted.
CHA president and CEO Sr. Carol Keehan sparked an uproar over the weekend when she came out definitively in favor of the Senate health care bill, which top pro-life organizations such as the National Right to Life Committee and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in addition to countless others, have strongly condemned as unacceptable for its abortion funding provisions.
Since then, in their quest to woo the final pro-life Democrat holdouts among House lawmakers, party leaders have attempted to paint CHA's support for the bill as a bona fide endorsement from the Catholic community.
White House Secretary Robert Gibbs on Thursday mentioned that President Obama has met with Keehan over the bill, and pointed out that certain "Catholic" groups are in agreement with the White House on the bill's merits.
CHA, along with Catholic Charities USA and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, caused a small stir in August by releasing an "action alert" urging Catholics to pressure lawmakers "with calls and emails supporting health care reform immediately."
At that time, Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, said the groups' involvement with the White House and willingness to push the administration's health care agenda was ominous.
"All of this leads one to wonder what exactly Obama has been stirring up," Brown told LifeSiteNews.com.
I honestly believe that eventually we are going to see a more concrete split....those Catholics who follow the Teaching Magisterium will be with the Pope and the dissidents will clearly continue to go their own way....but will be out!
Pray...
The new Axis of Evil.
If the Bishops oppose Obamacare, I suppose all's fair when the Dems strike back. But causing schism in the Church as a political tool is something I've only read about in History books.
Do you feel like you’re in Germany 1938 and witnessing evil up close and personal?
Now, you know what the victims of the Holocaust felt like watching evil grow and then evil came and hauled them off.
They remind me of those groups of ‘peace priests’ that were suborned by the Stalinist regimes of Eastern Europe during the Cold War—even in Poland.
I, for one, feel as though I’m in czar-filled Madrid and it’s 1936!
Obama is not Catholic, it is not his church, and it’s none of his business. He should have stayed out of it. If I were Catholic, I would take offense at the White House meddling in internal church affairs for political gain.
Then it’s time to revoke the Catholic Churches tax-exempt status. And I’m a Catholic.
I can’t wait for November.
I don't think that we can feel exactly as late 1930's Germans felt, because we know how their story ended. They had no idea what horror was coming down the pike.
We're seeing the explosion of the Tea Parties and the unprecedented rise in activism among the center-right, precisely because we've seen this movie before.
We're already moving to head off the disaster that they allowed to overtake them.
Well stated and you are correct.
Many of us can agree that pure Evil is in this Congress and this Administration. Evil equally as sinister and diabolical as the evil in Germany.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.