October 20, 2009

Clergy and faith leaders from throughout the United States gathered on Capitol Hill Oct. 20 to pray and proclaim the moral case for health-care reform legislation that would make coverage affordable to working-class and low-income families.

"I have been a nurse for more than 25 years providing basic, no-cost health care to the underserved," said the Rev. Sally Bowersox, executive director of St. Benedict Health and Healing, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, in a telephone interview. "It's a passion of mine, and I believe it's a moral issue that we move from charity to justice and embrace our brothers and sisters."

Bowersox was among clergy and faith leaders – from Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska and North Dakota – who gathered outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to send a message to Senate leaders inside who continued negotiations to merge the chamber's two health reform bills. Religious leaders pointed to a recent report from Community Catalyst, a national health care advocacy group, and PICO National Network, a national network of faith-based community organizations, for solutions to inadequacies of the Senate Finance Committee bill.

"The stakes right now are very high for families, especially for low-wage working families," said the Rev. Steve Beckham, pastor of First Little Rock Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. "Under Senate Finance legislation, low-wage families in my state could be expected to pay double what the Senate HELP [Health, Education, Labor and Pensions] legislation would require that same family to pay. The details matter on affordability for families."

Clergy leaders were joined by labor and consumer groups, including Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and Community Catalyst Executive Director Robert Restuccia, in calling on Senate leaders to fix Senate Finance Committee legislation that, the leaders and groups say, would impose premiums and out-of-pocket costs that are unaffordable for low-wage working families.

"When we meet with [Democratic] Senator [Ben] Nelson, we will tell him clearly: we want lower premiums and stronger caps on out-of-pocket costs for working families in Nebraska," said the Rev. Jane Florence, pastor at First United Methodist Church of Omaha, Nebraska.

The press event was followed by an "Interfaith Service of Remembrance and Hope" at the National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C. Both the press conference and the interfaith service were part of a larger faith-based day of action, with efforts organized nationwide by congregations and faith-based organizations, including PICO National Network, Faithful Reform in Health Care, Interfaith Worker Justice, Catholics United and the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Episcopal News Service