The Bishops Speak
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 8:43 PM
It’s rare for a bishop to directly and publicly rebuke any public figure for a host of reasons both pastoral and pragmatic. So we have to sit up and take notice when a growing chorus of bishops singles out a specific politician—Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi—for correction. For those who haven’t followed the story, last week Speaker Pelosi, questioned on Meet the Press about when life begins, had this to say:
as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator–St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know.
When interviewer Tom Brokaw reminded her that the Church is pretty clear that life begins at conception, Mrs. Pelosi asserted that this was a very recent position:
this is like maybe 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history of the church, this is an issue of controversy.
Well, it’s bad enough to be personally in error on this question, but when you start teaching error in the Church’s name, our bishops step up to correct the message. First off the blocks were the bishops of Denver (which happens to be hosting the Democratic National Convention, so this story is getting more attention than it might have otherwise), Archbishop Chaput and his auxiliary, Bishop Conley. In a blunt statement entitled, On the Separation of Sense and State, the bishops correct the Speaker’s comments, concluding:
Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it—whether they’re famous or not—fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the gospel and live their Catholic faith. [snip] A proper understanding of the “separation of Church and state” does not imply a separation of faith from political life. But of course it’s always important to know what our faith actually teaches.
Then the Bishops’ Conference weighed in with a joint statement from Cardinal Rigali of the Pro-Life Committee and Bishop Lori of the Committee on the Doctrine of Faith. They correct Mrs. Pelosi’s assertions and refer readers to the USCCB document, The Catholic Church Is A Pro-Life Church.
Archbishop Wuerl of Washington pointed his flock (of which Mrs. Pelosi is a member part of the year) to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception…Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.” (Catechism, 2270-2271)
Finally, Cardinal Egan of New York released a statement which minces no words:
Like many other citizens of this nation, I was shocked to learn that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America would make the kind of statements that were made to Mr. Tom Brokaw of NBC-TV on Sunday, August 24, 2008. What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age.
We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith. Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.
I expect to see more such statements in the next few days.
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