EXCERPTS from America Magazine Blog – 11/8/09
The House Vote: A Huge Triumph for the Church
Author: Michael Sean Winters
It is difficult to over-estimate the degree to which last night’s vote in the House, passing a comprehensive health care reform bill, was a huge victory for the Catholic Church. Yes, for the USCCB, but also for a view of the world that the Church, at times alone, has sustained in the face of the radical individualism of American culture. The belief that heath care is a right, not a privilege, took a giant step towards legislative enactment last night.
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The happy result last night was a long time coming. The staff at the USCCB and the Catholic Health Association have been teaching, and learning, about health care reform for decades. They have been getting to know members of Congress for decades. They have been heavily involved in negotiations over the past weeks and months, but work on the current bill would not have come to fruition unless over the decades past, these staffs had not learned about the needs of members of Congress, the forks in the legislative road, which allies could be counted on, and all the accumulated knowledge that comes from years of engagement, oftentimes frustrating, with the political process. I was not sure two days ago that they could pull off passing a pro-life health care bill but they did. The entire Catholic Church owes them a debt of gratitude.
Read the full article at http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=42470797-3048-741E-9592106822199832