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Catholic Left, Catholics United, Institute on Religion and Democracy, IRD Blog, NETWORK, Paul Ryan
The Catholic Left doesn’t like the choice of Paul Ryan as Republican veep nominee. And presumably the rest of the Religious Left will echo their condemnation of Congressman Ryan’s “immoral” and “unpatriotic” federal budget plan that tries to limit growth of social welfare and entitlement programs.
Leading the charge is NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, which organized the “Nuns on the Bus” anti Ryan budget protest that decamped at the United Methodist Building earlier this Summer.
According to Sister Simone Campbell, NETWORK’s Executive Director: “We agree with Catholic Bishops that Paul Ryan’s budget fails the test of Catholic Social Teaching since it deliberately harms people at the economic margins. It is also unpatriotic because it says that we are an individualistic, selfish nation. This is emphatically not who we are. Both our Constitution and our faith teach us that “We the People” are called to care for one another, to have responsibility for each other. This year’s election will present us with a critical choice. Do we want to favor the rich on the backs of people in need? Is that who we want to be?”
NETWORK was quickly joined by Catholics United, which is headed by a former NETWORK staffer.
“With the selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, it is fair to call this the Romney-Ryan-Rand presidential ticket,” said James Salt, executive director of Catholics United, referring to the late Ayn Rand, the atheist writer and advocate of free markets whose novels Ryan has admired. “Despite his Catholic background, this selection will certainly cost Romney votes from cross-pressured Catholic swing voters. Catholics, more than the general population, believe government has an important role in defending the dignity of those less fortunate.”
It won’t be long before the Protestant and evangelical Religious Left join the Catholic Left rhetoric in this presidential campaign.
I would have thought Catholics would be pushing for a smaller government so their own people could better fund Catholic charities and know exactly where their money goes. To me, it seems that Rome and other governments fall/fail when they get too big.
To be fair, most of this outrage is coming from groups who are diametrically opposed to Rome. At least its teachings on abortion and gay issues.
I do have theological differences with the Roman Catholic church, but I admire them for standing up to the abortion industry. If only mainline Protestant denominations had that backbone. Instead, many of these denominations actually support abortion rights. What a farce.
These liberal Catholic Nuns need to take an accounting class. When the country goes bankrupt NO ONE gets benefits, and “the least of these” are harmed even more. Ryan’s plan is by no means above criticism, but it does maintain the safety net and it is among the few that actually deal with the sustainability liberals don’t like to talk about: fiscal sustainabity.
The dignity of work and earning one’s own way is among the highest types of dignity, but Mr. Obama recently undermined even that. Moreover, his budget could not even garner support from his own party.
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This makes me like Ryan even more!