Comes now the USCCB, bemoaning the governmental shutdown, whining about "the poor and vulnerable" who might be hurt by a shutdown. Read this "action alert" from the USCCB.
I've got some clear-cut suggestions for the USCCB.
- There's something called the principle of subsidiarity that the bishops insist on forgetting. Well, amongst other things, this principle lays the care of the poor at the feet of the Church, not high levels of government. The USCCB cannot abdicate this responsibility.
- If the USCCB is concerned about the poor and vulnerable, they might do well to remember the poor and vulnerable babies that governmental funding would murder. They should then raise loud and courageous voices to join ours in insisting that abortion be defunding - and that's just for starters.
The sharp reader will note that the text in the "message" on the USCCB web page is editable. For example, I sent the following to my Congressional delegation, courtesy of the USCCB:
ReplyDelete---------------------------
I strongly encourage you to support fiscal responsibility and balance the budget -- by drastically cutting spending. The best way to protect the poor and vulnerable in our society is to ensure that the economy remains viable and that we don't enter into a period of hyper-inflation.
Most Catholics, despite what you hear from the so-called "spokespeople" from the Church, strongly support the principle of "subsidiarity" -- where actions are taken at the lowest possible level.
The Venerable Pope John Paul II warned about the dangers of situations like the one being taken by this government: "By intervening directly and depriving society of its responsibility, the Social Assistance State leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies, which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients, and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending."
This is not hardly a new thought in Catholicism. St John Chrysostom had the following to say almost 1,500 years ago about this very subject:
"Should we look to kings and princes to put right the inequalities between rich and poor? Should we require soldiers to come and seize the rich person's gold and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Should we beg the emperor to impose a tax on the rich so great that it reduces them to the level of the poor and then to share the proceeds of that tax among everyone? Equality imposed by force would achieve nothing, and do much harm. Those who combined both cruel hearts and sharp minds would soon find ways of making themselves rich again. Worse still, the rich whose gold was taken away would feel bitter and resentful; while the poor who received the gold form the hands of soldiers would feel no gratitude, because no generosity would have prompted the gift. Far from bringing moral benefit to society, it would actually do moral harm. Material justice cannot be accomplished by compulsion, a change of heart will not follow. The only way to achieve true justice is to change people's hearts first - and then they will joyfully share their wealth."
So if you really want to help the poor and disadvantaged, follow the wisdom of the ages: keep government functionality where it SHOULD be and encourage people to open their hearts and voluntarily give. But don't strip our children, whether they are children of wealth or the children of need, of their legacy. Please.
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Now, of course, I would not advocate that all your readers send something similar, but...it might cause the USCCB Socialism Ministry to reconsider its methods a bit.