• During the US Civil War most nurses were men but Catholic nuns, who had nursing care deeply rooted in Christian theology, were appointed to oversee military hospitals and served as nurses on naval ships. The major orders of sisters were the Daughters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, and the Sisters of the Holy Cross and followers of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. More than 640 Catholic nuns organized and ran 28 American hospitals, providing care in the North and the South. President Lincoln ordered the Secretary of War to buy the sisters whatever they asked for. These nuns were known as the "Angels of the Battlefields;"

• When the Catholic Church was founded schools were limited. Today, in the United States alone, the Catholic Church teaches 3 million students per day in its more than 250 Catholic colleges and universities, 1200 Catholic high schools, and 5000 Catholic elementary schools. Could you imagine the cost to the government if they were all to close and those students needed to be absorbed into the public system?

• There are more than 274,378 Catholic parishes world-wide, and together they feed, clothe and shelter more people than any other single organization. In the United States alone the value of these services was in the billions of dollars; Catholic Charities alone spent $3.696 BILLION dollars providing financial assistance and services. In the US more than 549 Catholic hospitals served 88.8 million people. All this medical care is being threatened by the nation's new healthcare law;

• There are 77 million Catholics in the United States and 38,275 Catholic priests, serving in 21,367 parishes in the US; and,

• Historically speaking, medical care came about because of the Catholic Christian faith. Yes the ancient Egyptians, Chinese and the Romans provided limited medical care to soldiers, high government officials and gladiators, usually out of temples by the religious leaders. It wasn't until the declaration of Christianity by the Roman government as a legal religion that early hospitals came about. It was the First Council of Nicaea (325 AD) that the construction of a hospital in every Cathedral town was begun with the first in Turkey and Constantinople. The first hospitals had housing for doctors (archiatroi), nurses (hypourgoi) and orderlies (hyperetai) as well as rooms for various classes of patients.

This is just a sampling of how the Roman Catholic Church has been a major benefit to society at large and to the United States in particular, defending the dignity of all human life. Keep these figures in mind the next time you hear some ignorant person berating the Catholic faith as exclusionary or uncaring. Educate them!

(Facts and figures taken from the Kennedy Catholic Director and the US Department of Defense)