Today Sister Mary Ann Walsh penned an article on the USCCB blog entitled "Time to Listen to the Bishops on the Shutdown". A study of this piece makes clear that the title should be "Time for the Bishops to Abolish the USCCB".
The theme of this less-than-masterpiece is a simple regurgitation of the USCCB swan song heard throughout the fight over the passing and implementation of Obamacare. In a nutshell, the progressives controlling the various puppet strings at the USCCB support the idea of socialized medicine. Notice that they aren't even advocating that abortion and contraception be expunged from Obamacare. They simply don't want to be put in the position of paying for it. In other words, as long as they (believe that they) won't sully their hands with abortion, they've no problem whatsoever with these moral evils becoming even more ensconced within our medical system because of Obamacare.
Now notice in the fifth paragraph, the one that starts with "The bishops noted that the Catechism..". They claim to cite the Catechism as the source of their belief that the state must supply health care. I'll post the full paragraph below:
The bishops noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church says it is the proper role of government to "make accessible to each what is needed to lead a truly human life," including food, clothing, heath care, education and culture.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is a misquote of paragraph 2288; here is the link to the Catechism, and you'll need to scroll to the paragraph. I'll post it below.
Concern for the health of its citizens requires that society help in the attainment of living-conditions that allow them to grow and reach maturity: food and clothing, housing, health care, basic education, employment, and social assistance.
Are you noticing any differences?? There are two big differences. Notice that the USCCB claims that government is the agent of provision. The Catechism uses the word society. They are not synonyms. Let's look at the Catechism again, this time paragraph 1880, where "society" is plainly defined as "a group of persons bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each one of them". Thus, the Catholic Church is a "society" as much as any civil body. At this point, I'd also suggest a close study of paragraphs 1883-1885; they go into detail about the Principle of Subsidiarity and the danger of collectivism.
Bearing those last two points in mind, let's look at the second difference. The USCCB uses the phrase "make accessible" while the Catechism uses the phrase "help in the attainment". How can the government "make accessible" that which it doesn't possess? Why, it has to seize it, doesn't it? From whom? Remember the phrase "from each according to his ability to each according to his need"? That's straight from Karl Marx. On the other hand, help in the attainment is innocuous: it could mean job skills training or truly charitable outreaches - means that don't entail confiscation from those who honestly attain goods vis-a-vis onerous taxes/fines such as the ones that Obamacare is already starting to impose.
I would propose that the USCCB is not worthy of the audience of anyone.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
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The bishops need the universal healthcare as a prelude to illegal immigrant amnesty. For the latter Sister Walsh won't have to misquote the catechism, I expect she'll go right to Pope Francis and cherry-pick his words. Meanwhile, the USCCB lobby helps the wolves in their plan to devour immigrant families which can be accomplished in one generation of the "American dream." The USCCB is a lobby of fools.
ReplyDelete.
I responded to the article not nearly as well as you have addressed it, but, as of 10 minutes ago, my post hasn't made it past the moderator. If you will allow me to share it here, I thank you.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you Sr. Mary Ann. It is time for the Bishops to do the work to which God has called each of them. They are not politicians and need to step back. I have heard Cardinal Dolan slam dunk the GOP--outrageous and absurd! Yet, he dines beside the most evil and irresponsible servant of the country, our current President, and has on more than one occasion shown support for the Democratic politicians, while they make mincemeat of the Truth, our Faith, and the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church.
Our Church needs Truth be told, not policies on immigration. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, was not one who lobbied with the locals of His day. He taught Truth, He healed souls and bodies, and He was Just.
Our President is the most fiscally irresponsible man ever to hold office. He is morally bankrupt. When will our Bishops stand for the sacraments that are being with evil intention withheld from our military at the risk of imprisonment.
The federal government shutdown is so because of the tyrannical actions of President Obama. Please, only tell truth, and not fibs nor lies about the serious problems in this country.