Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC has an op-ed piece at Politics Daily. First thing to notice is the place where Wuerl has made this statement: a smart move for bishops not to rely on their own in-house publications for getting out the word. In addition to the statements and the issue dedicated web page of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on this topic, individual bishops have put their own thoughts on paper and have managed to stir up folks on both side of the health care reform aisle.
Wuerl's statement is concise. Here's a piece of it but I encourage you to read the whole article.
Universal coverage should be universal, including everyone. Health care reform cannot leave people out because of pre-existing conditions, chronic illnesses, their place of work or because they cannot afford insurance. Reform should not leave people out because of where they come from or when they arrived here.Image: SocialMedical
The United Stated Conference of Catholic Bishops, following the Gospel mandate to care for the "least of these," urges us to look at health care from the bottom up. A particular gauge against which to measure true universal coverage would be how reform treats the immigrants in our midst who contribute their labor and taxes to our nation, but are at risk of being left out of health care reform.
We need also to find effective ways to bring together public, private and non-profit health care actors in ways that harness their strengths, overcome their shortcomings and, particularly with religious partners, respect their mission and identity.
-ConcordPastor
I am in agreement with Archbishop Wuerl's op-ed piece. I was unaware of the following statistics he mentions:
ReplyDelete"In fact, the nation's 600 Catholic hospitals care for one-sixth of all hospital patients in the United States. Add onto that the more than 1,000 nursing homes, neighborhood clinics and other health ministries, such as the Spanish Catholic Center's medical clinic right here in the nation's capital, as well as the outreach by thousands of parishes nationwide to those in need."
Very impressive numbers.
I am saddened by so many of the comments that followed. I do not understand how people can be so uncaring. This is an area that all of the bishops should be speaking out on: man's inhumanity to man.
Rosemary
I nearly wept with relief when I read Wuerl's op-ed piece. The ethics and values regarding our responsibility to others, especially "the stranger," are what I remember from my Jewish childhood as being truly Catholic -- and also what joined Catholic and Jews as siblings in God's family. Would love to read/hear/see more of this coming from church leadership.
ReplyDeleteHello, thank you very much for your article, it is really impressive. The fact is that the situation today is critical as there is still more than 15% of American population without any insurance coverage. That certainly deserves a lot of attention and it is not important who the people are or where they come from. There are people.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Lorne
This is a great link - and yes, his placement of the op-ed piece is very important as well.
ReplyDeleteI am glad I read Bishop Wuerl's op ed article, but sorry I read the comments. "The Lord hears the cry of the poor" - it seems as if many people want no one else to do so. Nor do those who think themselves so righteous wish to remember "and the greatest of these is ..."
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