Last week Wisconsin’s the Honorable Paul Davis Ryan was elected by his peers to wield the gavel as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. As a practicing Catholic, he has achieved the highest ratings from national pro-life organizations for his staunch and unwavering support of life from the moments of conception to natural death. For this, he indeed should be commended.
It is encouraging for many faithful when a Catholic representative of the people actually has the courage to be Catholic before the people. Mr. Ryan is certainly not the first Catholic speaker of the house. Following his two predecessors, who were also Catholic, he has seen the extremes in the public practice adherence of the Catholic faith. There are far too many self-proclaimed Catholics, at the local and national level, who daily deny their faith by denying the courage to act accordingly when it comes to promotion of the moral and ethical issues of the faith and God’s natural law. They, too, proudly wear badges of Catholicism but their actions do not rightly mirror the doctrines of the Church.
Additionally, while Speaker Ryan’s record on abortion is to be respected, there are many social issues important to the Church that must also be addressed. Although money is not the solution to all problems, the speaker will be at odds with many of his fellow party members when it comes to adequately funding programs that directly assist the poor, unemployed, underemployed, homeless, hungry and marginalized. The new speaker needs to be increasingly aware of these issues for now is the time to address them, and the list is long.
