Journeys of a Catholic Poster Girl

“Our faith needs to be the North Star of our lives. Our behavior needs to match our words.” –Archbishop Charles Chaput

Chat Insanity

Filed under: American Catholicism, Catholicism-general, Election 08, Popes, abortion, life issues, politics — catholicpostergirl at 8:15 pm on Monday, September 15, 2008

From a WaPo chat today: 

 

Catholic Bishops: I’m a pro-life Catholic. Obama and Biden’s varying degrees of support for abortion rights is troubling for me. But why in the world are Catholic bishops only issuing press releases and making public statements about the abortion issue?! The Church is against the death penalty when other means of containing prisoners are available, supports treating immigrants with dignity and respect, and two Popes have spoken out against the Iraq War … but there is nothing about any of this from American bishops, who seem to have no problem injecting themselves into the political debate when abortion is the issue. How about the bishops say something about McCain’s divorce or infidelity to his first wife? There’s a commandment about that one, too. Or better yet, maybe they could not use their position in the Church as a launching pad to disseminate their own political ideology!

Shailagh Murray: Well, I’m a Catholic too, and this is certainly a difficult subject these days. We Catholics are just not used to that us vs. them dividing line, especially as it becomes sharper in other demominations. It’s an uncomfortable place for a lot of Catholics and it’s a risky gambit too, when you’re trying to unify millions of people from all walks of life.

Oh my, poor chatter!
As we have said time and time again, what we have here is that the issue of abortion is non-negotiable. 
Popes have spoken out against the Iraq War, this is true. But the Church has a just war doctrine, and Catholics can discuss whether or not any war meets that criteria. 
But abortion, and cloning, and embryonic stem-cell research are all non-negotiable issues. That means that you cannot vote for a candidate that supports these things. 
John McCain’s divorce and infidelity are matters for his church, not ours, because John McCain is not Catholic. Joe Biden, on the other hand, is. Barack Obama not only supports abortion on demand, but he supports infanticide. That is clearly going beyond the pale here. Catholics cannot, in good conscience, support these things. Period. 
Catholicism isn’t about trying to get a bunch of different people to all agree on something. Catholicism teaches truth and expects those who claim to follow it to go along with those truths. Period. 
(For more on all this, check out the archieves, especially Abortion and Life Issues). 

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