This is my first try blogging from My blackberry. I am in New Hampshire for the Presidents speech and we await his arrival. Follow me on Twitter for updates from the field.
Health Care Bills and Abortion
(CNSNews.com) – Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, an organization that says its mission is “to articulate the biblical call to social justice,” said Monday that he has yet to see a health care reform bill that uses federal funds to promote abortion.
However, both the bill drafted by the House Ways and Means Committee and the bill drafted by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, allow federal tax dollars to flow to health insurers that pay for abortions.
The House bill goes so far as to require that all Americans getting federally funded health insurance have an opportunity to purchase health insurance plans that cover abortion.
Defenders of this bill claim that the abortion coverage in these plans will be covered with the insured’s own money and other parts of the plan will be covered with taxpayers’ dollars.
“There is no health care plan that I have seen so far that wouldn’t cover older people, vulnerable people, and disabled people, or use federal funds to promote abortions,” Wallis said during a telephone conference call with reporters.
Sojourners is one of several activist groups promoting a new initiative called “40 Days for Health Reform.” This initiative calls together activist groups to articulate biblical or specific religious teachings to promote social welfare and, to that end, health care reform.
Wallis said that while many people are interested in health care reform because they want to protect the “sacredness of human life,” he also said that abortion should not be used to defeat health care reform.
“A number of us are part of this because we care about the sacredness of human life, that’s why we are here,” said Wallis. “So a number of us care about the issue of abortion and I am quite disturbed by the way some people, even on the religious right, are using the issue of abortion to try and defeat health care.”
“We want what a lot of us are calling an abortion-neutral stance, carefully worded so abortion does not become an issue in the bill,” Wallis said. “I think a number of us on both sides of this issue, having agreed to this, we can help shape a bill where abortion does not become an issue that scuttles health care reform.”
In the House of Representatives, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200), includes an amendment by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) that is viewed by many pro-choice legislators as a compromise on the abortion issue.
The amendment says that the the so-called “public option” health care plan offered by the government will not cover abortion. It also says that the minimum benefits package that all insurance companies must offer to Americans receiving government subsidies to buy insurance–for which everyone making 400% or less of the poverty level will qualify–will also not cover abortion. However, the amendment also stipulates that private insurance plans offering coverage to government-subsidized customers (anyone making under 400% of the poverty level) can cover abortions if they wish, and that at least one private health care plan offered to federally funded health insurance purchasers in every region of the country MUST cover abortions.
This means that people buying health insurance with federal tax subsidies will always be able to buy insurance that covers abortion.
Some Members of Congress who supported this amendment have argued that it does not mean that federal tax dollars will go to cover abortions because, they say, the part of the premium paid be federally subsidized insurance buyers with their own money will cover the abortion-providing part of their policy. Under this theory, the tax dollars used to buy this person’s insurance policy will only pay for that part of the policy that does not cover abortion.
However, Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), criticized the Capps amendment as “legal fiction.”
“How it would work is, if somebody who is in the government plan goes and gets an elective abortion, the abortionist sends the bill to the federal government–and the federal government sends him back a federal government check to pay for the abortion,” said Johnson.
“You would have federal officials running it and federal checks paying for the abortions,” Johnson told CNSNews.com. “Most Americans would consider that federal subsidies for abortion and they would be right.”
The Capps amendment sets guidelines for the inclusion of private insurers in a health care exchange, stipulating that insurers that want to qualify for the exchange are free to either provide coverage for abortion or not provide coverage.
The amendment also states, however, that “abortions for which the expenditure of Federal funds appropriated for the Department of Health and Human Services is not permitted.”
“With respect to the private plans, some private plans are going to cover abortion on demand and some won’t,” said Johnson. “But if you are one of the people who qualify for a federal subsidy, you can take that subsidy and buy an abortion plan.”
Johnson noted that government money is fungible. “It is like the money in your wallet,” he said. “It does not matter which bills you pull out, once it goes in your wallet it is all fungible as they say.”
“So it is a fiction,” said Johnson. “They want the government to run an insurance plan to cover abortion on demand and that’s what this would achieve.”
The current Senate version of the health care bill allows for federal funds to go to insurers that cover abortions and does not prohibit the government run public-opition from providing abortions.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D.-Md.) offered and amendment to the bill in committee that required all insurance plans available to federally subsidized insurance purchasers to cover services provided to pregnant women by clinics run by groups including Planned Parenthood. When Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) if she would be willing to add language to her own amendment that would explicitly exclude abortions from being among the federally funded services provided by these clinics, Mikulski said, “No, I would not be willing to do that at this time.”
Hatch later offered his own amendment to the bill. in committee, that would have prohibited any funding of abortion through federally funded health insurance programs except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. The amendment was defeated.
Wallis said that there people who “really want to shut down democracy” and “I think we have to carefully have this conversation to show people that a health care reform comprehensive plan will respect the sacredness of human life and those of us who care about that will make sure it does.”
It was announced during the conference call that President Obama will be joining faith leaders from across the nation to discuss the moral importance of health care reform. That conference call is scheduled for next Wednesday evening, Aug. 19.
More information about the call-in can be found at faithforhealth.org.
10 August ~ St. Blane
Bishop and Confessor in Scotland, b. on the island of Bute, date unknown; d. 590. His feast is kept on 10 August. He was a nephew of St. Cathan, and was educated in Ireland under Sts. Comgall and Kenneth; he became a monk, went to Scotland, and eventually was bishop among the Picts. Several miracles are related of him, among them the restoration of a dead boy to life. The Aberdeen Breviary gives these and other details of the saint’s life, which are rejected however, by the Bollandists. There can be no doubt that devotion to St. Blane was, from early times, popular in Scotland. His monastery became the site of the Cathedral of Dunblane. There was a church of St. Blane in Dumfries and another at Kilblane. The year of the saint’s death is variously given as 446, 590, and 1000; 446 (Butler, Lives of the Saints) is evidently incorrect; the date 1000, found in Adam King, “Kalendar of Scottish Saints” (Paris, 1588), in Dempster, “Menologium Scotorum” (Bonn, 1622), and in the “Acta SS.”, seems to have crept in by confusing St. Kenneth, whose disciple Blane was, with a Kenneth who was King of Scotland about A.D. 1000. The highest authorities say the saint died 590. The ruins of his church at Kingarth, Bute, where his remains were buried, are still standing and form an object of great interest to antiquarians; the bell of his monastery is preserved at Dunblane.
Hat Tip: Catholic Encyclopedia
FOCUS North America
There is a new Orthodox Social Ministry called FOCUS North America and the Focus of FOCUS are the needs at home. This from the website:
Mission of FOCUS North America
Working especially in the areas of Food, Occupation, Clothing, Understanding and Shelter, FOCUS North America expresses Christ’s love through social action in North America for those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick or in prison (Matt. 25:35-6).
FOCUS North America will:
Serve those in need, by providing aid through our programs and partners,
Support Orthodox Christian social action ministries, agencies, professionals, and volunteers; and
Supply parishes and others with the education, resources and training needed to initiate social action ministries in their own communities.
Here is a little video to introduce FOCUS to my readers. Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-20707kdCc]
Out and About
I am up way too early for a Saturday morning but it is for a good cause. I am off to the Cape Cod Highland Festival in Sandwich, Massachusetts. This is the 2nd year this festival is being held and I am looking forward to it.
I did not make it last year, and I cannot seem to remember why, but this year I am going. As I usually try to do I will post pics to facebook so you can follow the antics of the day.
When I return, but more than likely tomorrow, I will post some thoughts on the festival and why I feel that these events are important reminders of who we are and where we come from.
The Four Way Test
Several months ago I was invited to speak at the monthly meeting of the Sturbridge Rotary Club. I accepted the invitation and set off to the meeting not knowing what to expect from the group that I knew very little of other than the fact that they meet on Monday nights at the Public House.
The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise. But this not the entire story and if you are interested drop by a local Rotary meeting and meet some great people.
The one part of the history of Rotary that stuck with me, because it is very Orthodox, is something called the Four Way Test. Simply put it is a four question test that Rotarians should ask themselves before undertaking anything. I adapted this four way test recently in a homily as I think we can learn much from this simple little test.
Question number one, is it the truth? Truth is one of those things that seems to be on a slippery slope these days in America. We can say anything we want and get away with it or of someone disagrees we say they are liberal or conservative, depending on what side of the fence you are on of course. Scripture tells us to speak the truth and truth will set you free. Sage advice I would say. Truth is important and should be spoken at all times.
Question number two, is it fair to all concerned? Fairness is another philosophy that changes with the times. Are we taking sides and if we are taking sides do we have all of the information. I feel it is important to listen to what people say and not what others said they said.
Question number three, will it build goodwill and better friendships? There is enough bad will in the world we can all use a little goodwill so let’s work hard at building up and not breaking down.
Question number four, will it be beneficial to all concerned? Again I refer to the analogy of building and not destroying. It is not enough just to be right you need to be correct! By correct I don’t mean political correctness either. Get your facts straight and don’t go for the cheap shot that is too easy and we need to rise above that.
This is a simple test that we can use in our everyday life in business, school, church, or whatever we happen to be doing. Just imagine what the world would be like if we all followed these simple words.
My weekly column is featured in the following publications:
The Tantasqua Town Common – http://www.thetantasquatowncommon.com
Quaboag Current – http://quaboagcurrent.com/index1.html
Ware River News
Ted Kennedy
I think it is time for Senator Kennedy to resign from office. That right you heard me right I believe it is time for Senator Kennedy to resign from office.
I also believe that Senator Kennedy has been great for Massachusetts. I don’t always agree with him and his stand on some issues but he has been great for Massachusetts. His family has a long history of service to the country and we need to honor him for his, and his families service to the country.
Today the US Senate took the historic vote to confirm a new Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and Senator Kennedy was not present because of his illness. He has missed many of the votes in this session and is sure going to miss the health care debate that he has been on the forefront of. I am not being represented in the Senate to the full extent right now and it is time for his to resign.
Senator, we honor your life of service to America and her people but do the honorable thing and resign so someone who is healthy can represent Massachusetts in the United States Senate.
Originally Posted at www.wsomorning.com
Huw on Classism
Read it all on Huw’s great blog here.
Christians Weigh In On Health Care Reform
Cross-posted at Huffington Post.
Huffington Post blogger Rob Warmowski asked an important question about health care reform last week: Where are the Christians in this debate?
Huffington Post blogger Rob Warmowski asked an important question about health care reform last week: Where are the Christians in this debate?
Not wanting to conflate the religious right with American Christians generally (a rather important distinction), Rob said:
Instead, the Christians I’m wondering about are the millions of ordinary, considered followers of a Bronze Age guy named Jesus, a guy who, to my mind, had some pretty specific things to say about the U.S. health insurance industry and its practices.
The answer: they’re organizing in congregations across America, taking to the airwaves, and lobbying on Capitol Hill (often side-by-side with Jews and Muslims dedicated to the same cause).
Just last week, 100 clergy from across America affiliated with PICO National Network came to Capitol Hill to lobby 50 members of Congress to support health insurance reform. These leaders also announced an array of events happening around the country during Congress’s August recess: 100 in-district lobbying visits to key Members of Congress, town hall meetings and other public events, and preaching about health care reform in thousands of congregations. Faithful Reform — an interfaith coalition working for universal healthcare — includes numerous Christian groups, and they’re mounting vigils and prayer services for reform and disseminating resources to clergy across the country in August. (This weekend, hundreds of people of faith held a candlelight vigil in Indianapolis to pray for health care reform.)
And those are just the latest examples faith-based activism calling for meaningful reform that makes health care affordable and accessible to all American families. In late June, the Interfaith Week of Prayer for Health Care culminated with a rally at Freedom Plaza in Washington that drew several thousand participants. Last month, a clergy guide on the health care reform debate circulated to thousands of Christian congregations that are tackling the issue. Also in July, the Washington Post’s Jacqueline Salmon reported that Christian groups such as Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Sojourners, interfaith groups such as Faith in Public Life and PICO, as well as leaders of congregations across America, are bringing a message of the moral urgency of health insurance reform to the public square:
In recent weeks, hundreds of clergy members and lay leaders have descended on the offices of members of Congress, urging lawmakers to enact health-care legislation this year. With face-to-face lobbying, sermons, prayer and advertising on Christian radio stations, the coalitions are pressing the idea that health care for everyone is a fundamental moral issue.
The Christian radio ads Salmon mentions, which were sponsored by Faithful America, featured local pastors from diverse backgrounds in key areas of Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska and North Carolina this spring and summer. Faith messaging resonates particularly well in these states, which are represented by members of Congress whose support for reform will be critical. Christians, and people of faith more generally, have gained exposure in secular media as well. In the course of my daily scan of faith in politics news, I’ve come across dozens of stories about Christian leaders speaking out in favor of health care reform, and the coverage isn’t limited to national leaders — local clergy and religious coalitions from Denver to Toledo to Little Rock are getting ink.
Rob’s question, even if rhetorical, is important. After all, the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves suggests that Christians should value our neighbors’ health care as much as we value our own. That’s a tough requirement, but diverse Christians across America, in large numbers and in numerous ways, are making robust efforts to ensure passage of reform that provides quality, affordable health care for all.
Originally Posted Here
The Fullness of Faith
By Fr. Stephen Freeman
I prefer to use the term “fullness” when describing the Orthodox faith because it is far more explanatory than simply saying that we are the “true Church,” etc. “Fullness,” of course does not deny this, but it moves us onto more fruitful ground. In this post I offer a short list of what seem to me important consequences of giving one’s life to the “fullness of the faith.” This is a reprint from earlier – but one which bears re-reading.
It is to accept the corporate nature of our salvation. The model of what it means to be a Christian is to be found in the life of the Holy Trinity. Thus we live no longer for ourselves but for everything and everyone.
It is to embrace the Christian faith “without onesidedness” (to quote Fr. Serge Verhovskoy of blessed memory). Thus we do not reduce Christianity to a tension between grace and law, or to an expression merely of the sovereignty of God or any such other reductionist models that have come to be in the past half-millenium.
It is to embrace the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ, as the full and complete revelation to us of God. His words, His life, His actions, are the complete salvation of all mankind. As He said on the cross: “It is complete.”
It is to accept that the faith is larger than we are and that we cannot reduce it to anything less than its fullness and be faithful.
The consequence of this last point is that we attend Church always with an attitude of humility for we are standing within the larger life which is itself revealing God to us.
We renounce our selves as “autonomous individuals” and recognize instead that we are children of the One God who directs our lives in His commandments and He alone is the definition and meaning of our life.
We accept that the Holy Mysteries of the Church (such as Baptism, Chrismation, Penance and Eucharist, Unction, Marriage, and Ordination, are sure means by which God gives His very Life to us, though He may give His life to us in many other ways as well.) Thus we view this Life of Mystery as our true life and not simply an organizational expression of the Church.
We accept that we are only the current representatives of this faith on the earth, but that we are joined by a great “cloud of witnesses,” the Saints, by whose prayers we are aided and by whose Holy relics we are encouraged to run the race faithfully to its end. Thus we honor them as Holy friends, and our companions on the road of salvation.
Among the saints we recognize the unique place of the Mother of God, whose obedience to the word of God undid the disobedience of Eve, and through whose cooperation with the working of God, salvation became incarnate in the God-Man, Christ Jesus.
We recognize and accept that our salvation is nothing other than true and living communion with God the Father, through His Son, in the Holy Spirit. This salvation is a whole life and not a single decision. It is lived in a community (the Church, the Body of Christ) and lacks nothing for God has provided it with all that is necessary for our salvation.
We recognize the authority of the Scriptures within the life of the Church and accept with the Apostles that all of Scripture is understood only as it reveals Christ, for “these are they which testify of Me.” We recognize as well that Scripture is a gift to the Church and read them in and through the living Tradition of the Church as expressed in the Fathers, the worship life of the Church, and the decisions of the Holy Councils of the Faith.
We see in the world an icon of the world to come – the Scriptures as icon – the Saints as icons – the Church as icon and we live for the age when all things will be made known.
We believe that the fullness of the faith can only be known through the revelation of God as we follow the way of the Cross, tracing the steps of Christ’s humility, taking upon ourselves, as He took upon Himself, the sins of the world, and from within that humility praying for all to the gracious God Who alone can save.
I could, of course, continue writing until my last breath for no lifetime can exhaust or express completely the fullness. This modest list, however, seems a reasonable place to begin. In particular they are points which have been written about in some detail in the posts I have placed on this blogsite. God, forgive me, for I fail so completely in all of them.
Originally Posted Here