Local bishop, who opposed NC sex education, also opposes health care reform

Almost twenty years later and it’s still embarrassing to admit. I went to a Jesuit College for graduate school because I naively thought Geraldine Ferraro was a typical Catholic.
 

I grew up in Alabama, in a community with no known Catholics of any sort. I sat glued to the television watching the 1984 national Democratic convention when NY Governor Mario Cuomo—another liberal Catholic—delivered his powerful keynote address on the American Dream. As a first time voter, I proudly pulled the lever for the Ferraro/ Mondale ticket. We lost, but I’d been smitten by the belief that Catholics were a force for social justice.

So much so that after finishing college I packed up my bags and moved to NYC to attend the very school Ferraro attended. Imagine my surprise when fliers went up recruiting students to attend the annual anti-choice march in DC on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

I remember standing there, reading the sign, shaking my head in disbelief. Two decades later and I’m still shaking my head.

Last week the United Conference of Catholic Bishops—men who are not permitted to have sex with women and who do not support birth control—sent a memo to all Catholic congregations in the U.S. asking all Catholics in the country to contact their members of Congress to demand that current health care legislation be altered to include anti-choice amendments.

That’s right. Catholic Bishops are using health care reform as just another vehicle for their ongoing effort to take away a woman’s fundamental right to make childbearing decisions.

Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about the nuances of faith. I know the official Catholic position is anti-choice but I also know a whole lot of Catholics are as angry as I am to know that Catholic Bishops are disregarding the health of millions to advance a political agenda. If this makes you angry, TAKE ACTION.

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