Catholic bishops to House Republicans: Your budget makes Jesus cry. John Boehner to bishops: STFU.

[ProSense]

Catholic bishops to House Republicans: Your budget makes Jesus cry. John Boehner to bishops: STFU.

by Kaili Joy Gray

You know how Republicans in Congress believe all of our laws should be Catholic Church-approved, right? Well, all of our laws regarding lady parts, anyway. Other stuff, like, say, the federal budget ... meh, not so much.

Seems like only yesterday, Republicans couldn't stop shoving bishops in front of cameras to explain why women's health care is immoral. But now that the bishops have some strong words for Republicans on their immoral budget to screw the poor, Republicans are sticking their fingers in their ears and saying, "Lalalalalala, we can't hear you." In fact, House Republicans would prefer the bishops shut up and stop talking about morality:

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) chastised Catholic bishops at a Wednesday news conference on Capitol Hill, saying they needed to look at the bigger picture after they complained that the GOP budget plan fails to meet "moral criteria."

Gosh, it's not so fun when the Catholic bishops call you out for being immoral, is it?

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is criticizing the House Republican budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan for cutting food stamps and other assistance programs for the poor.

In a letter sent to the House Agriculture Committee on Monday, the bishops say the budget fails to meet certain “moral criteria” by disproportionately cutting programs that “serve poor and vulnerable people.”

The bishops sent this letter after Rep. Paul Ryan gave a rather bizarre interview, in which he claimed that he's "using [his] Catholic faith" to justify cutting, for example, food stamps. Because, he says, that's how to "help people get out of poverty out onto life of independence."

The bishops disagreed:

[T]he bishops urged lawmakers to reject "unacceptable cuts to hunger and nutrition" programs for "moral and human reasons." [...] Lawmakers should "protect essential programs that serve poor and hungry people over subsidies that assist large and relatively well-off agricultural enterprises," said the letter, signed by Bishop Stephen E. Blaire.

"Cuts to nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will hurt hungry children, poor families, vulnerable seniors and workers who cannot find employment. These cuts are unjustified and wrong."

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/18/1084178/-Catholic-bishops-to-House-Republicans-Your-budget-makes-Jesus-cry-John-Boehner-to-bishops-STFU-

Excellent title!

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Waiting for Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York to respond to this.

Might be good.

[ProSense]

3. Yeah, this

is a pot-meet-kettle case.

[tk2kewl]

6. heh... cardinal...

i forgot about the pointy hat promotion

my money says he ignores it.

[mysuzuki2]

7. You will wait a long time

he only concerns himself with issues involving vaginas.

[roguevalley]

10. they pushed these guys. now they complain. hmmm...

[gratuitous]

2. Has William Donohue been notified?

He's always ready to fly off the handle at any slight, real or imagined, against the Catholic Church (presumably because in Mr. Donohue's cosmology, God's kind of a slacker and can't be everywhere). At least when those slights are coming from damned liberals. I wonder if he'll get some air time to rant against Mr. Boehner or Mr. Ryan?

[NoGOPZone]

4. Another story you won't be hearing on EWTN News

the voice of all things Catholic, as long as it favors the right wing.

[freshwest]

5. Hopefully, priests telling their flock abortion is murder, will say that about these cuts.

I would like to think that people of faith will see they have been played by the right, but there is so much emotion involved, they may ignore it.

How this will reflect in Catholic voting patterns in November? Will they hold the lives of the poor more important than those of the unborn?

I think they can hold both sentiments at once; but where is the call for ex-communication or refusing to allow participation in mass, of lawbreakers who do not follow the stated beliefs of the religion?

I can't take their objections seriously until they do.

Although Popes have come out in favor of the social safety net as a requirement of moral legitimacy to govern, there appears to be no punishment meted out for those who spit on the vulnerable.

[Larkspur]

8. Needs to be framed as "You can't be for life if you vote to starve fetuses, kids and their mothers"

Progressive Faith groups need to go on the offensive with this kind of message against the right wingers. Jesus had a few parables about what happens to greedy wealthy people.

[freshwest]

9. Some of them are with little media coverage. Neither Ryan nor Boehner are denied communion.

And Jesus had parables about them, very clear ones and commandments, as well, that the GOP and lovers of wealth and power routinely break. It's sickening.