"Nuns on the Bus" take on Ryan plan

Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, waves as she steps off the bus during a stop on the first day of a 9-state Nuns on the Bus tour, Monday, June 18, 2012, in Ames, Iowa. The group of Roman Catholic nuns say they???re not opposing any particular candidate but that their fight is with a Republican proposed federal budget they say hurts the poor and needy.

/ AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

(CBS News) A group of politically active Catholic nuns rolled into Wisconsin on Tuesday to combat Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's House budget proposal - the big event on their "Nuns on the Bus" tour fighting Republican budget plans they say don't represent their Catholic values.

The sisters stopped by Ryan's office in Janesville, Wis., the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports, where they dropped off an alternative "faithful budget" proposal. Though Ryan - a Catholic - has faced criticism from multiple groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, for failing to consider low-income Americans in his budget that would restructure Medicare and Medicaid and dramatically cut spending programs to help the poor, the House Budget Committee chair has stood by his plan as being in accordance with his faith.

"Because of their work, Sisters see the suffering of people in poverty on a daily basis. As a result, they recognize the harm that the Ryan budget will cause," read a press release announcing the tour. Facing a Democratic Senate and opposition from President Obama, the plan has stalled since passing through the House in March.

Looking to also head into Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, the "Nuns on the Bus" will wrap in Washington, D.C. on July 2. The tour was organized by Network, a Washington-based Catholic social justice group criticized in a recent Vatican report that said some organizations led by nuns have focused too much on economic injustice while failing to promote the church's teachings on abortion and same-sex marriage.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[kangolf]

who is paying for this 9 state protest by activist nuns?

George Soros

[kangolf]

Who is paying for this 9 state bus protest by activist nuns?

George Soros?

[RollotheNorman]

Ryan really needed a visit from the Penguin. Jake and Elwood should pay him a visit to.

[TimeToEvolve]

They need to go after these fake Christians like Lyin Ryan and Boner. They use their faith so they can steal from the poor to give to the rich. That is the Republicon wet dream.

[fiddlestickawshucks]

Keep up the good work.!!

Ryan is as big a threat to the middle class and the poor as Boehner.

[notparicular]

None but the Nuns could articulate the case of the people to the profit-all powerful. Glory to the Nuns. Keep the pressure on- to the politicians and to the Vatican.

[sjc_1]

Democrats are for helping the poor while Republicans want to take everything away. Which party is always claiming to be more Christian? Oh the irony...

[Lindag20]

Go ladies!!! These are the REAL Christians, not those men in the Catholic church that want to control everyone's life.

[marychgo]

I LOVE the nuns on the bus. I hope they'll take up permanent residence (with regular demonstrations) at Paul Ryan's offices in both Janesville and Washington.

Ryan says his "budget" is "in accordance with his faith." As the nuns might point out, his "budget" may be in accordance with his faith in Ayn Rand, but it's NOT in accordance with the New Testament.

[realtimecoffee]

I don't have an argument with their message exactly, but aren't they supposed to be Catholic? I get semper fi femdom, but why these particular ones making the charge? I guess I just have mixed feelings. I guess that's obvious. If they win it's the end of the Catholic church as we know it. Maybe not a bad thing, but they are Nuns. See where I have multiple asterisks? What would be more important to Nuns than next years American Budget? Why would next year's budget be more important than the continuation of the Catholic religion? Missing pieces bother me.

[marychgo]

No, RTC, I don't see any asterisks at all in your post. And it seems to me that the message of the "nuns on the bus" -- with which, by the way, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops agrees, though the bishops might not approve of the nuns' bus activism -- is very much in line with an ancient piece of advice: "Whatsoever you do unto these, the least of My brethren, so also you do it unto Me."

[DebNDLady]

I read this in another article: These nuns were organized by Network, a Washington-based Catholic social justice group recently criticized by Pope Benedict XVI — aka "The Vatican" — for focusing too much on economic injustice and not enough on abortion and same-sex marriage protests. This is the same pope who recently told Irish Catholics in a videotaped message that the cause of decades of child abuse in parishes, schools and other church-run institutions was a "mystery." Shame on "The Vatican". God BLESS these NUN on their mission because it is God's mission.