The Poor, the House Budget, and Catholic Politics

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has written a letter to Rep. Paul Ryan that was interpreted in many circles as supporting the Ryan House budget, a budget that supports the rich at the expense of the poor. For a discussion of the various positions taken by Catholic blogs, see Mark Silk’s discussion at Spiritual Politics. In an update, Silk mentions that Michael Sean Winters tells us all we need to know in the New Republic about this issue.

The essay by Winters contains a rich discussion about Dolan and Church politics. Winters concludes, “Dolan will not stand by while the GOP eviscerates those programs that assist the poor and the vulnerable. The Catholic Church, with its vast array of hospitals, shelters, and schools, knows firsthand how nutritional and educational and health programs really do make a difference in the lives of the poor. Most importantly, at the heart of the Church is a gospel that instructs the faithful to care for ‘the least of these’ and sets such care as the price of admission to sanctity and to heaven. No matter how Paul Ryan tries to convince himself that Rome and Rand can be reconciled, they can’t. Ayn Rand despised the poor. The Church is called to treasure them.”

But Winters also observes that “Traditionally, the Catholic Church has been a strong advocate for the poorest sections of society and the social welfare programs designed by government to provide for them. But for years, conservatives have been trying to undo this stance.” Despite the conservative efforts, the U.S. Bishops have continued to lobby against the House budget and to argue that the budget should not be balanced “on the backs of the poor.” Despite this, Winters suggests that Dolan feels some pressure to make those on the left and the right feel comfortable. Winters does not discuss why Dolan feels this pressure or where the pressure comes from. Yes, Michael Novak and other conservatives have argued against a strong governmental role, but Novak’s power comes, if and only if, it resonates with a powerful force among the Bishops. The Bishops have been prepared to ride roughshod over liberals on issues that the Bishops feel strongly about. If the Bishops have been prepared to lobby in ways that are critical of conservative policy, why does Dolan feel pressure to speak in more muffled terms in a more public setting?

Although Winters discussion of Catholic politics is rich, I come away disagreeing with Silk: Winters does not tell us all we need to know.

Comments

[Jimbino]

Regarding the sentiment that "economic policy proposals whose alleged tendency to benefit the poor is so implausible that those who support them bear a heavy burden of justifying their professed belief that the proposals are consistent with the preferential option for the poor," it needs to be pointed out that it is the RC church that supports a minimum wage policy that all but marxist economists agree directly hurts the poor.

While Ayn Rand does not "hate the poor," she did hate government meddling. And the RC church apparently loves the poor so much that it supports policies, like the minimum wage, that keep them poor and other policies that make well-off people poor.

[Steve Shiffrin]

Quite right, a significant criticism it was not, even if it could be
called a criticism. Thanks for visiting. I greatly admire your blog.
Steve

[Mark Silk]

OK, Steve. Not all.