Catholic bishops and budget cuts

Now, if you're the sort of person who finds both those admonitions a breath of genuinely sane realism, you might also ask yourself how and why it is so often considered sentimental or softheaded to point out that there are moral dimensions, and not merely fiscal considerations, at play in these budget deliberations? It's the implication that the bishops and other religious leaders speak out of otherworldly sentimentality that allows most of the state's English-language news media and commentators to routinely kick the clerics' statements on social justice issues into a well of silent indifference.

In a telephone interview from San Antonio, where he's currently attending the bishops' national meeting, Cardinal Roger Mahony said he was not bothered by the major news outlets' inattention. "Historically, we've always been concerned, as bishops," he said, "with government programs that serve the poorest and the neediest -- those who wouldn't survive without them. ... As far as the media goes, we get a much more powerful hearing on radio and television -- much of it in Spanish -- and in newspapers like La Opinion," L.A.'s leading non-English daily.

That's important, the cardinal said, because the bishops' statement wasn't aimed only at lawmakers:

"First of all, we want the poor and needy to know that somebody is speaking for them and their dignity," he said. "Second, we want to urge our own Catholic people to greater generosity to those who require help."

Still, Mahony points out that, as operators of the state's -- and the nation's -- most extensive network of social service agencies, California's bishops are painfully aware that public funding is the linchpin of their efforts. He argues that it makes no sense to enact cuts, like many of those Schwarzenegger is proposing, that save California 20 cents of its own dollar while forfeiting 80 cents of federal aid that the state's modest investment secures.

"Those kinds of cuts," Mahony argues, "should be the last and the smallest we make."

The bishops have done California a service with this intervention. It's good to be reminded that there's nothing sentimental or unrealistic about being attentive to the claims of conscience and human solidarity -- even when what's at issue is a matter of dollars and cents. In fact, given the social tenor of our collective lives these days, that's when it's essential to be reminded.

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timothy.rutten@latimes.com