My 2 Cents on the Recent Debate About Live Action

About a week ago I came across a couple of debates on whether the undercover tactics used by Live Action to investigate Planned Parenthood were in keeping with Catholic teaching. At the heart of the debate is whether the tactics used by Live Action are lies as forbidden by the teaching of the Catholic Church. A good summary of the debate is found here in an article from CNA/EWTN: Pro-life group's video stings spark ethical debate.

I will admit that I saw some validity in the argument that what Live Action did was wrong. But a whole bunch of other questions started coming up as well. Following the logic of the argument then I had to conclude that any undercover sting by the FBI or other law enforcement agency was wrong. & what about a person wearing a wire. Isn't he lying to the other person about the confidentiality of their conversation?

I also thought of the work Corrie ten Boom did during World War II that were told about in book & movie versions of The Hiding Place. (Museum website here) She had strong concerns based on her solid Christian faith about what was right or wrong for a Christain to do as a part of the underground. She refused to help bring information that would result in the death of someone else. Yet she was willing to illegally get ration cards for the extra food she needed to feed the jewish people her family hid. By presenting those extra cards she waslying about her right to use them as they were stolen. (Please don't bring up Scripture about stealing to feed self, this was far beyond that as far as I am concerned.) Her actions also included forgery. & that included procuring false identities for people to escape. Yet she did all these things to save people & is seen as a hero as well as a saint by many people, including me.

I also began thinking of several incidents in the Bible where what they defined as lying was approved by God. More on this later. I also got out my Catechism to look at the specific teaching refered to in 1 of the articles I read.

At this point I still was a bit up in the air about what was right. Then on Saturday I listened to a talk by Patrick Madrid on the persecution of Catholics in Mexico in the early part of the 20th Century. (Battle for the Faith in Mexico. Viva Cristo Rey!) Part of the talk was a short telling of Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro SJ. & even though I was a somewhat familiar with his story, what I heard really caught my attention. Patrick Madrid shared some stories of how he ministered to his fellow Catholics as an illegially operating priest. Fr. Pro had several disguises he wore to avoid capture. 1 of them was a police uniform. Madrid talked about how Pro would go into a jail, tell the guards he was there to interogate the prisioners. But he was lying about who he was & why he was there, he was there to bring the Eucharist & hear confessions. Another story involved a raid on the house where he had just finished saying Mass. he snuck next door, put on the same police uniform & started acting like he was a real officer. He was screaming at those men doing the raid to get Fr. Pro.

Then there was the story of how he was in a cab with the police a ways behind him in another car. As the cab turned a corner, Fr. Pro saw a young lady ahead on the sidewalk. He told the driver to slow down just enough for him to roll out of the cab. By the time the police went by, he was hand in hand with the girl acting like they were in a relationship. He was a priest with a vow of celebacy. But that wasn't how he presented himself. Lying about who he was & doing wasn't seen by the Catholic Church as a hinderance to his path to sainthood. Clearly the Church sees him as heroic in virtue. In fact Pope John Paul II applauded those actions in the homily at the Mass for Fr. Pro's beatification.

Yet when I pointed that out at another blog, along with some things the Vatican did in WWII that I'll get to in a bit, I got the following response from 1 of those commentors opposed to Lila Rose/Live Action's tactics "They are not the same or remotely similar." I responded with the question "Why?" By the definition they are using of what the Catholic Church considers a lie, Fr Pro lied about who he was. (Still waiting for an answer.)

Then on Saturday, Jill Stanek jumped into the fray with a post about the controversy. She provided some links to those opposing the tactics. Then she raised some of the same thoughts I had including the FBI, what Scripture said as well as what Corrie ten Boom did. She brought up some other good examples as well. (Follow the link for the whole post.)

I will add to the Scripture examples 1 that Jill Stanek didn't. It is from the OT book of Tobit. & since Jill isn't Catholic I wouldn't expect her to reference it. But since the Catholic & Orthodox Churches acceopt it as inspired Scripture, as did the Jews who accepted the Septuagent, it is valid to bring up for those who are arguing from a Catholic standpoint.

Tobit is the story of Tobit & his son Tobias (Tobiah(s), טוביה, means "YHWH is my good" in Hebrew). Tobit is a Jewish exile living in Ninevah who refuses to obey the law & buries his fellow Jews that have been murdered by Sennacherib the King. After he is blinded he remembers the 10 talents of silver he had left with Gabael son of Gabrias, at Rhages in Media. Tobias is sent by his father with a document to prove his claim. Tobias, needing a guide, goes out to look for 1. At this point he meets the Archangel Raphael. (BTW patron saint of the Archdiocese of DBQ.) What Raphael tells Tobias about himself is clearly a lie. In Tobit 5 when Tobias asks Raphael where he is from, Raphael replies "I am one of your brother Israelites; I have come to these parts to look for work." vs 5 (the children of Israel in Douay-Rheims, your kinsman in New American) Clearly he is not a Israelite like he claims. No angel is. But the work part is true. He was sent to help work out God's plan in Tobias' life (along with Sarah & Tobit's lives).

Later when Tobit asks for specifics about his family Raphael says asks why he needs that. Tobit replies "I want to be quite sure whose son you are and what your name is." (vs 12 Jerusalem, emphasis mine) or "I wish to know truthfully whose son you are, brother, and what your name is." (vs 12 New American, emphasis mine) did you get that? Tobit asks Raphael to tell him the truth about who he is. But what does raphael say? "I am Azarias, son of the great Ananias, one of your kinsmen." Raphael passes himself off as a human relative.

It isn't until chapter 12 that Raphael reveals who he is. He calls it good to "reveal and confess the works of God." (vs 7 DR) In saying that he it sounds to me that telling them he was a human being & a relative of theirs was a part of the "work of God" he was sent to do. Raphael goes on to say "Do what is good". So his actions must have been good. & there are times when pretending to be someone else to fight evil, in this case Tobit's blindness & Sarah's problem with a demon, can be good.

Finally, I remembered the story of Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty. I 1st heard of him when his story was made into a TV movie starring Gregory Peck as O'Flaherty. The Scarlet and the Black was based on a 1967 book originally titled Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican. (Note: The book under the title of the movie is available from Ignatius Press. The movie is also available on DVD. I highly recommend the book as well as the movie although the real Msgr. Flaherty looks nothing like Gregory Peck.) Msgr. O'Flaherty worked in the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that was under Cardinal Ratzinger before he became Pope.

Msgr. O'Flaherty helped all but 1007 of the 9700 Jews in Rome to escape from being captured & shipped to Auschwitz. As the book tells of those hidden "5,000 of them by the official Church − 3,000 in Castel Gandolfo, 200 or 400 (estimates vary) as "members" of the Palatine Guard and some 1,500 in monasteries, convents and colleges. The remaining 3,700 were hidden in private homes." He also helped many POWs escape as well.
Among the things he did was to forge Vatican identity cards. Another interesting part of the story is that Jewish religious services were conducted in the Basilica di San Clemente under a painting of Tobias. Yes the same above mentioned Tobiah. In fact, my familiarity with Msgr. O'Flaherty's story is another reason I do not by the lies about Pope Pius XII not helping the Jews. The Pope clearly had to know what was going on & approved while being able to do what he could to protect Catholics elsewhere from persecution as well.

After the war, Msgr O'Flaherty continued his work of helping those in need. He also regularly visited Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler, head of the SS in Rome & his archenemy. In fact, he was Kappler's only visitor. In 1959 O'Flaherty baptised Kappler as a Catholic.

If you also remember, many priests in Europe created false Baptismal records for Jews to help them create new identities & escape from the Nazis.

At this point from all I have seen or read it seems to me that there are some instances when what may seem like lying is acceptable. Notice I said seems like, I am getting the impression that in these situations it isn't. If it was lying then Fr. Pro wouldn't be up for sainthood, the Catholic Church would have condemned undercover work of any kind & it wouldn't have condoned the actions in WW II let alone honor those who did them.

I am not saying I am the final authority, or that I am totally right. What I am saying is that from all I see, what Live Action is doing is probably well within acceptable perameters of Catholic teaching. I know there are those who disagree & I will challenge them to say more than something like this 1 response to my challenge "these people going to PP are basically luring PP into unmasking what evil they are willing to stoop to - for that sake alone, to bring down PP." I'm sorry, but following that logic then you are saying it was wrong to unmask evil during war in order to bring down an enemy like Hitler.

This is a war we are in, it is spritual in its roots, & as I have said before, our primary weapons must be spritual. But we must also work to bring the truth about Planned Parenthood & their agenda to light.

Another thing I want to mention is what Dr. Christopher Kaczor, a Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University, pointed out in the above CNA/EWTN article "at least two of the Fathers of the Church – St. John Chrysostom in his book “On the Priesthood,” and St. John Cassian in his “Conferences” – defended the use of lying to save an innocent person." & who is more innocent than the unborn?????

Yes, the whole is it moral or is it lying forbidden by the Catholic Church's teaching question is a difficult one. As I said, I don't pretend to be the final authority. Nor am I trying to find justification for Live Action simply because I want to justify their actions. I have come to my stand based on careful prayer & study of the issue. In a couple of comments I have intentionally challenged those who oppose Live Action to clarify their stand & get a better understanding of it. I respect their view but disagree with their conclusions. In my opinion hat Live Action is doing is just as acceptable as the "lying" done by Msgr O'Flaherty & Corrie ten Boom during WW II.

So unless something comes out from Rome to the contrary, or I see more convincing arguments from the other side than I have so far, I am going to continue to support Live Action & what they are doing.