The days grow shorter and darker as we approach Christmas. Before Christ's birth many feared this time and longed for the winter solstice to reverse the process and bring more light with every passing day. With the coming of Christ we know a light has come into our world that not even tragedies like the mass killings in Newton, CT., can extinguish. In John's Gospel the evangelist proclaims: "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

 

As disciples of Christ we are called to bring His light into the world - "Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." (Mt. 5: 16). The MCC wishes each of you a very holy Christmas. In the coming year, may we work together to bring the light of Christ - the prince of peace - to a world too often darkened by hate and violence.

 

 

Ban assault rifles and other semi-automatic weapons? Increasefunding for addressing mental illness? In the tragic aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting, a long overdue conversation has begun on how the nation should respond to the mass shootings that are becoming all too familiar in communities across our country.

 

Evil exists even in a free country and no set of laws can stop people from doing evil to others. But Catholic teaching charges government with the responsibility to uphold the "stability and security of a just order." In securing order, government must use morally acceptable means to ensure "the security of society and its members." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1909). So what can be done?

 

All too often the perpetrators of these horrible killings are loners and outcasts - people alienated from society, with few or no friends. Increased criminal penalties, even capital punishment, will not deter people in these mental and emotional states. They don't care. Their anger and the other things churning inside them make them impervious to the danger to themselves. Often they end up killing themselves after their rampage is completed.

 

Seeing the warning signs of a person coming apart and responding is essential and lifesaving. We are learning that ignoring that strange person wandering around may seem prudent for us at this particular moment, but if no one steps forward to offer help bad things can eventually happen to all of us.

 

Consensus seems to be forming to better fund mental health services. If an intervention comes early enough, some individuals can be assisted and once again become peaceful members of their communities. For decades Catholic Charities agencies have tried, with limited funds, to serve people who are deeply troubled. Perhaps, the importance of their work will now be more fully appreciated and more funding will come from charitable giving and public support.

 

Sometimes counseling and other support services are not enough. If the person is obviously a danger to himself and others, then involuntary confinement may be the only solution.

 

When considering the school setting, some suggest arming the teachers and others in authority. Certainly, there is a right to self-defense, but will this supposed solution lead to a different kind of tragedy? Could an angry student somehow manage to get the gun out the teacher's desk drawer or off the teacher's person?

 

Banning assault rifles and other semi-automatic weapons is also under discussion. In a front page article on December 15, the Vatican newspaper L'Ossevatore Romano observed that the people of the United States should look for ways to "stem the violence that strikes them from within, heinous violence that is increased by easy access to increasingly lethal weapons and this time struck children in an elementary school."

 

No gun control law will stop all killings, but would a ban on semi-automatic weapons and ammunition make if more difficult to kill so many so quickly? Some argue banning these weapons would violate their Second Amendment rights. But is banning weapons not necessary for hunting or home protection really a violation of the Second Amendment? And at what point does your right to bear arms - even semi-automatic weapons normally only used by law enforcement and the military -begin to violate my right, and my children's right, to public safety?

 

The Sandy Hook killings are eliciting many opinions about how to respond. This is only natural. We all want to find ways to stop these killings. In this holy season of Advent, let us first pray and reflect and then think anew about what can be done to make to make our society a safer place for all of us.

 

David Lieb of the Associated Press reports that Governor Jay Nixon and state legislators have begun to discuss how to respond to the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn.

 

Click here to read the AP article.

 

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is providing links to a number of documents that provide suggestions for how schools can respond to school shooting tragedies.  

 

Click here for more.

   

How Many New Jobs Would Be Generated By Medicaid Expansion? The recent report by the University of Missouri School of Medicine and Dobson DaVanzo & Associates projects a little over 24,000 new jobs would be created in 2014, with 22,175 of these jobs being sustained through the year 2020. (See chart below).

 

The report, however, does not take into account how many jobs will be lost to the state of Missouri due to the reduction in federal payments to hospitals for the uncompensated care provided to the poor. The reduction in disproportionate hospital payments (DSH) over the next few years will total several billion dollars.  

 

The MCC understands another report may be prepared that will show if, despite the reduction in DSH payments, there is any net increase in new jobs.

As the end of the year approaches, attention turns to the looming "fiscal cliff," the agreement to eliminate the Bush-era tax cuts and to cut spending that Congress and the President reached when the Congressional budget "supercommittee" failed to reach a consensus on getting the U.S. fiscal house in order this past year.

 

And the U.S. fiscal house is definitely not in order. Presently, the national debt stands at $16 trillion. The interest payment alone on this debt is $450 billion annually, based upon present low interest rates. Commitments to social and farming programs also cost the U.S. big each year. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2011 interest payments on the national debt and our commitments to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and farm subsidies amounted to 63% of the U.S. budget. Based upon projected growth in these commitments, by 2025 payments to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and debt service alone will amount to 100% of the U.S. budget, leaving no money for education, improving infrastructure, disaster relief and other programs. At the same time, in 2011, the U.S. spent $700 billion on national defense. We spent more on defense than the next 17 nations combined!

 

When the Congressional budget supercommittee failed to reach a deal this past year, Standard and Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating. Moody's is waiting to see what the latest negotiations bring before deciding on a downgrade.  

 

Will President Obama and Congress agree to a deal before the end of the year? The latest reports indicate that Speaker John Boehner and President Obama have been meeting in person on a fairly regular basis and that they are discussing ways to both increase revenue and address the rising cost of social programs. Let's pray that they reach an agreement, and soon!

The USCCB Committee on Pro-life Activities and the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty have approved a postcard campaign to lobby Congress to protect life and religious liberty. The campaign will kick off the weekend of February 9, 2013.

 

With a new Congress being sworn in on January 3, the time is now to remind our lawmakers to protect life by preventing federal funding and promotion of abortion, and protecting rights of conscience in health care. The last postcard campaign generated over 30 million cards, sending a clear message to Congress that Americans consider protection of life a priority.  

 

Stay tuned for more information from the MCC in the coming weeks on how you can participate in this campaign.

Where will you be this Friday? According to some interpretations of the Mayan Long Count Calendar, the world will end on December 21, 2012. If true, we don't need to worry about the "fiscal cliff," Medicaid expansion and other more mundane matters. But a Vatican astronomer says the prediction is "irrational." Scientific discoveries suggest the universe is expanding and that billions of years from now it will "rip apart," Jesuit father Joses Funes explained in a recent article in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. Father Funes is head of the Vatican Observatory.

For more click here.