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An 'urgency': Sensing threats to institutions of society, church leaders make declaration 
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Crystal clear message
Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement yesterday highlighting the concerns of his fellow bishops about the future of abortion-related issues under President-elect Barack Obama’s administration. The statement cautioned Obama that even though he won 52 percent of the Catholic vote, his election was not a referendum on abortion:
The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.
back to top17 Comments to “Crystal clear message”
The statement is correct that Obama’s election was not a referendum on abortion. It was more a referendum on socialist collectivism and a nanny (take-care-of-me-please) state. And socialism won… this time.
Also, America is shifting to emotion as a basis for political ideology. Actual argumentation do not cut it so well any longer. Perhaps America will have to feel socialism fail for us to begin to get back to our core principles as a nation.
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I’ve seen the videos of rampaging homosexuals going berserk in Ca after the voters said (again) no to homomarriage. The Mormons seem to have been the biggest funders of Prop 8.
If churches in this country (RC or Prot) were to really truly get serious and mobilize themselves and go after the legislators who carry so much water for the abortion industry (the mainly D folks who boast of 100% proNARAL voting records) I think we could foresee the abortion industry’s minions unleashing their fury against those same churches.
Catholic voters have sent blood-stained politicians back to DC year after year. The bishops have their work cut out for them, no?
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I’m really starting to appreciate the Catholics more and more–at least on social issues. Because they’ve sided with liberal causes in the past and because of the consistency of their social views, they have much more moral clout with liberals and unbelievers than evangelicals do. I am getting to be ashamed of the Protestant church because they (more frequently) are unable to take a manly stand on anything. (I’m thinking particularly of the Submergent Church movement and all those hip, sophisticated “Christians” who voted Obama into office.)
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I wrote a friend the other day that I, like many, wish Obama well as he begins his term, but if the first thing he does is pay back all those abortion-rights supporters and other social push-buttons, he’ll lose a lot of good will. Given the country’s free-fall on a number of levels, such a move would be foolish.
(Though someone said the other day that given the complexity of the problems, he may focus on something “easy” like social issues since there’s no way to solve the money crisis that isn’t painful.)
I appreciate the Catholic Church spelling this out, yet again. I just wish that so many who claim to be Catholic would either embrace the church’s teaching or move along–for the sake of their eternal souls. That includes priests.
Any others who have the gift of discernment struggling out there?
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I would hope the bishops have the courage to follow through and not cave in or bargain away the moral high ground. I would hope the incoming administration hears and fully understands what has been said.
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Funny how in 1960 the media scared the voters about a (non-devout, unserious) Catholic candidate. “Oh my gosh! He’ll let his church’s teaching influence how he governs!! Cant have that!”
Well today defying church teaching on abortion is a badge of honor among Catholic politicians.
I do recall the same defiers nevertheless embraced a “pastoral letter” about the economy and used it to justify opposition to Reagan’s tax cuts. Cafeteria catholicism at its best.
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I wrote a friend the other day that I, like many, wish Obama well as he begins his term, but if the first thing he does is pay back all those abortion-rights supporters and other social push-buttons, he’ll lose a lot of good will. Given the country’s free-fall on a number of levels, such a move would be foolish.
Agreed.
I think there’s also another argument to be made for leaving Bush’s executive orders on abortion in place: Since we have this huge deficit, we shouldn’t be adding additional nonessential spending to pander to interest groups, such as embryonic stem cell research or funding abortions abroad. Obama could take this course and begin to show that he’ll govern from the center.
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I think this is more a shot across the bow, than a declaration of war. Despite Obama’s personal convictions and his willingness to sign FOCA, it is hard to see how that legislation makes it to his desk. Here Emanuel’s appointment suggest a focus on pragmatics not on ideology (and a firewall to House liberals); also it’s simply not clear that there are enough votes in the Senate to let this one through. Maybe I’m a little pollyanna here, we’ll see.
And besides, strong language on abortion aside, there is much on the political plate that the Bishops would like to see addressed (e.g. issues of poverty, immigration, etc.). The high confrontational position advocated by some would only restrict their input elsewhere — the more pragmatic bishops recognize this. This search and support for a common good for the nation is well expressed in one of their closing paragraphs:
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And socialism won… this time.
Senator Infanticide won, too, didn’t he? Cardinal George holds the keys to heaven and hell, but won’t get his hands on the keys to the jail while Obama’s president. Notoriously, Obama told the Evangelical Pope Himself that moral concerns about abortion were above the pay grade of POTUS.
Cardinal George needs to look at the statistics again. Obama won far more than 52% of the vote of young Catholics. I’ll bet him a new miter the Attorney General will never kiss his ring.
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“Notoriously, Obama told the Evangelical Pope Himself that moral concerns about abortion were above the pay grade of POTUS.”
I don’t think that’s exactly what he said.
Obama most certainly does maintain, to him, moral concerns about abortion. He thinks it’s morally proper to preserve the right for women to have abortions.
What’s funny about the “pay grade” comment is that he feigned ignorance and attained this veneer of humility before a “troubling moral question.” He made himself look as if he were just meekly navigating a humble middle path.
But he has shown that the question is very much within his pay grade. He has already decided that the fetus and, in some cases, the infant itself, is not a human person and thus not worthy of the basic protections the government has been created to provide. He has shown that he is more than willing, even delighted, to err on the side of death rather than life by opposing every single restriction on abortion that has been placed before him for a vote.
If the question of the unborn’s personhood is too difficult to answer, people who value life at all will err on the side of preserving it. People who do not value life at all will err on the side of destroying it. Obama belongs to the latter group.
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If they really cares the Catholic Church lead by it’s Bishops, Cardinals and Pope would excommunicate their members in congress that continue to be at the very forefront leading the legalizing of mothers murdering their own children.
Since they do not do this and have been at the forefront of pedophilia and gay pedophilia worldwide, one can only believe that this is mere talk on their part and their hearts and minds lie elsewhere.
#10 David L,
Obama’s voting record shows that he believes everything is above his pay grade – even as Messiah.
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Frankly, I don’t think most Catholics give a flying fig for what Cardinal Francis George thinks!
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Well, you can’t argue with that.
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DAVID L.: He thinks it’s morally proper to preserve the right for women to have abortions.
Not exactly, David. First, Obama says it’s constitutionally appropriate. Second, Obama probably would consider abortion to be a question of ethics, not morality, thus a subject on which good, reasonable people may differ, rather than a question of absolute morality, subject to religious authority. Where ethical disputes can be stated otherwise, constitutional settlements are advisable.
But I see your point. Ultimately nobody can escape the absolute. I just think it’s academic, until we get there, if we ever do. Meanwhile, abortion is debatable and ambiguous, at best. Occasionally one of you will acknowledge some skepticism, but only to declare that doubts must be resolved in favor of criminalization. Yet that’s impossible, until we get to the kind of moral consensus that enables unanimous juries. This, I think is why Obama says the moral question is above his paygrade. Ethics, however, allow him to balance other values, such as privacy and respect for choice.
Obama’s “pay grade” answer was profound and complex. He didn’t deny the existence of a realm of absolute morality, but he said the political question of criminalization doesn’t fit that category. Instead of complaining that Obama won’t give you law as a tutor to public morality, perhaps you should teach public morality to adopt proper laws. That would be the democratic way of doing things.
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Scroop Moth,
I’m mulling this one over right now and would be interested in your response.
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1218
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“and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.”
This part is bogus. Pro-choice does not force anyone to have an abortion. It does not force anyone to stop exercising their religion as they see fit.
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#16
No, it just forces doctors and nurses to perform them in order to get licensed or to even become doctors and nurses. It forces hospitals to perform them, even when they are run by religious organizations who don’t believe in it. And, it forces the tax payer to pay for them, even if many of us don’t believe in them.
It also forces us to pay for abortions abroad. It allows our daughters to get them against our wishes or knowledge (even when they can’t otherwise get an ASPIRIN at school without our knowledge.) It gives the fathers no say in what happens to their own offspring.
I could go on.
There are countless instances where my free exercise of religion is thwarted by “pro-choice” laws and beliefs.
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