No Wonder the Sheep Are Being Devoured*
H/T: Catholic Caveman aka Vir Speluncae Catholicus
Due to the fact that the Montana Catholic Conference, in a statement signed by Bishop Leo Thomas, Diocese of Helena, and Bishop Michael W. Warfel, Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, publicly opposed CI-100, I felt obligated to issue the following statement in support of the personhood initiative. Please keep in mind as you read this that the Montana Catholic Conference supported the very same language last year when it was proposed as a legislative measure in the Montana state legislature.
American Life League is committed to the principle that every innocent human being, from the moment his life begins, is equally valuable to society and should be protected under the law. This is the principle of personhood, which guarantees the fundamental right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to each citizen of the United States. This principle, as enunciated by our founding fathers, has been tragically eroded by the sweeping United States Supreme Court rulings in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. These 1973 USCC rulings have removed all legal protection from an entire class of human beings prior to their actual birth and have surrendered the personhood principle of our founding fathers to the architects of the culture of death.
Permission to kill by abortion has been granted to mothers and those medical practitioners who surgically perform the grisly act. Regardless of the terminology employed by those who foster the cult of abortion in America the fact is that a direct act of abortion results in the death of an innocent human being.
Montana state Representative Rick Jore has devised a strategy for not only bringing this tragedy to the attention of the people of Montana, but possibly taking the question of personhood all the way to the United States Supreme Court. This is a clever, well thought-out, extraordinarily vital part of an overall strategy to end abortion in America. By recalling the words of United States Supreme Court Justice Henry Blackmun, Jore has challenged the status quo.
Justice Blackmun said in the Roe vs. Wade decision:
(If the) suggestion of personhood [of the preborn] is established, the [abortion rights] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.
Thus a proposal such as Jore’s CI-100 lays bare the horror of what that decision has meant to preborn children and invites the people of Montana to exercise their right to vote in favor of amending the Montana State Constitution so that preborn children from the first instant of their existence will be recognized as persons once the Supreme Court decisions are overturned.
American Life League firmly believes that the pro-life movement as a whole has wasted precious time by not pursuing strategies like Jore’s in an effort to get at the root cause of abortion in America, which is the denial of personhood. It was 35 years ago that Justice Blackmun took note of personhood and it is about time that pro-life leaders across the nation heeded his words and pursued personhood by every avenue available.
Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, has said that proposals like Jore’s are "the best legal means of overturning the central holding of Roe v. Wade.” He has further opined, “For too long the pro-life movement has been dominated by a strategy of 'wait,' too fearful of losing to risk winning."
American Life League wholeheartedly agrees. It is long past time to act as though we mean it when we say that abortion truly is a heinous crime and must be outlawed sooner than later. Courageous leaders like Montana state Representative Rick Jore are taking that message seriously and we applaud his efforts. American Life League calls upon the Montana Catholic Conference of Bishops to join with the pro-life people of Montana in support of this initiative.
*When the Shepherds don't have the courage to do what they should to protect them against the wolves of abortion supporters.
The LifeSite News headline: Montana Catholic Bishops Will Not Support Constitutional Amendment Defining Personhood
I start this with a quote from Cavey's post on this article: "Cowardice... simple cowardice. And that's putting it politely. The bishops of Montana, Georgia and Colorado are heaping coals upon their own heads. And may God bless Judie Brown for putting them to the shame they so richly deserve." (emphasis mine)
Many a time I've congratulated Judie Brown of American Life League on her courageous stand in calling the Catholic Bishops to be truly the shepherds they are supposed to be. & why I again heartily recommend to you her book Saving Those Damned Catholics. (With the following, I'm not trying to brag, just stating a fact.) Seeing her latest response makes me glad that I just wrote out another check today to send in to support the efforts of ALL. & assures me again that the money I have donated in the past is being well spent by her orginization to accomplish what needs to be done to put an end to abortion in the USA. I am proud to be a 1 of those supporting the work Judie & her orginization are doing.
Here is the entire article. I have a couple of comments I will throw in at various points in it. Then I will follow it with Judie's comments from her blog.
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
BILLINGS, March 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a statement issued last week, Montana bishops Michael W. Warfel and George Leo Thomas said the Montana Catholic Conference will not endorse Constitutional Initiative 100 (the Montana Personhood Amendment) that would establish conception as the beginning of life by placing a personhood amendment on the state's 2008 ballot. (Isn't this what the Catholic Chuch teaches?)
Moe Wosepka, executive director of the Montana Catholic Conference said that although "the bishops agonized over this decision for several months, and did not take this decision lightly," they determined that even if voters approved it, the ballot initiative would be ineffectual. (Why?)
The bishops' official statement said they were "disallowing support for CI-100 in our parishes and church sponsored organizations, be it through endorsement, financial support, signature gathering, or distribution of promotional materials," though individuals were free to give their support to the initiative. (I suspect there is more to this than meets the eye. Follow the money & see who the Bishops are really answering to. I'll bet it is neither God nore the Pope.)
The statement went on to explain that while the bishops praised the intention of CI-100 for eliminating abortion, the initiative was not "the most beneficial venue to pursue necessary change."
"We are currently working to develop a broad-based coalition to examine alternatives that offer a more realistic approach to the protection of human life," the statement said. "We, the Roman Catholic Bishops of Montana, remain dedicated to the protection of life from conception to natural death." (I hear this time after time, year after year. SHOW ME THE ALTERNATIVES!!!!!!!!!! Otherwise, support these initiatives. They will work.)
The amendment is sponsored by Rep. Rick Jore, a Constitution Party member for Ronan, MT, who explained that "while CI-100 merely defines 'person' as used in the Montana Constitution, it gets right to the heart of the abortion debate. The fact that human life begins at conception is the only sure foundation of the pro-life argument. We cannot, we must not, buy into the notion that human life begins at some arbitrary time that seems convenient to us."
A report in the Great Falls Tribune said Jonathan Martin, chairman of the Constitution Party of Montana and one of the main proponents of CI-100, was "saddened" by the bishops' unwillingness to support the CI-100 campaign. "I think far too often today that we make decisions based on pragmatism rather than right and wrong," he said. (As I said about follow the money!)
Martin continued, "This initiative creates no laws, it legislates nothing, it outlaws nothing. It establishes a constitutional principle, and that is recognizing the personhood of the unborn child. If it gets the necessary signatures (to qualify for the ballot) and is approved by the voters of Montana, it will then be up to the Legislature to sit down and reason out legislation to implement."
According to an article in the Bozeman Chronicle, Montana Right to Life Coalition Director Greg Trude said his group is not supporting nor endorsing the measure. Mr. Trude was not available to comment on the statement.
The Montana bishops' statement follows on the heals of similar statements from Bishops' Conferences in Colorado and Georgia, where requests for support for personhood amendment proposals were rejected.
Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory and Bishop J. Kevin Boland of Savannah said in a Jan. 8 statement that the proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would establish the rights of personhood for embryos from the moment of conception "does not provide a realistic opportunity for ending or reducing abortion in Georgia," although the bishops said they have "admiration and respect for those who have crafted this legislation."
In Colorado, Catholic Conference Executive Director Jennifer Kraska said that the bishops "commend the goal of this effort to end abortion, and individual Catholics may choose to work for its passage. At the same time, we recognize that other people committed to the sanctity of life have raised serious questions about this specific amendment's timing and content."
"It's a political, gutless position," said Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, in a report by the Denver Post. "As a Catholic, it's the most scandalous thing I've ever heard. I can't believe that any bishop wouldn't want to be out in the front lines helping the petitioners. The sanctity of life is a fundamental teaching of the Catholic Church." (YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!)
You may contact Montana Catholic Conference Executive Director, Moe Wosepka at: director@montanacc.org.
BILLINGS, March 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a statement issued last week, Montana bishops Michael W. Warfel and George Leo Thomas said the Montana Catholic Conference will not endorse Constitutional Initiative 100 (the Montana Personhood Amendment) that would establish conception as the beginning of life by placing a personhood amendment on the state's 2008 ballot. (Isn't this what the Catholic Chuch teaches?)
Moe Wosepka, executive director of the Montana Catholic Conference said that although "the bishops agonized over this decision for several months, and did not take this decision lightly," they determined that even if voters approved it, the ballot initiative would be ineffectual. (Why?)
The bishops' official statement said they were "disallowing support for CI-100 in our parishes and church sponsored organizations, be it through endorsement, financial support, signature gathering, or distribution of promotional materials," though individuals were free to give their support to the initiative. (I suspect there is more to this than meets the eye. Follow the money & see who the Bishops are really answering to. I'll bet it is neither God nore the Pope.)
The statement went on to explain that while the bishops praised the intention of CI-100 for eliminating abortion, the initiative was not "the most beneficial venue to pursue necessary change."
"We are currently working to develop a broad-based coalition to examine alternatives that offer a more realistic approach to the protection of human life," the statement said. "We, the Roman Catholic Bishops of Montana, remain dedicated to the protection of life from conception to natural death." (I hear this time after time, year after year. SHOW ME THE ALTERNATIVES!!!!!!!!!! Otherwise, support these initiatives. They will work.)
The amendment is sponsored by Rep. Rick Jore, a Constitution Party member for Ronan, MT, who explained that "while CI-100 merely defines 'person' as used in the Montana Constitution, it gets right to the heart of the abortion debate. The fact that human life begins at conception is the only sure foundation of the pro-life argument. We cannot, we must not, buy into the notion that human life begins at some arbitrary time that seems convenient to us."
A report in the Great Falls Tribune said Jonathan Martin, chairman of the Constitution Party of Montana and one of the main proponents of CI-100, was "saddened" by the bishops' unwillingness to support the CI-100 campaign. "I think far too often today that we make decisions based on pragmatism rather than right and wrong," he said. (As I said about follow the money!)
Martin continued, "This initiative creates no laws, it legislates nothing, it outlaws nothing. It establishes a constitutional principle, and that is recognizing the personhood of the unborn child. If it gets the necessary signatures (to qualify for the ballot) and is approved by the voters of Montana, it will then be up to the Legislature to sit down and reason out legislation to implement."
According to an article in the Bozeman Chronicle, Montana Right to Life Coalition Director Greg Trude said his group is not supporting nor endorsing the measure. Mr. Trude was not available to comment on the statement.
The Montana bishops' statement follows on the heals of similar statements from Bishops' Conferences in Colorado and Georgia, where requests for support for personhood amendment proposals were rejected.
Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory and Bishop J. Kevin Boland of Savannah said in a Jan. 8 statement that the proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would establish the rights of personhood for embryos from the moment of conception "does not provide a realistic opportunity for ending or reducing abortion in Georgia," although the bishops said they have "admiration and respect for those who have crafted this legislation."
In Colorado, Catholic Conference Executive Director Jennifer Kraska said that the bishops "commend the goal of this effort to end abortion, and individual Catholics may choose to work for its passage. At the same time, we recognize that other people committed to the sanctity of life have raised serious questions about this specific amendment's timing and content."
"It's a political, gutless position," said Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, in a report by the Denver Post. "As a Catholic, it's the most scandalous thing I've ever heard. I can't believe that any bishop wouldn't want to be out in the front lines helping the petitioners. The sanctity of life is a fundamental teaching of the Catholic Church." (YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!)
You may contact Montana Catholic Conference Executive Director, Moe Wosepka at: director@montanacc.org.
Posted: Tuesday March 4, 2008 at 8:10 pm EST by Judie Brown
Due to the fact that the Montana Catholic Conference, in a statement signed by Bishop Leo Thomas, Diocese of Helena, and Bishop Michael W. Warfel, Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, publicly opposed CI-100, I felt obligated to issue the following statement in support of the personhood initiative. Please keep in mind as you read this that the Montana Catholic Conference supported the very same language last year when it was proposed as a legislative measure in the Montana state legislature.
American Life League is committed to the principle that every innocent human being, from the moment his life begins, is equally valuable to society and should be protected under the law. This is the principle of personhood, which guarantees the fundamental right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to each citizen of the United States. This principle, as enunciated by our founding fathers, has been tragically eroded by the sweeping United States Supreme Court rulings in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. These 1973 USCC rulings have removed all legal protection from an entire class of human beings prior to their actual birth and have surrendered the personhood principle of our founding fathers to the architects of the culture of death.
Permission to kill by abortion has been granted to mothers and those medical practitioners who surgically perform the grisly act. Regardless of the terminology employed by those who foster the cult of abortion in America the fact is that a direct act of abortion results in the death of an innocent human being.
Montana state Representative Rick Jore has devised a strategy for not only bringing this tragedy to the attention of the people of Montana, but possibly taking the question of personhood all the way to the United States Supreme Court. This is a clever, well thought-out, extraordinarily vital part of an overall strategy to end abortion in America. By recalling the words of United States Supreme Court Justice Henry Blackmun, Jore has challenged the status quo.
Justice Blackmun said in the Roe vs. Wade decision:
(If the) suggestion of personhood [of the preborn] is established, the [abortion rights] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.
Thus a proposal such as Jore’s CI-100 lays bare the horror of what that decision has meant to preborn children and invites the people of Montana to exercise their right to vote in favor of amending the Montana State Constitution so that preborn children from the first instant of their existence will be recognized as persons once the Supreme Court decisions are overturned.
American Life League firmly believes that the pro-life movement as a whole has wasted precious time by not pursuing strategies like Jore’s in an effort to get at the root cause of abortion in America, which is the denial of personhood. It was 35 years ago that Justice Blackmun took note of personhood and it is about time that pro-life leaders across the nation heeded his words and pursued personhood by every avenue available.
Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, has said that proposals like Jore’s are "the best legal means of overturning the central holding of Roe v. Wade.” He has further opined, “For too long the pro-life movement has been dominated by a strategy of 'wait,' too fearful of losing to risk winning."
American Life League wholeheartedly agrees. It is long past time to act as though we mean it when we say that abortion truly is a heinous crime and must be outlawed sooner than later. Courageous leaders like Montana state Representative Rick Jore are taking that message seriously and we applaud his efforts. American Life League calls upon the Montana Catholic Conference of Bishops to join with the pro-life people of Montana in support of this initiative.
Fighting for life isn't a matter of convenient. It isn't a matter of a right or wrong time. Anytime is right when you fight for life. Judie hit it on the nail when she said "It is long past time to act as though we mean it when we say that abortion truly is a heinous crime and must be outlawed sooner than later."
I'm sick & tired of so many Bishops acting like a choir of castrati who lack the courage to do what they know is the right thing. I want my Shepherd to be a shepherd. I want all life to be protected. To quote a line from the movie Network: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
posted by Al @ 5:13 PM
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