Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Catholic Bishops Sow Divison

At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore last week, one of the discussions centered on the fact that in spite of their efforts to defeat him, a clear majority of Americans chose a candidate who supported abortion rights.

Last year, the bishops drafted a voting guide for Catholics, which urged followers to "pay attention to issues like poverty, war, the environment and human rights (NYT 11/14/ 2008)," and claimed, "The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong and is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed ."

Some of the bishops are displeased with the language of the document, because the faithful, encouraged by them, saw that war, poverty, and injustice destroys innocent life as much or more than abortion does, and voted overwhelmingly for a candidate who pledged to work on those evils, but bowed to reality on the points where they differ.

The Democratic Party has adopted the attitude that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. To that end, Democrats attempt to construct a social safety net that will enable any woman to raise a child, should she find herself pregnant in less-than-ideal circumstances. The Democrats similarly constructed their position on stem-cell research to prevent wanton destruction of life.

The Catholic church has adopted the attitude for centuries, that women who became pregnant in bad circumstances were suffering for their sins, and deserved whatever came their way, including, but not limited to being separated from their infants at birth, living in poverty, and enduring social stigma for either having children outside of marriage or being without them.

The neoconservative movement, which tends to believe that poverty is a well-deserved punishment for sin, has agreed, and the two groups have supported "social conservative" candidates whose anti-woman policies mirror their own.

The aforementioned citizens, having had enough, spoke with a clear voice, yet groups like the Catholic bishops seem to think it is their place to "confront" Obama about his position on abortion and stem cell research. They sow the seeds of division by doing so, and their efforts are likely to backfire.

For the last 50 years, the Catholic Church has waged an uphill battle with its own flock over the use of contraception. While women became more educated and less resigned to surrendering their personal aspirations to biology, the church campaigned relentlessly against family planning. It admitted one exception only, the family planning method that is most difficult to use and most subject to failure.

American Catholics are not sliding morally. If anything, they are beginning to realize that regardless of what the clergy tells them, the life of an 18-year-old marine, a 14-year-old rape victim, or a person suffering from Parkinson's disease is as important as the life of an unborn child.

While church leaders might prefer otherwise, the viewpoint is certainly valid. Church leaders have had their say.

The electorate has spoken.

The bishops should no longer try to frame the discussion.
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Sotto Voce

(Source: GC)