Back in December Sister Carol Keehan was upset by a report in the New York times that the Catholic Health Association is split with the USCCB in regards to the health care bill. Yet the USCCB has not supported the Senate Bill and the CHA has never released any statements condemning it.
Which brings us up to date with Sister Carol Keehan supporting the current bill. She pulled off almost all of the Democratic talking points. Horror story of someone not covered – check. Bill does not fund abortion – check. We need something now, no starting over – check. People opposing bill are not really pro-life – check.
Now what has changed with the Senate bill that funded abortion since then. The answer is of course nothing. The whole thing about the reconciliation trick Obama and Pelosi have cooked up is basically to have the Congress vote on the Senate bill since they know they don’t have the votes for a new Senate bill. This is the same evil bill. Rep. Bart Stupak has pointed to places in the bill that do indeed provide funding for abortion. Democrats constantly say there is no such funding, but will support no amendment to the bill explicitly saying so. Their tactic has just been to deny it hoping a lie repeated often enough will be believed.
Sister Keehan in her good will towards wanting to provide healthcare for all has become blind to the obvious ramifications of this bill and the fact that federal funding of abortion will increase abortion regardless of her opinion about the bill. Her argument of not letting the perfect be an enemy of the good does not apply to a bill that is not good, but supports evil. She seems to have zero concern for this possibility. There is certainly nothing to prevent a faithful Catholic from supporting the idea of Federal Health Care. That is a prudential matter in deciding what is best way to provide for our neighbor. Though I think it is difficult to advance this argument without even considering subsidiarity. Supporting this bill though goes beyond a prudential decision into cooperation with evil.
She asks “For us as Catholics it’s very hard to be pro-life when we don’t give many many mothers who are pregnant care. Or we don’t give pediatric care, well baby care or sick baby care to children. We have nine million uninsured children in this country. That’s not pro-life.”
Sister Keehan urges Congress not to table the bill. What ticks me off is that she’s using the same ridiculous argument that Congressman Patrick Kennedy used by questioning whether opponents of Obamacare are truly pro-life. And he got into trouble with his bishop because of it. Wonder if the same will be true for Sister Keehan [Creative Minority Report].
Not exactly good to hear a nun make the same argument as pro-abortion supporters. I also though of Patrick Kennedy when I first saw this story on Twitter.
Catholic hospitals have always been in the forefront of helping the poor and as Catholics we should be supporting truly faithful Catholic Hospitals and helping them to grow to help their communities and to provide for the poor. That is really the answer and not behemoth government which has never made anything more affordable take on the job. Sure if you lived in the small country of Malta with such a large Catholic population you can pull off government health care that is responsive to the needs of the people. Other circumstances we should mainly be working at the community, city, and state levels to spread Christ love for all and helping to provide healthcare to our neighbor. The Catholic Church invented the hospital in the first place.
Oh by the way the Obama Administration is about to strip conscience protections enacted under President Bush. CHA in a release sees no problem with this, giving the party line that there were already Federal conscience protections before. They don’t seem to ask why if these are repetitive why they even go through the motion and the effort to repeal them if they add absolutely nothing. Pro-aborts were against these added conscience clauses and that should tell us something.
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Check out the bookshelf!
No catechism, but the 2-volume imprimatur-revoked Catholicism.
As far as her support for Obama’s plan, it wrong even in political terms — she not only sold out, but cheap.
I get where sister is coming from. We have a high deductible, my husband’s premiums for our health care at work keep going up and up, we put off an elective surgery for my daughter due to costs, and I haven’t seen a doctor yet despite the fact that in the past year I have had two first degree relatives get ovarian and breast cancer. I could pay a huge chunk out of my savings to do so or I could try to get back on Medicaid but for right now I’d like to wait.
And yet I totally disagree with sister that we have to have an all or nothing approach to health care. If it’s so important then let’s do it right and make sure that what we are doing is providing care and not simply growing government and ceding control of our lives over to them.
I always thought that part of our Catholic faith was also good stewardship. I’m not convinced that this current plan with the costs involved is even in the vicinity of “good stewardship” when it comes to our people and our tax dollars.
Christ formed the Church to bring about Spiritual change not economic and health care change. If we change spiritually, we will effect change in these other areas in a moral, ethical, and Christian way. This healthcare “reform” is not reform at all, far from it and it’s not a one issue problem. Abortion funding is the main road block but the issue of subsidiarity is the secondary reason to oppose the bill. Real reform to lower costs can be had without 2,400+ pages. Instead of supporting this boondoggle, the good sister should be opposing it and raising funds for Catholic hospitals that have always cared for the poor.
“Doctors don’t take Medicare because it pays so poorly.”
Who does she think runs Medicare?
Does the YouTube box extend way into the right sidebar of this blog for anyone else?
Sister makes over $800K per year for her efforts, too. And, yes the youtube box extends way into the sidebar. AnneG
I learned a long time ago taht the opiniions of Sisters who do not wear habits are pretty much useless.