The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
Some Catholic Discipline for Paul Ryan
By Ed Kilgore — Washington Monthly
If you’re dubious about my criticism of Paul Ryan’s effort to claim his budget is guided by the Catholic social doctrine of “subsidiarity,” check out this statement just released by a group of 59 Catholic theologians and leaders…
Growing Catholic Resistance to Bishops’ Crusades
By Peter Montgomery — Religion Dispatches
While the Catholic Bishops are ramping up their political campaign to portray marriage equality and requirements that insurance coverage include contraception…as dire threats to religious liberty, some priests and parishes are beginning to resist publicly.
Why the NRA pushes ‘Stand Your Ground’
By E.J. Dionne Jr. — Washington Post, Opinion
We do not need statutes that encourage citizens to assume that feeling threatened is reason enough to shoot another human being. And legislatures that just rubber stamp laws written by national lobbying groups turn the whole idea of “states’ rights” into an empty and laughable slogan.
Christians Debate: Was Jesus For Small Government?
By Barbara Bradley Hagerty — NPR
But Stephen Schneck, a political scientist at Catholic University, says he thinks Ryan is “completely missing the boat and not understanding the real heart, the real core, of Catholic social teaching.”
Senate To Vote On Buffett Rule
By Brian Beutler — Talking Points Memo
The Senate returns from a two-week recess Monday to tee off a fight over inequality, GOP anti-tax absolutism and the budget that will persist until Election Day.
Republicans to slash food stamps
By David Rogers — Politico
Food stamps moved front-and-center in the budget wars Monday morning, as House Republicans began rolling out a first wave of $33.2 billion in 10-year savings that will have an immediate impact in the farm bill debate and come November, the 2012 elections.
For most moms, work is not a choice
By Tara McGuinness — Politico, Opinion
Let’s get this straight: Being a mother is work – important and very hard work. Helping mothers (and fathers) contribute to building a strong country through their child raising should be at the center of our nation’s policy priorities. Unfortunately, today they aren’t.
A Republican politician defends the Muslim faith
By Leonard Pitts, Jr. — Miami Herald, Opinion
So let us plant a little flag for, mark with a yellow highlighter, the thing Rep. Raul Labrador said last Sunday on Meet The Press: that “it wouldn’t matter” if President Obama were a Muslim.
Muslim group files lawsuit against feds
By Julie Cannold — CNN
A Muslim civil liberties group filed a lawsuit Friday against the federal government for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of Michigan Muslims and violating a 1993 federal law that upholds the free practice of religion.
Obama pledges to pursue immigration reform in second term
By Jonathan Easley — The Hill
Obama vowed in an interview with Univision to pursue comprehensive immigration reform and attacked Romney and GOP lawmakers, saying they would oppose his efforts.
add a comment »
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
Religious Leaders Slam Ryan For Using Catholic Faith To Justify Cutting Programs That Help The Poor
By Travis Waldron — Think Progress
Ryan’s budget seems to ignore Catholic social teaching that calls for protecting the poor and improving access to food, jobs, health care, housing, and the social safety net. And now religious leaders are making the same case.
Jesus would oppose the Paul Ryan budget
By Brent Budowsky — The Hill, Opinion
Let’s keep Ayn Rand in the past. Let’s keep the Austrian economists in the dusty and outdated books of failed theories. Let’s keep Jesus out of the business of helping the rich and punishing the poor.
Hey SCOTUS, we already have a federal mandate for health care
By Brian E. Keeley — Christian Science Monitor, Opinion
US law requires emergency rooms to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. As a hospital CEO, I assure you, we already have a form of universal health care. We simply fund and supply it in an exorbitantly expensive way. Obamacare’s individual mandate provides the solution.
NYT Mislabels “Christians”
By Timothy Noah — The New Republic
An April 4 Page One story about the new anti-abortion film October Baby made initial reference to the film’s genre (and market niche) as “socially-conservative religious fare,” which is accurate. But subsequently the story made reference to “Christian-oriented movies,” to the filmmakers’ “Christian household,” to “a Christian values group,” and to “Christian music stars like Amy Grant.”
After contraception controversy, Catholic Church announces ‘religious freedom’ campaign
By Dan Gilgoff — CNN, Belief Blog
…the initiative would stretch out over the course of a few years and that it would include everything from encouraging priests to address religious liberty concerns in church to sending inserts for church bulletins.
More Evidence Against the Death Penalty
By New York Times, Editorial
…the system cannot be fixed. It is practically impossible to rid the legal process of biases driven by race, class and politics. The growing number of states reconsidering this barbaric system is a welcome sign. Capital punishment, by overwhelming evidence, should be abolished throughout the United States.
Poll Shows Christianity Good for the Poor, Bad for Sex
By Annalisa Musarra — Religion News Service
Americans feel the “Christian faith” has a positive impact on help for the poor and raising children with good morals, according to a new poll, but it gets a bad rap on its impact on sexuality in society.
add a comment »
Nearly 60 prominent theologians, priests, nuns and national Catholic social justice leaders released a statement today refuting Rep. Paul Ryan’s claim that his GOP budget proposal reflects Catholic teaching on care for the poor, which he made in an interview earlier this week with the Christian Broadcasting Network. The group of Catholic leaders — including a former high-ranking U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops official, a priest in Rep. Ryan’s district and the leadership team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas — called on Ryan to “reconsider his radical budget proposal and refrain from distorting Church teaching.”
“If Rep. Ryan thinks a budget that takes food and healthcare away from millions of vulnerable people upholds Catholic values, then he also probably believes Jesus was a Tea Partier who lectured the poor to stop being so lazy and work harder,” said John Gehring, Catholic Outreach Coordinator at Faith in Public Life. “This budget turns centuries of Catholic social teaching on its head. These Catholic leaders and many Catholics in the pews are tired of faith being misused to bless an immoral agenda.”
The leaders wrote: “Simply put, this budget is morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation and a commitment to the common good. A budget that turns its back on the hungry, the elderly and the sick while giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest few can’t be justified in Christian terms.”
Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, released an analysis last month that found the Ryan budget would “likely produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history and likely increase poverty and inequality more than any other budget in recent times (and possibly in the nation’s history).” Mr. Greenstein described the budget proposal as making “extraordinary cuts in programs that serve as a lifeline for our nation’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently sent a letter to Congressional leaders calling on Congress to protect food stamps, affordable housing and other programs that help the poor from harmful budget cuts. Ryan’s plan did not heed the bishops’ request.
The full statement with signatories is below.
As Catholic social justice leaders, women religious, priests, theologians and other concerned Catholics, we are deeply troubled that Rep. Paul Ryan – chairman of the House Budget Committee – is defending a budget proposal that makes dangerous cuts to food stamps and other vital protections for the most vulnerable as compatible with the teachings of his Catholic faith. Simply put, this budget is morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation and a commitment to the common good. A budget that turns its back on the hungry, the elderly and the sick while giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest few can’t be justified in Christian terms.
In a letter to the House of Representatives last month, Catholic bishops wrote that “a just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons; it requires shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate revenues, eliminating unnecessary military and other spending, and addressing the long-term costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly.” Bishops also called for repealing “cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” and asked Congress to consider the “human and moral dimensions” of budget choices. Rep. Ryan has ignored this vision. Instead, he proposes to dismantle Medicare as we know it, slash food assistance for struggling families and turn Medicaid into inadequate state block grants at a time when most states are struggling to pay their bills. The dramatic growth in military spending is untouched. Addressing our national debt is essential, but balancing budgets on the backs of the poor and working families is flawed public policy and morally bankrupt.
Rep. Ryan claims his budget reflects the Catholic principle of “subsidiarity.” But he profoundly distorts this teaching to fit a narrow political ideology guided by anti-government fervor and libertarian faith in radical individualism. This is anathema to the Catholic social tradition. In fact, ever since Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, Catholic social teaching has recognized a positive role for government and our collective responsibility to care for our neighbors. It was another Ryan — Msgr. John Ryan — who in 1919 worked with Catholic bishops on a visionary plan that called for minimum wages, insurance for the elderly and unemployed, labor rights and housing for workers. The “Bishops’ Program for Social Reconstruction” recognized that free markets and self-reliance alone were not enough. These proposals eventually helped inform historic New Deal programs that for the first time sought to buffer families from the cruel vagaries of profit-driven markets that had little concern for human dignity. Subsidiarity recognizes that those social institutions closest to the human person — families, communities, churches — can effectively respond to human needs. But subsidiarity, according to Church teaching, also insists that government has a responsibility to serve the common good when these institutions are unable to address the more systemic issues of poverty, inadequate health care, environmental degradation and other societal challenges.
We urge Rep. Ryan to reconsider his radical budget proposal and refrain from distorting Church teaching to give moral cover to a budget that fails to live up to our nation’s best values and highest ideals.
Sister Simone Campbell
Executive Director
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Francis X. Doyle
Associate General Secretary (retired)
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Stephen Schneck
Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies
Catholic University of America
Rev. Thomas Kelly
Retired Catholic Priest
Elkhorn, WI (Constituent of Rep. Ryan)
Rev. Bryan N. Massingale
Professor of Theological Ethics
Marquette University
Institute Leadership Team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Rev. John A. Coleman S.J
Saint Ignatius Parish, San Francisco
Casassa Professor Emeritus
Loyola Marymount University
Tom Allio
Diocesan Social Action Director (Retired) Catholic Diocese of Cleveland
Rev. James F. Keenan, S.J.
Founders Professor in Theology
Boston College
Rev. John F. Kavanaugh S.J.
Professor of Philosophy
Saint Louis University
Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J.
University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice
Boston College
Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J.
Senior Fellow
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University
Rev. Paul Crowley, S.J.
Santa Clara Jesuit Community Professor
Religious Studies Department
Santa Clara University
Douglas W. Kmiec
U.S. Ambassador (ret.)
Caruso Family Chair in Constitutional Law & Human Rights
Pepperdine University
Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love
Associate Professor, Politics Department Fellow, Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies
The Catholic University of America
Dr. Francis Schüssler Fiorenza
Stillman Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies
Harvard Divinity School
Dr. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
Krister Stendahl Professor
Harvard Divinity School
Patrick Carolan
Executive Director
Franciscan Action Center
Fred Rotondaro
Board Chair
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
David J. O’Brien
University Professor of Faith and Culture
University of Dayton
Vincent J. Miller
Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture Department of Religious Studies
University of Dayton
Tobias Winright
Associate Professor of Theological Ethics
Saint Louis University
William Quigley
Janet Mary Riley Professor of Law
Loyola University, New Orleans
Marie Dennis
Co-President
Pax Christi International
James Salt
Executive Director
Catholics United
Mark J. Allman, PhD
Associate Professor of Religious & Theological Studies
Merrimack College
Terrence W. Tilley, Ph.D.
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Professor of Catholic Theology Chair, Theology Department
Fordham University
Paul Lakeland
Aloysius P. Kelley S.J. Professor of Catholic Studies
Fairfield University
Gerald J. Beyer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Christian Social Ethics Department of Theology and Religious Studies
Saint Joseph’s University
Lisa Sowle Cahill
Monan Professor of Theology
Boston College
Nancy Dallavalle
Chair, Department of Religious Studies
Fairfield University
Nicholas P. Cafardi
Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law
Duquesne University
John Sniegocki
Associate Professor of Christian Ethics
Xavier University
William L. Portier
Mary Ann Spearin Chair of Catholic Theology
University of Dayton
John Inglis
Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy Cross-appointed to Department of Religious Studies
University of Dayton
Meghan J. Clark, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Theology
St John’s University (NY)
Alex Mikulich, PhD
Research Fellow
Jesuit Social Research Institute
Loyola University, New Orleans
Peter Beisheim, Ph.D.
Director, Catholic Studies
Stonehill College
Sr. Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Theology, Boston College
Past-President,Catholic Theological Society of America
Una M. Cadegan
Department of History
University of Dayton
Todd Whitmore
Associate Professor, Department of Theology
University of Notre Dame
Kathleen Maas Weigert
Professor of Women and Leadership
Assistant to the Provost for Social Justice Initiatives
Loyola University, Chicago
Maria Teresa Davila, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics
Andover Newton Theological School
Dolores Christie
Emerita
Ursuline College, Cleveland, Ohio
Jean Lim
Adjunct Faculty, Theology
Xavier University
Christopher Pramuk
Associate Professor of Theology
Xavier University
Gerald W. Schlabach, Ph.D.
Professor of Theology; Director of Justice & Peace Studies
University of St. Thomas
Joseph Selling
International Visiting Scholar
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University
Emily Reimer-Barry
Assistant Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies
University of San Diego
Bradford E. Hinze
Professor of Theology
Fordham University
Maureen H. O’Connell
Associate Professor of Theology
Fordham University
Rev. Edward Vacek, S.J.
Woodstock Jesuit Residence
Nancy Pineda-Madrid, PhD
Associate Professor of Theology and U.S. Latino/a Ministry
Boston College, School of Theology and Ministry
Dr. Anthony J. Godzieba
Professor of Theology & Religious Studies
Villanova University
Arthur J. Dewey, Th.D.
Professor of Theology
Xavier University, Cincinnati
Daniel C. Maguire
Professor of Moral Theology
Marquette University
Jeannine Hill Fletcher
Associate Professor of Theology
Faculty Director, Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice
Fordham University
Kelly Johnson
Associate Professor, Religious Studies
University of Dayton
Jana Bennett
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
University of Dayton
Sr. Patricia Chappell
Executive Director – Pax Christi USA
*Organizations are listed for identification purposes only
add a comment »
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
Zimmerman’s arrest in Trayvon Martin case met with relief, anger
By Laura Isensee And Audra D.S. Burch — Miami Herald
Outrage over Trayvon’s death and the lack of an arrest galvanized ordinary citizens, particularly in the black community who saw the case as a symbol of the consequences of racial profiling and the hazards of being a young, black male.
Searching for Justice in Florida
By New York Times, Editorial
That the Police Department in Sanford, Fla., did not bring charges weeks ago shows how this law undermines the justice system and harms public safety. It must be repealed if the Trayvon Martin case is to advance the meaning of justice.
Fla. Megachurch Pastor Joel Hunter: Impossible for Church to Feed Poor in Place of Gov’t
By Michelle A. Vu — Christian Post
…an evangelical pastor who is also one of President Obama’s spiritual advisers said that looking at the numbers, it is not possible for the church to replace the government in feeding the poor, let alone meet other needs.
‘Buffett Rule’ vs. Ryan plan: Who should chip in more?
By David A. Fahrenthold and David Nakamura — Washington Post
Democrats point at millionaires, and Republicans turn to people who use Medicare and Medicaid.
Rep. Ryan goes all social-teaching-ish
By Steve Thorngate — Christian Century, Opinion
In what universe does cutting Pell Grants constitute replacing a culture of dependency with an effort to lift people out of poverty?
Karl Rove and company are losing the argument over inequality
By Greg Sargent — Washington Post, The Plum Line
…they are trying to solve a society wide problem that threatens the future of a country of over 300 million people — one that, in their telling, requires a bit more sacrifice from high earners as a whole class if we are to have any hope of solving it.
The marginalized pay for the church’s ideological battles
By Jamie L Manson — National Catholic Reporter, Opinion
Because, ultimately, it is the poor, the sick and the marginalized who must bear the burden of these ideological battles. All of those whom Jesus mandated we care for and protect are being sacrificed for the sake of political crusades.
Is this the Mormons’ JFK moment? Maybe, maybe not
By David Gibson — Religion News Service
Ostling also argued that the attacks on Romney’s Mormonism, while unseemly, don’t compare with those that Smith or Kennedy endured.
Death Penalty Repeal Goes to Connecticut Governor
By Peter Applebome — New York Times
After more than nine hours of debate, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to repeal the state’s death penalty, following a similar vote in the State Senate last week. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill.
How Santorum boxed in Romney
By E.J. Dionne — Washington Post, Opinion
Yes, it’s still early. Renewed economic jitters in Europe could spoil a fragile U.S. recovery. But for now, Romney finds himself in a political maze with no obvious path out. He’s there partly because of his own mistakes, but he was also led to this point because of the unlikely strength of Rick Santorum’s challenge.
Obama delays ban on discrimination by U.S. contractors, disappointing gay rights advocates
By Peter Wallsten — Washington Post, 44
A surprising new rift opened between the White House and the gay rights movement after White House officials revealed Wednesday that President Obama would not sign an executive order sought by activists to prohibit federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
add a comment »
The FPL News Reel is a daily round-up of the top faith and politics stories in the news. You can sign up for the email version of the News Reel here, subscribe to the RSS feed here, and follow it on twitter at @FPLNewsreel.
Trayvon Martin killing reminds us that our nation needs to heal
By Nelson Rivers III & Joel C. Hunter — Orlando Sentinel, Opinion
We can bring about the day when being the wrong race in the wrong place at the wrong time isn’t a life-threatening circumstance.
The Ryan budget and competing visions of Catholic social teaching 
By Liz Lefebvre — U.S. Catholic
Well, faith leaders are at it again with the release of Paul Ryan’s 2013 budget. It might come as a surprise after reading these critiques from fellow Catholics, to hear Ryan say that he did consult his Catholic faith when making decisions about the budget.
Ryan says faith helped shape his budget
By Jonathan Easley — The Hill
Ryan made a moral case for his budget, saying that the government shouldn’t be responsible for lifting its citizens out of poverty — rather, that it’s the obligation of the citizens themselves to be society’s caretakers.
Mr. Obama and the ‘Buffett Rule’
By New York Times, Editorial
The discussion of inequality must not end with a debate on taxes. To ensure that the benefits of economic growth are shared among all Americans, Washington must do a lot more to strengthen the institutions that foster broad prosperity. Those include public education, universal health care, Social Security, affirmative action, financial regulation and the minimum wage.
The watchdogs bite again: Another agency in danger of losing CCHD funding
By Bryan Cones — U.S. Catholic
…these kinds of guilt-by-association accusations are counterproductive and are doing serious damage both to our Catholic outreach to the poor and to our image as a community who joins wih all people of good will in works of charity and justice. More and more it appears that Catholics in general are so obsessed with issues of sexuality that we can’t even feed the poor or shelter immigrants anymore.
Occupy Catholics to Cardinal Dolan: We Aren’t Protesting, We’re Advertising Love
By Nathan Schneider — Religion Dispatches
The Catholic bishops haven’t had much to say while their co-religionist Paul Ryan pushes through his budgetary assault on the 99%. But if they won’t speak…others will have to do so instead.
With Santorum suspending campaign, some religious conservatives wonder how to proceed
By Dan Gilgoff — CNN, Belief Blog
“Right now my choice is to sit on my hands and do nothing or to actively try to find some alternative” to Mitt Romney, Farris said in an interview shortly after Santorum’s announcement.
Was Santorum running for theologian-in-chief?
By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite — Washington Post, On Faith
Santorum’s vision of the presidency, as gleaned from his many statements on faith and policy, was more of a Christian “theologian-in-chief” than a political leader of the most religiously diverse nation in the world.
add a comment »
