More On Cardinal George's Letter to Obama

A couple of days ago I put up a post on the letter that Francis Cardinal George, Archdiocese of Chicago, writing as President of the USCCB, sent president-elect Obama. (Will They Cardinal George, Will They? ) In it I talked about how much wiggle room the letter left for both the Bishops & the laity to not do a thing to oppose abortion or defend marriage.

I didn't say much about the commentary on the USCCB site above the text of the letter. But like Cardinal George, it treated things much the same way. The commentary started with "The letter listed several areas of concern." True as far as it went. But it pretty much treated all areas of concern as equal.

The commentary went on to list & talk about the areas.

I will say that when it got down to the health care part it did point out that the letter calls for coverage which protects"all human life including pre-natal life " & includes "a variety of options and ensuring respect for the moral and religious convictions of patients and providers." This is the closest we come anywhere to a mention of FOCA. & while the section that is about the "Right to Life" (a term not used anywhere in the letter, neither was "Pro-life" for that matter.) issues also says they will work to maintain policies that "protect the conscience rights of health care providers and other Americans", again there is no specific mention of FOCA.

Also, it did go into great detail about the Bishops promise to "work to protect the lives of the most vulnerable and voiceless members of the human family, especially unborn children and those who are disabled or terminally ill."

But, there is 1 line the commentary quotes from Cardinal George that especially bothers me: "we will encourage one and all to seek common ground that will reduce the number of abortions in morally sound ways that affirm the dignity of pregnant women and their unborn children." ONLY REDUCE????????????? What About end???????? How does any abortion affirm the dignity of a pregnant woman or an unborn child???? Cardinal George is now sounding like a spokesman for Planned Parenthood when they say they are only working to make abortion "legal, safe & rare". Wrong, WRONG, WRONG!!!!! The only morally sound way is to end it completely & to expand the opportunities for those sound options provided by crisis pregnancy centers.

As I was thinking about what was on the USCCB website about the letter & the letter itself, it has become clear to me that 1 of 2 things is going on.

1. They didn't learn the lessons from the fiasco of the poorly worded parts of the "Faithful Citizenship" statement they needed to learn.

or

2. They are ignoring those lessons & continuing down the same disasterous path they have in the past.

While neither is a good option, I hope for the 1st, suspect the 2nd. The reason I strongly suspect the 2nd is another line from Cardinal George's letter: "For a more detailed description of our concerns please see Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (USCCB 2008), pages 19-30."

A similar letter was sent to VP Elect Sen. Biden. I suspect that it didn't call him to task for his failing to be a faithful Catholic. Similar letters were sent to all the members of Congress. Again, I am sure that Pelosi, The Kennedys & other pro-abortion Catholics didn't receive any correction either. & that they will all run with this letter in the same way they abused "Faithful Citizenship" , using it to allow them to misrepresent the Church's teaching on Life issues as well as voting for abortion. As for what Bishop Vasa said (Bishop Vasa: Pro-abortion "legislators 'hate' the pre-born child" ), it won't even be a blip on their radar.

& while I applaud Cardinal George for his trying not to be confrontory, "disagreeing respectfully and civilly where necessary for preserving that same common good", he went too far the other way instead. He has made it clear that while a few Bishops will rattle their chains ( for instance, Bishop Vasa), as a whole there isn't anything to fear from us as you advance your "pro-death" agenda.

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I have to add 1 comment about another line in Cardinal George's letter. This time the bit on school choice. He said: "With regard to the education of children, we will continue to support initiatives which provide resources for all parents, especially those of modest means, to choose education which best address the needs of their children."

Growing up in the 60s, I can remember the big push back then for tax relief for parents who sent their kids to Catholic Schools (back when most still were Catholic). & that the Democratic Party was on board with that idea. But like selling out on abortion, the Dems sold out to the NEA on this issue.