Nuns urge passage of health care bill

As a Catholic this is absolutely disgusting to read. A group of nuns have sent a letter to Congress urging the passage of Obamacare:

Catholic nuns are urging Congress to pass President Barack Obama's health care plan, in an unusual public break with bishops who say it would subsidize abortion.

Some 60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns Wednesday sent lawmakers a letter urging them to pass the Senate health care bill. It contains restrictions on abortion funding that the bishops say don't go far enough.

The letter says that "despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions." The letter says the legislation also will help support pregnant women and "this is the real pro-life stance."

Let's start with the absolute basics here. NO religious leader in the Catholic Church is supposed to be speaking on political matters. Their purview is faith, and faith alone. For those who scream that abortion is a political issue, it's not to the Catholic Church. As far back as 70 AD the Catholic Church has had strict doctrine dealing with abortion. In the first written Catechism the Church specifically stated that abortion was wrong; a sin against God Himself:

“The second commandment of the teaching: You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not seduce boys. You shall not commit fornication. You shall not steal. You shall not practice magic. You shall not use potions. You shall not procure [an] abortion, nor destroy a newborn child” (Didache 2:1–2 [A.D. 70]).

That's pretty cut-and-dry. Too bad these nuns are rebels without a clue, and clearly speaking out despite Catholic bishops' opposition to this bill, and mostly due to the abortion provisions in the bill. In fact the National Right To Life Committee (NRLC) sent a letter out to Congress back in January that details six ways the Senate bill still provides funding -- taxpayer funding -- of abortions; a direct violation of the Hyde Amendment. (For those unaware, the amendment is a rider attached to appropriations bills forbidding federal subsidization of abortions. In other words, no taxpayer funds were to go for abortions, and it was originally created on the heels of the 1973 SCOTUS decision in Roe v. Wade.)

While no details are given regarding the nuns, or the orders they belong to, it's clear to us that these nuns don't represent the Catholic Church. In fact, they seem to be a slight bit on the maverick side. We urge Catholic bishops to condemn their letter, and admonish their behavior. The bishops issue the public statements for the Church, not a bunch of renegade nuns who clearly have no clue what is exactly in this bill.

(HT to Captain Ed for the immediate research material regarding Catholic doctrine on abortion. Yeah, I know it because I've lived it, but I knew he had dug up this information back in 2008 in response to Pelosi's idiocy on Catholic teachings.)

Publius II