Extremist
Bishops’ Misguided War
There is a group of noisy
extremists in the body of American Catholic bishops.
They are not adding anything to the bishops’
credibility these days - something that has already been greatly
tarnished.
Their immoderate stance in the abortion debate will not strengthen a
pro-life
agenda. Unfortunately great opportunities for moral leadership
are lost.
Of course abortion is an important issue, but the approach of certain
bishops
has been misguided and counter-productive.
Let’s be clear. I am pro-life. Cardinal Bernardin best
expressed life issues as a seamless garment – from the womb to the
tomb. That’s
where I stand.
These ultra conservatives’ fallacy,
however, is the assumption that those Catholics who voted for Democrats
are champions
of abortion and do not share the bishops' moral concern. They are dead
wrong.
Catholics of good
conscience who have
weighed the broad spectrum of life issues have decided that, in
the final
analysis, the Democratic party is more in line with Catholic social
teaching. These Catholic voters considered
the dismal
record of the incumbent party on a host of life issues and other
aspects of
Catholic social doctrine and opted for the party whose overall agenda
hopefully
will do more to address the root causes leading to abortion.
Those extremist bishops of whom I speak
need to address the following questions:
- What has the Republican
administration done in the last eight years to promote life and address
the
social issues that lead to abortion?
- How have the years of
an illegal
and immoral
- When have they railed
against this
war, torture, capital punishment and other life issues with the same
vehemence
while they focused exclusively on abortion?
-
Would these rigid bishops deny communion to those many bishops
around the
world who disagree with them?
As
to this last question, note that there are moderate bishops around the
world
who do not agree with the tunnel vision of their extremist colleagues.
Bishop
Steib of
Likewise
Auxiliary Bishop Zavala of Los Angeles has said that his fellow bishops
have
long insisted that “we are not a one-issue church….there are many other
issues
we need to bring up, other issues we should consider, other issues that
touch
the reality of our lives.”
From across the
world,
Archbishop Onaiyekan, past president of
the African bishop’s conference who is widely seen as a spokesperson
for
Catholicism in Africa, wrote, “Those who
are against abortion should be consistent….If my choice is between a
person who
makes room for abortion, but who is really pro-life in terms of justice
in the
world, peace in the world, I will prefer him to somebody who doesn’t
support
abortion but who is driving millions of people in the world to death
…It’s a
whole package”
Pope Benedict XVI
himself stated
in Deus Caritas Est, “The Church
wishes to help form consciences in political life and to stimulate
greater
insight into the authentic requirements of justice ... The Church
cannot and
must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most
just
society possible.”
Although
the
Their approach reminds one of the administration’s policy
of saber rattling and resorting to a military rather than a diplomatic
approach
to the problems we face around the world. For
the church as well there is a better way
to address compassionately the moral dilemmas people face. Moral
persuasion in a pluralistic society is the pastoral approach in
addressing this
issue; changing minds and hearts, rather than legalistic attempts that
are
futile.
Threats, intimidation, and denying
believers their place at the Lord’s table are not the way to deal with
honest
dissent. Extremist pastors may not believe it, but there are
Catholics with
an informed conscience who see life issues in their totality.
They
need to know that people of God are not stupid and wayward sheep.
Richard Cross
(914)
631-526m9
fliszt@cloud9.net
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