Las Cruces Bishop Ramirez Joins Group Urging White House to Protect Programs for the Poor

A group of religious leaders was invited to the White House on Wednesday, July 20, to discuss efforts to protect programs for the poor.  Many of those in attendance had participated in the Circle of Protection effort.

As I perused the article from Politico newspaper, entitled Christian Coalition Asks Obama to Protect the Poor, I noticed some familiar names like Jim Wallis, Tony Hall and David Beckmann.  

Photo CNS/National Catholic Reporter

But another name stood out: our own Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of the Diocese of Las Cruces, who was selected to represent U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  This is very appropriate because Bishop Ramirez has been outspoken in stating that there must be an element of justice in all our efforts to address poverty.  Here is an  excerpt of a speech he gave on this issue.

And here is a statement from the USCCB

A veteran advocate of social justice issues, Bishop Ram'rez stressed the need for our nation's leaders to consider budgets as moral documents - documents that should be fashioned in ways that do not harm some of our society's most vulnerable members.

Read more in Las Cruces Sun-News article entitled, Ramirez, other religious leaders meet with Obama.

By the way, here is Jim Wallis' blog post about the White House meeting, entitled Obama meets with Faith Leaders