The USCCB came out strongly against the current healthcare bill which is now being considered by the House of Representatives. You wouldn’t know this from the mainstream media coverage which has been too busy reporting (celebrating?) that the Catholic Health Association endorsed the healthcare plan.
The bishops did, however, put out a bulletin insert on March 11th asking Catholics to contact their elected representatives and urge them to protect life. The banner of the insert reads: “Stop Abortion Funding in Health Care Reform! Protect Conscience. Ensure Affordable Health Coverage. Allow Immigrants to Purchase Private Health Insurance.”
The text reads:
“As long-time advocates of health care reform, the U.S. Catholic bishops continue to make the moral case that genuine health care reform must protect the life, dignity, consciences and health of all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Health care reform should provide access to affordable and quality health care for all, and not advance a pro-abortion agenda in our country. Genuine health care reform is being blocked by those who insist on reversing widely supported policies against federal funding of abortion and plans which include abortion, not by those working simply to preserve these longstanding protections.”
I pray that every Catholic that hears those words or reads them takes action and stands against the current healthcare legislation that is being crammed through Congress right now.
But here’s the thing. I went to Mass on Sunday but I did not receive the insert nor did the priest speak about the issue at all.
I’m wondering how many of you received the insert in your bulletin or did your parish discuss healthcare, abortion, or conscience protections in any way?
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We did not although the parish is not timely or seemingly interested. The last time a bulletin notice was requested on healthcare our parish complied 2 weeks late.
Yes. Saw the bulletin insert and included in spoken announcements before Mass. Diocese of Arlington, St. Veronica parish.
Hi:
Did not hear about nor receive the bulletin insert this weekend. Perhaps they will do it next weekend. Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Nothing in our Parish, although last week during the homily the Pastor reiterated the Church’s pro- life stance.
Nope, didn’t hear any message for or against healthcare. Just a boring, secular humanist homily that the priest referred to as a “sermon”, which barely even touched on the gospel reading (let alone anything Catholic). As per usual.
(Funny, I never notice these types of problems when I attend mass in the Extraordinary Form.)
Nothing on Archdiocesan web-site. (I was watching.) But, it was noted on Fr. Z.‘s excellent blog. Checked it out on Catholic Key, made copies, asked our Pastor for permission and we added an announcement to pick up one of the flyers with the Bishops Letter on the pending Health Care Bill. So, yes, the Bishops Inserts were distributed. (No mention in homilies though, several different Priests, short notice, etc.)
Wanda,
That’s taking the bull by the horns. Great job.
Nothing said or inserted in the bulletin. An e-mail was rec’d from Gabriel Project of Arlington that our Bishop declared today, Monday to be a day of fasting and prayer in petition against the present health care bill. To bad it did not get through to the parishes as a whole.
I heard nothing about this, but I didn’t pick up a bulletin and the announcements weren’t exactly clear. My parish, in general, is pretty good about this kind of thing, so either they didn’t get the memo or I completely missed it (prob the latter).
I did hear about Arlington’s day of fasting and prayer from my dad and re-posted that on my facebook page.
Nope, nothing in the bulletin or in the announcements after Mass. That’s in the Merrimack Valley church I attend in the Archdiocese of Boston.
This seems to be a chronic problem with information dissemination. I get more information from my Facebook and Twitter accounts. But the Archdiocese of Boston is really starting to ramp up with more social media and web intiatives… and its good to see! We need it!
Nada here - Diocese of Trenton
Nope, nothing at our parish. Diocese of Duluth
heard about it during Mass, insert coming next week. Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas
No, not here. We just installed a new bishop but don’t know if it would’ve mattered. I have heard more about it on the web though. Diocese of Austin here.
we heard about it & insert in the bulletin. diocese of peoria.
Nothing in my parish of St. John of God in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Nothing mentioned here either.
Sorry forgot to mention above, Diocese of San Bernardino, Ca
No, we heard nothing about healthcare, but we did have a letter from our bishop read aloud at Mass asking us to send in the provided postcards asking for immigration reform. I wondered why there wasn’t a postcard campaign about abortion coverage in the healthcare bill. But then, I wouldn’t expect anything else from my bishop.
Nothing at all. St. Francis of Assis, Diocese of Wichita, KS
Nothing here. Diocese of Harrisburg, PA
There was nothing in our NO bulletin. (Diocese of Boise)
However, if you check our local FSSP parish bulletin on-line, you will see that something was printed plus the numbers of our reps and senators.
St. Joan of Arc, Coeur d’ Alene - http://www.joan-arc.org/
It is not unusual for our diocese to routinely send things at the last minute. The last insert was put in the bulletin a week after the fact. Guess they never heard of sending stuff by way of computer. This diocese is not exactly on the cutting edge. As a matter of fact they appear to be racing toward the 70’s.
The first insert made it in because I printed it off the USCCB website and walked it over to my pastor who conveniently lives next door.
However, I have to question why St. Joan of Arc had the info and no one else seemed to.
Just came back from Mass at another parish in DRVC and nothing in the bulletin. I’m inclined to give the benefit of the doubt since the statement came out so late last week, and probably many parishes have decreased staff on Fridays, when the printing of this statement would have been done.
Just my two cents.
Nope. Diocese of Philadelphia, PA.
Nothing. Seattle Archdiocese.
Nothing.
Joliet IL Diocese, Bishop Sartain,
In Our Lady of the Rosary church in Miami, FL, were asked to pray that the bill as it stands does not pass.
Although as I indicated, we were asked to pray that the bill as it stands does not pass, I’m afraid some leaders in the Catholic church have helped the Obamacare scam by focusing only on the abortion part of the scam.
No amendment can transform a criminal scam like Obamacare into an honest bill. Any “amendments” will be just tricks, like the Stupak amendment, to force us to swallow the scam.
The Stupak amendment was just another trick used by Obama and his Comrades to pass the Obamacare SCAM through the House. Tricked by the amendment, some Catholics (not all) actually believed the lies of Obama and his accomplices regarding abortion coverage! Tricked by the amendment, they failed to look at the evil behind the whole Obamacare scam.
Informed Americans, however, understand that, if Obama gets his way, Obamacare will FORCE us to pay for abortions, infanticide (late-term abortion) and probably euthanasia, in spite of Obama’s lies and tricks like the Stupak amendment.
Lies do not change Obama’s pro-abortion and pro-infanticide (late-term abortion) stand, nor the aberrant stands of Obama’s Health Care Czar Ezekiel Emanuel and Science Czar John Holdren.
Lies do not change the FACT that we are broke and Obamacare will further destroy our economy, our future and the future of our children and grandchildren.
Lies do not change the FACT that Obamacare is another scam to enslave us.
I forgot to grab a bulletin!!!!! :( Didn’t even realize until now! But we heard all about it during the homily. It’s mentioned a lot as well as other Life issues at St. Isidore’s in the Grand Rapids Diocese in Michigan.
No insert in bulletin or mention at mass: Toledo Diocese
Nothing in the Moulton Catholic Church, Moulton, Tx.
But it’s always in the bulletin in the Shiner Catholic Church, in Shiner, Tx.
That’s why I always try to read their bulletin, though it’s not my home parish.
Not a chirp in San Francisco
Nothing said, nothing in print. Archdiocese of Detroit
Sadly, no. These issues are never spoke of in our parish. We need to continue to pray for our priests and bishops that they will have the courage to speak the full truth and guide us to the same.
Sorry for not mentioning my diocese - Diocese of Las Cruces
Not one word at St. Pat’s in Collinsville, CT
The letter was NOT distributed with the bulletin and there was not ONE word about ObamaCare during Mass at St. Mary’s of Elm Grove, WI.
Nothing mentioned or enclosed in the church bulletin. Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis.
From East Brunswick, NJ. I heard, “Stay dry but not thirsty.” Nothing was said about Obamacare.
We got our flyer too late for an insert, and it didn’t come up at Mass. As office manager, I sent info to all the parishioners who have an email address.
So far it doesn’t seem that we’ve done a great job at getting the word out. And the mainstream media certainly has no desire to help us or even report it factually.
I wonder what needs to be done to make system more efficient.
I did not hear about the bishops’ request at Mass, but we were asked to fast and pray for the defeat of the bill.
I live in mount pleasant sc and go to St. Benedicts and it wasn’t in our bulletin at all this past weekend.
Here in the Diocese of Reno, our priest was too interested in getting us all to attend the St. Patrick’s Day dinner after Mass to mention it.
Nothing sadly when I went to Mass. I’m in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey at a parish that needs work on promoting Catholic political responsibility.
Nothing at our parish, but then again we are one of the most conservative parishes in the Diocese of Richmond (not that it would take a lot in Richmond, but we are an extremely conservative, orthodox, and faithful community nevertheless). We did a whole series of inserts several months ago, however, urging all parishioners to contact their representatives.
Nothing at Little Flower in San Antonio, TX
No mention of health care, abortion, or any other of these controversial issues is ever made in my parish. Last year, the Bishops letter got posted in the elevator bulletin board. As a member of my parish council, I once said at a meeting that Jesus was not afraid to offend when it was a matter of correcting a wrong. However, it appears that Jesus would have a tough time in our age of moral relativism and political correctness. (Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston)
Nothing mentioned or enclosed in the church bulletin. Archdiocese of San Francisco, CA.
No mention of it at Mass. No bulletin insert.
Diocese of San Bernardino
Nothing was said at our Mass or in our Catholic paper.
Lafayette, Indiana
No bulletin insert or mention at Mass, Diocese of Davenport, Iow.a Can we get the link to the PDF copy of the insert?
Here’s the link to the PDF from the USCCB.
http://www.usccb.org/healthcare/UPDATED-bulletin-insert.pdf
not at our parish…and we have a prolife committee…!!!!
Sure sounds like USCCB would support this bill if it weren’t for abortion funding. They should also oppose it on the principle of Subsidiarity and the fact that it fundamentally changes the relationship between the State and the citizen. The Church supposedly stands against socialism and believes that all political and social issues are always best solved by the smallest possible unit and only then work up to larger units. From a truly Catholic perspective, the entire idea of Obama’s health care mission is gravely flawed because the citizen is necessarily being absorbed by the State. All Catholics should oppose any Federally-run health care bill on principle, even if abortion funding is removed.
Health Care Reform is Easy
The republicans have used reconciliation on health care before plenty of times - heck they created the whole CHIP program - via reconciliation. Dear lord stop swallowing the kool-aid - this isn’t a sporting event my side versus your side (do you think the status quo might be aware of the concept of divide and conquer - don’t be such dupes)
People, people, people - this is about getting our dollars back from the richest 1% that hoard them at the top (there is no such thing as trickle down) or For Profit insurance wouldn’t be killing the middle class, driving people with health insurance into bankruptcy, and tying a dead weight around small business and even the bigger national corporations - this has to get done - our politicians are playing games to get elected….
They are not “governing” but manipulating voter sentiment to whip up turn out to try and win elections - not based on any specific philosophy of governing but for plain old self interest.
Actual governing takes a huge back seat to “will I get re-elected” - the easiest way to solve the health care debacle of for profit health care is simple - but handing a success to the other party - isn’t how the political “game” is played.
Unfortunately our lives are caught in the cross fire of their STUPID GAME. And because of game playing we deregulated everything and created the global financial meltdown - ooppps - maybe proper management would have prevented that - but politics has never been about properly managing our resources - its about GETTING RE-ELECTED.
Healthcare is easy - here’s how -
“Use Senate reconciliation and expand Medicare via the Senate’s buy-in provisions. The CBO has already signed off on this as a means of saving money.
More importantly, if more Americans can do a buy-in with Medicare, it creates more cost control (because there’s a genuine competitor to for-profit healthcare).
It also helps to solve the problems of pre-existing conditions, because Medicare does not deny coverage on this basis.
Allowing a Medicare buy-in to Americans under 65 would give people a genuine alternative to private insurance and thereby render the pre-existing question moot.
It would also lower Medicare costs by expanding the risk pool of patients (the great bulk of medical expenses are accounted for by a small number of people, mostly the elderly, requiring very expensive treatment).
And it would substantially enhance the global competitiveness of American corporations. After all, in what other country in the world is health care a marginal cost of production for business?” - Roosevelt Institute Marshall Auerback
Now get out there tell your neighbors, your friends, pick up the phone and email your representatives - because whether you like it or not we are all in this together - and it’s us versus the politicians - not each other.
Paul Burke
Author Journey Home
Democracy For America
Paul, The reason they won’t do that is because then they can’t cover abortion. That’s what this is all about.
I didn’t hear anything or see anything regarding the health care bill. However, I did notice that the Lenten Carbon Fast calendar was not posted this week. I will say, however, that my Archbishop has spoken out in regards to Ben Nelson’s compromise and the principle of subsidiarity. To be honest, I think our entire political process has turned into a trick and treater house of horrors, trick the people you were voted to represent, then treat yourself to the government money, “stimulus funds”, a higher position in your party, and the support of your national party. Neither the D’s or the R’s are exempt in regards to this. There is no 80/20 rule for either party, every representative in our government swears to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. Our constitution does not let the judiciary make laws, they are only to determine if the laws made are constitutional. Our elected representatives are not above the law, somehow, however, it seems that they are now beyond the law. You cannot change the entire process of making law under the constitution by voting a new “rule”. The greatest WMD’s in our world today are not bombs, guns or gasses. They are the ill-formed souls that lead the world today. We have the opportunity to vote them out as US citizens, and we should. The greatest thing our Bishops could do today is to excommunicate every pro-death political official that proclaims to be Catholic. They may not have the authority to direct the government, they do have the authority and the obligation to defend the Church from obstinate and scandalous heretics, and in the process they may actually save their souls.
God bless!!
Cathy - Archdiocese of Omaha
Did not see an insert. Was not mentioned from pulpit. Not surprising - previous such notices were either ignored or postponed to a time when they were no longer meaningful. Parish office is run by a load of lay people who are progressive-leaning.
I forgot to mention that my parish is in Denver. Our Archbishop is Charles Chaput.
Nothing said, nothing in print. Guardian Angels Archdiocese of Detroit
No, I did not even hear about it until I just read your column.
Jasper,AL.
I think that for the media, the position, er “opinion”, of the bishops is out there—but for the flock, no parish or diocese is going to go so far as to take a public stand, because they fear losing their tax exemption for taking that stand. Perhaps, we should lose the exemption, pay the taxes and speak our mind with resoluteness. Enough of this blackmail! I have actually seen pastors tell RTL groups that they can’t pass fliers out on Church property because of this exemption.
George R.
Not a word from the pulpit and nothing in the bulletin. When I saw this article yesterday, though, I wrote our deacon and asked if it’d be addressed this weekend. Haven’t heard back. Diocese of Sacramento, CA
Nothing in Shreveport, LA.
Of course it would have gotten better coverage if the USCCB didn’t wait so long to oppose the bill. Even with the Stupak language, the bill would have made us pay for abortions in the case of rape, incest, and life of the mother. More pro-abortion than we stand now, yet the USCCB were willing to sell out those babies to pass government takeover of healthcare.
Not a word. Archdiocese of Atlanta
Nothing mentioned in Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
In my parish (Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston), news of the Bishop’s bulletin insert arrived too late for inclusion in the bulletin, which was already printed, folded and stuffed! I quickly photocopied the insert and asked our ushers to hand them out together with the bulletins, and I made a brief announcement about it at the end of the masses. I was also able to include a petition in the General Intercessions of the mass. However, I made no mention of it in my homily, which was already complete by the time I received word of the bishop’s statement. Nor did the homily (as prepared) have anything to do witht he issues of health care or abortion, although I have spoken about both—in the case of abortion, quick frequently, to the chagrin of some! Sometimes, there just isn’t enough time to react. Although I know there are pastors who will not speak on such issues (I know some), I suspect that some of the pastors who didn’t respond this past weekend will do so this weekend. We can only hope and pray that it is not too late!
For the past two weeks, my priest has touched on the issue of socialism and its incompatibility with the natural law and Catholic faith. There were some allusions to the healthcare bill and other quasi-socialist policies. He also mentioned income tax and property tax as contrary to the natural right of man to property. So it was on the heathcare bill, I assumed, but was more general and not exclusively focused on the abortion issue. However, he has mentioned abortion a few times this year though, he even said that veiling was a contradiction to abortion, since it reverences the woman and her power of creation. My priest is not the best speaker (neither was Moses…) but I do enjoy his homilies and talks outside of Mass. I attend an FSSP parish and I love it, I no longer have to suffer through an obligation to attend Mass.
I should mention, because other people have, this is the Seattle Archdiocese. We don’t usually have any diocesan or USCCB fliers, just the FSSP newsletter and parish bulletin. The USCCB is ridiculous, focusing on this one point about healthcare because they object to funding abortion, yet they seem to not object to funding groups that lobby for abortion! We should remember that the USCCB has no formal authority and not support it with our money because they just squander it on evil causes through the “Catholic” Campaign for Human Development. So it is good that the USCCB is speaking out against the bill, however, they should oppose it even if the Stupak Amendment is included in it because socialism is anti-Catholic. Furthermore, actions speak louder than words—if the USCCB was truly opposed to abortion, they wouldn’t be giving *our* money to far-left groups who defend the practice—material cooperation with evil.
Love your blogs. Raised Catholic, including schools. Love the people, parish priests, and even the nun with the fast ruler! No longer Catholic,except to share a Catholic Church banquet room breakfast or pot luck with the rest of my Catholic family…. When I heard the furor over the CCHD, and some of the rest, I wanted to check things out…so I’m hear now with you all learning even more. A good house cleaning is all the Church needs, dusting out all the areas that have crept into the Church with it’s many wonderful people, and clergy….. A good sweeping, and mopping would please Dear Sister Mary Ciprian…... Love you….
We love you too, and hope you’ll consider coming home!
With all the joy in my heart, it makes me really happy to be able to say, Welcome Home Rose!
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