November 12, 2008 7:52 AM
Catholic Bishops will confront Obama on abortion
Catholic bishops will fight Obama on abortionBy RACHEL ZOLL
AP Religion WriterBALTIMORE (AP) -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights, saying the church and religious freedom could be under attack in the new presidential administration.
In an impassioned discussion on Catholics in public life, several bishops said they would accept no compromise on abortion policy. Many condemned Catholics who had argued it was morally acceptable to back President-elect Obama because he pledged to reduce abortion rates.
And several prelates promised to call out Catholic policy makers on their failures to follow church teaching. Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, Pa., singled out Vice President-elect Biden, a Catholic, Scranton native who supports abortion rights.
"I cannot have a vice president-elect coming to Scranton to say he's learned his values there when those values are utterly against the teachings of the Catholic Church," Martino said. The Obama-Biden press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Diocese of Kansas City in Kansas said politicians "can't check your principles at the door of the legislature."
Read entire article here.
For better or worse, the battle lines have been drawn. I applaud the bishops for their position and I still despair over Catholics who compromised the church and the gift of life.
Posted in Campaign 2008, Catholicism, Church Issues, Pro-Life Issues | Permalink
Comments
I wish evangelical leaders would be as outspoken about abortion as the catholic leaders are! I commented this on another blog, but if there were 20,000 Christians dying in America every week, our Sunday mornings would look very different. Our pastors would be very vocal about who we should vote for (and would kiss our tax exempt status goodbye!) we would be on our knees EVERY Sunday, possible every night of the week, waiting for it to end. We would be very VERY involved in campaigning. But since it's just a baby....
Posted by: Debra | November 12, 2008 8:34 AM
The week prior to the election I was visiting family up in NY and was dismayed when leaving church Sunday morning to be following a car out of the parking lot that was covered in Obama stickers. It's sad and I certainly hope the Bishops speaking up will help.
Posted by: Margaret | November 12, 2008 8:40 AM
I watched the discussion on EWTN yesterday and was at turns thinking "dead-on" and "you've got to be kidding". One bishop made the point that we have to be clear and unequivocable - reducing abortions isn't enough...even one is too many and a tradgedy. They also pointed out that the proposals to force taxpayer funding of abortions raises the debate to a new level in that we would be forced to fund evil...and we must do all we can to fight that cooperation in evil. While I agree that the statement must be charitable...Christ did all things in Charity...it must not make the same mistake as Faithful Citizenship. By trying to cover so many issues the foundational aspect of abortion was clouded. To stress this fact the bishops must treat abortion as a separate and defined issue from all other social issues.
Posted by: Reen | November 12, 2008 8:44 AM
Since Roe vs. Wade, most of the Catholic pulpits have been silent on abortion. There have been exceptions, especially the last few years, but they remain exceptions. In far too many parishes, Respect Life Sundays have come and gone for years with nary a word on abortion. Many of us have begged our priests to speak out with little result. Sure the bishops have issued tons of prolife statements over the years, but they’ve never had a practical impact at the parish level. The Culture of Death through its puppet, the media, rushed to fill this vacuum and successfully evangelized many Catholics in the pews. Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, got it right when he said that sheep turn into wolves when their spiritual leaders don't teach them the truth.
Now that it has reached the critical mass stage and the majority of Catholics have voted for the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to run for president, our bishops are finally poised to act. I hope and pray it isn’t too late.
P.S. On the Episcopal level, again there have been courageous exceptions through the years and now, praise God, their ranks are swelling with a new breed of courageous bishops. EWTN has also been and continues to be, a beacon of truth.
Posted by: Judy | November 12, 2008 9:37 AM
I am so proud of these leaders just as I was proud of my local Bishop of Brooklyn (Nicholas DiMarzio) for his unwavering faith.
I find that those who support life are also the ones who are making great efforts to support the poor and rebuild education.
Thank you for sharing this
Posted by: Maureen | November 12, 2008 10:10 AM
I'm sure I've told you before, Barbara, that I went to Catholic school for nine years as a "protestant" (though really I was a heathen who never surrendered to Christ until I was 20). This was *the* primary issue that I could not wrap my brain around all those years, especially going to high school with Hunter and Beau Biden. I simply could not grasp how everyone - Catholic students, parents, teachers, even the *priests*! at the high school, would jump up and down and through hoops over a Democratic candidate who was *pro-"choice"*. Yet the same people would argue up one side and down the other as to why the death penalty was wrong... I was really searching and seeking during my high school years and this confused (as I saw it) position kept me out of Catholic churches (except to the extent, of course, that I was required to take daily religion classes and attend mass and chapel at school).
If battle lines must be drawn, the sanctity of life is worth the fight.
Posted by: Kari | November 12, 2008 11:38 AM
I know that all Christians are praying more than ever for our country, our President-elect and for our spiritual leaders. If Catholics would like to join their rosaries with those of their fellow Catholics for a full court press on behalf of the culture of life, you can go to www.rosariesforlife.com.
Posted by: Anne | November 12, 2008 1:52 PM
I am constantly wondering why this is a "Catholic" issue, and not a Christian, Jewish, any other faith that reads the Bible issue. For example, I just received a Team Sarah email urging me to boycott companies supportive of Planned Parenthood. Marriott is on the list. This was very disturbing to me, as my husband stays in a Marriott pretty much 4 nights a week, but I have to think, I thought the Marriott family was Mormon. Are you telling me the Mormons are pro-abortion?? I am very confused, I don't understand why I feel alone on this issue among my non-Catholic, but still Christian friends. How can we mainstream this issue and make it about Life, not about a particular religion?
Posted by: Danielle | November 12, 2008 4:23 PM
