Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Sr. Keehan Controversy: So, I'm Not Pro Life?

Controversy within the Catholic blogosphere as to whether Sr. Keehan’s statement’s here(and posted below) imply that if a person doesn’t support ‘Comprehensive Health Care Revolution Reform’-Obamacare- than you are not pro-life. I agree with Tantamergo, A Dallas Area Catholic’s assessment here since Sr. Keehan and the Catholic Health Association have made it quite clear in there statements and letters to politicians that they are supportive of Obamacare (a.k.a. comprehensive health care reform) so it is not far-fetched to come to the common sense conclusion that she was implying that if you don’t support Obamacare than you are not pro-life. While over at Vox Nova and here, they are defending Sr. Keehan’s statements and consistently defend controversial statements made by pro-abortion people, I have yet to see them defend controversial statements that were made by pro-life agencies, but yet have attacked them in the past. And, if you had any doubts about Sr. Keehan’s allegiance to Obamacare and “compressive health care reform” then they can be allayed now since in researching the CHA website I have found links to one video that CHA contributed signs and to the montage of signs that displayed support for Obamacare and the fact that Sr. Keehan visited the White House with the sole purpose of showing her support for Obamacare. Both she and the CHS are so heavily invested in the support of “Comprehensive health care revolution reform” -Obamacare- that the CHS combined with other hospitals have pledged a total of $155 billion to support the President’s efforts for health care reform. So, I think only a nonsensical elitist-minded individual who is stuck in the some alternate reality could believe that Sr. Keehan was not referring to people who are against Obamacare as not being pro-life.


And, these people who think that universal health care or single payer system, or government run health care is the panacea that would fix our health care accessibility and affordability problems are misguided. If these people think turning the way our doctors practice health care upside down and turning the whole system over to the Federal government is going to solve those issues they are highly misinformed and misled by certain people within either the Catholic community or by politicians. Should we sacrifice quality versus quantity in our health care system as other countries have done? Why do you think many people from other countries come to the U.S. when they’re sick and need a certain medical procedure performed on them that isn’t offered in their country? Patients come here for treatment here because we offer the invaluable procedures that they need and their country doesn’t because they’re country’s government limits the ingenuity of the medical professions and thus offers fewer procedures. Why is the U.S. able to offer what other countries can‘t? It is because of the principles of freedom and liberty in America and our Founders explicitly provided us with a road map for a limited government that would not intrude into our private lives as a government run health care system would. In other countries, the government controls what procedures may be done, the number of patients which may be seen, and many aspects of health care so this limits their availability to treat patients effectively. The United States treats people more effectively than other country around the globe because the government is not controlling every aspect of the doctors’ and patients’ lives. Doctors and medical researchers can use ingenuity to find new treatments, procedures and surgeries to help patients because they are not reliant on the government for monetary funds or approval for this and that procedure. As bad as you think it is with insurance companies it is much worse under the control of the government.


These same people like to apply the seamless garment philosophy in thinking that helping all of the poor in the name of “social justice” is on the same plane as the abortion issue. This simply isn’t true. To think that opposition to comprehensive health care reform-Obamacare- is on the same plane as being pro-abortion is fallacious. As children of God we do have a moral obligation to help the poor, but it is not wrong for us to choose to help one person instead of another person. It is not evil for us to choose to help Joe while being unable to help Robin at the same time. It is important for us, as children of God, to do these acts of charity which takes a free-will on our part instead of being forced by the government to give money to the poor. But, abortion is morally different. Abortion is always murder- it is never morally licit. Abortion is an intrinsic evil. No exercise of the act of killing an innocent human being is ever licit, but it can be licit to refrain from an act of charity which would benefit this or that poor or sick person. If one is of limited means, one is obligated to see to the needs of his or her family before tossing away one’s resources on strangers. It is our obligation to adhere to both moral law and civil law and not to commit murder, or kill ANY innocent human being. It is entirely appropriate for the government to compel our obedience to the law and demand under the threat of force that we refrain from murder. But how appropriate is it for the state to compel our charitable giving at the point of a gun (effectively eliminating its value as an act of charity)?




Catholic Health Association's website is here.

CHA has a link to ourhealthcarevalues where you can verify the details that I mentioned regarding Sr. Keehan's support for Obamacare.

6 comments:

Eric Graff said...

People of Faith who will not stand up for life, vote pro life, and speak out for life, are the problem and will remain the problem until they get into the word and grow a back bone for their faith. We were born to worship and to reflect His light, and I for one have grown tired of "dull" Christians who never get off the bench and into the game. What kind of legacy will you leave after you're gone? Will you be remembered as the one who sat in the back three rows at Church or are you putting on the full armor of God for His Kingdom? What do you expect your kids will do by your example? I stand up for My Savior when I feel he is being attacked just as Teresa does here each day. Get up, get in the game, or get out of the way.

Anonymous said...

Let us be clear: Obamacare will fund abortions and as such, people who are against abortion-Catholic or not, CANNOT support this legislation. Sr. Keehan is called to a higher level of faithfulness to this because she is a Daughter of Charity. I am a Catholic layman and by faith, CANNOT support this legislation. I implore our Bishops to clearly rule on this publicly as this creates scandal to the church and to all faithful Catholics. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the founder of her order weeps. Enough of these high ranking "Catholics" supporting Christian Social Justice Issues at the cost of the Unborn!

Anonymous said...

I am so upset I failed to answer Sr. Keehan's question: Yes, Sister, You are NOT Pro Life! And May God Save your soul!

Teresa said...

Eman,
People who claim to be pro-life must start going out of their safe zones and truly stand up for the unborn by speaking up for them.

Teresa said...

Anon,
I agree with you 100%. Sr. Keehan is not pro-life if she supports Obamacare since it funds abortions.

Most Rev. Gregori said...

Far too many of the nuns in the Roman Catholic Church are in defiance of the Vatican and teachings of the Church. Many of them are far too busy fighting to become priests to even be concerned with what the Church teaches.

The "Social Justice" that they like to preach, comes right out of Marxist Theology that took hold of Seminaries following Vatican II.