The following is the full text of the letter from Catholic nuns endorsing Obamacare. Below the letter is a complete list of the signatories.
Dear Members of Congress:
We write to urge you to cast a life-affirming “yes” vote when the Senate health care bill (H.R. 3590) comes to the floor of the House for a vote as early as this week. We join the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), which represents 1,200 Catholic sponsors, systems, facilities and related organizations, in saying: the time is now for health reform AND the Senate bill is a good way forward.
As the heads of major Catholic women’s religious order in the United States, we represent 59,000 Catholic Sisters in the United States who respond to needs of people in many ways. Among our other ministries we are responsible for running many of our nation’s hospital systems as well as free clinics throughout the country.
We have witnessed firsthand the impact of our national health care crisis, particularly its impact on women, children and people who are poor. We see the toll on families who have delayed seeking care due to a lack of health insurance coverage or lack of funds with which to pay high deductibles and co-pays. We have counseled and prayed with men, women and children who have been denied health care coverage by insurance companies. We have witnessed early and avoidable deaths because of delayed medical treatment.
The health care bill that has been passed by the Senate and that will be voted on by the House will expand coverage to over 30 million uninsured Americans. While it is an imperfect measure, it is a crucial next step in realizing health care for all. It will invest in preventative care. It will bar insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. It will make crucial investments in community health centers that largely serve poor women and children. And despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions. It will uphold longstanding conscience protections and it will make historic new investments – $250 million – in support of pregnant women. This is the REAL pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it.
Congress must act. We are asking every member of our community to contact their congressional representatives this week. In this Lenten time, we have launched nationwide prayer vigils for health care reform. We are praying for those who currently lack health care. We are praying for the nearly 45,000 who will lose their lives this year if Congress fails to act. We are also praying for you and your fellow Members of Congress as you complete your work in the coming days. For us, this health care reform is a faith mandate for life and dignity of all of our people.
We urge you to vote “yes” for life by voting yes for health care reform in H.R. 3590.
Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA
LCWR President
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Joan Chittister, OSB
Co-Chair Global Peace Initiative of Women
Erie, PA
Sr. Mary Persico, IHM
President
Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Scranton, PA
Sr. Susan Hadzima, IHM
Councilor for Missioning and Community Life
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Scranton, PA
Mary Genino (RSHM)
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary
Western American Province.
Nancy Conway CSJ
Congregation Leadership Team
The Congregation of St. Joseph
Debra M. Sciano, SSND
Provincial Leader
Milwaukee Province, School Sisters of Notre Dame
Josephine Gaugier, OP
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Holy Rosary Mission Chapter Prioress
Adrian, MI
Kathleen Nolan, OP
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Office of the General Council
Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA
President
Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
La Crosse, WI
Corinne Weiss
Servants of Jesus Leadership Team
Saginaw MI
Adrian Dover OP
Prioress
Dominican Sisters of Houston, Texas
Rose Mary Dowling, FSM
President
Franciscan Sisters of Mary
Leadership Team
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(from Mary Martens, BVM, Administrative Assistant)
Beatrice Haines, OLVM
President, Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters
Huntington IN
Joan Saalfeld, SNJM, Provincial
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
U.S.-Ontario Province
Jo’Ann De Quattro, SNJM
Sisters of the Holy Names
U.S.-Ontario Province Leadership Team
Sharon Simon, OP
President
Racine Dominicans
Maryann A. McMahon, O.P.
Vice President
Dominican Sisters of Racine, WI
Agnes Johnson, OP
Vice President
Racine Dominicans
Pat Mulcahey, OP
Prioress of Sinsinawa Dominicans
Pam Chiesa, PBVM
President
Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Patricia Anne Cloherty, PBVM
Leadership Team, Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Gloria Inés Loya
Leadership Team
Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Gloria Marie Jones, OP
Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
Congregational Prioress and Council
Mary Litell
Provincial Councilor
Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity St. Francis Province
Theresa Sandok, OSM
Servants of Mary (Servite Sisters)
Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Sr Claire Graham SSS
General Director
Sisters of Social Service
Encino CA
Margaret Byrne CSJP – Congregation Leader
Teresa Donohue CSJP – Assistant Congregation Leader
Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
Sr. Carmelita Latiolais, S.E.C.
Sisters of the Eucharistic Covenant
Joan Mumaw, IHM – Vice President
On behalf of the Leadership Council
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Monroe, Michigan
Sister Clare of Assisi Pierre, SSF
Sisters of the Holy Family
New Orleans, LA
Sister Marla Monahan, SND
Provincial
Sisters of Notre Dame
(St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, KY
and St. Charles Care Center in Covington, KY)
Vivien Linkhauer, SC
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, United States Province
Greensburg, PA
Dolores Maguire
Sisters of the Holy Faith
Northern California LCWR Region XIV
Sr. Mary Elizabeth Schweiger, OSB
Subprioress
Mount St. Scholastica
Atchison, KS
Marianites of Holy Cross
Sr. Suellen Tennyson, MSC
Congregational Leader
Barbara Hagedorn, SC
Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
Mt. St. Joseph, Ohio
Francine Schwarzenberger OP
Dominican Sisters of Peace
Denver, Colorado
Sister Maureen McCarthy
School Sisters of St. Francis
U.S. Provincial Team
Milwaukee, WI
Eileen C. Reid, RJM
Provincial Superior
Religious of Jesus and Mary
Washington DC
Sister Cecilia Dwyer, O.S.B.
Prioress
Benedictine Sisters of Virginia
The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
Sister Joann Sambs, CSA
General Superior
Sisters of St. Francis
Tiffin, Ohio
(from Sr. Mary Kuhlman)
Sr. Helen McDonald, SHCJ
Province Leader
Society of the Holy Child Jesus
Leadership Team
Sisters of the Precious Blood
Dayton, OH
The Leadership Team of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis
Sister Jane Blabolil, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Michelle Wronkowski, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Dorothy Pagosa, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Linda Szocik, SSJ-TOSF
Sr. Gladys Guenther SHF
Sisters of the Holy Family
Congregational President
Fremont, CA
Sr. Dorothy Maxwell, Councilor
Sisters of St. Dominic
Blauvelt New York
Sheral Marshall, OSF
Provincial Councilor
Sisters of St Francis
Marilyn Kerber, SNDdeN
Canonical Representative, Ohio Province
Sisters of St. Louis, California Region
(from Sr. Michele Harnett, SSL)
Ruth Goodwin, OSF
Sisters of ST. Francis of Philadelphia
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Leadership Team
Sr. Joanne Buckman, OSU
Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland
March 18, 2010 at 3:38 am
How about 50 Million and counting since Roe v Wade? Go to the Priests for Life web-site, lots of stats there.
Shame on these women. Most I notice don't bother to use Sister. May God have mercy on them and on our nation if this bill passes.
March 18, 2010 at 4:50 am
What did any of the nuns havev to do with keeping anyone in the Church? They're mostly Sophia or Gaia worshipers anyway. In 20 more years there won't be enough to matter. It'll hurt the fish-wrap's circulation.
March 18, 2010 at 5:45 am
Sad that these our "sisters" are endorsing abortion. Whether they know it or not, care or could care less, their actions could result in the passage of a bill that supports abortion.
March 18, 2010 at 7:05 am
I, for one, am very happy to see these 'nuns' exposed for what they really are. This is not a life-affirming statement but a life-taking statement that they've put forward but the good news is that its forced them to admit publically what they really are & what they really espouse. I.e., themselves.
Long long ago their orders ceased teaching and believing what the Church teaches and believes or they'd be speaking up now for the 4,000 kids EVERYDAY who get killed in the USA. Not my figures…ck the CDC site, folks.
Since these children are voiceless, they're powerless. Since they're powerless, those who seek power ignore them. By this statement, these 'nuns' are seeking to align themselves with the forces for power in Washington DC.
Its easy to tell this tree by its fruit.
March 18, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Look at their website, there is a photo of a group of supposed sisters: NO HABITS! That speaks volumes.
Commenter Rick: God Bless You! It is our church! I pray for the Bishops to not only respond to this, but take action!
March 18, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Anon815: Bishops can't do everything. We need to control these liberals ourselves by defunding them and telling them to pack their bags.
March 18, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Our Poor Lady and Saints Francis and Dominic to whose rule these women pretend to be servants! They have betrayed Mother Church, their vocations, and their own womanhood by standing on the side of that which robs women of motherhood and babies of their lives. Shame shame shame on them. I'm heartbroken too, as I was taught by IHMs for 13 years…
March 18, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I wonder if, instead of the complicated process of the visitation of these orders, Rome just ordered that all religious sisters had to wear a traditional habit, if that wouldn't take care of the problem. Any order that refused would not be able to call itself a Catholic order of nuns. Any individual who refused would have to leave the order.
But the bishops would have to enforce this in their dioceses and I am afraid they don't quite have the cohones for that.
It is just because of what the habit symbolizes, not because there is anything intrinsically good about being covered head to toe.
Susan Peterson
March 18, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Just a buncha dumb broads, idn't it?
March 18, 2010 at 8:58 pm
It is very sad to see this. I have the highest respect for the Orders who did not sign. Are these leaders fair representation of their orders? Ursilines I am shocked. OSU is falling
March 19, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Are the nuns really that blinded by Obama's rhetoric? Do they really believe that this will not fund abortions? Sisters of Mercy! Your predecessors are rolling over in their graves. Where did you learn your religion? I had 16 years of education from the Mercy Order and I was taught to listen to the Bishops and the Pope. It makes me sick to think you have bought into the far left lies.
March 19, 2010 at 10:48 pm
i have this strange affliction that i can tell if someone is gay, no matter how they may try to hide it. I spent my entirer life knowing the majority of my priests and nuns were gay! But, i am not their judge and I don't know if they practiced their homosexuality. So I kept going to Mass and receiving the scacraments. My point here! The majority of our clery are gay! And, I have never meet a gay person that is a social conservative. Never, not any members of the Log Cabin Group. So thee pediopile sex scandal was the last straw for me. Either the Catholic church allows clery to marry (which is the only way to weed the hyocrites out) or they will not have my backside in their pews, nor my past volunteerism and money. Haven't lost my faith. Just can't take these liberal gays dictating there sick liberal point of view to me. Let the Church pay for all the people they want to buy health insurance for. Let the Catholic church pay for the cost of illegal immigration. Sell some of the Vatican jewels. Put your money where your mouth is.
March 22, 2010 at 5:51 pm
What would Mary say? Clearly these women didn't ask that question before they wrote this letter. She was a teenage girl, pregnant outside of marriage. Are they really advocated for a bill that will cause ME to commit a sin by designating my tax money to support government funded abortions? Are they really going to support a bill that denies this "universal healthcare" to illegal immigrants and denies legal immigrants this right up to 5 years, even those with the means to pay? If an agenda is anti-life and anti-equality, then this agenda is anti-Catholic. Maybe we should all pray them, that they might see what this bill REALLY means. We shouldn't trash them or condemn them though. They need love and understanding more than anything, because how can we expect them to love and understand if we aren't loving and understanding ourselves?