Ryan is a shitty Catholic.

[Luminous Animal]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JRLM7Jh9PnrxptafWYENXdAmxnXd4gQJMYTu3H4TFHA/mobilebasic?pli=1

Dear Rep. Paul Ryan,



Welcome to Georgetown University. We appreciate your willingness to talk about how Catholic social teaching can help inform effective policy in dealing with the urgent challenges facing our country. As members of an academic community at a Catholic university, we see your visit on April 26 for the Whittington Lecture as an opportunity to discuss Catholic social teaching and its role in public policy.



However, we would be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few. As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has wisely noted in several letters to Congress – “a just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons.” Catholic bishops recently wrote that “the House-passed budget resolution fails to meet these moral criteria.”



In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love.



Cuts to anti-hunger programs have devastating consequences. Last year, one in six Americans lived below the official poverty level and over 46 million Americans – almost half of them children – used food stamps for basic nutrition. We also know how cuts in Pell Grants will make it difficult for low-income students to pursue their educations at colleges across the nation, including Georgetown. At a time when charities are strained to the breaking point and local governments have a hard time paying for essential services, the federal government must not walk away from the most vulnerable.



While you often appeal to Catholic teaching on “subsidiarity” as a rationale for gutting government programs, you are profoundly misreading Church teaching. Subsidiarity is not a free pass to dismantle government programs and abandon the poor to their own devices. This often misused Catholic principle cuts both ways. It calls for solutions to be enacted as close to the level of local communities as possible. But it also demands that higher levels of government provide help -- “subsidium”-- when communities and local governments face problems beyond their means to address such as economic crises, high unemployment, endemic poverty and hunger. According to Pope Benedict XVI: "Subsidiarity must remain closely linked to the principle of solidarity and vice versa.”



Along with this letter, we have included a copy of the Vatican's Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, commissioned by John Paul II, to help deepen your understanding of Catholic social teaching.



Respectfully,



Thomas J. Reese, S.J.

Senior Fellow

Woodstock Theological Center



Maurice Jackson

Associate Professor of History and African American Studies

Department of History



Angelyn Mitchell, PhD

Associate Professor of English and African American Studies

Department of English



Dolores R. Leckey

Senior Research Fellow

Woodstock Theological Center



Raymond B. Kemp

Senior Fellow

Woodstock Theological Center



Thomas Michel, S.J., Ph.D.

Senior Fellow

Woodstock Theological Center



Rita M. Rodriguez, MBA, PhD

Senior Fellow

Woodstock Theological Center



Hope LeGro

Director, Georgetown Languages

Georgetown University Press



Jackie Beilhart

Publicist

Georgetown University Press



John Langan, S.J.

Professor of Philosophy and Catholic Social Thought

Georgetown University



John F Haught, PhD

Senior Fellow

Woodstock Theological Center



Karen Stohr, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Philosophy, Senior Research Scholar, Kennedy Institute of Ethics

Department of Philosophy



Ilia Delio, OSF

Senior Fellow

Woodstock Theological Center



Joseph Schad, Mdiv

Chaplain, Mission and Pastoral Care

Georgetown University Hospital



J. Leon Hooper, S.J.

Director, Woodstock Library

Woodstock Theological Center Library



Joseph A. McCartin

Associate Professor of History; Director, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor

Department of History



E. Hazel Denton, PhD

Adjunct Professor

School of Nursing and Health Studies



James Walsh, SJ, Phd

Associate Professor

Department of Theology



Scott Taylor

Associate Professor

School of Foreign Service



Sarah C Stiles, PhD, JD

Professor

Department of Sociology



Katherine Marshall, MPA

Visiting Assistant Professor

Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs



William C. McFadden, S.J.

Associate Professor of Theology

Georgetown University



Alan C. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins

Georgetown University



Rev. Dr. Joseph Palacios

Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies

Center for Latin American Studies



Julia A Lamm

Associate Professor of Theology

Theology Department



Peter C. Phan, Ph.D., D.D.

Professor of Catholic Social Thought

Georgetown University



William Rehg, SJ, PhD, MDiv, PhL, MA

Professor of Philosophy

Saint Louis University (visiting, Georgetown University)



Diana L. Hayes, JD, PhD, STD

Professor Emerita of Systematic Theology

Georgetown University



Edward Vacek, S.J.

Visiting Scholar

Woodstock Theological Center



Anthony Tambasco, PhD

Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Ethics

Theology Department



Mark Lance, PhD

Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Justice and Peace

Georgetown University



Robert J. Bies, PhD, MBA

Professor of Management

McDonough School of Management



Benjamin Bogin, PhD

Assistant Professor

Theology Department



John W. O'Malley, S.J., PhD

University Professor

Theology Department



Lauve H. Steenhuisen, PhD

Visiting Assistant Professor

Theology Department



Linda Ferneyhough

Theology Dept. Administrator

Theology Department



Marilyn McMorrow

Visiting Assistant Professor International Relations and Political Theory

School of Foreign Service



Matthew Carnes, S.J., PhD

Assistant Professor of Government

Georgetown University



Diana Owen, PhD

Associate Professor

CCT/American Studies



Friederike Eigler (Ph.D.)

Professor of German

Georgetown University College



Ricardo L. Ortiz, PhD

Associate Professor of English

Department of English



David J. Collins, S.J., S.T.L., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of History

Georgetown University



Peter C. Pfeiffer, PhD

Professor

German Department



Julie Finnegan Stoner

Publishing Assistant

Georgetown University Press



Mary Helen Dupree

Assistant Professor of German

Georgetown University



Lan Ngo, S.J., M.A., MDiv.

Graduate Student

Department of History



Francis J. Ambrosio PhD

Associate Professor of Philosohy

Philosophy Department



Joseph H. Neale, Ph.D.

Paduano Distinguished Professor of Biology

Georgetown University College



Elizabeth Velez

Academic Director, Community Scholars

Professorial Lecturer, English Women's and Gender Studies

Georgetown University College



Astrid Weigert

Assistant Professor of German

Department of German



John Rakestraw, PhD

Instructor of Theology

Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship



Susan F. Martin, PhD

Donald G. Herzberg Associate Professor of International Migration

School of Foreign Service



Eli S. McCarthy PhD

Adjunct Professor of Justice and Peace Studies

Center for Social Justice



Veronica Salles Reese

Associate Professor

Spanish Department



Francisca Cho, PhD

Professor of Buddhist Studies

Theology Department



Marcia Chatelain

Assistant Professor of History

Georgetown University



Heidi Byrnes, PhD

George M. Roth Distinguished Professor of German

German Department



Steven R. Sabat, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology

College of Arts and Sciences



Marianne Lyons

Assistant Dean

School of Nursing & Health Studies



Ladan Eshkevari, PhD, CRNA

Assistant Professor

Georgetown University



John Kraemer, JD, MPH

Assistant Professor of Health Systems Administration

School of Nursing & Health Studies



Jose R Teruel, MD, MPH

Professor of International Health

School of Nursing and Health Studies



Elizabeth H. Andretta, Ph.D.

Visiting Associate Professsor

Georgetown University in Qatar



Jo Anne P Davis, PhD

Assistant Professor, Nursing

School of Nursing & Health Studies



Irene Anne Jillson, PhD

Assistant Professor

School of Nursing and Health Studies



Jeanne A. Matthews, PhD, RN

Chair and Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing

School of Nursing and Health Studies



Justin M. Owen, BSc(Eng)

Director of Medical Technologies

School of Nursing & Health Studies



Laura Anderko PhD RN

Scanlon Endowed Chair in Values Based Health Care

School of Nursing & Health Studies



Michael A. Stoto, PhD

Professor of Health Systems Administration and Population Health

School of Nursing & Health Studies and Pubic Policy Institute



Ronald Leow, Ph.D.

Professor of Applied Linguistics

Georgetown University



Rosemary Sokas, MD, MOH

Professor of Human Science

School of Nursing and Health Studies



Carol Taylor, PhD, RN

Professor of Nursing

School of Nursing and Health Studies



Robert J. Barnet MD, MA

Adjunct Professor of Medicine

School of Medicine



Leona M Fisher, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of English

Department of English



Jane Fitz-Simons MS,RN

Adjunct Faculty Nursing

Georgetown University



Mary Jane Mastorovich, MS

Asst. Professor, Health Systems Administration

Georgetown University



Edilma Yearwood, PhD, RN

Associate Professor of Nursing

School of Nursing & Health Studies



Wilfried Ver Eecke

Professor in Philosophy

Department of Philosophy



Sylvia E. Mullins, M.A.R in Theology

Graduate Student

Department of History



Terry Pinkard, PhD

University Professor

Department of Philosophy



Bryce Huebner, PhD

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Georgetown University



Judith Baigis, PhD, RN, FAAN

Professor Emerita

School of Nursing & Health Studies



Patricia Mullahy Fugere

Adjunct Professor, JD Program

AB '81; JD '84; E.D., Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless



Henry Schwarz, PhD

Professor of English

Georgetown University



Judith Lichtenberg, PhD

Professor of Philosophy

Georgetown University



Joseph A. Chalmers, PhD

Retired Dean

Georgetown University



E. J. Dionne, Jr., D.Phil.

University Professor

Georgetown Public Policy Institute



Marlene Canlas, MA, MPH

Assistant Dean

Georgetown University
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©2012 Google

[LibDemAlways]

1. Religion aside, he's a shitty excuse for a human being. n/t

[demosincebirth]

2. I guess that turns Ryan's philosophy up side down as far as the Church is concerned.

[midnight]

3. Can't not be said enough... Ayn Rand philosophy is a sad reflection of mental illness...

So glad we have these thoughtful people speaking out...

"In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love. "

[freshwest]

4. +1,000. Thanks for that.

[MNBrewer]

6. He's trying to serve two masters

Both of which are fucked up, IMO. Catholicism and Objectivism. I think he's chosen to go the Catholic route and disavow his flirtation with Objectivism, which, after all, is an atheist viewpoint.

[longship]

7. Atheists despise Objectivism, after all.

Except those in the Rand cult, that is.

[MNBrewer]

18. Well, being an atheist SOCIALIST, of course I despise Objectivism

[midnight]

9. I prefer he choose the Catholic route over the ALEC route. I believe, he chooses the ALEC route..

At least if he choose the Catholic route the nuns could guilt him into feeding the poor, but going with ALEC, its prosperity all the way.... Or in other words Tax cuts for the rich, and give the tab to the poor....


Representative Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, played a prominent public role in drafting and promoting both The Path to Prosperity proposals, and they are therefore often referred to as the Ryan budget, Ryan plan, Ryan proposal, etc.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_Prosperity


"According to documents obtained by Common Cause, AFP was on ALEC’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force in 2011, and its Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force in 2010, but currently-available task force information does not include member rosters."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_family

[cascadiance]

15. I think he will "choose the Catholic" route until the beginning of November...

That's just the type of person he is. Enough time to get himself elected by appealing to the religious types, but shortly afterward, his greedy sociopathic self that identifies more with similar being Ayn Rand will come out, and by then the religious folk who thought he was one of them will realize it's just too late. And we'll start down that path towards corporate fascism that he seems to be wanting so much!

[freshwest]

5. That brought tears to my ears. All these people standing up to this maniac. Thanks, LA.

[Octafish]

8. Would that I had credentials to co-sign that document.

Jesuits know.

[snappyturtle]

10. Oh my. From ryan's current espousing I guess this letter had little effect on him.

[ErikJ]

11. Dear Ryan choose one.

[Goblinmonger]

21. Look, Rand was an asshole because of her economic policies and "objectivism."

Why does it always have to be that she is an atheist like in this graphic. MOST atheists are not objectivists.

[B Calm]

25. Why take Atheism so personal? It's

not a religion and I'm sure there are some asshole atheists as well as some nice ones.

[ErikJ]

28. I'm agnostic. The point is that the Bible thumpers are worshipping an atheist.

[JDStone]

12. Shortenn your title

Instead of "Ryan is a shitty Catholic."

Simply say "Ryan is shitty!"

[Kencorburn]

13. I had a little snicker while listening to his speech,

To me, the Eddie Munster, gym rat, showed a bit of fear. He tried to back-track from his Rand worship and prove he is a good Catholic by calling upon the spirit of St. Thomas Aquinas, "Our rights come nature and God....blah blah blah"

[moondust]

14. Nuns on the Bus were also protesting the Ryan plan as immoral.

http://nunsonthebus.com/

[AtomicKitten]

17. I adore Sister Simone. She's the ultimate feminist in my view.

[Hulk]

16. Many Catholics are "shitty Christians"....

Many Christians are shitty human beings. I'm a Catholic...and I just can't go there anymore..which is going to bother me for the rest of my life...the guilt thing we learn early on.

I believe in the Christian beliefs, but I don't buy all the hoc-us poc-us crap. I can't sit next to people that feel like they are touching a "dirty street person" when we shake hands for "the sign of peace", or feel like they are somehow so much better or special than those that don't attend the organization of shame and crime throughout history.

I've spent years down in Mexico, and what the Catholic Church has been responsible for since it's inception is enough to shame anyone into hiding. The Inquisition, the exploitation, the raping and plundering all in the name of God; not to mention their newest crimes against youth in the Church; I just can't go there anymore. I think God understands my conflict.

My neighbors on both sides are "christians"...and I feel they really despise me and my "Obama/Biden" bumper sticker. One of the clowns even tried to persuade me that there is loads of evidence to suggest that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and that he IS Muslim, etc, etc. These people are ignorant fools.

Such a sad, sad day in American history we live in. I sure hope we win, and we can convert the rest of our neighbors to reality and accepting man for who we are.

[ANOIS]

19. Fox News has a lot of shitty Catholics, too.

I've often thought this. Those I know about are Hannity, O'Reilly, Doocy, Kilmeade, & Roger Ailes. I'm sure there are more.

Oh, and the Koch Brothers, too.

What a bunch of hypocrits!

[Overseas]

20. K&R. Yes please! Hope all Christians have a chance to read this.

And ask themselves How Cruel Would Jesus Be ?

[libodem]

22. Does this mean we can call Cantor

A shitty Jew, just because he works for Satan? I'm sure he breaks the lying and stealing commandments every day.

[burrowowl]

23. He sure is!

Long live Liberation Theology and John XXII (now there was a Pope).
John Paul II and Benedict XV: ASSHOLE FASCIST IDIOTS!
And Go Bus Nuns! Go!

[CreekDog]

24. I don't talk like this, BUT ...about making your religion a very public part of your identity...

The downside is that if you're a jerk, every way you don't follow it, you saddle your faith, which you are supposed to make look better, look worse.

It reminds me of something someone once said about not putting one of those fish magnets on their car.

"I would except that it would make people think that Jesus drives like an asshole."

[Deep13]

26. True, but so are those that support ...

...women's reproductive rights and gay marriage equality. So, being a good Catholic is not a very good benchmark.

[WCGreen]

27. As a lapsed catholic, because of Abortion, I whole heartedly support these folks....