I highly recommend you read this inspiring, refreshing, and even fun article by Abigail Pesta, called Catholic Nuns Guns for Paul Ryan, which describes the adventures of Sister Simone Campbell, and her roving band of feisty Catholic Nuns traveling across the country to bring attention to the possible real-life consequences of Paul Ryan's savage proposed budget cuts on our nations poorest citizens.
Photo Credit - "Nuns on the Bus" tour. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photos)
This summer, the outspoken Catholic nun led a bus tour across the country called “Nuns on the Bus,” protesting the Wisconsin congressman’s proposed federal budget plan, which she says would slash funds for social programs for low-income people. Now she is recruiting teams of sisters to lobby their state legislators to insist on protections for the poor, such as an expansion of Medicaid. She has invited Ryan and Mitt Romney to join her in spending a day with poor people. She even took on conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly on Fox News this week to make her point.
“That was kind of wild,” she says of the O’Reilly show, which resulted in an on-air fight. “You have to think of it as missionary activity,” she laughs. On the show, O’Reilly argued that the poverty rate had gone up under President Obama, so the current system isn’t working. “Tell me what you want, Sister,” he demanded. Her reply: “What I want is money in the pockets of hardworking people who are living below the poverty level…The Ryan budget gives money to the top, not the bottom.”
These enthusiastic and outspoken Nuns, will lift your spirits, elevate your appreciation of those serving in our communities of faith, and bring you hope that our nation may sustain our efforts to help the needy and poor. More below the fold.
Sister Simone's makes a wonderful spokeswoman for her causes as she is both articulate and passionate.
“The truth is, there’s a shift of money to the top—tax cuts for the wealthy.” Representatives for Ryan didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. ... “I don’t see what Ryan brings to the ticket. He thinks seniors are getting too big of a free ride.” ... She says her bus tour, which covered nine states in two weeks, fired her up. “The more we were on the road, the more impassioned we became,” she says. “We saw all these low-income communities, all the people who would be affected. By the end, we were fairly nuts about it.”
“Ryan thinks churches can pick up the tab,” Sister Simone says. “That’s ridiculous. The magnitude of the need is so great.” ... Sister Simone says it’s not the social programs that are keeping people poor, but rather the economy. “The problem is not enough jobs and low wages,” she says, adding: “Catholic teaching is based on solidarity. Ryan doesn’t understand that all decisions need to be made with the common good in mind.”
Sister Simone has invited Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney to spend a day with them and the poor, but she has not heard back from them yet. I think we all ought to spend more than a day on this bus tour. This Nun On a Bus tour should be a reality show, with substantially more social significance than New Jersey House Wives.
5:19 PM PT: if you enjoyed hearing this new you might enjoy the report I wrote a few weeks ago, on a similar statement from the Franciscan Friars. Here's the front bit of it.
THU AUG 09, 2012 AT 05:36 PM PDT
Franciscan Friars Call On Mitt Romney to Speak with Greater Dignity and Compassion for the Poor
The organization for Franciscan Friars issued a press release, today, calling for Mitt Romney to speak with greater dignity for the poor, representing a greater willingness on the part of people of faith to call for political leaders to show more compassion for those in need, as has been a long tradition of many communities of faith. Franciscans "ask Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan to spend time with the poor of Milwaukee," so they can be more in touch with those in need.
The Franciscan Action Network published this call today.
WASHINGTON, DC — August 8, 2012 — The Franciscan Action Network (FAN), an organization of Franciscan friars and sisters and lay Franciscans, is disturbed by the demeaning campaign ad and conversation about welfare by the Romney campaign. Franciscans, and Christians everywhere, follow Jesus who came to "preach good news to the poor" (Luke 4:18). Our Christian tradition teaches that we are to treat the poor with dignity and to prioritize the poor in our policies as a society. At a time when millions are struggling financially, it is degrading to talk about the “dependency” of people hurting in this economy, as Gov. Romney did recently.
Thank goodness we are hearing a voice of compassion from traditional communities of faith calling on political leaders to keep to the traditions many people of faith have lead for a long, long time. I hope other representatives of other communities of faith follow this lead, and remind us all of the historic role people of faith have played in caring for those most in need.