Nuns clash with Vatican over health care
02:22 - Source: CNN

FROM CNN’s BELIEF BLOG:

Washington (CNN) – A group of nuns who took to the road 2,700 miles ago reached Washington Monday carrying the same message they began with: “Reasonable revenue for responsible programs.”

Standing in front of the United Methodist Building near the U.S. Capitol, the “Nuns on the Bus,” as they have billed themselves, rallied an excited crowd with stories from the road and a call to action for future protests to protect social programs. Starting in Iowa, the nuns traveled through nine different states in a trip ended right outside the Capitol building.

The group announced in June that they would be taking their message to the road and specifically called out Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan for his proposed $3.53 trillion budget that looks to overhaul Medicare and other government programs. The nuns say it undermines Catholic teachings because it cuts social services.

NETWORK executive director Sister Simone Campbell relays on “Starting Point” says on her trip she noticed there’s a “great hunger in our nation for a different way of being.” She says everyone they met agreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act.

“This is way bigger than a political campaign,” Sister Campbell says. “This is a campaign for the soul of our democracy. And what we need to be responsible as people in the United States is people of faith, but as all people in our country that we need to be responsible. We need to raise revenue and we need to protect responsible programs like we saw all over the country.”