Sr.Patricia Mulcahey OP Proadly Brags About Dissent While Saying It Isn't

In a word, she is a liar. Not only is she lying, she is calling the USCCB a liar for opposing H. R. 3590 by claiming it does fund abortion.

In an article in Thursday's Telegraph Herald she claimed that abortion will not be funded by the bill currently in Congress. (Sisters lobby for health care reform) She told the TH "My signing does not contradict what our bishops teach about abortion and their demand that federal monies not pay for abortions. The current bill requires that if people choose a policy with abortion coverage, they must write a separate personal check for that coverage."

The article points out how this echoes a line in the letter: "Despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions."

Sa basicly she & the rest of these sisters are saying that Cardinal George's recent statement opposing the Senate Bill being considered by the House. Speaking as head of the USCCB he said that "the Senate bill deliberately excludes the language of the Hyde amendment. It expands federal funding and the role of the federal government in the provision of abortion procedures. In so doing, it forces all of us to become involved in an act that profoundly violates the conscience of many, the deliberate destruction of unwanted members of the human family still waiting to be born." (Statement by Cardinal Francis George, OMI)

After going into detail to explain why his claim is valid he said; "This is not quibbling over technicalities. The deliberate omission in the Senate Bill of the necessary language that could have taken this moral question off the table and out of play leaves us still looking for a way to meet the President’s and our concern to provide health care for those millions whose primary care physician is now an emergency room doctor."

So, either Cardinal George, the USCCB, many individual Bishops, Pro-lifers & even Planned Parenthood are lying when they say the Senate Bill does fund abortion. or Sr. Patricia & the rest of the signers are lying. Clearly it is the latter who are.

Besides lying about the abortion coverage, the letter has been shown to exagerate another claim,

that it represents the support of 59,000 sisters.

CNA/EWTN reported that Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, director of Media Relations at the USCCB, stated on Thursday afternoon that “the recent letter from Network, a social justice lobby of sisters, grossly overstated whom they represent in a letter to Congress that was also released to media.”

“Network’s letter, about health care reform, was signed by a few dozen people, and despite what Network said, they do not come anywhere near representing 59,000 American sisters,” Sr. Walsh clarified.

“The letter had 55 signatories, some individuals, some groups of three to five persons. One endorser signed twice,” she added. “There are 793 religious communities in the United States.”

“The math is clear. Network is far off the mark,” the U.S. bishops' spokeswoman concluded. (USCCB: Dissenting women religious 'grossly overstate' support on health care) As an aside, I love the accuracy of the headline asigned it by the CNA editor.

More proof that they are lying in their claims of who they represent is the fact that The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) which represents about 10,000 of those sisters (20 percent of US women religious groups) issued a statement supporting the Bishops stand. The letter was written by Mother Mary Quentin Sheridan , R.S.M, President of the CMSWR on behalf of the organization.

She wrote: “Recent statements from groups like Network, the Catholic Health Association and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) directly oppose the Catholic Church's position on critical issues of health care reform. The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, the second conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious in the United States, believes the Bishops' position is the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church.”

She continued: “Protection of life and freedom of conscience are central to morally responsible judgment. We join the bishops in seeking ethically sound legislation.” (Sources: Catholic sisters denounce fellow religious for directly opposing Church on health care, LETTER FROM CATHOLIC NUNS FOR PRO-ABORTION BILL DOESN'T REPRESENT 59K PEOPLE, Traditional Catholic Nuns Back Bishops against Health Bill)

The NETWORK sponsered letter supporting the abortion ladden health care bill also came under attack from individual Bishops & other Pro-Life leaders.

An alert signed by Denvers Bishops, Archbishop Charles Chaput & Bishop James Conley, said that actions by CHA & NETWORK are "undermining the leadership of the nation's Catholic bishops" & "sowing confusion among faithful Catholics."

"Regrettably, groups like Network and the Catholic Health Association have done a grave disservice to the American Catholic community by undermining the leadership of the nation's Catholic bishops, sowing confusion among faithful Catholics, and misleading legislators through their support of the Senate bill," they continue. "Do not be fooled. Nothing has changed."

On Wednesday, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph gave a speech in Minneapolis where he called on CHA to "loudly and publicly" reverse their stance, which destroys the power of Catholics standing together against anti-life provisions in health care reform.

According to the diocese's Catholic Key blog Bishop Finn said: "Their recommendation to allow the passage of the critically flawed Senate bill is clearly at odds with the U.S. Bishops Conference and every pro-life group in this country." He went on to say: "Their permissive stance diminishes the potential that Catholic solidarity might have in requiring the abortion prohibition and other essential elements in a morally sound proposal."

"If the Catholic Health Association claims to represent Catholic Hospitals they should keep in mind that, as a bishop, so do I represent the Catholic Hospitals within my diocese," he added.

On Tuesday remarks by USCCB Pro-Life chair Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Bishop William F. Murphy, chairman of Domestic Justice and Human Development, & ishop John Wester, chairman of Committee on Migration were published by the Washington Post that explained their reasoning for opposing the Senate health care bill.

"We as bishops continue to insist that health care reform which truly protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all is a moral imperative and urgent national priority," they wrote. "We are convinced that the Senate legislation presented to the House of Representatives on a 'take it or leave it' basis sadly fails this test and ought to be opposed in its current form."

They also published a piece by USCCB media relations director Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, exposing the coercive abortion funding embedded in the bill. In is she asks "Why has the Senate designed a system that lets insurance companies force people to pay for abortion services they do not want and find morally repulsive - and gives federal subsidies to those companies to help them do it? That could happen under the Senate bill, if your child has asthma and the best specialist is not in the one health plan in your state that excludes abortion services."

She points out "To get your child to that specialist, you'd have to ante up for the abortion fund in the plan."

She concludes "Why anyone in Congress would want to hide from Hyde is astounding. This is legislation that has had bipartisan support since it was first passed more than three decades ago. ... A wise leadership would adopt Hyde in a minute, and move on to creating a reformed health care plan with an abortion position people already have shown they can live with."

Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life to;d LifeNews.com that the Catholic nuns have forgotten that pro-life concerns are at the heart of the pursuit of social justice. "First of all, contrary to its claim, this statement does not represent 59,000 nuns; it represents the approximately 59 nuns who signed it," he said. "Secondly, while the bishops’ analysis of the health care bill relies on the expertise of legal analysts, it is not clear what expert analysis these signers have relied on."

"Third, it is absurd to advocate social justice while risking the expansion of a holocaust. The right to life is at the heart of social justice. We can't pursue one by sacrificing the other,” Pavone added.

Catholic writer Deal Hudson said "The sisters call the bill 'pro-life,' in spite of the fact that the door is wide open for the $7 billion of federal money slated for community health centers to be used for abortion." he says.

He went on to say "The 60 sisters, and presumably the orders they represent, thus join organizations like the Catholic Health Association, NETWORK, Catholics United, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics for Choice, Catholic Democrats, and publications like Commonweal, America, and the National Catholic Reporter in dismissing the Catholic bishops' publicly stated position that federal funding for abortion is still permitted in the Senate health-care bill."

"There are thousands of women religious at this very moment who are no doubt deeply embarrassed and troubled by the publication of this letter," he said. "Catholics in the pews are being made more and more aware that something has gone wrong in many of our venerable Catholic institutions and religious orders."

Congressman Bart Stupak also responded to the letter. "When I'm drafting right to life language, I don't call up the nuns." Instead he relies on truly pro-life groups like "leading bishops, Focus on the Family, and The National Right to Life Committee."(Sources: Tug of War: 'Do not be Fooled' by Catholic Groups' Health Bill Support, Say Bishops, PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES DISMISS CATHOLIC NUNS' LETTER BACKING PRO-ABORTION HEALTH CARE )

The USCCB has also launched (Catholic Bishops Launch Newspaper Ads Attacking Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill) "Health care reform is about saving lives, not destroying them," the ad featuring a doctor & pregnant woman says. They appeared Thursday in the Washington Post, Politico, The Hill, Roll Call, CQ and Congress Daily AM -- all read by members of Congress. It says:

"For over 30 years, the Hyde Amendment and other longstanding and widely supported laws have prevented federal funding of elective abortions. Yet the Senate health care reform bill violates this policy — and fails to protect the life, dignity and conscience of all.

It will appropriate billions of dollars in new funds not covered by the Hyde Amendment, and subsidize health plans that make their enrollees pay for elective abortions.

Americans would be forced to subsidize other people’s abortions through their taxes and health insurance premiums.

We need genuine health care reform — reform that helps save lives, notdestroy them," the bishops say in the ad. "The U.S. bishops strongly oppose abortion funding and threats to conscience, and call for critical improvements in affordability for the poor and access to health care for immigrants."

In bolded letters, the ad specifically urges members of Congress to "oppose the Senate health care reform bill until abortion funding and threats to conscience are removed."

Finally evidence that the CHA was actively recruited by the Obama Administration to provide legitimate political cover for pro-life Democrats to switch their votes from "no" to "yes." (Architect of Betrayal?: WH Exposes Obama as Provocateur of Catholic Dissention) According to the 18 March 2010 LifeSiteNews article "White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs revealed to reporters today that President Barack Obama actively promoted the Catholic Health Association's public break with the American Catholic bishops to support his health care legislation."

& while it has provided some cover, not everyone is buying it. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) is 1 of the pro-life Democrat holdouts against the bill She is very much aware that The CHA doesn't speak for the Catholic Church. She pointed out this week that, as a trade association, the Catholic Health Association (CHA) has more at stake with the bill's passage than it may openly admit.

"I think the hospitals have a different perspective because they're running large institutions," Kaptur said. "They have a lot of issues at stake. They have to balance their budgets and so forth. I think that the Bishops are probably in a different position. I don't think that they're really managerially responsible for these institutions."

I have mentioned this myself before. LifesiteNews points out that "Unlike the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, CHA is a for-profit entity, and analysts have pointed out that it would greatly benefit financially from the passage of the bill. CHA had already promised large sums of money to the Obama administration in July to help pass the legislation - before it was ever crafted." (Pro-Life House Dem: CHA Has Financial Incentive to Support Health Bill)

Clearly the CHA has sold its soul & betrayed Jesus & His Church.

I am not surprized that NETWORK & CHA have betrayed Catholic teaching. Nor am I surprized that those Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) members like Sr. Patricia have joined in. I am saddenned to see it. We need to pray for them asking God to change their hearts.

& even more so we need to keep praying that any Health Care reform that goes against Catholic Teaching, & not just abortion, but subsidiarity etc, is defeated. & we must keep speaking up loud & clear to counter all that is being said to mislead people about the current bill in Congress that will include abortion funding using our tax money.

Further reading: Nuns Backstab Bishops on Health Care, Demand Bill's Passage