A movie sequel title it is not. And it's not a touring Broadway show. The Nuns On The Bus tour is exactly that. But, these Catholic sisters are on a crusade to put social issues, and the consequences of Republican Congressman Paul Ryan's budget, in the spotlight.
"We know how terribly important it is that the American public understand the problems — the huge problems — in the House-passed budget and that we need to educate the American people," Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Campbell's group, also known as NETWORK, is on a mission to protect "our nation's soul" from being "corrupted further by the House-Ryan budget."
On Monday, sisters from this group will hit the road on a 15-day pilgrimage through Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia to spread the word.
Campbell called Ryan's Medicare-killing bill "immoral" for its impact on the poor and those who have "fallen through the cracks of our rather fractured tenuous economy." In a press release, NETWORK listed the ways in which the Ryan budget causes "harm" to Americans:
• Undermining the food stamp program (SNAP) at a time when millions need it to feed their families
• Beginning to shift Medicare to a voucher program, thus driving more seniors into poverty
• Giving large tax breaks to the wealthy at the expense of protections for struggling families
• Drastically cutting funding for health insurance programs for low-income people, causing millions to lose access to healthcare
• Increasing Pentagon spending while cutting programs that serve people in need — despite the Pentagon saying there are military programs that should be cut.
Back in April, the Vatican chastised the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the nation's largest group of Catholic nuns, for spending too much time and energy caring for the very poor instead of fighting against issues like abortion and marriage equality.
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These nuns are doing what Christ commanded Christians to do, to take care of the poor and needy. I can NOT understand why they are being criticized.
B/C they actually are doing God's work, instead of profiting off of God
I agree.
Many of the fundamental Christians abuse God by attributing to Him all kinds of evil things such as; revenge, stroke because some long distant relative did something wrong, that God causes us to suffere by causing all kinds of crazy things like a broken leg because he wants to test us, that he knew the serial killer was going to be a serial killer before he was born, that He actualy spoke to people, all kinds of hatred toward those who disagree with them, etc. They treat God as if he were an idiot. They treat God as if he is not omnipotent because they say he has no choice but to interfere with everythig that happens. Since God is Omnipoent, the He has the choice of not to interfere if that is what He wants. A little Girl is killed by a drunken drive and they say, "God called home". Is God crazy/
its about time someone started informing the public as to the true conequences of the ryan plan. hooray for the nuns and i am glad they are taking a stand and i am sure
one that takes a lot of courage.
Some how the catholic church has lost sight of the social needs of our society, but only want to fight the abortion and contraceptive issues which is a lost cause for them as 80 percent of cathoics use contraceptives already in defiance of the churches wishes
I hope more people will consider the consequences of the Ryan Plan and what Romney says.
The Vatican and most church heads preach the immorality of the 1% while JESUS CHRIST, THE PROPHETS and THE MARTYRS preached the morality of the 99%. It's up to the people of this wonderful America to cast their vote on behalf of the moral 99% or the immoral 1%. What it boils down to is, is your vote going to be moral or immoral? Do you believe in the words of JESUS CHRIST (take care of the poor and needy) or those of todays church heads (cut funding that help the poor and needy)? QUICO!
So ... Jesus Christ, the prophets & the martyrs are all liberal Democrats and, apparently, Catholicism was founded as an outreach program for the poor. As a conservative Republican, I'm surprised to find out Jesus hates me and my beliefs. Somehow I had the idea Jesus eschewed politics. I must be totally confused.
Who says Jesus hates? The right wing are the folks who say Jesus hates. No idea how you got that Jesus hates you when people are following Jesus' commandments. Jesus does eschew politics, which would make me ask why do republicans try to say Jesus is on their side?
Lawrence: Please follow these women on their tour. What a wonderful story of courage, faith, and love for people. We need their voices heard during the tour. This will make their tour even more successful. Thanks............MGB
The hierarchy in their ivory towers fail to "get it" on this and several other very serious issues. The nuns are in the trenches and KNOW what's happening; it's as simple as that.
Yes, Lawrence, please do follow them closely! A lot of publicity is needed.
Roach - er, Rush - Limbaugh's forgettable comments about these Christians ought to lose him even more sponsors. Mysogynazi Limbaugh needs to get back on his medications, perhaps he could then recognize that these nuns embody the living spirit of Christ.
Notice when Church people actually do Church work, the right wing phonies start crying about it
I agree with all you ppl speaking positive notes for what these nuns are doing. We need to come together in solidarity against these right wing cronies. and, stop all the hate!!!and bigotry and hypocrisy. Not a "big"church goer. But, have read the bible and do understand that the "God Almighty" does not approve of hypocrisy at all...
The poor and the needy for the most part own automobiles, adequate housing thathave central heat and also have air conditioning in the untemperate zones, large screen TV's with multi-channel capabilites and contracts with cable or satelite providers, computers, cell phones, and have a steady supply of food availability and health care through federal/state programs and non-profit charitable institutions in our country. This is one of the reasons why so many people from other nations want to move here, and some will risk breaking the law and the consequences to do so.
What these people need is policy development at both the federal and state levels that will lower costs and make available more jobs, in a strong PRIVATE SECTOR growth economy. Obama said that if he hadn't straightened out the economy by 2012, he would be a one term president. Now, lets hold him at his word, and get off the self-defeating debt levels busting deficit spending and borrowing for social causes and government sector expansion and over regulation of the business sectors and a pie in the sky energy policy of reducing carbon dixoxide emmisiions over all other concerns.
Join the real world mate. Your fantasy about how the poor live is so pathetically wrong I do not know where to start, but I'll try. We poor people do not enjoy being poor and do not have those luxuries you listed. We poor people do not wake up every day and say "wow I am so lucky that I have so little money that I do not pay Federal income tax." We poor people know what happens when the PRIVATE SECTOR takes control of everything. We poor people also know when someone like Keith has been brainwashed into bashing what they think is right, praising what they know is wrong, and spreading false rumors in order to gain political advantage. We poor people know what it look like when our country has been taken over by the greedy and corrupt groups that pretend to be patriotic but do what they can to trash the country, again to gain political advantage
The difference between me and you Jason is that I had a life of professional work aiding the poor, mostly in vocational assistance programs. And I got a pretty good education as to the social safety net and the social assistance programs that give the poor in our country their base levels of living that are so much more luxurious than most "working class peoples" of the developing nations.
And what were you using to comment on at 8:00PM EDT on this blog posting on a Friday night, a library computer? Or were you esconced at some trendy coffee shop/bookstore perhaps, using your laptop or tablet while sucking down some $4 to $5 libation?
You thought process needs a little rewiring...you go on with the stupid leftist platitues that you don't even recognize that what you repeat really make absolutely no sense at all, as of "greedy and corrupt groups"..."do what they can to trash the country"..(would provide for)...a "gain in political advantage". Here is the route to political advantage followed endlessly by the "progressives", tax the rich at ever higher amounts and promise the sugar to the unsacrificing lower and middle class voters, and spread the patronage in public sector employments no matter what the strain on the fiscal status of our nation, and the toll it takes on the real economy, the private sector of the producers of goods and services.
@Keith: I also worked in the human service field. Food stamps, medicaid, that sort of thing. I don't know who you were working with, but your "vision" of the poor in this country is sadly misguided. One thing to note. We all tend to distort our peceptions by eliminating contradictory evidence and expanding on conforming evidence, to fit within our preconceived ideas. We're all guilty of that, but I think you've gone off the deep end.
Well, JCF, besides a time teaching in a vocational high school during the stagflation years of the Carter Administration where ione could find the kids from poor families, I worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs, mostly in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, late 70s thru the late 90s, and then several years with a Independent Living Non-Profit program supervising their Vocational Rehabilitation programs under contract with the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Agency serving the population of the permanent recession economy of the Greater Fall River and New Bedford Metropolitan Areas into the mid 2000s. And I am well aquainted with the sagety net of General Relief, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Section 8 Housing Assistance, Social Security Supplemental Insurance and other Cash Assistance programs, etc., etc. We even had an adjunct social welfare program to our AFDC in Massachusetts known as the MARS program (Man Assuming Role of Spouse), otherwise known as The Boyfriend's Beer Allowance until the Republican Governor King led the way to getting that off the roles, even though it was a pet program of Teddy Kennedy at the time.
If your work took you to the homes of the poor living on the social safety net's programs in this country, you would have a better picture of how they live. In the late 90s, it was estimated that the benefits that a single mother with a child or two would get in housing, medical, food, clothing, cash assistance, free child care, and education/job training programs assistance would take a family income of $48,000 to equal those advantage for non-eligible families that were looking to support their own lives without relying on government assistance. A good friend of mine, a graduate of a State University with a Social Worker's Naster's Degree worked for the State of Connecticut as a Social Worker, and didn't live as well with his wife and 3 children on his salary as did the clients he served. And that's a fact! (Albeit, that was before the Republican Congressional led move to reform the Federally supported welfare systems the Democrat Party had built prior to the 1990's revolution that saw the Republican's gaining control of both branches of Congress, much to Bill Clinton's dismay, as he was subsequently dragged kicking and screaming into balanced budgets and social welfare spending reform!
Say Keith I was involved in cabinet making , so according to you, I am the only one in the world who knows anything about cabinet making, since I was in that field for so long. Keith your slant on life is a joke you allow fox news to brainwash you into favoring things you disagree with and trashing things you agree with. Also balanced budget? IF the republican congress is in favor of balanced budgets why did they give away the budget surplus? That give away is why we are in the red so much today, yet you willingly ignore the actual facts. How much did the government shrink under the gop congress and executive branch? How much did the budget get fixed under the republican led congress and whitehouse?
WTG Nuns.
Another response to Keith: You talk about "stupid leftist platitudes" only to turn around and spout the "stupid right ones", in particular the ridiculous assertion that we are taxing the rich at "higher and higher amounts. Surprise.....Taxes for the rich are at the lowest level in history (with the exception of two short periods of time). From 1930 to 1980, the highest tax rate did not fall below 70%. At one time, the rate was 91%. So before you spout platitudes yourself, you might want to check out some facts. Information about historical tax rates is widely available on the internet. Check it out for yourself.
It doesn't matter what God does, these nuns do, or anybody else does. These social and across the board cuts are going to happen. In a matter of no time, the welfare program will cease to exist completely, whether you or anybody likes it or not.
Only cuts that need to be made are the Pentagon cuts. IF you want to see what life is like without these safety nets, go research the 1930's. IF that were the case today, you would have looting as a common practice, which according to you right wingers is OK, since that person looting is just taking personal responsibility for themselves, and of course you crazies who wanted to get rid of fire & police would have nobody to call to help you out since you told those helpers that THEY are the reason the country is in shambles.
It doesn't matter what God does, these nuns do, or anybody else does. These social and across the board cuts are going to happen. In a matter of no time, the welfare program will cease to exist completely, whether you or anybody likes it or not.
Why are the nuns being criticized? First, they are being very political, attacking only Republicans, while invoking Jesus Christ as their patron. Secondly, the nuns only spend other people's money. As a member of the voting public, I insist on my right to explore how my taxes are being spent.
I am not Catholic but I would prefer to give money to a charity run by religious, as opposed to funding another government bureaucracy which will inevitably grow and prosper much more than the poor. Government bureaucracies are guaranteed to spend the most to gain the least.
SO, when repubs invoke Jesus they are doing God's work, when dems invoke Jesus they are playing politics with God. If you have the "right" to explore how your taxes are spent, why is it you feel nobody else has that right?
Ironic that Ryan is Catholic and expects the concept of subsidiarity to be be embraced, another Christian concept about the proper role of "Caesar" in our lives. These nuns deserve to be criticized. Instead of embracing Christian charity, and actively engaging the poor through direct action, they take political action and media stunts to promote less subsidiarity (and more socialism). They need to do more study and read what John Paul II wrote about socialism. And while they are at it, I wish they'd be as eager to jump on a bus for political protest as they would be for defending the rights of nearly a million unborn children per year who are slaughtered through the selfishness of abortion. Fortunately, there are thousands of other religious who actually WORK.
Basically correct. That's not to say the Paul Ryan budget isn't open to debate--it certainly is. But what the nuns seem to neglect is that very principle of subsidiarity; a need to make real choices about what the federal government can afford and what it cannot; and a practical alternative.
I really can't take anything in this article or posted by this author seriously, though, because of the horribly ignorant and/or biased comment at in the last sentence. The warning from the Vatican was to a subset of nuns who were putting their political ideologies and activism ahead of their faith, tossing out the teachings of Christ through the Church in favor of their pet politics. In so doing, they cause grave scandal and confusion about what the Church actually believes. Abortion is of course one of the key issues, but there are others. To say that the Church thought they did too much for the poor instead of other issues is mind-blowingly false. They're actually doing too little. They're not caring about people's souls, serving them spiritually, or advocating truth. They've instead been obscuring and distorting truth and abdicating their responsibility to the poor in favor of the the state (and telling Christian faithful to do so as well). Effectively, they are idolizing the state and placing their hope in it, worshipping it instead of Christ, who never said to go to Caesar and make sure he takes care of the poor. We are to do it ourselves.
On the specific issue of the nunsonthebus, I would agree that Ryan's budget has flaws and needs to be reassessed in some areas. But we can't proceed under the illusion that nothing (or nothing but the Pentagon budget) can be cut. Social services are the biggest area of spending, the biggest long term liability, the most difficult to control, and the least provided for in our Constitution. The reason for that is that while some level of defense and law and order is essential for a country to exist, ALL other services, including ALL social services are LUXURIES. They can only be paid for so long as the taxpayers can afford it. The consequences of taxation on the economy and solvency of the government have to be taken into account or more harm can befall us in economic collapse, leaving more people in poverty with much reduced aid to turn to.
The other reason that social services are luxuries, not strict duties of the government, is that they really should be administered by the lowest levels possible--the principle of subsidiarity at work. This is why community programs, charities, even school boards are local, and why they are more effective and efficient than even state-level programs.
So yes, the federal government can provide some social services--as long as we can afford it. But when we we're spending money we don't have, we must make hard tradeoffs. That's reality.