by Patrick Looby
Last month, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-RI, gave a heated interview attacking the Catholic Bishops for trying to stop a Health Care Bill that included abortion funding or questionable provisions that could reduce benefits for the most vulnerable of society, saying that they were “fanning the flames of dissent.”
Now, Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has invited Rep. Kennedy to meet with him to discuss the Catholic Church’s position on Health Care Reform, and the role the Bishops feel they should take on such an important debate.
The saddest part of this is that Kennedy should even need such a meeting since every other Catholic in the country seems to know the Church’s position; namely, that we should definitely have health care reform, but not if it includes the destruction of innocent life. One would be hard-pressed to find another Catholic who would need a special meeting with their Bishop to understand this, but Rep. Kennedy is a busy man and perhaps he didn’t get that memo.
According to Laura Kilgus, who writes for The Pilot of the Archdiocese of Boston, Bishop Tobin states the longstanding position of the Church very clearly:
The bishops of the United States are indeed in favor of comprehensive health care reform and have been for many years, but we are adamantly opposed to health care legislation that threatens the life of unborn children, requires taxpayers to pay for abortion, rations health care, or compromises the conscience of individuals.”
Let’s pray that this meeting is frutiful. Some people who complained about what appeared to be the Bishop’s reluctance to speak out on important political issues in past years, are now complaining that ‘it’s too little, too late’. These people cannot be pleased. Hopefully, more people who were frustrated before are delighted that the Bishops are coming out to lead the faithful so strongly on these important issues, and will encourage more of this by action and prayer.
- Mr. Looby is a graduate of Wadhams Hall Seminary and has been teaching Theology and Philosophy for 13 years. In addition, he is a freelance writer and speaker on issues pertaining to the Catholic faith.
