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Archdiocese Intervenes In Health Care Forum At Church

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Zoroaster
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« on: October 06, 2009, 01:42:24 am »

Archdiocese Intervenes In Health Care Forum At Church, Bars Democratic Congressman From Speaking


First Posted: 10- 5-09 04:59 PM   |   Updated: 10- 5-09 06:31 PM




Health care reform flap at Oak Park parish


(POSTED: 10/5/09) The Archdiocese of Chicago intervened in a planned "health care reform forum" at Oak Park's Ascension Parish after learning the event was being co-sponsored by two groups affiliated with the Democratic Party.

The "respect life coordinator" at a neighboring church in the near west suburb filed a complaint with the archdiocese in advance of the Sept. 20 forum, expressing concern that a partisan function was going to be held on Catholic Church property.

The event -- featuring several prominent Rush University Medical Center doctors, including President Obama's former physician -- was co-sponsored by the Democratic Party of Oak Park and the pro-Obama Organizing for America.

Archdiocesan officials consulted with the pastor, the Rev. Larry McNally, and the decision was made to yank the two groups -- because archdiocesan policy indeed does bar political activity at churches. What's more, politicians were barred from speaking at the event.

Which meant U.S. Rep. Danny Davis -- who initially had been invited to talk to the crowd -- was told by McNally upon arriving at the forum that he wouldn't be allowed to speak after all.
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Zoroaster
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« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2009, 01:43:13 am »




Adding to the drama: Ascension is home parish to the No. 2 man in the archdiocese -- Chancellor Jimmy Lago, who was pulled into the fray by the woman who made the initial complaint, Susan Jordan.

"I would have thought someone as high ranking as the chancellor would have gone to the pastor and said, 'You need to change this,' but that didn't happen," apparently until the very last minute, said Jordan, a parishioner at nearby St. Edmund Church who singled out Lago in her complaint.

In an email to ChicagoCatholicNews, Lago said, "I had nothing to do with the . . . forum. (When I became aware of it) I insisted it be non-partisan, if held; meaning no candidates for office and emphasis was to be given to the [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops'] position on healthcare reform."

That position includes unwavering opposition to abortion. As one bishop recently wrote on behalf of the bishops conference, "No health care reform plan should compel us or others to pay for the destruction of human life, whether through government funding or mandatory coverage of abortion."

Jordan, the respect life coordinator at St. Edmund, described the forum -- which ended up drawing roughly 250 people to Ascension School's Pine Room -- as "a political event masquerading as a forum."

No church official at the event spoke up about abortion, Jordan said, and "I had pro-life friends who were told their questions would not be submitted" to the panel.

Explaining why she lodged a complaint in the first place, Jordan said: "It's not that it's the type of politics -- it's that a church venue was used for a blatantly partisan event. Whether or not I stirred up trouble is deflecting the real issue."

Some organizers of the forum also were unhappy, but for other reasons. They felt censored -- that the Catholic Church, perhaps, was squelching debate because of its own political views.
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Zoroaster
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« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2009, 01:43:45 am »

"Danny Davis couldn't speak, we weren't allowed to do any literature directing people to legislative action, or fact sheets . . . and [the change of course] was all so last minute," said Margaret Fulkerson, who is affiliated with Organizing for America and was one of the forum organizers. "It was very frustrating."

She said the event was not meant as a pep rally for Obama's health plan -- but as informational.

McNally portrayed the ordeal as the result of an "innocent mistake" that ballooned unnecessarily -- with Lago being unfairly dragged into the middle.

McNally also expressed regret that Davis was told so last minute that he couldn't speak, and planned to write a little note of apology.

The congressman, a Chicago Democrat running for Cook County Board president, was described by more than one person at the event as appearing upset by the decision to bar him from talking. But Davis (pictured above) later told ChicagoCatholicNews he was totally fine with it -- although he noted he has spoken at Ascension previously.

The panelists included president and CEO of Rush, Dr. Larry Goodman; chief medical officer of Rush, Dr. David Ansell; and Obama's former personal physician, Dr. David Scheiner. The purpose of the gathering was to "discuss the importance of health care reform, the most critical medical, ethical, and social issue of our time," according to a flier.

As a not-for-profit, the Catholic Church is supposed to avoid politics in the pulpit. The Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church on the South Side has pushed that line in recent years, most recently by backing Barack Obama for president, and publicly criticizing Obama's then-rival Hillary Clinton.

By ChicagoCatholicNews
Contact: info@chicagocatholicnews.com
http://www.chicagocatholicnews.com/2009/10/health-care-reform-flap-at-oak-park.html
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