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| Archbishop Chaput shows Pelosi to be a liar regarding Abortion |
| 2008-08-25 |
| ON THE SEPARATION OF SENSE AND STATE A CLARIFICATION FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE CHURCH IN NORTHERN COLORADO To Catholics of the Archdiocese of Denver: Catholic public leaders inconvenienced by the abortion debate tend to take a hard line in talking about the "separation of Church and state." But their idea of separation often seems to work one way. In fact, some officials also seem comfortable in the role of theologian. And that warrants some interest, not as a "political" issue, but as a matter of accuracy and justice. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a gifted public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills. Regrettably, knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them. Interviewed on Meet the Press August 24, Speaker Pelosi was asked when human life begins. She said the following: "I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time.And what I know is over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. . . St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose." Since Speaker Pelosi has, in her words, studied the issue "for a long time," she must know very well one of the premier works on the subject, Jesuit John Connery's Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective (Loyola, 1977). Here's how Connery concludes his study: "The Christian tradition from the earliest days reveals a firm antiabortion attitude . . . The condemnation of abortion did not depend on and was not limited in any way by theories regarding the time of fetal animation. Even during the many centuries when Church penal and penitential practice was based on the theory of delayed animation, the condemnation of abortion was never affected by it. Whatever one would want to hold about the time of animation, or when the fetus became a human being in the strict sense of the term, abortion from the time of conception was considered wrong, and the time of animation was never looked on as a moral dividing line between permissible and impermissible abortion." Or to put it in the blunter words of the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "Destruction of the embryo in the mother's womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed on this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder." Ardent, practicing Catholics will quickly learn from the historical record that from apostolic times, the Christian tradition overwhelmingly held that abortion was grievously evil. In the absence of modern medical knowledge, some of the Early Fathers held that abortion was homicide; others that it was tantamount to homicide; and various scholars theorized about when and how the unborn child might be animated or "ensouled." But none diminished the unique evil of abortion as an attack on life itself, and the early Church closely associated abortion with infanticide. In short, from the beginning, the believing Christian community held that abortion was always, gravely wrong. Of course, we now know with biological certainty exactly when human life begins. Thus, today's religious alibis for abortion and a so-called "right to choose" are nothing more than that - alibis that break radically with historic Christian and Catholic belief. Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it - whether they're famous or not - fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith. The duty of the Church and other religious communities is moral witness. The duty of the state and its officials is to serve the common good, which is always rooted in moral truth. A proper understanding of the "separation of Church and state" does not imply a separation of faith from political life. But of course, it's always important to know what our faith actually teaches. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Denver James D. Conley, Auxiliary Bishop of Denver |
| Posted by:OldSpook |
| #3 For many years, the Catholic church had to court despicable and evil tyrants, because they made it clear that "you were either with them, or their enemies". And with honor, this was often done not for the sake of political power, but so that the church could minister to those under the domination of the tyrant. That situation still exists in many parts of the world, such as China. However, that being said, in the free, western world, many politicians who arose from the Catholic faithful, have long ignored Catholic teachings, and have sought to call themselves Catholic only for social reasons, or even cruder, just to maintain their power. They have become the true enemies of the church, and there is no reason whatsoever that they church should tolerate them or their pretensions to the faith. Unless someone like Nancy Pelosi confesses her offenses, asks forgiveness for them, and refrains from them in the future, automatic excommunication is not enough. It is not just within the authority, it is the responsibility of the bishop of the diocese which she claims membership, to formally and publicly expel her from the church. To make it known within that diocese that she is no longer Catholic, nor may claim to be, nor may be sanctified by Catholic sacrament, nor even buried in a Catholic cemetery. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-08-25 22:14 |
| #2 I only wish he would attach it to the end of his staff and shove it up her ass. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-08-25 19:29 |
| #1 San Fran Nan doesnt know she that has crossed swords with an articulate and very intelligent defender of the faith, who will not brook such nonsense as hers without correcting her. Unlike some of his west coast brother bishops, Archbishop Chaput is not afraid to speack the truth to those nominally "Catholic" politicians. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-08-25 19:27 |