"We Will
Consistently Defend the Fundamental Right to Life"
Letter to President-elect Barack Obama
Cardinal Francis George
January, 2009
Dear Mr. President-elect,
As our nation begins a new year, a new Administration and a new
Congress, I write to outline principles and priorities that guide
the public policy efforts of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB). As President of the Bishops' Conference, I
assure you of our prayers, hopes and commitment to make this period
of national change a time to advance the common good and defend the
life and dignity of all, especially the vulnerable and poor. We
continue to seek ways to work constructively with the new
Administration and Congress and others of good will to pursue
policies which respect the dignity of all human life and bring
greater justice to our nation and peace to our world.
As Bishops, we approach public policy as pastors and teachers. Our
moral principles have always guided our everyday experience in
caring for the hungry and homeless, offering health care and
housing, educating children and reaching out to those in need. We
lead the largest community of faith in the United States, one that
serves every part of our nation and is present in almost every place
on earth. From our experience and our tradition, we offer a
distinctive, constructive and principled contribution to the
national dialogue on how to act together on issues of economic
turmoil and suffering, war and violence, moral decency and human
dignity.
Our nation now faces economic challenges with potentially tragic
human consequences and serious moral dimensions. We will work with
the new Administration and Congress to support strong, prudent and
effective measures to address the terrible impacts and injustices of
the economic crisis. In particular, we will advocate a clear
priority for poor families and vulnerable workers in the development
and implementation of economic recovery measures, including new
investments while strengthening the national safety net. We also
support greater accountability and oversight to address
irresponsible abuses of the system that contributed to the financial
crisis.
The Catholic Bishops of the United States have worked for decades to
assure health care for all, insisting that access to decent health
care is a basic human right and a requirement of human dignity. We
urge comprehensive action to ensure truly universal health care
coverage which protects all human life including pre-natal life, and
provides access for all, with a special concern for the poor. Any
such legislation ought to respect freedom to choose by offering a
variety of options and ensuring respect for the moral and religious
convictions of patients and providers. Such an approach should seek
to restrain costs while sharing them equitably.
On international affairs, we will work with our leaders to seek a
responsible transition in an Iraq free of religious persecution. We
especially urge early, focused and persistent leadership to bring an
end to violent conflict and a just peace in the Holy Land. We will
continue to support essential U.S. investments to overcome poverty,
hunger and disease through increased and reformed foreign
assistance. Continued U.S. leadership in the fight against HIV-AIDS
and other diseases in ways that are both effectively and morally
appropriate have our enthusiastic backing. Recognizing the
complexity of climate change, we wish to be a voice for the poor and
vulnerable in our country and around the world who will be the most
adversely affected by any dramatic threats to the environment.
We will work with the new Administration and Congress to fix a
broken immigration system which harms both our nation and
immigrants. Comprehensive reform is needed to deal with the economic
and human realities of millions of immigrants in our midst. It must
be based on respect for and implementation of the law. Equally it
must defend the rights and dignity of all peoples, recognizing that
human dignity comes from God and does not depend on where people
were born or how they came to our nation. Truly comprehensive
immigration reform will include a path to earned citizenship with
attention to the fact that international trade and development
policies influence economic opportunities in the countries from
which immigrants come.
We stand firm in our support for marriage which is a faithful,
exclusive, lifelong union of a man and a woman and must remain such
in law. In a manner unlike any other relationship, marriage makes a
unique and irreplaceable contribution to the common good of society,
especially through the procreation and education of children. No
other kinds of personal relationships can be justly made equivalent
to the commitment of a man and a woman in marriage.
With regard to the education of children, we will continue to
support initiatives which provide resources for all parents,
especially those of modest means, to choose education which best
address the needs of their children.
We welcome continuing commitments to empower faith-based groups as
effective partners in overcoming poverty and other threats to human
dignity. We will work with the Administration and Congress to
strengthen these partnerships in ways that do not encourage
government to abandon its responsibilities, and do not require
religious groups to abandon their identity and mission.
Most fundamentally, we will work to protect the lives of the most
vulnerable and voiceless members of the human family, especially
unborn children and those who are disabled or terminally ill. We
will consistently defend the fundamental right to life from
conception to natural death. Opposed to abortion as the direct
killing of innocent human life, we will encourage one and all to
seek common ground that will reduce the number of abortions in
morally sound ways that affirm the dignity of pregnant women and
their unborn children. We will oppose legislative and other measures
to expand abortion. We will work to retain essential, widely
supported policies which show respect for unborn life, protect the
conscience rights of health care providers and other Americans, and
prevent government funding and promotion of abortion. The Hyde
amendment and other provisions which for many years have prevented
federal funding of abortion have a proven record of reducing
abortions. Efforts to force Americans to fund abortions with their
tax dollars would pose a serious moral challenge and jeopardize the
passage of essential health care reform.
This outline of USCCB policies and priorities is not complete. There
are many other areas of concern and advocacy for the Church and the
USCCB especially: religious freedom and other civil and human
rights, news media and communications, and issues of war and peace.
For a more detailed description of our concerns please see Forming
Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (USCCB 2008), pages 19-30.
Nonetheless, we offer this outline as an agenda for dialogue and
action. We hope to offer a constructive and principled contribution
to national discussion over the values and policies that will shape
our nation's future. We seek to work together with our nation's
leaders to advance the common good of our society, while disagreeing
respectfully and civilly where necessary for preserving that same
common good.
In closing, I renew our expression of hope and our offer of
cooperation as you begin this new period of service to our nation in
these challenging times. We promise our prayers for you, that the
days ahead will be a time of renewal and progress for our nation and
that we can work together to defend human life and dignity and build
a nation of greater justice and a world at peace.
Sincerely yours,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
President
