Stand up and pledge:

As Catholics

		Notes from the  Vicar General  Msgr. Paul J. Swain

From the hubbub surrounding the controversy over the pledge of allegiance in Madison schools, one fact was thought provoking.

Some of those who adopted the unpopular stance of not standing and reciting the pledge wanted to do so without anyone knowing about it. They wanted to take a stand anonymously.

Do we do that with our faith? We believe in the teachings of Christ revealed through Scripture and presented by his Church. We try to live them. However do we do so anonymously? How many times, such as on Ash Wednesday, have we encountered someone and commented: "I didn't know he (or she) was a Catholic."

Not anonymously

We should not treat our Catholic identity as a badge to wear for all to see or as a cloak to impress. Neither should it be something we hide.

Our faith, which flows from our baptism and confirmation, should be an integral part of who we are and how we respond to the issues of the day and to the people we meet on our way.

Our faith is rooted in the sacredness of life. Every human being, women and men of every race, language, economic standing, and ethnic group is created in the image and likeness of God, with a personal dignity that requires the respect of each of us and of our society's institutions and laws.

In a culture which seems to say I respect my life, you take care of yours, it is important that as Catholic believers we stand up and pledge our belief in this basic truth. Whether the issue is abortion, euthanasia, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, capital punishment, access to health care, work, food, and housing, this principle applies.

We should measure every policy, every institution, and every action by whether it protects human life and enhances human dignity, especially for the poor and vulnerable.

Catholic teachings are not driven by what is popular or convenient. They are time tested Gospel gifts that set a framework for how we can evaluate the uniqueness of our day.

With charity and clarity

Pope John Paul II described our task in the Third Millennium to publicly witness our faith in his Apostolic Letter, Novo Millennio Inuente, "For Christian witness to be effective . . . it is important that special efforts be made to explain properly the reasons for the Church's position, stressing that it is not a case of imposing on non-believers a vision based on faith, but of interpreting and defending the values rooted in the very nature of the human person.

"In this way charity will necessarily become service to culture, politics, the economy, and the family, so that the fundamental principles upon which depend the destiny of human beings and the future of civilization will be everywhere respected."

With charity and clarity, let us stand up to explain to family and friends and witness by our actions those values upon which rests the future. Let us do so not because they are Catholic, but because we are.

Trickle down theory:

In health care

		Eye on the  Capitol  Kathy Markeland

Recent news accounts have discussed the phenomenon of doctors who break away from the constraints of managed care to start their own health care groups.

Patients, who pay an annual "special fee" to their physician, have the opportunity to enjoy a more personal, attentive relationship with their doctor.

Some find this scandalous; others find it pretty appealing. My first reaction was that of indignation. Upon further reflection, I recognized that this is exactly the type of health care system that we have right now. There are a multitude of insurance plans available that either cover or don't cover certain treatments.

Those who can afford to pay more receive the better service. Some of us are covered by employer-sponsored health insurance; others by government sponsored plans, others by independently purchased insurance. Still others, almost 40 million of us across the country, aren't covered at all.

Market-based approach

We have a market driven health care system. Some argue that this market-based approach is the engine that drives medical advances in our country. Ad-vances in pharmaceuticals and specialized treatments would not occur if the health care industry could not derive financial benefit from those advances.

However, the difficulty we face is that not only are some individuals able to access certain services that others are not, but the investment of limited private and public research dollars in health care can be directed to treatments that may promise a more lucrative return for investors.

Facing ethical issues

This "skewing" of scarce health care resources is one of the ethical and moral issues that confronts us as we face advances in stem cell research, the human genome project, and other research projects.

While expenditures for research and development and expenditures for health care coverage are not mutually exclusive, we must question the influence that private interests and investments exert on the types of medical concerns that are explored and the cost of those new developments relative to the cost of making existing treatments available to those who need them.

Catholic teaching

The Catechism teaches us that the common good concerns the life of all. One of the critical features of the common good is the accessibility to each of "what is needed to lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work, education and culture, suitable information, the right to establish a family, and so on" (1908).

Health care is not merely a commodity to be bought and sold; it is a public good that is fundamentally linked to the dignity of the community.

While a certain balance between advancement in medicine and distribution of those advances is necessary, our Catholic social teaching calls us to a preferential option for the poor that cannot be satisfied with promises of medical benefits down the road while current, known treatments are not made available for all.

Serving the common good means that we affirm the inherent dignity of each individual by providing access to those things necessary to lead a truly human life. Serving the common good means acting justly. The Scriptures tell us to "let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream."

We cannot be satisfied with health care benefits that "trickle down."

Kathy Markeland is associate director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.