NCR Today

Congressman Bart Stupak is holding a news conference as I write with his fellow pro-life Democrats. They announced an agreement with the White House for an executive order that confirms a pro-life interpretation of any ambiguous aspects of the current health care bill. Some on the Left charged that Stupak’s concern about the abortion language in the bill was all a ruse to defeat the health care bill. They owe the congressman an apology – he held the critical, decisive number of votes in his group, and he has delivered them.

Stupak’s commitment to pro-life principles in beyond question; in this murky world of politics if anything is clear, it is clear that Stupak was willing to defeat the bill unless he felt his concerns about abortion funding were met. So, it will be interesting to see which groups – and which Catholic blogs – denounce him now. This will distinguish those whose primary concern is for the protection of unborn life from those whose primary concern is the promotion of the GOP’s agenda.

A friend started getting a lot of phone calls on his answering machine the other day. Evidently, his number is remarkably similar to that of Congressman Jim Oberstar, one of the pro-life Dems who was holding out on the health care bill for a different approach to the issue of abortion funding. Rule #1 of lobbying: Make sure you have the right phone number.

The messages were telling. One person who identified themselves as a pro-life voter said the problem with the health care system could be fixed with tort reform. “Kill all the lawyers,” he said, not seeing the irony in being pro-life and advocating killing anybody. The calls came from all across the country, not only from the congressman’s district.

Here is a roundup of articles related to divisions in the Catholic community, and among Catholic members of Congress, on the health care legislation the House will consider today.

Bishops Urge Bill’s Defeat

Associated Press Reports

EJ Dionne

Maureen Dowd

Cardinal O'Malley

Illinois Catholic Reps Divided

President Obama held a rally for health care reform today at George Mason University in Virginia. The most compelling part of his message was -- for me, at least -- his appeal to the moral issue of ensuring the common good.

"It's a debate that is not only about the cost of health care," he said. "It's a debate about the character of our country -- about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time; whether we still have the guts and the courage to give every citizen, not just some, the chance to reach their dreams."

That’s the gut of the issue… deciding that we as a society will provide everyone, rich or poor, old or young… with the health care they need. It’s a vision of the common good, something integral to the Catholic tradition, and many other faith traditions as well.

Thus begins Dr. Patrick Whelan's discussion of a study of the Massachusetts health insurance program, Commonwealth Care, upon which the Senate's health care reform bill draws. The study was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine

Whelan's conclusion: "The recent experience in Massachusetts suggests that universal health care coverage has been associated with a decrease in the number of abortions performed."

Read more.

Whelan is on the pediatrics faculty at Harvard Medical School and is a pediatric rheumatology specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston. He is also a member of the NCR board of directors.

The latest "Room for Debate" in the New York Times pays an indirect tribute to the National Catholic Reporter.

All five of those asked to comment on what the Vatican should do about clerical sexual abuse of children are men.

Every one of them is worthy. Each has something valuable to say. By not including a single woman in the mix, however, the Timesreflects a widespread absence of women's voices in the media's coverage of critical church debates.

Excluding women from official church councils has, of course, been standard practice in the hierarchy's exercise of rule. When the Vatican decided to investigate American nuns, for example, nuns weren't consulted in any formal sense. It was done, as usual, by fiat.

For the mainstream media largely to repeat this pattern of neglect has been irresponsible, lending credibility to a bias against women (my interpretation) and furthering it. Occasionally women are asked to join in, but not nearly often enough.

Today is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The story is here.

It made my day! As I ate breakfast, I was elated reading, "Listen to the Nuns," E.J. Dionne's column in the Washington Post this morning. He was reporting on the courageous stand that the leadership of thousands of nuns took in support of passing health care reform with the Senate language on abortion, not the highly restrictive (and much misinterpreted) Stupak language in the House bill.

I am truly proud of NETWORK (of which I am a member), the social justice lobby leading the effort, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and Sr. Carol Keenan who announced a similar position for the Catholic Health Association.