Catholic Family Campaign

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.

Tags: Family Values, Pro-Life
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In a previous article, I lamented the death of civil discourse.   You can find it on the web, on the Sunday morning talk shows, on talk radio and even here on the Examiner.

There was an article over the weekend titled “What’s your Senator’s stance on employee protections for women”  which is indicative of the overall tone of the debate sweeping this country.  In the article, the author repeated the “Republicans for Rape” label that has been directed at the 30 Republican Senators who failed to support the amendment put forth by Senator Al Franken that forbid the awarding of Federal contracts to corporations that required their employees to sign clauses requiring arbitration.  Specifically, this amendment was drafted because of allegations that an employee of defense contractor KBR was sexually assaulted by her co-workers in Iraq and then imprisoned in a shipping container after she reported the attack to the company.   The allegations were investigated by both the State Department and the Department of Justice.  Both declined to take further action.  Her lawsuit against the company is currently moving through the courts.

One thing that the article failed to mention was that this legislation was objectionable to the Department of Defense, Chambers of Commerce and both large and small businesses all across the country.  In fact the Department of Defense went so far as to issue a statement directly to the Senate expressing their concerns;

“The Department of Defense, the prime contractor, and higher tier subcontractors may not be in a position to know about such things. Enforcement would be problematic, especially in cases where privity of contract does not exist between parties within the supply chain that supports a contract,”

In short, this is bad legislation that is difficult to enforce, delays justice for victims, increases litigation costs for employers, and in many cases provides less monetary benefit to victims.

In “Wiggans for Governor of Kansas”, this same author repeated the accusation that Sen. Sam Brownback is a “Republican for Rape”, a hyper-partisan and anti-abortion zealot who is a member of “The Family” with a twisted view of Christ.

The inclusion of arbitration clauses in employment and other contracts is a real issue that deserves scrutiny.  It can reasonably be argued that the inclusion these clauses favor the employer much more than the employee who is being asked to give up rights to take grievances to court.    However, name calling and sensational accusations lead to more of the same; not solutions.

Tags: Family Values
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