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Who is REALLY responsible for the passage of Obamacare? It isn’t the nuns!
Recently, Cardinal George chastised Sr. Carol Keehan and the Catholic Health Association
for breaking with the USCCB and endorsing the abortion-friendly Obamacare law.
Current arguments over the passage of Obamacare are all still about finger pointing and assigning
blame.
Some people are pointing fingers at the betrayal of Bart Stupak. Others assert that Sister
Keehan and a bunch of progressive nuns are to blame.
The truth is that while all of this blame is well placed, the real problem is lack of
clear leadership from the Catholic hierarchy.
But in order to understand the problem, let’s start with what happened. Bart Stupak was
viewed by most as the stop-loss against Obamacare. He swore up and down that he would not vote
for it so long as provisions remained for the funding of abortions. However, Nancy Pelosi
somehow convinced him that an executive order would make things all better. So, encouraged
by progressive nuns and empty promises, he and his fellow hold-outs flipped sides and
voted for the bill, forcing this unprecedented law on everyone.
Which leads us to Sr. Keehan and her entourage. Stupak was emboldened to vote for Obamacare
when Sr. Keehan and a list of 60 religious orders signed a public statement of endorsement.
Despite the fact that every version of Obamacare expanded provisions for abortion, sex education,
and birth control, Sr. Keehan discussed her support for Obamacare last August with Raymond
Arroyo and Judie Brown.
[Keehan] We are working closely with our bishops, and have been working with our bishops for
years now. We have said very clearly, we will compromise our preferences, we will not compromise
our principles. CHA has been on record clearly, we will sacrifice our preferences, not our
principles. I promise you, there will be no way that we will allow ourselves to compromise
our principles.
[Michael] And after Sr. Keehan compromised her principles without sacrificing her preferences,
she received one of the 21 ceremonial pens used for signing the bill into law.
To paraphrase St. Thomas More, Sr. Keehan, “it profits a man nothing to give his soul
for the whole world ... but for a pen?”
And just so you understand how influential those nuns were in that final push to pass
Obamacare, their ringing endorsement gave the fence-sitters in Washington all the support
they needed in order to vote for the bill:
[Ryan] There was a huge momentum shift, um, when NETWORK, uh, came on board. [Simone]
Thank you. [Ryan] And really, I think, gave everybody a lot of confidence. And over the
last couple of days we probably pulled in the last six or eight pro-life members of
Congress.
[Pelosi] I’m pleased that we’ve got a letter from, uh, representing 60 leaders of,
uh, uh, religious orders, sisters ... saying that they want us to pass this life-affirming
legislation.
[Gibbs] Uh, the Catholic Health Association the order of nuns support, uh ... I think
is very important.
[Cecile] I mean I do have to give a shout out to the nuns.
[Host] The church as divided, because if the bishops were not with you, the nuns were.
[Cecile] That was a tremendous sign.
[Michael] Ok, so Stupak and his buddies voted for Obamacare because they trusted Pelosi,
Obama, and a bunch of progressive nuns. The progressive nuns pushed for Obamacare because
they trusted Pelosi and a bunch of other pro-abortion politicians who crafted the bill. But the
nuns all claimed that they were working with the bishops and adhering to Catholic principles
… so what happened? The USCCB, desperately wanting to see universal health care passed,
lead the Catholic charge in trusting pro-abortion politicians and focused their efforts on maintaining
“abortion neutrality.” So, they issued a document titled, “Making Health Care Reform
“Abortion Neutral”: What is the Legal Status Quo on Abortion?” With this emphasis,
the USCCB publicly supported “abortion neutral” versions of the bill, even though each one
drastically expanded funding for birth control, contraceptive sex education, and even redefined
euthanasia! Why did the USCCB ignore those equally wicked provisions, deciding to remain
“abortion neutral”? And since when did Jesus ever call upon His apostles to maintain
the “status quo?” As Fulton Sheen said so often, “dead bodies float down stream!
It takes a LIVING body to stand against the currents.”
The fact of the matter is this. The Obamacare law was NOT abortion neutral, and even though
the USCCB eventually DID stand against this current, it was too little too late. The momentum
swept the nuns and the fence-sitters down-stream. Now we have the greatest expansion of funding
for abortion, birth control, and sex education this country has ever seen. The Catholic leadership
can assign all the blame that they want, but we have Obamacare in large part due to the
USCCB’s willingness to make a deal with the pro-abortion princes of this world, and
their failure from the beginning to stand up to the fullness of Truth of the Catholic
Faith.
For American Life League, I’m Michael Hichborn