Sadly, the Message Still ISN'T Get Through to Pro-Abortion Catholics

More & more Bishops are speaking up & making it clear that you can't be a Catholic in good standing & be pro-choice. Some have issued statements about how a Catholic should vote (how, not who). They have made it clear that pro-choice is not an option. They have also begun to publicly correct those elected officials who are Catholic & pro-choice.

The latest official to face correction is Oregon Governor (& a Catholic) Ted Kulongoski. He is hosting a fundraiser for National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) tonight (3 Oct 2008) in Portland. In case you are wondering, yes the governor is a Democrat.

Portland Archbishop John Vlazny is not taking Gov. Kulongoski's actions lying down. "“This is a source of embarrassment for our church and a scandal for the Catholic community,” the archbishop said. “For a Catholic governor to host an event of this sort seems a deliberate dissent from the teachings of the Church,” the archbishop said in a statement to Catholics."

But the Archbishop didn't stop there. He also called on Oregon Catholics to “express their displeasure to the governor and to remind him of the demands of personal integrity as a member of our faith community in the exercise of his office and public activities.” In addition he invited all Catholics to attend a special Mass at St. Mary Cathedral at 5:30 p.m. Friday, 3 Oct 2008, as a spiritual answer to the fundraiser. The Archbishop also issued an invitation to the "Respect Life" Mass scheduled at the Cathedral on Sunday 5 October 2008 at 11:00 am. (Source: Governor rapped for NARAL hosting)

Meanwhile, over in New York The NY State Catholic Conference has issued a statement, Our Cherished Right, Our Solemn Duty, in which they make it clear that abortion is not 1 issue among many.

"It is the rare candidate who will agree with the Church on every issue. But as the U.S. Bishops’ recent document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship makes clear, not every issue is of equal moral gravity. The inalienable right to life of every innocent human person outweighs other concerns where Catholics may use prudential judgment, such as how best to meet the needs of the poor or to increase access to health care for all. " (emphasis mine)

They go on to say: "The right to life is the right through which all others flow. To the extent candidates reject this fundamental right by supporting an objective evil, such as legal abortion, euthanasia or embryonic stem cell research, Catholics should consider them less acceptable for public office. As Faithful Citizenship teaches, “Those who knowingly, willingly, and directly support public policies or legislation that undermine fundamental moral principles cooperate with evil.”" (emphasis mine)

I wrote a post about how the Catholic In Name Only (CINO) crowd is trying to paint those who uphold Catholic teaching on Life Issues as extremists. The trouble is, as more & more Bishops are speaking out, the CINOs are being exposed as the real extremists.

Despite all this, they go on being defiant. & offer specious arguments to support their stands. A good example of this is what occured recently at Carlow University in Pittsburgh. The Sisters of Mercy hosted a Catholics for Obama event. At the event a paper by Prof. Nicholas Cafardi, a professor of Law at Duquesne University was presented. In it he claims to be Pro-life, but he goes on to publicly surrender to the "culture of death". He said: “We have lost the abortion battle, and I believe we have lost it completely.”

At the end of the paper he said: “The next president is not going to be able to affect abortion very much.” If that is true then why did he also say you should support a candidate that will use “government action to reduce abortions” by supporting “comprehensive approach to ending abortion.” You can't have it both ways.

During the Q & A session Mary Novick, a junior at Franciscan University, pointed out the fallacy of Cafardi's arguement. “The next president may not be able to completely end abortion, but he could greatly expand “abortion rights,” pointing out that Barack Obama has promised to do so with the Freedom of Choice Act.

At 1 point a Catholic priest urged everyone in the crowd to report any priest to the IRS and to the diocese of Pittsburgh who preaches from the pulpit that you must vote based on one issue. It will be intersting to see how Pittsburgh Diocese's Bishop David Zubik responds. I suspect it won't be how that priest expects given that Bishop Zubik is 1 of those spoke out about Nancy Pelosi. In his statement he bluntly said that "She could not have been more wrong." & given some other things on the Diocesan website, I'd say that it is just a matter of time before he responds to this latest attempt to undermine the Church's teachings. (Source: Franciscan University Students Attend a Catholics for Obama Event)

At the risk of being redundant, I have to again say that God is clearly turning up the heat. It is heartening to see more Bishops having the courage to speak out & defend the Church's teachings despite the attacks they know they will face.