Theologians from leading Catholic universities and national social justice leaders are expressing concern that recent statements from a minority of bishops “echo partisan talking points and give the false impression that the Catholic Church is not a vigorous advocate for reforming our broken health-care system.”

While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Health Association for decades has promoted universal health care, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas and Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri recently warned about a “government socialization of medical services” in a joint pastoral statement. A health care system that “expands the reach of government beyond its competence, would do more harm than good,” they write. Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa wrote in a pastoral statement that the “Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care” and warned that “any legislation that undermines the vitality of the private sector is suspect.”

“We are deeply concerned that these statements embolden opponents of reform and distort Church teaching about the essential role government has in serving the common good,” the president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and other Catholic social justice leaders write. “For centuries, Catholic social teaching has warned that the free market alone is insufficient for achieving justice and defending human dignity.” The statement notes the “important life-saving functions of government programs such as Medicaid, the Veterans Health Administration and Medicare, which for generations has helped assure quality care and dignity for the elderly.”

Health-care reform should not “compromise longstanding policies that prohibit federal taxpayer funding for abortions and honor the conscience of health care providers,” they write. At the same time, the Catholic leaders describe false claims about “death panels” or a “government takeover” of health care as “gross distortions perpetuated by those who often seem more interested in handing the Obama administration a political defeat than in making sure quality health care is available for all Americans.”

“At a time when the debate over health care has reached a critical stage in Congress, it is troubling to see some bishops sending messages that give spiritual sanction to narrow partisan agendas promoted by these staunch opponents of reform,” the statement says. “We fear that this only compromises the Church’s integrity in the public square, and urge our bishops to consider how their words may be perceived by the media and wider public.”

“The Church teaches that health care is a right, not a privilege,” said Vincent Miller, the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton. “Our vulnerable brothers and sisters are counting on us to stand up and fight for meaningful and moral health-care reform. This requires the hard work of positive engagement in the legislative process so well modeled by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.”

The complete statement follows. Institutions are listed for identification only.

As theologians and Catholic social justice leaders committed to health-care reform as an urgent moral imperative, we must express profound disappointment in recent statements issued by some Church leaders that seem to echo partisan talking points and give the false impression that the Catholic Church is not a vigorous advocate for reforming our broken health-care system.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas and Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri issued a joint pastoral statement that warns against a “government socialization of medical services.” A health care system that “expands the reach of government beyond its competence, would do more harm than good,” they write. Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa wrote in a recent pastoral statement that the “Catholic Church does not teach that government should directly provide health care” and warned that “any legislation that undermines the vitality of the private sector is suspect.” Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota also cautions that there is “a danger in being persuaded to think that the national government is the sole instrument of the common good.”

We are deeply concerned that these statements embolden opponents of reform and distort Church teaching about the essential role government has in serving the common good. For centuries, Catholic social teaching has warned that the free market alone is insufficient for achieving justice and defending human dignity. A zealous belief in unfettered markets, however, has asserted a powerful influence on our popular and political culture. The late Pope John Paul II described this as an “idolatry of the market, an idolatry which ignores the existence of goods which by their nature are not and cannot be mere commodities.” In his recent encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI calls for a fundamental rethinking of economics as an essentially moral undertaking and laments the “scandal of glaring inequalities” exacerbated by a solely profit-driven, market-based perspective. "The conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from 'influences' of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way," Pope Benedict writes. The principle of subsidiarity, according to Pope Pius XI, was not designed to create a presumption against government. Instead, he claimed that it would allow government to “more freely, powerfully, and effectively do all those things that belong to it alone because it alone can do them…”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Health Association have a longstanding commitment to universal health care. As Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Domestic Justice and Human Development Committee, wrote in a letter to Congress on July 17: “Reform efforts must begin with the principle that decent health care is not a privilege, but a right and a requirement to protect the life and dignity of every person.” Nearly 50 million Americans lack health insurance, and each day some 14,000 Americans lose coverage. Many families can’t afford to buy private insurance even as some profitable insurance companies deny coverage to those in desperate need of care. This is a grave injustice that shames the conscience of our nation. While the private market is one important mechanism for delivering health care, in many instances the market only serves a privileged few rather than the common good. Those who reject a positive role for government in health care willfully ignore or distort the important life-saving functions of government programs such as Medicaid, the Veterans Health Administration and Medicare, which for generations has helped assure quality care and dignity for the elderly.

As Catholics committed to the sanctity of all life, we believe reforms should not compromise longstanding policies that prohibit federal taxpayer funding for abortions and honor the conscience of health care providers. Vigorous and civil debate over the most effective way to achieve health care for all reflects the best of our pluralistic democracy. Sadly, fear stoked by opponents of reform undermines this important debate. Outrageous claims about “death panels” or a “government takeover” of health care are gross distortions perpetuated by those who often seem more interested in handing the Obama administration a political defeat than in making sure quality health care is available for all Americans. At a time when the debate over health care has reached a critical stage in Congress, it is troubling to see some bishops sending messages that give spiritual sanction to narrow partisan agendas promoted by these staunch opponents of reform. We fear that this only compromises the Church’s integrity in the public square, and urge our bishops to consider how their words may be perceived by the media and wider public.

Fr. Bryan Massingale
Associate Professor of Theology
President, Catholic Theological Society of America
Marquette University

Fr. Charles Curran
Professor of Human Values
Southern Methodist University

David O’Brien
University Professor of Faith and Culture
University of Dayton

Fr. John F. Kavanaugh S.J.
Professor of Philosophy
Saint Louis University

Steve Schneck
Director, Life Cycle Institute
The Catholic University of America

Vincent J. Miller
Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture
Department of Religious Studies
University of Dayton

Lisa Sowell Cahill
Professor of Theology
Boston College

Paul Lakeland
Professor of Catholic Studies
Director, Center for Catholic Studies
Fairfield University

Fr. William O’Neill, S.J.
Jesuit School of Theology
Santa Clara University

Michael Duffy
Director
Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought
University of San Francisco

Sr. Marie Lucey, OSF
Associate Director of Social Mission
Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Victoria Kovari
Interim Executive Director
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good

Terrence W. Tilley
Professor of Theology
Chair, Department of Religion
Fordham University

Sandra Yokum
Chair of Religious Studies
University of Dayton

Kristin E. Heyer
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Santa Clara University

Paulette Skiba
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Clarke College

Fr. Tom Reese, S.J.
Senior Fellow
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University

Doug Kmiec
Professor of Constitutional Law (on leave)
Pepperdine University

Fr. David Hollenbach, S.J.
University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice
Boston College

M. Cathleen Kaveny
Professor of Law and Theology
University of Notre Dame

Richard Gaillardetz
Professor of Catholic Studies
The University of Toledo

Vincent Rougeau
Associate Professor
Notre Dame Law School

Chris Korzen
Executive Director
Catholics United

M. Shawn Copeland
Associate Professor of Theology
Boston College

Bruce T. Morrill
Associate Professor
Theology Department
Boston College

Daniel Finn
Professor of Theology
St. John’s University

Jeannine Hill Fletcher
Associate Professor of Theology
Fordham University

Fr. James E. Hug, S.J.
President
Center of Concern

Kelly S. Johnson
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
University of Dayton

John Sniegocki
Associate Professor of Christian Ethics
Xavier University

Fr. Kenneth R. Himes, O.F.M.
Theology Department
Boston College

Dennis M. Doyle
Professor of Religious Studies
University of Dayton

Patricia Lamoureux
Adjunct Professor of Philosophy and Religion
Marist College

Margaret A. Farley
Professor Emerita of Christian Ethics
Yale Divinity School

Todd Whitmore
Associate Professor
Department of Theology
University of Notre Dame

M. Therese Lysaught
Associate Professor and Assistant Chair
Department of Theology
Marquette University

Nicholas P. Cafardi
Civil and Canon Lawyer
Professor and Former Dean
Duquesne University School of Law

Francis Schussler Fiorenza
Stillman Professor
Harvard Divinity School

Alex Mikulich
Research Fellow
Jesuit Social Research Institute
Loyola University

Lew Daly
Author
God’s Economy

David DeCosse
Director of Campus Ethics Programs
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
Santa Clara University

J. Matthew Ashley
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology
University of Notre Dame

Jean Stokan
Director
Institute Justice Team
Sisters of Mercy of the America

Joann Spillman
Professor of Theology and Religious Studies
Rockhurst University

Eleonore Stump
Robert J. Henle, S.J., Professor of Philosophy
Saint Louis University