People ask where are the voices of the shepherds?

Pope Benedict called on bishops to be in the public square all over the globe, actualy, as morally informed voices in public debate over the great and controversial issues of the day.

In Ecuador, they’re sure doing that.

Although Ecuador has strong Catholic roots, as well as a lively minority of Evangelical Protestants, the new powers that be in Ecuador were betting that their unpopular position on human life and family issues would be of secondary interest.  Especially to a population interested in pursuing a new political model that rejects the neoliberal ideology of “democratic capitalism”, which has been thoroughly discredited in the region.

But Alianza PAIS neglected to factor one thing into the equation: the presence of a firm, unified body of Catholic bishops.  Bishops who were not about to let them trample on the right to life, sexual morality, the integrity of the family, and the authority of parents to determine their own children’s education.

In response to the proposed document [re-writing the constitution], the leader of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Antonio Arregui of Guayaquil, issued a bold and unequivocal statement denouncing the document’s pro-abortion language, as well as other passages recognizing homosexual “rights”, “transgenderism” (the notion that gender is all in one’s head), and other anti-family provisions.  Succinct and to the point, Arregui called the issues “non-negotiable”.

Way to go.