Faith & Politics

Bishop decries 'combative tactics' of a minority of U.S. bishops

'Catholic community risks isolating itself from the rest of the country.'
By Tom Roberts
A majority of U.S. bishops disagree with the loud tactics of some of their peers in opposing President Barack Obama’s May appearance at the University of Notre Dame, but remain silent because they do not want to engage in a public battle over the issue, says Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM.
read more...
 

'We've been uprooted into a life of service'

Interview with U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Miguel Diaz
By John L. Allen Jr.
In many ways, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Miguel Diaz has his work cut out for him. Not only does he have to learn the argot and customs of international diplomacy on the fly, but he represents a president who can seem an ambivalent figure seen through the Vatican’s prism: congenial on many matters of foreign policy, but problematic on abortion, contraception, and other life issues.
read more...
 

Obama on health care encourages Catholic officials

Bishops' official: 'We look forward to working with Obama'
By Dennis Sadowski, Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's pledge to continue the ban on the use of federal funds for abortion and to maintain conscience protections for health care workers in any health reform legislation was welcomed by two officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the president of the Catholic Health Association.
read more...
 

Who Speaks for the Bishops on Health Care?

NCR Editorial
What is the first principle Catholics should consider when thinking about the current health care reform debate? Three Midwestern bishops recently offered two conflicting responses to this question.
read more...
 
 

Victory over same-sex marriage comes at high price

Catholics divided by hard fought campaign

Nov. 06, 2009
By Chuck Colbert
Catholics for Marriage Equality at the Holiday Inn, Portland, Maine on election night. (Chuck Colbert photo)

Analysis

PORTLAND, MAINE — After a campaign that saw significant Catholic activism on both sides of the issue, Maine voters rejected a law that would have allowed same-sex marriages.

Fifty-three percent of voters said yes to overturning a law passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor in May.

But in Washington state, it appeared that a referendum to uphold a law granting same-sex domestic partners the same rights as married spouses would be narrowly approved, 51 percent to 49 percent. The referendum had been opposed by Washington's Catholic bishops.

'Toxic politics' prevent immigration reform

Nov. 05, 2009
By Jerry Filteau
A nun holds up a sign during an immigration rally in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Oct. 13. Thousands of people came to Capitol Hill for a day of lobbying and an afternoon rally calling for comprehensive immigration reform. (CNS/Bob Roller)

WASHINGTON -- "A toxic political atmosphere" is preventing much-needed humane reform of the "broken immigration system" in the United States, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick said Nov. 3 at a forum on immigration and human dignity at Georgetown University.

Calling for "comprehensive immigration reform,' the retired Washington archbishop said, "We have to change what is broken, lest more people will suffer. We have to be courageous and persistent and change the system."

Bishops' health care bulletin inserts go nationwide

Nov. 02, 2009
By Catholic News Service
Image from the bishops' Web page www.usccb.org/healthcare

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has sent bulletin inserts to almost 19,000 parishes across the country in an effort to urge Catholics to prevent health care reform from being derailed by support for abortion funding.

"Health care reform should be about saving lives, not destroying them," the insert states. It urges readers to contact Senate leaders so they support efforts to "incorporate long-standing policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights" in health reform legislation.

"If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed," it adds.

In Maine, same-sex marriage is a Catholic issue

Oct. 29, 2009
By Chuck Colbert
Anne Underwood of Catholics for Marriage Equality joined two dozen clergy speaking out for same-sex marriage at a news conference in Portland, Maine. (photo by Chuck Colbert)

Commentary

Several hundred Catholics in Maine have publicly declared themselves supporters of same-sex marriage, in direct opposition to their bishop, Richard J. Malone of Portland, who they say has gone overboard with a no-holds-barred campaign to roll back same-sex marriage in the Pine Tree State.

Archdiocese opposes legal gay marriage in DC

Oct. 29, 2009
By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Archdiocese said in written testimony Oct. 26 that it opposes legislation to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in the District of Columbia and is concerned the bill "would restrict the free exercise of religious beliefs if it is passed as drafted."

The archdiocese said it "opposes this legislation and any effort to redefine marriage as other than that between a man and a woman."

Bishops respond to Rep. Kennedy's criticism

Oct. 27, 2009
By Catholic News Service

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York strongly criticized remarks by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., about the U.S. bishops' role in the health reform debate.

In an interview with Cybercast News Service Oct. 22, Kennedy said the bishops were fanning "the flames of dissent and discord" by insisting that health reform not include abortion funding.

"I can't understand for the life of me how the Catholic church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time, where the very dignity of the human person is being respected by the fact that we're caring and giving health care" to the millions of people who are currently uninsured, Kennedy said in the CNSNews.com interview.

"You mean to tell me the Catholic church is going to be denying those people life-saving health care?" he added. "I thought they were pro-life. If the church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health care reform because it's going to provide health care that is going to keep people alive."

Signals from Rome: engagement and confrontation

Oct. 06, 2009
By Thomas Patrick Melady
Thomas Patrick Melady

In a two-month period, Rome sent American Catholics two clear signals. One was on engagement -- the historic meeting of President Barack Obama with Pope Benedict XVI on July 10. The other signal was on the resignation of Scranton, Pa., Bishop Joseph F. Martino on Aug. 31.

For the past decade there has been considerable discussion centered around two words: engagement and confrontation.

Bishops on health care: Abortion out, immigrants in

Oct. 01, 2009
By Nancy Frazier O'Brien, Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON -- As a Senate committee considered a range of amendments on many of the same issues, bishops representing three committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called on senators to insist that any final health reform bill exclude mandated coverage of abortion, protect conscience rights, safeguard the health of immigrants and protect "the life, dignity and health of all."

For 'values voters,' health care reform has little value

Sep. 22, 2009
By Kevin Eckstrom, Religion News Service

WASHINGTON -- Health care reform may be Priority No. 1 in Congress and at the White House, but for the 1,825 religious conservatives who gathered here for the annual Values Voter Summit over the weekend, the subject was barely on their radar screen.

"To me, there are so many more important issues than health care right now," said John Leaman, a retired yacht builder from Lancaster, Pa. Added his wife Linda, a waitress: "I don't think it's as urgent as Obama's making it out to be." The real problem, she said, is illegal immigrants "cluttering up our emergency rooms."

The right to health care

Sep. 18, 2009
An NCR editorial

Access to affordable quality health care is a God-given right. Not a privilege or a grant of charity, nor a last resort provided by a “safety net.” A right.

This is traditional Catholic teaching and the first principle by which Catholics should judge the various proposals to expand health insurance to the nearly 50 million of our uninsured neighbors who currently lack the security such coverage provides. Read the encyclicals, read the catechism, read the teachings of the pontiffs, read what the U.S. bishops -- speaking through the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops -- have written.