Paul Ryan’s parish priest:
‘Your kids may starve to death’ because of Ryan’s budget cuts
Fr. Stephen Umhoefer said he had a “very friendly pastor-parishioner relationship” with Ryan.Umhoefer said Ryan left his Janesville-based church, which he has led since 2002, a few years ago.“Paul would say that the only way to save the country from a coming [fiscal] disaster is ‘follow my plan,’” said Umhoefer, but “you can’t tell somebody that in ten years your economic situation is going to be just wonderful because meanwhile your kids may starve to death.”
In Ryan’s hometown, Umhoefer said, “The welfare check runs out and people are suffering now in ways that they haven’t before.”
“If he is following his conscience, he is doing the morally correct thing,” said Ryan’s former priest. “But he shouldn’t wrap himself in Catholic teaching because he is not using that [teaching] in what I would say is a balanced way.”