Local signers among sisters, clergy who ask Sen. Toomey to rescind tax pledge
Several religious sisters and clergy from Western Pennsylvania are among 75 religious leaders who have written to the Republicans on the “Super Committee” charged with balancing the budget, asking them to renounce their pledge not to raise taxes on even the wealthiest Americans.
“We believe this pledge to your political ally conflicts with a balanced, practical approach to deficit reduction. You are now faced with a politically difficult but morally clear choice. Do you consider the pledge you made to a Washington lobbyist more sacred than the pledge you swore ton the Bible when you took office?” said the letter to a group Washington legislators, including Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey.
“At a time of widespread unemployment and economic hardship, the working poor and middle class have already sacrificed enough. New revenue should come from the wealthiest Americans, who currently have the lowest tax burden in half a century and control of more of our nation’s wealth than ever before. Shielding the most privileged and powerful members of our society from shared sacrifice while targeting critical protections for families, seniors and the most vulnerable is wrong.”
Although it is more pointed in its focus on the tax plege, the letter is in concert with official statements from the Catholic bishops, who recently asked priests to preach about poverty as a moral issue, and from some Protestant bodies. But no bishop or regional denominational executive was among the Pennsylvania signatories. The closest equivalent was the “hunger action enabler” from the Presbytery of Philadelphia in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Western Pennsylvanians who signed were led by Sister Janet Gardner, general minister of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God in Whitehall. (In the old days, she would have been called the Mother Superior). Others from the region included the Rev. Bonnie Kline Smeltzer, pastor of the University Baptist & Brethren Church in State College, Sister Patricia McCann of the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, and Sister Mary Traupman of the Sisters of Divine Providence in Ross.
The letter was organized by the interfaith social advocacy group, Faith in Public Life.
“We believe this pledge to your political ally conflicts with a balanced, practical approach to deficit reduction. You are now faced with a politically difficult but morally clear choice. Do you consider the pledge you made to a Washington lobbyist more sacred than the pledge you swore ton the Bible when you took office?” said the letter to a group Washington legislators, including Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey.
“At a time of widespread unemployment and economic hardship, the working poor and middle class have already sacrificed enough. New revenue should come from the wealthiest Americans, who currently have the lowest tax burden in half a century and control of more of our nation’s wealth than ever before. Shielding the most privileged and powerful members of our society from shared sacrifice while targeting critical protections for families, seniors and the most vulnerable is wrong.”
Although it is more pointed in its focus on the tax plege, the letter is in concert with official statements from the Catholic bishops, who recently asked priests to preach about poverty as a moral issue, and from some Protestant bodies. But no bishop or regional denominational executive was among the Pennsylvania signatories. The closest equivalent was the “hunger action enabler” from the Presbytery of Philadelphia in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Western Pennsylvanians who signed were led by Sister Janet Gardner, general minister of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Providence of God in Whitehall. (In the old days, she would have been called the Mother Superior). Others from the region included the Rev. Bonnie Kline Smeltzer, pastor of the University Baptist & Brethren Church in State College, Sister Patricia McCann of the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, and Sister Mary Traupman of the Sisters of Divine Providence in Ross.
The letter was organized by the interfaith social advocacy group, Faith in Public Life.
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