If you want to read the full text of the letter in question, you can read it [here](
http://blog.faith(name removed by moderator)
ubliclife.org/Catholic%20leaders’%20letter%20to%20Rep.%20Boehner%20before%20CUA%20commencement.pdf) and judge for yourself. Or you can read it right now:
Dear Mr. Speaker,
We congratulate you on the occasion of your commencement address to The Catholic
University of America. It is good for Catholic universities to host and engage the
thoughts of powerful public figures, even Catholics such as yourself who fail to recognize
(whether out of a lack of awareness or dissent) important aspects of Catholic teaching.
We write in the hope that this visit will reawaken your familiarity with the teachings of
your Church on matters of social justice.
Mr. Speaker, your voting record is at variance from one of the Church’s most ancient
moral teachings. From the apostles to the present, the Magisterium of the Church has
insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor. Your
record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the
worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic
policy makers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it.
The 2012 budget you shepherded to passage in the House of Representatives guts longestablished
protections for the most vulnerable members of society. It is particularly
cruel to pregnant women and children, gutting Maternal and Child Health grants and
slashing $500 million from the highly successful Women Infants and Children nutrition
program. When they graduate from WIC at age 5, these children will face a 20% cut in
food stamps. The House budget radically cuts Medicaid and effectively ends Medicare.
It invokes the deficit to justify visiting such hardship upon the vulnerable, while it carves
out $3 trillion in new tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. In a letter speaking on
behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Stephen Blaire and
Bishop Howard Hubbard detailed the anti-life implications of this budget in regard to its
impact on poor and vulnerable American citizens. They explained the Church’s teachings
in this regard, clearly insisting that:
“A just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential
services to poor persons. It requires shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate
revenues, eliminating unnecessary military and other spending, and addressing the longterm
costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly.” Specifically addressing
your budget, the letter expressed grave concern about changes to Medicaid and Medicare
that could leave the elderly and poor without adequate health care. The bishops warned
further: “We also fear the human and social costs of substantial cuts to programs that
serve families working to escape poverty, especially food and nutrition, child
development and education, and affordable housing.”
Representing the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishops Hubbard and
Blaire have now endorsed with other American Christian leaders a call to legislators for a
“Circle of Protection” around programs for the poor that you, Mr. Speaker, have
imperiled. The statement of these Christian leaders recognizes the need for fiscal
responsibility, “but not at the expense of hungry and poor people.” Indeed, it continues,
“These choices are economic, political—and moral. As Christians, we believe the moral
measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every
budget proposal from the bottom up—how it treats those Jesus called ‘the least of these’
(Matthew 25:45).”
Mr. Speaker, we urge you to use the occasion of this year’s commencement at The
Catholic University of America to give full consideration to the teachings of your
Church. We call upon you to join with your bishops and sign on to the “Circle of
Protection.” It is your moral duty as a legislator to put the needs of the poor and most
vulnerable foremost in your considerations. To assist you in this regard, we enclose a
copy of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Published by the
Vatican, this is the “catechism” for the Church’s ancient and growing teaching on a just
society and Catholic obligations in public life.
Catholic social doctrine is not merely a set of goals to be achieved by whatever means
one chooses. It is also a way of proceeding, a set of principles that are derived from the
truth of the human person. In Pope Benedict’s words: “Without truth, charity
degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary
way… the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the
opposite.”
We commend to you the Compendium’s discussion of the principles of the common
good, the preferential option for the poor, and the interrelationship of subsidiarity and
solidarity. Paragraph 355 on tax revenues, solidarity, and support for the vulnerable is
particularly relevant to the moment.
Be assured of our prayers for you on this occasion and for your faithful living out of your
vocation in public life.
