Editorial

We treat our cars better than people in the United States. Most of us provide "food" for our cars - and we make sure they are covered by insurance. In fact, our government mandates auto insurance.

Not so for people. Millions of Americans have no health insurance. That means they have to pay out of pocket for health care expenses, go without care, or rely on charity from health care providers.

Moral outrage. Our lack of universal health care coverage in this country is a moral outrage. Many other countries with fewer resources provide health care for their citizens. It's time we find a way to cover all Americans, especially children.

The statistics on uninsured Americans tell the story. The Census Bureau's last report revealed that the number of uninsured Americans stood at a record 46.6 million in 2005, with 15.9 percent of Americans lacking health coverage.

"It is sobering that 5.4 million more people lacked health insurance in 2005 than in the recession year of 2001, primarily because of the erosion of employer-based insurance," commented Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C.

An increasing number of children have no health insurance. The percentage of uninsured children under age 18 rose from 10.8 percent in 2004 to 11.2 percent in 2005. The number climbed from 7.9 million to 8.3 million.

It is mind-boggling that over one in 10 children in this country has no health insurance. I wonder whether uninsured children have received immunizations against diseases, let alone annual check-ups or medications for illnesses or chronic diseases.

I can't help wondering what this will mean for the future. Will childhood diseases become more prevalent? Will kids grow into adults with untreated chronic conditions? Will we be spending more to care for adults as they age?

Look to Catholic teaching. As Catholics, we can look to a long tradition of Catholic social teaching as the basis of action on universal health insurance. This is pointed out in an excellent policy paper issued by Catholic Charities (CC) USA in 2006: Poverty in America: A Threat to the Common Good (see www.catholiccharitiesusa.org)

Catholic teaching emphasizes human dignity and the common good. "Human dignity is protected by basic human rights. Among these are the right to life and the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, clothing, health care, education, and employment at a livable wage," notes the CC paper.

Catholic Charities insists that "every person has a basic right to adequate health care. . . . To make this right a reality, we support the establishment of national health coverage for all Americans. Such a program should ensure an adequate level of health care for all Americans and include parity for mental health services."

We should support legislative proposals at the state and national levels to expand health insurance coverage for all Americans. Some states are even proposing mandatory insurance for people - just like we have for cars. Imagine that! We might finally treat human beings as well as our automobiles.

Mary C. Uhler

Mailbag

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Battle looms to preserve Wisconsin's abortion law

To the editor:

Wisconsin Right to Life is gearing up for the abortion battle of the decade. Wisconsin still has a law prohibiting abortion on the books. This law cannot be enforced because of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision which made abortion legal. Wisconsin Right to Life has fought zealously to keep our Wisconsin law on the books for the past 34 years.

But, Planned Parenthood and its allies have other ideas. They think the time is ripe to repeal our law, s. 940.04 of the Wisconsin statutes. They know that once Roe is gone, Wisconsin will be one of the first states in the nation to shut down their abortion clinics.

Every citizen who values human life in the womb should be alarmed! Now is the time for you to join Wisconsin Right to Life E-Voice and become a dynamic voice for the unborn. Through E-voice, you will be informed on when to contact your legislators to oppose attempts to repeal s. 940.04 of the Wisconsin statutes. Please help ensure that Planned Parenthood does not win this historic battle for life.

Sign up online at WisconsinRightToLife.org/e-voice.htm

Barbara L. Lyons, executive director,
Wisconsin Right to Life, Milwaukee

Trust bishop on cathedral

To the editor:

Bishop Morlino is one of the Diocese of Madison's greatest blessings ever! We should give him carte blanche in making the cathedral decisions - and guarantee him no "grumblefest."

Neither President Bush nor Governor Doyle governs out of substandard buildings. If we want our children and future Wisconsin generations to value church teachings, the cathedral should reflect the importance of the church - be taller and more magnificent than the Capitol building.

Contributing as little as three percent of our annual salaries (or one percent a year for three years) could add up to over $100 million (270,000 Catholics, over 54,000 families, $70,000 national average family income). Uncle Sam gets 30 percent or $1 billion yearly from this many people. How much more does God deserve?

Finally, an appeal. The new cathedral should have a well-designed air-flow system which channels incense appropriately, so that people with lung disease could attend cathedral services. The incidence of lung disease is now 10 times higher than that of wheelchair need. Properly channeled incense would rise beautifully above the sanctuary, like prayers rising to heaven. It would be worth a little extra expense.

Rolf and Syte Reitz, Madison

Bishop listened prayerfully

To the editor:

As Catholics in the Diocese of Madison, we realize that the issue of what to do with our cathedral is an important one. We would like to thank Bishop Morlino from the bottom of our hearts for taking over two years to prayerfully consider the will of God in this huge undertaking.

In seeing Bishop Morlino in many settings, we have no doubt that he is a very holy man who is prayerfully listening to the Holy Spirit's guidance in this and all matters of our diocese. Using a town hall meeting format, he has graciously listened to people of the diocese to weigh all ideas regarding how to proceed. He has certainly spent many more hours considering and praying on this subject than the rest of us.

With that knowledge, we are confident that Bishop Morlino will make the best decision for the future of our diocese. He cannot expect to please everyone, but he can expect that his prayerful decision will result in a cathedral that is pleasing to God, and one which will stand for many generations to come. We pray that members of our diocese will put aside any differences of opinion and warmly support our bishop as he unveils the plans for our cathedral.

David and Jill Yanke, Cottage Grove

Church could control school

To the editor:

I was privileged to attend the WHINSEC forum held at the Multicultural Center on February 22. Bishop Morlino and the other speakers presented the issues surrounding WHINSEC cogently. The WHINSEC school in Georgia trains soldiers from Latin America. Organizations in the U.S.A. and Latin America have documented severe human rights abuses by Latin American soldiers after they return home from the school. The U.S. military denies this, I believe.

I came away with the impression that Bishop Morlino, and the Catholic Church in general, underestimates the enormous moral sway they could exert in controlling this school and the human rights abuses associated with it.

John Murphy, Madison