Your obligation to be informed

As our Representatives head back to Washington and Congress goes back in session, we have an obligation to educate ourselves on the current health care debate. This has the potential to have the most significant legislation and societal changes of our lifetime.

Implementation of any of the existing health care reform initiatives will have the effect of institutionalizing deeply held values from both the left and the right. The premise that health care is a basic human right which everyone should have access to is a concept that liberal politicians have been advocating for decades. The tenets of Catholic Social Justice implies that same thing and this has been strongly supported by the USCCB.

The difference of opinion among Americans, and even among Catholics comes down to the delivery of health care services and what those basic services represent.

Earlier this fall, Kansas City, Kansas Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann and Kansas City – St. Joseph Bishop Robert W. Finn have released a joint pastoral statement on Principles of Catholic Social Teaching and Health Care Reform. The statement reflects the fundamental principles of Catholic social and moral teaching that must accompany any evaluation of the varied health reform proposals. Included in the letter was an in depth explanation of the principles of Subsidiarity and Solidarity; both of which play a significant role in defining the need for and the limitations of health care reform.

For years, the right has been successful in restricting the use of federal dollars in funding abortions. Depending on the language that comes out of the conference committee, the signing of this legislation could ingrain the use of tax dollars for the funding of abortion in federal law or provide a permanent injunction against it.

Each of us has an obligation to educate ourselves on the legislation as it clears the committee and heads back to the House and the Senate for a final vote. As Catholics we have an obligation to actively promote a just and moral solution to the existing health care crisis. There is no excuse for sitting back and relying on the press or even our Priest and Bishops to let us know what is going on. The obligation lies with each of us individually.

(posted at Catholic Family Campaign)

Tags: health care

This entry was posted on December 29, 2009 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Healthcare, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.