Madfloridian's Journal - Catholics admit being the force behind Stupak. Have Hall of Shame for those who voted against it.

This website is openly admitting that their church is trying to control the health care reform process, and they commend two good Catholics. Bart Stupak, Democrat and Chris Smith, Republican.

They admit the amendment was "forced" to a floor vote by "the heroic perseverance of the US Bishops and the hard work of faithful Catholics in the Democratic Party like Bart Stupak and faithful Catholics in the Republican Party like Chris Smith."

Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem to recall that religion is not supposed to be injecting itself so openly into government.

If the church is a tax-exempt institution, then isn't this a little bit against the rules? Should they be bragging so openly about their conquest to control women's medical decisions?

The 'Catholic Hall of Shame’

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – Legislation purporting to reform health care in the United States has passed the House of Representatives. However, it did so only after it was amended by way of the “Stupak/Pitts Amendment” which was forced to a floor vote by the heroic perseverance of the US Bishops and the hard work of faithful Catholics in the Democratic Party like Bart Stupak and faithful Catholics in the Republican Party like Chris Smith. My purpose in this article is not to discuss whether that legislation will ever make it through the Senate, how it may be amended in the process or whether the effort to federalize the delivery of health care services is even prudent at all. I, and many others, have addressed - and will continue to address - the ongoing serious moral concerns raised by this legislation as it relates to the authentic application of Catholic Social Teaching and the principles of authentic social justice.

Did you read this part: "the ongoing serious moral concerns raised by this legislation as it relates to the authentic application of Catholic Social Teaching and the principles of authentic social justice."

This is government business, not church business. Someone is confusing the two.

They are proud of having "forced" the vote to the floor.

Actually we should not be surprised because BOTH parties credited the Catholic bishops for the big Stupak amendment win.

Both sides credited a forceful lobbying effort by Roman Catholic bishops with the success of the provision, inserted in the bill under pressure from conservative Democrats.

....""We did not want this legislation to be a vehicle for expanding abortion or for changing federal policy on abortion in the wrong direction," said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the secretariat of pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The abortion issue was at the center of last-minute wrangling in the House. A bloc of Democrats, backed by the Catholic bishops, threatened to scuttle the House health bill if leaders didn't take up the antiabortion measure. In an unusual show of influence, Mr. Doerflinger and other representatives of the bishops on Friday met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to broker an agreement. Ms. Pelosi, who favors abortion rights, reluctantly agreed to bring the measure to the floor, and it became part of the broader bill that passed in the House late Saturday.

Pelosi's late meeting with the Bishops and the call from Rome helped push the deal forward.

In the Catholic Hall of Shame article the writer goes on to list the names of every Catholic in the House who voted against the Stupak amendment. They are listed on the 2nd page of the article.

I don't know their reasons for their vote against that amendment, but maybe just maybe they stopped to consider that they should not impose their religious views into what should be secular in nature.

The article is stunning to me in how openly it is condemning those Democrats who are Catholic and voted their conscience. An ending paragraph is even more ominous in tone.

Some of my readers will find the action of listing them and calling them “unfaithful” to be “harsh” or even “uncharitable”. However, I list them to invite our readers to specifically pray for their conversion, their return to the truth. I also list them in order to empower those in their Districts to use their vote and influence to defend the fundamental right to life from conception to natural death effectively. If these faithful Catholic constituents cannot help these unfaithful Catholic representatives to return to the truth, they need to vote them out of office and replace them with others who will defend the Right to life. Even if that means running for public office themselves. This fundamental human right is not conferred by a civil government and it cannot be abrogated by a civil government. Killing is not health care.

In that one paragraph there is a scary mixture of religion and government, the spiritual and what should be secular in nature.

There are many kinds of advocacy. This appears to be an advocacy for the Catholic view toward women's rights. The post even infers that a "civil" government does not put forth the Catholic view. I would hope it does not. Government is not supposed to work that way.

The website thinks it should.