The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor, Blessed Be the Lord.
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights, saying the church and religious freedom could be under attack in the new presidential administration.In an impassioned discussion on Catholics in public life, several bishops said they would accept no compromise on abortion policy. Many condemned Catholics who had argued it was morally acceptable to back President-elect Obama because he pledged to reduce abortion rates.
And several prelates promised to call out Catholic policy makers on their failures to follow church teaching. Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, Pa., singled out Vice President-elect Biden, a Catholic, Scranton native who supports abortion rights.
What an unexpected turn of events.
"I cannot have a vice president-elect coming to Scranton to say he's learned his values there when those values are utterly against the teachings of the Catholic Church," Martino said. The Obama-Biden press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Diocese of Kansas City in Kansas said politicians "can't check your principles at the door of the legislature."
Naumann has said repeatedly that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic Democrat who supports abortion rights, should stop taking Holy Communion until she changes her stance.
"They cannot call themselves Catholic when they violate such a core belief as the dignity of the unborn," Naumann said Tuesday.
I sat through 14 years of painful the drivel of Episcopal Conferences...and the one I don't watch, I missed this miracle. Go figure. Hopefully this will be repeated on EWTN with Raymond on Friday night.
The bishops suggested that the final document include the message that "aggressively pro-abortion policies" would be viewed "as an attack on the church."
Along with their theological opposition to the procedure, church leaders say they worry that any expansion in abortion rights could require Catholic hospitals to perform abortions or lose federal funding. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago said the hospitals would close rather than comply.
What a sweet and holy victory. And, here we were thinking Obama wouldn't unify!
But liberal groups are urging a different approach. Patrick Whelan, of Catholic Democrats, said the bishops should "recognize that there's no place at the table for groups that peddle hateful labels like 'proabortion politician' or advocate using the Holy Eucharist as a political weapon on behalf of the Republicans."
Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United, said the bishops "now must figure out how to rebuild bridges they have burned with the incoming administration and the Democratic Party, and how to recover lost good will with the millions of Catholics who clearly do not recognize bishops' moral authority in political matters
This evening's comments further reveal their antithesis regarding "uniting" Catholics. What a dog and pony show.
Dr. Patrick Whelan, a pediatrician and president of Catholic Democrats, said angry statements from church leaders were counterproductive and would only alienate Catholics.
What's his problem? Patrick Whelan is seeing the future and exploiting Faithful Citizenship to mislead Catholics isn't in it?
Dr. Patrick Whelan, a pediatrician and president of Catholic Democrats, said angry statements from church leaders were counterproductive and would only alienate Catholics.
"We're calling on the bishops to move away from the more vicious language," Whelan said. He said the church needs to act "in a more creative, constructive way," to end abortion.
Catholics United was among the groups that argued in direct mail and TV ads during the campaign that taking the "pro-life" position means more than opposing abortion rights.
Chris Korzen, the group's executive director, said, "we honestly want to move past the deadlock" on abortion. He said church leaders were making that task harder.
"What are the bishops going to do now?" Korzen said. "`They have burned a lot of bridges with the Democrats and the new administration."
I know what you're thinking. If the Bishops unite with Rome, which allows us to unite with the Bishops...and let's even say for the sake of argument Obama takes the Bishops seriously...and we can unite with Obama...the only people who won't be united will be the lizard and his cronies at "Catholics United"?
The Communion of Saints with 60 million aborted babies joining our Novenas and prayers, perhaps God in His Mercy could not resist?
This is what we are all about-------- "CREATION"
ReplyDeleteThose who should and don't want this as a truth, should weep tears of bitter compunction.
We should all pray, really pray, that God who is Love , created those for His Love, from He asks nothing but love should be able to love him, especially the aborted children of the womb. We should all really pray that those who deliberately and willfully deprive God of this love should through the witnesses of these children, crush their power in this world before there is no longer a chance for their, the fools who legislate against Him, final judgment to be a pleasure and the aborted children will be witnesses to their perfidy for all eternity.