Denver, Colo., Mar 22, 2010 / 15:14 pm
In his weekly column for the Denver Catholic Register, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver lists several “lessons” Catholics can take from the the health care debates over the past several months. He notes that the legislation “remains unethical and defective” and expresses his disappointment at the Catholic Health Association's “damaging” efforts in opposing the bishops and supporting the bill.
The first lesson that can be drawn from the recent health care discussions, the prelate explains, is that the Senate bill passed by the House of Representatives “is a failure of decent lawmaking” and remains “unethical and defective on all of the issues pressed by the U.S. bishops and prolife groups for the past seven months.”
The Senate bill was passed in the House 219-212 on Sunday evening after President Obama promised Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) that he would issue an executive order banning the federal funding of abortion if Stupak and his pro-life Democratic allies would support the legislation.
Archbishop Chaput points out in his column that although the president promised an executive order, the bill still has problems, “which is why the bishops did not -- and still do not – see it as a real solution.”