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Over at Catholic Advocate, Deal Hudson has an article up attacking some of those Catholics who recently signed a letter to Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius regarding the need to expand the conscience protection clauses of the new health care mandates. Hudson charges the group with, among other things, "incoherence" because they lambasted Speaker John Boehner for backing a budget that eviscerates programs that help the poor and vulnerable but they supported the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius.
It should be recalled that then-Sen. Sam Brownback, whose ideological leanings are right up Hudson's alley, also supported the nomination of Sebelius, but never mind.
Hudson also raises the specter of "closing down Catholic Hospitals" but that shows how badly he misunderstands the issues. The mandates have nothing to do with what hospitals must provide. They have to do with what is covered by insurance programs and therefore effect employees at all Catholic institutions. I support the call for increased conscience protections for Catholic institutions, as readers of this blog know, and I hope and believe that Secretary Sebeliys will listen to those Catholics who have written to her. I am not sure she would listen to Hudson because no matter what she does, he is going to be opposed to her. Hudson could at least be a little more gracious towards those who signed the letter to her, acknowledging that, whatever their differences on other issues, he is glad to be aligned with them on this one.
A final point. We are not "Obama Catholics." We are Roman Catholics who support many of President Obama's initiatives. Hudson may have conflated his politics with his religious so thoroughly he no longer recognizes the difference, but the rest of us have not done so.
