The Catholic Church Will Not Allow Government to Abandon the Poor

Donald Devine, in his Dec. 18 Commentary column on churches and welfare reform ("Churches - and the welfare state"), fails to provide pertinent facts concerning the Catholic Church's involvement in Maryland's welfare-reform effort.

Some legislative history is in order. Maryland's welfare-reform legislation, considered by the General Assembly this year, contained two provisions that would have severely penalized families and children for certain behaviors deemed unacceptable by Maryland lawmakers. The first provision would have removed a family, after only a month, from cash-assistance eligibility for the failure of a mother to engage in work activities. A second provision, known as the "family cap" or "child exclusion," would have withheld cash support for a child ($74 a month) born into a family 10 months after that family became eligible for welfare.

The …

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Publication information: Article title: The Catholic Church Will Not Allow Government to Abandon the Poor. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: December 29, 1996. Page number: 2. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 1996 Gale Group.

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