Catholic bishops warn Congress not to throw poor off ‘fiscal cliff’
Tags
Related Posts
About the author
(RNS) As Congress embarks on high-stakes budget negotiations to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” leaders of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are warning elected officials not to target programs for the poor and instead raise taxes and reduce defense spending.
“In developing frameworks for future budgets, Congress should not rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons,” Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., and Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, wrote in a Nov. 13 letter to the House and Senate.
Blaire and Pates chair the bishops’ committees on domestic and international issues, and the letter asks that “poverty-focused international assistance programs” also be spared because they are a small slice of the budget pie, are effective and enjoy bipartisan support.
The letter from Blaire and Pates was issued the same day the entire USCCB failed to agree on a broader and more authoritative 14-page statement on economic suffering from the recession.
The rare rejection of the longer document, “The Hope of the Gospel in Difficult Economic Times,” followed intense criticism from bishops who argued that it was too vague and did not address the current crisis or offer solutions based on Catholic social teaching.
The two-page letter from Blaire and Pates, meanwhile, contained the sort of specifics that many bishops wanted to see in the the longer document.
“In budget deficit efforts, there has always been a bipartisan consensus to exempt programs for the most vulnerable and instead to call for shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate revenues, eliminating unnecessary military and other spending, and addressing the long-term costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly,” Blaire and Pates wrote.
“To achieve savings, policy makers should consider cutting nuclear weapons programs, direct agricultural subsidies, and other unnecessary spending.”
The bishops say the “important goal” of addressing long-term deficits is necessary, but must not be achieved “at the expense of the dignity of poor and vulnerable people at home and abroad.”
They cite Pope Benedict XVI’s warning against the “downsizing of social security systems,” and they frame their appeal in terms of “traditional principles and values.”
The bishops also say government and other institutions “have a shared responsibility to promote the common good of all, especially ordinary workers and families who struggle to live in a manner worthy of their dignity in difficult economic times.”
“We remind you that the moral measure of this budget debate is not which party wins or which powerful interests prevail, but rather how those who are jobless, hungry, homeless or poor are treated.”
SOURCE
Leave a Comment
Photo Archive
-
Jun 19, 2013 5:55
Poll: Catholic Church view on same-sex marriage causing parishoners to flee
-
Jun 19, 2013 5:52
Man arrested in shooting during Catholic church service in Utah
-
Jun 19, 2013 5:45
Scituate parishioners taking dispute to highest Vatican court
-
Jun 19, 2013 5:41
Local clergy abuse survivor testifies before the United Nations
-
Jun 19, 2013 5:38
Alleged victim of clergy sexual abuse files lawsuit
-
Jun 18, 2013 10:28
Chaos as gunfire erupts at Utah Father’s day Mass
-
Jun 17, 2013 4:51
Obama names former CRS head ambassador to the Vatican
-
Jun 17, 2013 4:46
Addressing U.S., global child malnutrition a top priority for advocates
-
Jun 17, 2013 4:42
Female priests risk excommunication to be ordained
-
Jun 14, 2013 5:04
Catholic League president: ‘Nest of homosexual priests’ should be ‘rooted out’
14 Comments
This Country always took care of its own. I believe that is why God once blessed the US abundantly. In 1996 war was declared on the poor. When this happened I considered it the beginning of the downfall of this Nation. Sure enough now those who demanded the end of social programs have now been struck with vengeance by God. It is obvious that this Nation is no longer being blessed as it was before by God. All we have to do is look at todays economy. Many who were once rich are rich no more. Everyone has been struck financialy in one way or another. The price on everthing is skyrocketing. And now these very same people who wanted war on the poor are themselves seeking Government assistance in one way or another. God promised that if we give he will reward us a hundred fold. Now we are paying the price for our greed, and receiving 0 fold.
I am becoming more and more curious as to how much of OUR monetary contributions to the Bishops was used to try to defeat Obama and the various gay marriage ballot proposals. I would also like to compare that to what, if anything, they spent in CA to defeat the proposal to end capital punishment. They speak of pro-life from conception until natural death but seem stuck in the conception groove. Would like proof of their concern for the entire spectrum of life except for a pious sentence here and there in the midst of anti-abortion, anti-contraception volumes.
I think ever bishop should be mandated to take a year in a poor to working class parish. Live in the neighborhood, hear confessions, visit their sick etc. no episcopal functioning. They could start with 25% of them a year and in four years maybe we will have a less elitist hierarchy.
I like your idea a lot Mary Bethany. Unfortunately I can’t think of one of them who would do it for a year. I can think of many who would do it for a day as long as there was someone taking photos so they can be plastered all over their Diocesan newspaper. Isn’t that a shame!
Mary, These guys reall kill me with all their “Social(ism) Gospel” ranting about the “poor” while they mingle themselves with the elite and movers & shakers of their own diocese with fine dining and constant award banquets. Where is their concern for the midddle class who pay for this stuff? As much as I detest Nancy Pelosi, she is correct when she stated the Catholic Bishops are just another lobby group. Frankly, the Bishops got their guy elected. They really wanted Obama to win. Dolan is a joke and most of these guys are socialist liberals anyway who support illegal immigration while expecting the rest of us to pay for everything. They are in bed with the Obama doctrine. Obama’s chief political strategist is Catholic David Axelrod. He knew exactly how to play out and obtain the Catholic vote.
The bishops got their guy elected??? If they were for Obama they had a really weird way of showing it.
@Ed. Are you really THAT naive? Obama supports virtually all the Bishops wanted –Illegal Immigration, Open Borders, Higher Taxes, Free Healthcare with Higher Taxes on Everyone. Viola !!! the USCCB’s Social(ism) Gospel. The flack over paying for contraception was only a minor dust up. Yeah, –the Bishops got “their guy” elected. In my diocese there was nothing but silence from the Bishop and local parish priests concerning voting NOT whom to vote for, but to support candidates who stand FOR biblical principles.
I don’t think expelling undocumented immigrants, tighter boarder control or tax rates count as biblical principles. Universal access to health care arguably does since I believe the Bible does say something about caring for the poor. I think most people understood the call to vote for candidates who stood for Biblical principles as a code for supporting Romney since he opposed abortion rights and gay marriage.
People who are here illegally are breaking the law. Be they Hispanic, Asian or “white” people from Europe, if they are illegally here, they are stealing from us. I think the Bishops have forgotten the commandment “Thou shalt not steal.”
If they come here to work, how are they stealing from us? By taking jobs that no one else will take?
So you support people breaking the law regardless,– and stealing from the American Taxpayer?
What are they stealing–our air? No, I don’t support people breaking the law. Trouble is, like prohibition, our current immigration laws don’t work and are unenforceable in any meaningful sense–that is, unless you want a police state. So deporting all of the undocumented immigrants is, in my view, impossible and immoral. It would also be, in my view, a tremendous economic mistake.
The Simpson-Mazolli Act of 1984 made those here “legal.” Now we have the same problem. This is why a trip to your ER will cost your insurance company $15,000.00. People here illegally are a drain on Taxpayer paid services. And by the way, –they are illegal –not undocumented. Immoral? –How about the immorality of their own government to see to the needs of their own people? That’s immooral.
Tut, Tut. The bishops betrayed their Catholic schools in the poor neighborhoods by covering up pedophile priests, getting caught, then paying out money to victims that could gone to the poor schools. Now the bishops are lecturing Congress about the same fiscal cliff over which they’ve already pushed their own people?
The Bishops don’t understand what they are doing. They campaign for the very ones who will dump programs for the poor and now want them to follow their wishes. Maybe one day the Bishops will understand why Jesus said you can not serve two masters. Their words now have no meaning, no clout, no authority, no sincerity and no power. It’s time for the bishops to come to the understanding that it is time for a change.