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lfitts2 says:
So you are trying to tell me an institution that harbored and hid pedophiles is then going to try to speak and tell others about its moral authority..are you crazy. The catholic church had better spend its time cleaning up its own house before it tells others when they should procreate. There are millions of people who are pro-choice, none of them are pro-abortion. This is a personal medical decision between a woman and her doctor. Interestingly the Republicans go on and on about not getting between a patient and their doctor, until a woman wants the right to choose.
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inketolstoy says:
Amen, Mr. Badeaux. You hit the nail on the head. But we need to remember that that blood also lies on the hands of all of us who say we are pro-life but refuse to resist those who slaughter our children. Any Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddist, or Atheist that understands and values the individual human life must stop this holocaust. It is the ultimate civil rights violation to take a child's life before they have been born.
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tryreading replies:
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I agree with your pro-life statements and wish Catholic politicians would have the courage to stand by their Catholic teachings, but the Church also presses us to care for each other after birth, also. Again, neither side seems to be consistent with Church teaching of respecting life from conception to natural death.
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tryreading says:
During a previous presidential election, my brother's church passed out card with the Catholic church's teaching regarding a variety of issues (pro-life, anti-death penalty, concern for the poor, etc.)for parishoners to choose a candidate to vote for. (No names were suggested). My brother approached his priest and said, "If you know what politician follows all of these teachings, tell me, and I will vote for him". It is difficult in this political environment to vote according to Catholic teaching. I am strongly pro-life, yet I am also strongly anti-death penalty. I also strongly believe it is our responsibility to care for the underprivledged and to not take advantage of others for personal gain. These are all teachings of the Catholic church, and I believe all of these things are important. It is also why I don't register with either political party. That said, I repeat my brother's question to the author of this article, what politician meets these values? Or are Catholics just supposed to stay home on election day?
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tmittelstaed says:
Utter rubbish. The HSA bill that President Bush got passed into law years ago allows for tax-free payments to abortion providers already, that is a federal subsidy. (ie: a tax deduction is a federal subsidy, no matter how you want to slice it) The Health Bill that was just passed is not pro-abortion. The reason the anti-abortion people don't like it is because it does not explicitly ban health plans that cover abortion on the new insurance exchanges. However it does not require plans to offer abortion coverage, and it allows states to ban plans that offer abortion coverage on the exchanges in their state. In other words, it's neutral when it comes to abortion.

The single reason that the Catholic bishops aren't running around excommunicating politicians is because American Catholics mostly are opposed to the Catholic Church interfering in their practice of s e x. Most American Catholics use birth control - something that is against the Church - and they will be damnned if they are going to have their priest - who is most likely gay anyway - tell them how to have s e x.

The bishops know that if they start in with this excommunicating of church members as a result of their views of abortion, that if your going to open the door to that, then it's not much different than excommunicating people for using The Pill or a condom. Church members won't look at those excommunications as justified, they will just start wondering how long before it's their necks next.
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thesevenveils says:
Good Good Good. Separation of church and state. The Catholic church of all churches, has no business trying to manipulate our government. The Vatican is treated as a separate country. This means that politicians such as Rep. Bart Stupa do not speak for his constituents, he is a statesman for the Catholic Church. When a statesman puts his church before his constituents, it is time to show him the door.
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bpai99 says:
What a load of crap this article presents from beginning to end. Go molest more young boys while you pontificate about doing God's work.
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fer60us says:
It's interesting that nobody mentions the Catholic church as many other religions go against some "free will" decisions in order to control; everything is control. If almost everybody agree that God gave us free will and that we are accountable for our actions why then they care that much about my actions if I am going to pay for them? Because they want to control what I do and even what I think. Abortion, if we believe in God teachings, should be a personal and intimate matter and who goes with it then they should pay the consecuences in the after-life. Why to bring kind to suffer? Again, to control; the Spaniards did that to their colonies as a way to control them; the more kids a couple would have then it could be easier to control them! Now, these societies are paying the consecuences through demography changes. It's amazing how many so called good Christians are against abortion but they don't want health care for the underpriviledge; totally hipocrisy!! Pro-choice and health care for everybody!! If they are agains abortion then try to avoid pregnancy in the first place but then they are agains that also; that doens't make sense except if they again want to control no to avoid abortions. If you want to avoid abortions then stop them before they happen with condoms and sexual education!! Ignorance is control!!
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inketolstoy replies:
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Don't you sense a little hypocrisy in your arguement in pro-choice and health care for all. When did killing become part of care? I think you need to ask who is controlling you.
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GreenFeminist says:
Like the 9 year old Brazilian girl excommunicated by the Catholic Church with her family and doctor, rape victims (particularly small children with undeveloped bodies) have a medical and moral right to a quick and immediate abortion at earliest recognition. In Costa Rica and Nicaragua another 9 year old rape victim was excommunicated for the same thing. The Catholic Church has claimed that they've seen babies from rape successfully born of girls as young as five years old -- and actively block first trimester abortion in small children. The Catholic church also dissuades sex education for girls (girls can't protect themselves because they do not know what is going on with their bodies), use of contraception and even the morning after pill. http://www.attiegoldwater.com/rositathemovie/home.htm
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evwads says:
Christopher,
You have written the column I've been trying to write for months. My husband and I are converts to the Catholic faith and have been dismayed by the lack of Catholic identity in Catholic schools--to the point of our high school son having to defend church teaching to his own teachers regarding euthanasia and same sex marriage.

So when a year or so ago Nancy Pelosi made the vapid claim that the Catholic Church has never really been consistent in its teaching against abortion, I began to see that the bishops were not just trying to being pastoral (the cure-all word used by clerics and lay ministers to excuse the lack of accountability), but were being, as you so aptly put it: scandalous.

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article about how the Kennedy's became pro-abortion as a matter of "political" faith, and of course, it was due to our own Jesuit priests and some errant theologians (Curran was one) who convinced them that they could indeed ADVOCATE for abortion and still remain Catholics in good standing.

A good time to recall and beckon the intercession of Leo Xiii and Pope John Paul II who both faced dark, scandalous and evil times in the political world.
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swansong22 says:
The bill was a "baby killer", the comment was spot on.
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