Richard McBrien; 5/10/09
Anyone with a newspaper subscription or an Internet connection does not lack for opinions about the legislation on health-care reform working through Congress. The point and purpose of this week’s column, however, is not to advocate in favor of one or another proposed bill, but to make sure that Catholics and other interested readers know what the official teaching of the Catholic church is — not on any of the specific proposals, but on the key moral elements of any reform of the health-care system in the United States. Bishop William Murphy, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, and chair of the U. S. Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, gave the essence of the church’s position in a letter to members of Congress, dated July 17, an excerpt of which was cited in an editorial in the National Catholic Reporter, “The right to health care” (9/18/09):
See; http://ncronline.org/blogs/essays-theology/what-church-teaches-health-care- reform
© 2009 Richard P. McBrien. All rights reserved. Fr. McBrien is the Crowley-O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Tags: Christianity, health, Human Rights, USA