Dear Rep. Paul Ryan, Welcome to Georgetown University.

We appreciate your willingness to talk about how Catholic social teaching can help inform effective policy in dealing with the urgent challenges facing our country. As members of an academic community at a Catholic university, we see your visit on April 26 for the Whittington Lecture as an opportunity to discuss Catholic social teaching and its role in public policy. However, we would be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few. As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has wisely noted in several letters to Congress a just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons. Catholic bishops recently wrote that the House-passed budget resolution fails to meet these moral criteria. In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love. Cuts to anti-hunger programs have devastating consequences. Last year, one in six Americans lived below the official poverty level and over 46 million Americans almost half of them children used food stamps for basic nutrition. We also know how cuts in Pell Grants will make it difficult for low-income students to pursue their educations at colleges across the nation, including Georgetown. At a time when charities are strained to the breaking point and local governments have a hard time paying for essential services, the federal government must not walk away from the most vulnerable. While you often appeal to Catholic teaching on subsidiarity as a rationale for gutting government programs, you are profoundly misreading Church teaching. Subsidiarity is not a free pass to dismantle government programs and abandon the poor to their own devices. This often misused Catholic principle cuts both ways. It calls for solutions to be enacted as close to the level of local communities as possible. But it also demands that higher levels of government provide help -- subsidium-- when communities and local governments face problems beyond their means to address such as economic crises, high unemployment, endemic poverty and hunger. According to Pope Benedict XVI: "Subsidiarity must remain closely linked to the principle of solidarity and vice versa. Along with this letter, we have included a copy of the Vatican's Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, commissioned by John Paul II, to help deepen your understanding of Catholic social teaching. Respectfully, Thomas J. Reese, S.J. Senior Fellow Woodstock Theological Center Maurice Jackson Associate Professor of History and African American Studies Department of History

Angelyn Mitchell, PhD Associate Professor of English and African American Studies Department of English Dolores R. Leckey Senior Research Fellow Woodstock Theological Center Raymond B. Kemp Senior Fellow Woodstock Theological Center Thomas Michel, S.J., Ph.D. Senior Fellow Woodstock Theological Center Rita M. Rodriguez, MBA, PhD Senior Fellow Woodstock Theological Center Hope LeGro Director, Georgetown Languages Georgetown University Press Jackie Beilhart Publicist Georgetown University Press John Langan, S.J. Professor of Philosophy and Catholic Social Thought Georgetown University John F Haught, PhD Senior Fellow Woodstock Theological Center Karen Stohr, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Philosophy, Senior Research Scholar, Kennedy Institute of Ethics Department of Philosophy Ilia Delio, OSF Senior Fellow Woodstock Theological Center Joseph Schad, Mdiv Chaplain, Mission and Pastoral Care Georgetown University Hospital J. Leon Hooper, S.J. Director, Woodstock Library

Woodstock Theological Center Library Joseph A. McCartin Associate Professor of History; Director, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor Department of History E. Hazel Denton, PhD Adjunct Professor School of Nursing and Health Studies James Walsh, SJ, Phd Associate Professor Department of Theology Scott Taylor Associate Professor School of Foreign Service Sarah C Stiles, PhD, JD Professor Department of Sociology Katherine Marshall, MPA Visiting Assistant Professor Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs William C. McFadden, S.J. Associate Professor of Theology Georgetown University Alan C. Mitchell, Ph.D. Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins Georgetown University Rev. Dr. Joseph Palacios Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies Center for Latin American Studies Julia A Lamm Associate Professor of Theology Theology Department Peter C. Phan, Ph.D., D.D. Professor of Catholic Social Thought Georgetown University William Rehg, SJ, PhD, MDiv, PhL, MA Professor of Philosophy Saint Louis University (visiting, Georgetown University) Diana L. Hayes, JD, PhD, STD

Professor Emerita of Systematic Theology Georgetown University Edward Vacek, S.J. Visiting Scholar Woodstock Theological Center Anthony Tambasco, PhD Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Ethics Theology Department Mark Lance, PhD Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Justice and Peace Georgetown University Robert J. Bies, PhD, MBA Professor of Management McDonough School of Management Benjamin Bogin, PhD Assistant Professor Theology Department John W. O'Malley, S.J., PhD University Professor Theology Department Lauve H. Steenhuisen, PhD Visiting Assistant Professor Theology Department Linda Ferneyhough Theology Dept. Administrator Theology Department Marilyn McMorrow Visiting Assistant Professor International Relations and Political Theory School of Foreign Service Matthew Carnes, S.J., PhD Assistant Professor of Government Georgetown University Diana Owen, PhD Associate Professor CCT/American Studies Friederike Eigler (Ph.D.) Professor of German Georgetown University College

Ricardo L. Ortiz, PhD Associate Professor of English Department of English David J. Collins, S.J., S.T.L., Ph.D. Associate Professor of History Georgetown University Peter C. Pfeiffer, PhD Professor German Department Julie Finnegan Stoner Publishing Assistant Georgetown University Press Mary Helen Dupree Assistant Professor of German Georgetown University Lan Ngo, S.J., M.A., MDiv. Graduate Student Department of History Francis J. Ambrosio PhD Associate Professor of Philosohy Philosophy Department Joseph H. Neale, Ph.D. Paduano Distinguished Professor of Biology Georgetown University College Elizabeth Velez Academic Director, Community Scholars Professorial Lecturer, English Women's and Gender Studies Georgetown University College Astrid Weigert Assistant Professor of German Department of German John Rakestraw, PhD Instructor of Theology Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship Susan F. Martin, PhD Donald G. Herzberg Associate Professor of International Migration School of Foreign Service Eli S. McCarthy PhD Adjunct Professor of Justice and Peace Studies

Center for Social Justice Veronica Salles Reese Associate Professor Spanish Department Francisca Cho, PhD Professor of Buddhist Studies Theology Department Marcia Chatelain Assistant Professor of History Georgetown University Heidi Byrnes, PhD George M. Roth Distinguished Professor of German German Department Steven R. Sabat, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences Marianne Lyons Assistant Dean School of Nursing & Health Studies Ladan Eshkevari, PhD, CRNA Assistant Professor Georgetown University John Kraemer, JD, MPH Assistant Professor of Health Systems Administration School of Nursing & Health Studies Jose R Teruel, MD, MPH Professor of International Health School of Nursing and Health Studies Elizabeth H. Andretta, Ph.D. Visiting Associate Professsor Georgetown University in Qatar Jo Anne P Davis, PhD Assistant Professor, Nursing School of Nursing & Health Studies Irene Anne Jillson, PhD Assistant Professor School of Nursing and Health Studies Jeanne A. Matthews, PhD, RN

Chair and Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing School of Nursing and Health Studies Justin M. Owen, BSc(Eng) Director of Medical Technologies School of Nursing & Health Studies Laura Anderko PhD RN Scanlon Endowed Chair in Values Based Health Care School of Nursing & Health Studies Michael A. Stoto, PhD Professor of Health Systems Administration and Population Health School of Nursing & Health Studies and Pubic Policy Institute Ronald Leow, Ph.D. Professor of Applied Linguistics Georgetown University Rosemary Sokas, MD, MOH Professor of Human Science School of Nursing and Health Studies Carol Taylor, PhD, RN Professor of Nursing School of Nursing and Health Studies Robert J. Barnet MD, MA Adjunct Professor of Medicine School of Medicine Leona M Fisher, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English Department of English Jane Fitz-Simons MS,RN Adjunct Faculty Nursing Georgetown University Mary Jane Mastorovich, MS Asst. Professor, Health Systems Administration Georgetown University Edilma Yearwood, PhD, RN Associate Professor of Nursing School of Nursing & Health Studies Wilfried Ver Eecke Professor in Philosophy Department of Philosophy

Sylvia E. Mullins, M.A.R in Theology Graduate Student Department of History Terry Pinkard, PhD University Professor Department of Philosophy Bryce Huebner, PhD Assistant Professor of Philosophy Georgetown University Judith Baigis, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor Emerita School of Nursing & Health Studies Patricia Mullahy Fugere Adjunct Professor, JD Program AB '81; JD '84; E.D., Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Henry Schwarz, PhD Professor of English Georgetown University Judith Lichtenberg, PhD Professor of Philosophy Georgetown University Joseph A. Chalmers, PhD Retired Dean Georgetown University E. J. Dionne, Jr., D.Phil. University Professor Georgetown Public Policy Institute Marlene Canlas, MA, MPH Assistant Dean Georgetown University