Cardinal Defends Church’s Right to Speak on Health Care Reform

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
 
Despite threats from lawmakers to punish the Church’s involvement in health care reform by revoking its tax-exempt status, Cardinal Francis George defended the Church’s right to enter this debate because it is their responsibility “to insist as a moral voice . . . that everyone should be cared for and that no one should be deliberately killed.”

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U.S. Bishops Launch Unprecedented Initiative To Oppose Health Care Reform

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has sent an e-mail directive to every parish in the United States asking that an urgent message about health care reform be communicated to parishioners in their bulletins this weekend and announced at every Mass. Read the rest…

Patrick Kennedy Accuses Church of Fanning “Flames of Dissent and Discord”

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), the son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, is accusing the Catholic Church of fanning “the flames of dissent and discord” by stating its opposition to health care reform unless it is amended to explicitly prohibit abortion funding.

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USCCB Takes on White House

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

Spokespersons for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are taking on the White House for its consistently misleading claims about abortion coverage in health care reform, and are expressing their disappointment that the Senate Finance Committee passed a bill that contains many problematic provisions.

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Bishops Unite in Opposition to Current Health Care Reform

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

The U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops have sent a letter to each member of the U.S. Senate urging them to support a “fair and just health care reform bill” that excludes mandated coverage for abortion, and upholds longstanding laws that protect conscience rights.

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Bishops Remember the Vulnerable in Health Care Debate on Respect Life Sunday

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

In a statement to mark Respect Life Sunday, October 4, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia called attention to those who are most vulnerable in recent debates on health care reform – the unborn, the poor, the elderly and the immigrant – and called upon Catholics to “examine how well we, as a nation and individually, are living up to our obligation to protect the rights of those who, due to age, dependency, poverty or other circumstances, are at risk of their very lives.”

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U.S. Bishops Take On Planned Parenthood

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer

Responding to attacks by the president of Planned Parenthood criticizing the U.S. bishops work to exclude abortion coverage from health care legislation, an official from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sets the record straight.

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U.S. Bishops Say Amendments to Health Care Bill Not Enough

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer

While applauding two amendments to the House health care reform bill that will protect certain state laws regulating abortion and existing federal conscience rights, the changes are not enough, says the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

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