Dear Parishioners,

Last week I promised to address the Obama Health  Care Plan and our Catholic community; I almost  wish I didn’t, but here goes. I have no intention of  arguing for or against the Health Care Plan that is  now in place. There are arguments for it and  against it from both right and left. Some say it will  endanger health care with enormous expense and  government controlled bureaucracy. Others  criticize it because they would prefer a “single  payer” plan or a strong “public option”; still others  argue that the present plan does not protect freedom  of conscience and leaves taxpayers liable to be  funding abortions which they strongly oppose.  While I have my personal opinions, I’ll keep them  to myself because these are not the issues I want to  address here. Now that the plan is adopted, for  those concerns we’ll just have to wait and see. My  concern here is the public debate and division amid  Catholic leadership with even the claim that one  side represents Catholic Faith and the other has  publicly denied it.

The U.S. Bishops, through their  administrative board, have strongly opposed any  support for the Obama Health Care plan; at the  same time a coalition of Catholic nuns, the Catholic  Hospital Association (representing Catholic  hospitals and Catholic healthcare facilities) and at  least one U.S. Bishop have strongly endorsed the  plan. Let me be clear (if clarity is possible on such  a complicated and complex issue). My formula for  voting or political decisions with Catholic values  and the “Church’s position” remains the same:

1. Ground your values in belief in Jesus, His  teaching and the Scriptures.
2. Get the facts (this is a hard one on Health  Care!)
3. Insist our Bishops give us leadership (no  silence like pre-war German Bishops)
4. Listen to our Bishops’ reasoning and not just  conclusions or headlines
5. Make your own best well informed decision.

Now the U.S. Bishops have long advocated universal health care and considered health care a  basic human right but argued that the Health Care  bill at present should be opposed; they argued that  the bill would extend abortion coverage, allow  federal funds to pay for elective abortion and deny  adequate conscience protection. Meanwhile the  Catholic Health Association, representing more than  1,200 healthcare providers, urged support of the bill  and argued that while not perfect it was an excellent  start that would bring meaningful coverage at an  affordable price to 32 million uninsured, with  adequate safeguards around abortion and  conscience. It seems there’s a disagreement around  number 2 of my formula: “get the facts”. Some  have elevated the disagreement to the level of a  denial of faith! One Archbishop has publically  called for any nuns who participated in such open  dissension from “the Church’s teaching on life” to  “cease identifying themselves as Catholics”. 

I continue to look for and hope for our  Bishops, particularly as a collegial body, to do their  homework and to advise legislators and voters on  value laden issues. I believe that to be their  responsibility and I believe they have a pretty good  track record at it. However since politics is always  a combination of the art of the possible and the  result of compromise, it’s hard to see how political  positions in a democracy ever become official and  definitive Church teaching. Plus in practice  Catholics do often end up paying for all sorts of  things with which they morally disagree. It may be  the Iraq War, the death penalty, or torture of terror  suspects. Abortion remains evil and deplorable.  Universal health care remains a basic right. Real  life remains really complicated! Wouldn't you agree?

Your Pastor,
Brian T. Joyce