Unlike other religious traditions and institutions our Catholic Church is one of the most hierarchical religious systems in our world. While our church is open to the spiritual and cultural diversity of our faith, our own tradition and teachings are ultimately formulated through the highest governing body known as the Magisterium. It is the opinion of the Passionist office of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation that the Catholic Church does have a unified position on the principle of this issue. Our own Passionist spirituality values this position. While the Catholic Church does have a position on the principle of this issue it does not offer a detail policy for how to carry out this principle, but the position does lend itself to contemplate certain policy direction.

The Catholic Position:
When we compare the various opinions of the Catholic American community on this subject it is noticeable that there is one fundamental question that tends to split the community into two camps that are either in favor or against universal healthcare. Is healthcare a basic human right or not? If you accept that people have the right to good healthcare then you will generally support some model of universal healthcare. On the other hand if you disagree with this position then healthcare is not a social responsibility but an individual’s privilege.

The Catholic Church does have a position with regards to this question. Healthcare is a basic human right. Catholic social teaching affirms this in the encyclical by Pope John XXIII known as Pacem in Terris:

#11: Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood.

In 1993 The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops affirmed this basic right and offered a detailed position titled “Comprehensive Health Care Reform” in which they offer the following definitive position:

“Every person has a right to adequate health care. This right flows from the sanctity of human life and the dignity that belongs to all human persons, who are made in the image of God.” Healthcare is more than a commodity; it is a basic human right, and essential safeguard of human life and dignity.

The Catholic Church then does affirm healthcare as a basic human right. While our own Passionist spirituality does not develop itself in terms of defining rights or duties it does promote an ethic of compassion based on a spirituality on the Passion of Christ that identifies with the ongoing suffering of the human community as witness of the New Creation that was revealed to us in the Resurrection. As a lay and vowed community we are called to be in solidarity with those who suffer. While all members of the human community do suffer and we minister to all without any reservation we do acknowledge a fundamental option towards those who suffer injustice at the hand of society. We acknowledge a particular solidarity with the poor who St. Paul of the Cross reminded us had “the name of Jesus written on their foreheads.” This solidarity calls us to offer a compassionate position on issues of social concern. This social ethic was stated very well by our own Pope Benedict XVI in his recent Encyclical Spe Salvi:

#38. The true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer. This holds true both for the individual and for society. A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through “com-passion” is a cruel and inhuman society.

Universal healthcare is an issue because among other things we recognize that there are Americans who are left outside of the private healthcare system. We also recognize that some Americans who have poor insurance still suffer from a healthcare system that has poor or limited quality of access to their own healthcare needs. These are people who are struggling in our midst with a system that is not working at all for them. With the current economic crisis we know that many of our families, neighbors and maybe even ourselves may be facing this struggle as well. Our Passionist spirituality and our Catholic Church call us to promote some form of universal healthcare.

An American universal healthcare system:
Having made this position what should we advocate for in the midst of this healthcare debate? We do not offer a legislative position on this. We recognize that the call for a universal healthcare system in our nation must take into consideration the various economical and social elements that are currently part of the fabric of our own nation. We are a highly capitalistic society with powerful insurance and pharmaceutical industries. We also place a high secular value on the individual’s liberty and are generally nervous about top down government intervention. As challenging as these values and situation might be for promoting the Catholic position we can still be creative in seeing how we can promote a healthcare system that serves the common good while adapting to the situation and values of the American society.

The socialized medicine option of Great Britain may not be the model for America. However we can examine the healthcare system of others that resemble our own social values and economic forces. Switzerland is one such nation that may offer us such a model. It is the idea of a socially regulated insurance where all citizens are required to have coverage. On the one hand Government does set the price for medicine and the insurance company is not allowed to make a profit on basic services. But they are given the freedom to negotiate prices for services with providers and they are allowed to profitable supplemental insurance.

Henry Aaron is a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institute. He has adopted a very realistic goal for a healthcare model that he feels can be adopted by the various interests in America and can offer us an excellent first step in promoting a good American style universal healthcare system. In his proposal he advocates for a national healthcare insurance exchange. It would be a place where citizens are given the option of private and public insurance companies. Furthermore a good initial healthcare bill will improve on the information technology of the healthcare system and conduct a study on the comparative effectiveness of various health care models. While this may seem like a slow beginning it does offer a pragmatic base from which a well fitting universal healthcare system can grow in our nation.

To keep the dialogue going on the subject, wathc Paul Krugman’s response on the Universal Healthcare Debate:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMsLhx9coxo

• Gospel for the Procession of Palms: Mark 11:1-10 or John 12:12-16
• Isaiah 50:4-7
• Philippians 2:6-11
• Mark 14:1–15:47 or Mark 15:1-39

Thoughts for Your Consideration: by John Gonzalez, CPP

This week we celebrate Palm Sunday. As I read the lectionary readings I am struck by the following line from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.” This line raises a great paradox within the Christian faith. Through his relationship with God Jesus was very much aware of his great dignity, but this status does not translate into social greatness, rather it takes the humble form of slavery. This paradox works both ways, as can be seen in Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the suffering servant.  He tells us that even after countless abuses the servant of the Lord does not suffer disgrace since “the Lord God helps me.”

Recently I have been reflecting on a line from Galatians which demonstrates this paradox more clearly in associating two words that seem mutually exclusive, Freedom and Slavery. “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” (Gal. 5:13)

What could this possibly mean: to be free so that we can be slaves to one another? To celebrate the dignity of our God given humanity by humbly serving the human community? Does this abolish the concepts of Human Rights which we as a nation have championed since the time of our American foundation; do we then ignore the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which our Church has championed through the Encyclical Pacem in Terris?

As Saint Paul the Apostle would reply “By no means.” By Christ’s resurrection the dignity of our humanity has been reconciled with God. This was the freedom and equality that Paul spoke of in Galatians and Philippians. In affirming this dignity we affirm the civil, political, economic and social rights that we inherent in our redeemed humanity. But our responsibility in affirming our own dignity is to serve the dignity of all humanity since we have all been redeemed by the Cross of Christ. Paul reminds us that because Christ Jesus “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited” God and humanity are reconciled.

The Gospel reading is the Passion narrative according to Mark. At this point we will struggle with the difficult image of Christ’s unbearable suffering and again we are challenged to accept His dignity in the midst of this grave social injustice. Keep in mind the place of the centurion in the Passion narrative according to Mark. While Jesus’ passion and death may not be a socially acceptable display of divine dignity it does seem to touch the hearts of those who witness this event, so that a pagan centurion can look on Jesus dying on the Cross and silently say to himself “Truly this man was God’s Son!”

We are called to celebrate our own dignity by placing it at the service of God and humanity. In doing this we, as Americans, are not only being witnesses to the incarnation, we are also giving witness to the theological vision of our own Declaration of Independence. While we recognize the inalienable rights which are endowed to us by the Creator, we also recognize our responsibility to uphold each others’ dignity when we “mutually pledging to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• How do you reconcile the divine dignity of Jesus with the reality of His passion?
• Where do you find hope in the image of suffering servant? In the Passion of Jesus?
• Reflect on the Christian virtue of Freedom as discussed in the quotes and reflection above.
  • How are you challenged by this apparent paradox?
  • Consider people like Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy and Mother Theresa. In what ways did these wonderful servants of humanity seem free?
  • Have you witnessed other men and women who have done great public service? How do there actions make you feel? What seems to be driving their actions?
• How do you see yourself as one sharing in the dignity and freedom of God? Based on this identity how do you address issues like, war, violence of all sorts, selfishness, failure, injustice, discrimination, poverty, etc.?