holy war.jpgUPDATE, 3/19, 8:27a: The USCCB issued this statement yesterday:

A recent letter from Network, a social justice lobby of sisters, grossly overstated whom they represent in a letter to Congress that was also released to media.
Network’s letter, about health care reform, was signed by a few dozen people, and despite what Network said, they do not come anywhere near representing 59,000 American sisters.
The letter had 55 signatories, some individuals, some groups of 3 to 5 persons. One endorser signed twice….

There are 793 religious communities in the United States.
The math is clear. Network is far off the mark.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh
Director of Media Relations
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

[HT: Kathy O.]
UPDATE, 3/18, 9:52p: Just read that the National Catholic Reporter came out today in favor of the Senate healthcare bill. What a mess.
3/18, 9:18p: When Catholics United supported pro-abort John Kerry for president in 2004, and was joined by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to promote Barack Obama in 2008, I was aggravated but not surprised. Heretics organized these groups specifically to promote a liberal political agenda.
But now something more is going on, like an open rebellion. It’s almost as if the Catholic leadership in America has lost control. From the Christian Science Monitor, today:

A widening split among opponents of abortion could help pave the way to passage for President Obama’s healthcare reform legislation….

Increasingly, abortion foes – including high-profile Catholic organizations and members of Congress – are saying that while the language aimed at preventing use of federal funds for abortion is not perfect, the bill is still worth passing as a first step.

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The Catholic Health Association, which represents more than 600 Catholic hospitals in the US, came out earlier this week in favor of the president’s plan, arguing that comprehensive reform is a “moral imperative.” On Wednesday, 60 Catholic nuns representing most of the nation’s 59k nuns sent a letter to Congress, also urging passage of the bill.
The one-two punch represents an extraordinary display of dissent against the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the official leadership of the US church, which favors universal healthcare but opposes the president’s plan over the abortion issue.

CHA’s support of Obamacare seems crazy to me. Not only should Catholic hospitals oppose public funded abortion, they should worry about being forced to commit public funded abortions.
More from Fox News today, despite the seriousness of the topic, a couple of laugh lines…

The abortion language in President Obama’s health care reform bill has ignited something of a holy war among Catholics, who are sharply divided on whether the legislation would allow the government to subsidize the termination of pregnancies.
While groups representing Catholic hospitals and liberal nuns have come out in support of the bill in recent days, other groups representing Catholic bishops and other nuns have denounced it, saying the bill contains restrictions on abortion funding that don’t go far enough….

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Rep. Bart Stupak, D-MI, who has led the charge to include in the final bill the tougher anti-abortion language passed last November by the House, derided the White House for touting the nuns’ support.
“When I’m drafting right-to-life language, I don’t call up nuns,” he said. Instead, he said he confers with other groups, including “leading bishops, Focus on the Family, and The National Right to Life Committee.”…
But on Monday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops took issue with the hospital association’s belief that defects to the bill will be fixed after passage….
[A]nother group, the National Council of Major Superior of Women Religious, which represents 129 orders and nearly 10k nuns, say the bishops’ position is “authentic” and expressed outrage that the liberal social justice advocacy group Network is attempting to speak on behalf of the Catholic nuns….

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The Rev. Frank Pavone, national director for Priests for Life, blasted the liberal nuns, saying their statement in support of the bill “does not represent 59,000 nuns; it represents approximately 59 nuns who signed it.”…
“It is absurd to advocate social justice while risking the expansion of a holocaust,” he said. “The right to life is at the heart of social justice. We can’t pursue one by sacrificing the other.”

[Graphic via HolyWar.net]

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