American Catholics will receive an insert in their church bulletins at this weekend’s Masses asking them to lobby Congress on abortion restrictions in the pending health care bill.
Sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, inserts in English and Spanish have been mailed out to nearly 19,000 churches reaching the nation’s 67 million Catholics.
They ask adherents to e-mail, phone or fax their members of Congress asking them not to make taxpayers pay for abortions directly or indirectly, to include conscience protections for health care workers, and to keep health care “accessible and affordable.”
Along with the inserts, priests are being asked to read aloud two statements — one this weekend and the other on the Jan. 23-24 weekend — giving instructions on how to access a USCCB Web site that would allow them to send automated messages to their members of Congress as well as House and Senate majority leaders.
Good for the Catholic bishops. Bravo. I hope many of the faithful respond to this timely appeal. So much is at stake.
David Handy+
A better use of those resources would be to lobby congress to kill this problem-riddled bill and start serious, open debate on a new one — one that lives up to the President’s promise to include doctors, health-care providers, both parties, AND CSPAN cameras in the room.
This bill is the product of shady deals, special interest exclusions (unions), buy-offs, bribes, back-room (i.e, smoke-filled room) deals, and the exclusion of dissenting voices.