blogtcs.com
Wuerldly health care reform
Archbishop Donald Wuerl (CNS photo)
Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl stressed that the dignity of the person — including the undocumented immigrant — must be considered in health care reform.
Politics Daily published the op-ed column from the archbishop today, and it’s already sparked a lively debate.
“Universal coverage should be universal, including everyone,” he wrote. “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.”
He added: “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.”
The archbishop also underscored the need to protect the unborn.
“Health care reform especially needs to protect those at the beginning of life and at its end — the most vulnerable and the voiceless,” he wrote. “It is essential that reform include long-standing and widely supported federal restrictions on abortion funding and mandates and uphold existing conscience protections for health care providers. Abandoning current federal policies on abortion funding and conscience protection, thereby forcing people to pay for or participate in abortion would be morally reprehensible and a repudiation of the understanding of individual freedom and the rights of conscience that goes back to the American Revolution.”
The archbishop’s column adds to a growing number of Catholic voices contributing to the health care debate. A recent Catholic News Service article included other voices.
“If ever there was a need for the united Catholic voice to be heard clearly and strongly, now is the time,” said Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone of Charleston, S.C., in an Aug. 26 letter that he asked priests to post in their parish bulletins.
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., and Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo. also issued a joint-statement.
“Despite the many flaws with our current policies, change itself does not guarantee improvement,” they said in the Sept. 1 statement. “Many of the proposals which have been promoted would diminish the protection of human life and dignity and shift our health care costs and delivery to a centralized government bureaucracy.”
One Comment so far ...
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Brittanicus. I certainly agree that the immigration system is in dire need of reform, though I suspect we may differ a bit on what that reform looks like.
The Church take, you probably know, would focus less on the anchor baby problem and more on the cause of the anchor baby problem. That is, why are immigrants crossing into this country illegally? What’s it like in Mexico? Do U.S. policies have anything to do with it? It’s of highest importance in Church teaching to consider the dignity of the human person, and with that in mind, we look at the reasons immigrants chose to enter the country illegally, or the reasons they over stay their visas, etc. (which I believe is the more common scenario).
The solution you’re proposing, it seems to me, would attack one aspect of the problem, but not it’s root cause. If you’d like to learn more about the U.S. bishops’ position at http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/
Thanks a lot for writing in.
Comment on September 17, 2009 04:00 pmYou must be logged in to post a comment.