On this week’s Moyers and Company, Bill Moyers interviews Sr. Simone Campbell of NETWORK, alongside Robert Royal of the Faith and Reason Institute. Weeks before Republican Paul Ryan was selected to run for vice president, Sister Simone — who heads NETWORK, a Catholic policy and lobbying group — hit the road to protest the so-called “Ryan budget” recently passed by the House of Representatives. She and some of her sister nuns rolled across the heartland on a bus trip designed to arouse public concern over what the Ryan plan would mean for social services in America, especially its slashing of programs for the poor. Sister Simone says his budget is inconsistent with Catholic social teaching. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops agrees.
But other Catholics say Sister Simone and the nuns have crossed a line. Robert Royal, editor in chief of The Catholic Thing and founder of the Faith & Reason Institute, believes that issues of economic inequality are being oversimplified and that the focus should be on creating a more dynamic economy for all.
It’s one of the hottest issues of this overheated summer and it’s on Moyers & Company this week (check local listings http://billmoyers.com/schedule/).
Not mentioned was that big money has the loudest voice on the media and in Congress so that tax policy directs the wealth created by the middle class toward a few financial elites. The middle produces the wealth but does not enjoy the fruits of its labor.
Thank God for Sr. Simone Campbell, the other Sisters and all those good people who raise our awareness in very concrete ways about God’s care and concern (as evidenced by the life and teachings of Jesus-Christ) for the poor in our midst. You have my prayer and support.