After Saints built hospitals, schools, universities so there would be an independent and self-supporting network of social services compliant with church teaching, well-meaning church leaders decided to go for the big bucks that the Great Society was passing around. What a mess.
The model was established for Catholic Colleges after a conference in Wisconsin. As money, and new regulations with it, those pesky strings attached, poured into Catholic schools, so went the hospitals and every other Catholic charitable effort. It does not take long before the Catholic operations cannot function without govt (taxpayers) cash. People who once put $5 in the collection basket when that was a lot of money continue the practice, because their taxes are going up to support government programs delivered through Catholic charities. All the more the Church depends on the taxpayers.
At the time these changes were taking place plenty of people were jumping up and down and screaming at the bishops "don't do it, don't do it..." But they did it.
When societal mores change, the Bishops are in the funny position of arguing they must not be told what to do with taxpayers money. Now the Bishops are in a showdown with Obama. They are organizing resistance to Obamacare, and here is an important premise from which they proceed in their arguments:
The Catholic bishops have long supported access to life-affirming healthcare for all, and the conscience rights of everyone involved in the complex process of providing that healthcare.
Note the two errors there?
Access to life-affirming health care cannot be provided by the state. To integrate private medicine with state delivery is to yoke two unequal animals to the plow. Actually it is to yoke two animals heading in opposite directions. And access is not enough, there must also be innovation and a general inexporable lowering of cost. The state cannot provide this. Only the market can provide this.
The second error is to assent to the idea that medicine delivery is a complicated process. Not true. Regulations and malinvestment complicate things, but there again it is the state intervention that is the problem.
Now the Bishops are saying you cannot force them to offer contraceptives and abortions in their facilities. In places where they were forced, the Catholics either accommodated the state, or shut down. The church cannot start over because medicine now militates against innovation and start-up hospitals. There is no going back to free trade in medicine without first dismantling the USA economy.
The Bishops are fighting fiercely to get back to where the government supports them only to a certain extent. What the Bishops should do is fight for free trade in medicine, not single payer with exemptions. But you can't do what you know nothing about.
Don't worry, Obama will back off. Obama was set up in this as part of the campaign to elect Hillary. But the net result is the bishops will offer a sigh of relief when they are given an exception to single payer, in a system that offers dubious health care.
At the same time, Christians who stick close to the teachings of Jesus came up with health insurance that provides for no contraceptives or abortion, is not subsidized in any way, and was one of the 800 + orgs that was given and exception to obamacare mandates. Bishops should reflect that when all else fails, try to follow Jesus.
When will the bishops learn not to take the money? The pas de deux between church and state over the millennia has been been disastrous whenever the Church integrates with the state. Here we go again.
The model was established for Catholic Colleges after a conference in Wisconsin. As money, and new regulations with it, those pesky strings attached, poured into Catholic schools, so went the hospitals and every other Catholic charitable effort. It does not take long before the Catholic operations cannot function without govt (taxpayers) cash. People who once put $5 in the collection basket when that was a lot of money continue the practice, because their taxes are going up to support government programs delivered through Catholic charities. All the more the Church depends on the taxpayers.
At the time these changes were taking place plenty of people were jumping up and down and screaming at the bishops "don't do it, don't do it..." But they did it.
When societal mores change, the Bishops are in the funny position of arguing they must not be told what to do with taxpayers money. Now the Bishops are in a showdown with Obama. They are organizing resistance to Obamacare, and here is an important premise from which they proceed in their arguments:
The Catholic bishops have long supported access to life-affirming healthcare for all, and the conscience rights of everyone involved in the complex process of providing that healthcare.
Note the two errors there?
Access to life-affirming health care cannot be provided by the state. To integrate private medicine with state delivery is to yoke two unequal animals to the plow. Actually it is to yoke two animals heading in opposite directions. And access is not enough, there must also be innovation and a general inexporable lowering of cost. The state cannot provide this. Only the market can provide this.
The second error is to assent to the idea that medicine delivery is a complicated process. Not true. Regulations and malinvestment complicate things, but there again it is the state intervention that is the problem.
Now the Bishops are saying you cannot force them to offer contraceptives and abortions in their facilities. In places where they were forced, the Catholics either accommodated the state, or shut down. The church cannot start over because medicine now militates against innovation and start-up hospitals. There is no going back to free trade in medicine without first dismantling the USA economy.
The Bishops are fighting fiercely to get back to where the government supports them only to a certain extent. What the Bishops should do is fight for free trade in medicine, not single payer with exemptions. But you can't do what you know nothing about.
Don't worry, Obama will back off. Obama was set up in this as part of the campaign to elect Hillary. But the net result is the bishops will offer a sigh of relief when they are given an exception to single payer, in a system that offers dubious health care.
At the same time, Christians who stick close to the teachings of Jesus came up with health insurance that provides for no contraceptives or abortion, is not subsidized in any way, and was one of the 800 + orgs that was given and exception to obamacare mandates. Bishops should reflect that when all else fails, try to follow Jesus.
When will the bishops learn not to take the money? The pas de deux between church and state over the millennia has been been disastrous whenever the Church integrates with the state. Here we go again.
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