Distortions of Catholic teaching persist into the elections
And so do clarifications of it.
Archbishop Justin Rigali and Bishop William Murphy have found another way to address persistent false claims about being Catholic and pro-life….but also supporting candidates who uphold ‘abortion rights’.
They begin the statement by saying (paraphrasing here) ‘We’ve already said these things in Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship and in that, we emphasized the explicit Church teaching on opposing evil and doing good.’
But…
Unfortunately, there seem to be efforts and voter education materials designed to persuade Catholics that they need only choose one approach: either opposing evil or doing good. This is not an authentically Catholic approach.
The battle to protect life continues, they say, despite some Catholics declaring it over and insisting the Church move on to other issues of social justice.
They say we should accept Roe as a permanent fixture of constitutional law, stop trying to restore recognition for the unborn child’s human rights, and confine our public advocacy to efforts to “reduce abortions” through improved economic and social support for women and families.
But it’s not an either/or proposition.
The Catholic community is second to no one in providing and advocating for support for women and families facing problems during pregnancy. Catholic hospitals, charitable institutions, and thousands of pregnancy aid centers provide life-saving care and compassionate alternatives to the violence of abortion…
These efforts, however, are not an adequate or complete response to the injustice of Roe v. Wade for several important reasons. First, the Court’s decision in Roe denied an entire class of innocent human beings the most fundamental human right…
Which is why it’s hard to understand how abortion supporters don’t see the disconnect in making arguments about issues they consider more important like war and poverty and health care, etc. Those arguments don’t hold up on any moral grounds if you can argue first that a whole class of human beings have no human rights.
We’re seeing that extend to the dying and disabled and cognitively impaired. The goal posts keep moving, once you can legally deny human rights to any class of humans.
Here’s where we stand now…
Bans on public funding, laws requiring informed consent for women and parental involvement for minors, and other modest and widely supported laws have saved millions of lives. Laws made possible by reversing Roe would save many more.
And here’s where we’re headed if a president Obama were to carry out his promise to Planned Parenthood…
On the other hand, this progress could be lost through a key pro-abortion proposal, the “Freedom of Choice Act,” which supporters say would knock down hundreds of current pro-life laws and forbid any public program to “discriminate” against abortion in providing services to women.
Choose carefully, to echo Moses.
