COMMENTARY
FLORIDA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE

Archdiocese of Miami + Diocese of St. Augustine + Diocese of St. Petersburg + Diocese of Orlando + Diocese of Pensacola/Tallahassee + Diocese of Palm Beach + Diocese of Venice

VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2 / May 1995

   This edition of Commentary contains the recently issued Statement of the Bishops on Welfare Reform (February, 1995) and a Report on Adoptions in Florida (insert) presented to the Bishops by the Social Development Commission of the Conference. The Welfare Reform Statement offers seven principles to guide public policy reform and calls on Catholic people and all people of good will to reach out to those in need, to become informed about welfare reform proposals at the State and National level, and to advocate for a just reform with representatives and senators in Washington and Tallahassee. The Adoption Report cites the long history of the Church in the care of children in Florida and acknowledges the licensed child-placing agencies of Catholic Charities/Catholic Social Services as leaders in the field since the 1940's. The Report offers reasons for the decline in placements, identifies present day challenges and concludes with the importance of the Church continuing in this work.

   We, the Catholic Bishops of Florida, seek to reflect and comment here on several aspects of the current issue of welfare reform in Florida and in the nation.

   The State of Florida has embarked on an effort to reform its welfare system with a basic goal of moving poor families from dependency to long term independence. Florida's initiative, the Family Transition Program passed by the legislature in 1993, has established pilot programs in Escambia and Alachua counties that will provide enhanced services with rigid time limitations to AFDC recipients (Aid to Families of Dependent Children). The President and Congress have each announced plans for major reforms in federal welfare programs, including AFDC.

   AFDC and other federal programs have contributed greatly over the last thirty years in providing food, clothing, and housing for poor children and their families, and the aged and disabled. Nationally, however, in spite of its size and relative wealth, Florida ranks thirty-ninth in the number of children living in poverty and forty-eighth in children's wellness. (Kids Count Data Book, 1994, The Annie E. Casey Foundation) We have to take into consideration these and many other realities of life in our state and nation.

   The Poor:  The founding document of our nation says that all are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And as Jesus has told us:

    The Catholic Church in Florida has been involved for generations in the care of poor families and children. Our parishes and Catholic Charities (Catholic Social Service) agencies continue to lead in community care and in the protection of the poor. We are all called to protect the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed. "The Church would not be faithful to the Gospel if we were not close to the poor and if she did not defend their rights." (John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, 1991)

   In Economic Justice for All, A Pastoral Letter of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, we stated with our fellow bishops:

   Before discussing direction for reform in public policy, we must speak frankly about misunderstandings and stereotypes of the poor. . . .  It is frequently suggested that people stay on welfare for many years, do not work, could work if they wanted to, and have children who will be on welfare. In fact, reliable data shows that these are not accurate descriptions of most people who are poor and on welfare. . . .   We ask everyone to refrain from actions, words, or attitudes that stigmatize the poor, that exaggerate the benefits received by the poor and inflate the amount of fraud in welfare payments.

  Poverty: Any meaningful welfare reform must seek to eliminate poverty. Our Florida pastoral letter of 1985, Social Concerns of Florida, stated:

It is false and cruel to presume that the poor want to be poor, that they are just lazy, or that they are happy in their poverty. Poorly nourished as children, without adequate education....where defeat, hopelessness, and crime are like the air they breathe, without job opportunity, they are trapped in a circle of poverty that they inherit and hand on to their children.

   It was not the poor who created poverty. The decline of morality in our society has tended to diminish the importance of marriage, intact families, sexual abstinence among minors, and a living wage. Government policies have exacerbated these trends in many ways. Reform is called for, but it must be positive reform. A meaningful welfare reform ought to provide able bodied recipients with education, job training and supportive services, such as, financial assistance, child care, housing, health care, and transportation, that will lead to jobs that provide adequate support for families. To combat poverty, employment opportunities should exist that provide a just wage for those who are able to work. Solidarity must be promoted in both the public and private sectors to generate jobs at a fair wage, which in turn, will reduce the need for welfare programs and give individuals human dignity and self worth.

   Family: Welfare reform ought to promote the intact family, nurture children, provide adequate health care, childcare, and affordable housing. We, as a society, have an obligation to make certain that children are nurtured and loved, that marriage and parental responsibility is valued and the preservation of the family is made a priority. All persons, young or old, should be assured of the basic necessities of life - -food, shelter, health care and education. There are great needs now, under current policies, such as:

The expansion of subsidized childcare programs.  The State of Florida has a waiting list of over 23,000 children in need of childcare. (Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, 1994) Additional childcare availability is needed for AFDC children, as well as, children of the working poor and those eligible families served by the community and church.

Parental choice in education.  The ability of poor parents to choose freely the type of education they desire for their children, assures the right of all children to equality of educational opportunity.

Concentration on abstinence based sex education programs which stress respect for self, for family and for the rights of others, as a means of reducing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Policies which are pro-life and do not coerce or encourage abortion. A family should not be penalized for having an additional child born while receiving benefits.

Tolerance of immigrants. Joseph and Mary took Jesus with them as immigrants to Egypt, almost all of us or our forebearers came here as immigrants, and yet, some of the worst periods in our nation's history have been marked by bigotry and discrimination against immigrants; and it is rising again. This spirit should not be injected into the reform of the welfare system.

   Public Policy: We urge public officials at both state and federal levels to adopt the following principles in their efforts to reform the welfare system:

* Government has a proper role in assuring adequate nutrition, clothing, housing and health care to poor children and people in need, and in discouraging dependency in those capable of being independent.

* The family is the basic unit of society. Welfare reform should affirm the value of intact families, personal responsibility and sexual restraint; it should respect human dignity and the intrinsic worth of each and every person. No family should ever be penalized for giving birth to and nurturing a baby while receiving benefits.

* The well-being of children must be a major priority in any reforming of the welfare system and in dealing with families. Single parent families and extended families raising children in the absence of one or both parents, need continued support and recognition.

* Financial benefits and community support services are needed to enable people to make the transition from welfare to work, and to then maintain self-sufficiency.

* Strong child support enforcement is essential for a successful social welfare system in today's world, as is the encouragement of responsible parenting.

* There are people unable to support themselves, for whom society has historically provided, going back to biblical times. Rigid times should not be applied to terminate welfare benefits, e.g. (AFDC) for a person unable to maintain self sufficiency due to age, disability, sickness or lack of job opportunity.

* Immigrants in Florida should not be discriminated against in the reform of the welfare system, and should not be made scapegoats for society's problems. Undocumented aliens are excluded from most welfare programs today, but especially health services and education for children should continue to be furnished.

   Conclusion: Catholic social teaching calls us to protect the poor and to speak for those who can not speak for themselves. We must involve ourselves in parish and community programs that reach out and help the poor and those in need. Cycles of poverty and dependence on welfare will never be overcome unless communities become involved. Thus we call on our Catholic people, and all people of good will to become involved in parish ministry programs and community efforts that reach out to those in need; to become informed on the issues, especially welfare reform, both state and nationally; advocate for just reform by writing, calling, or seeing their Representative and Senator in the Congress and the State Legislature; and most of all, to recognize that we are called upon to put our trust in the Lord, and to pray, sacrifice and love, love those in need, those who agree with us, and those who disagree with us. May God grant us His peace. 

Most Reverend John C. Favalora, D.D., S.T.D.                  Most Reverend Norbert M. Dorsey, C.P., D.D., S.T.D.
Archbishop of Miami                                                             Bishop of Orlando

Most Reverend John J. Snyder, D.D.                                   Most Reverend John M. Smith, J.C.D., D.D
Bishop of St. Augustine                                                          Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee

Most Reverend John J. Nevins, D.D.                                   Most Reverend Agustin A. Roman, D.D., V.G.
Bishop of Venice                                                                   Auxillary Bishop of Miami

Most Reverend J. Keith Symons, D.D.
Bishop of Palm Beach

                                                                                                                                                                     February, 1995