Brian Moran on Faith, Values and Public Policy

REMARKS TO THE VIRGINIA INTERFAITH CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY 25TH ANNIVERSARY ANNUAL MEETING

by Delegate Brian J. Moran
House Democratic Caucus Chairman

Thank You for that kind introduction and for the invitation to be with you all tonight. It's a pleasure and an honor to address your annual meeting...

[...]

Much is said and rightly so about our values and the way they shape public policy. We each come by our values and our morals in different ways - my focus today is helping my two young children develop their morals and values.

I am the product of a large Irish Catholic family - the youngest of 7. During my first years, I believed my name was either Jesus, Mary or Joseph.

We attend church every Sunday, received the sacraments and, as a catholic school student, attended 1st Friday mass and confession.

As important as those were to developing my values, the classes and teachings came second to the values I learned from my parents. Though at times modest and unassuming regarding their religion, they possessed tremendous courage, faith, love of god and family. They believed in the power of prayer, and I can still recall vividly as the family knelt and prayed the rosary for the safe return of our Apollo astronauts. They practiced charity and kindness, as they brought into our home two inner city foster children to join our family. And their deep faith was demonstrated when they helped us believe that everything would turn out alright, even after dad had been laid off from his job.

My parents values are my values, I hope they will become my children's values, and I know they are the values that we share here tonight. They believed - as I do - that "we show thee my faith by my works."

And that's what this center is all about - about leaders who not only share strong values, but who roll up their sleeves and work for what we believe in. Our work, together, has brought tremendous accomplishments.

We believe that the hungry shall be filled, and so we eliminated the food tax which fell on those least able to pay it.

We believe that the poor shall see the kingdom of heaven, so we spent 10 years fighting for an increase in the minimum wage so no one working 40 hours a week has to live in poverty.

We believe those who thirst for righteousness are blessed, so we created an indigent defense commission to fight for equal justice for all Virginians.

We believe the meek shall inherit the earth, so we created an Earned Income Tax Credit that has lifted 2.5 million children out of poverty.

And because, today, we need the wisdom of Solomon just to get by in our modern world, we invested more in education than ever before in Virginia history.

We achieve these things in service to all, because we believe that, "here on earth, God's work must truly be our own."

And, our values are not just about the solutions we seek, but the way in which we achieve them - through inclusion - by reaching an outstretched hand of unity to Christians, Jews, Muslims and peoples of all faiths.  That is why your group and the work you do is so important.

But our work remains far from complete.

Because how can we be satisfied, when the wealthiest nation on earth, the richest nation in human history, allows one in five of its children to live in poverty?

How can we be satisfied, when 47 million of our fellow Americans have no health care at all?

How can we ever be satisfied, when the nation that ranks first in millionaires is 37th in the world for infant mortality?

How can we say we are satisfied when the child of a family making 90,000 dollars a year is 8 times more likely, to get a college degree than the child of a family making $35,000 dollars?

We know as long as these inequities exist we don't live in a just world.

When our founding creed declares that all are created equal, that means that every child deserves to grow up healthy. It means that every child deserves equal access to education. It means no family should live homeless and in poverty.

But today, we can't look into the eyes of a homeless Virginian and say that our work is done. We can't look into the face of a child born into poverty and say we did all we could do. We can't look into the faces of the greatest generation and promise them that they will be able to age with dignity and respect. We can not look into these faces and say that we've kept our promise to "seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly before our God."

That is why we are here tonight. It's why we do what we do.

So how are we going to do this - how do we take the next steps towards a more just and compassionate Commonwealth? With the 2008 General Assembly starting soon, there are works to be done. I would like to offer a few suggestions of what we can do in Richmond this coming session.

This year we must work to expand coverage for prenatal care to the women who need it most and target state resources to the communities most affected. Virginia has the 17th highest infant mortality rate in the nation. Seventeenth! This isn't a choice, it's a moral imperative.  So we are going to expand the work of the Office of Faith Based Services to help save these young lives. I'm going to ask the state to work with many of you in this room - to work with leaders of our faith community to coordinate our efforts and get a message out to those young mothers who don't know what they need to do and don't know where to go to get it.

Next, we are going to focus on strengthening access to opportunity for all. Following Governor Kaine's lead, we will work together to expand early childhood education for Virginia families. We will make sure that every child gets a head start in this increasingly competitive global economy -- no matter their race, their ability to pay, or where they're from. Research tells us a child's brain develops before kindergarten, and we have to invest in their young minds when it matters the most. It's clear that the costs of inaction are far too high.

And our challenges extend outside the hospital and the classroom. We must work to preserve the natural wonders that God has given us -- the forests of the Great Southwest, the Chesapeake Bay, the rivers, streams, and habitats that make up the natural beauty of our Commonwealth. I want my children and their children, and countless more generations to enjoy these beautiful treasures. This year we will provide incentives to construct more efficient and environmentally friendly state buildings, develop new ways to buy energy saving appliances at home and advance the cause of research and development for alternative and renewable energy solutions.

These are more than policy goals. This is us working for our values. It's what I learned growing up with a father and mother who believed we honor god when we honor our neighbor - that when we do good works we practice our faith.

I am confident we can tackle these challenges before us because we have leaders like Delegate Kenny Melvin, Rev. Dwight Jones and Bobby Littlefield - and people like each of you. You are guided by a moral compass that leads you towards the difficult challenges that are too often overlooked... dedicated to fighting for the people who need our help the most.

Each of you are "ripples of hope" - crisscrossing from each corner of the Commonwealth and building a current that will usher in a more compassionate Commonwealth. We believe in a Virginia that is not only worthy of the great ideals of our Constitution, but lives up to the values of our scripture.

This work isn't going to be easy, but we know that "the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

But we can not do it alone. There are too many Virginians who share our commitment to common values but are not yet engaged in this great work. It is our challenge to find more allies for our cause -- We have to look at the small businessman who's trying to grow his company...we have to reach the hourly worker living paycheck to paycheck.... We have to find the college student studying to be a doctor... we need the single mom struggling to get by.... And we owe it to the veteran who has given all they can to a grateful nation.

We need them in our corner.

We have a tremendous task before us. But thanks to each of you, we have a great start.

We can build a commonwealth that demonstrates the best of our shared values - the values my parents taught me - and the values I'm working to instill in my children.

Thank you all and god bless."

Comments