Posted on 12/30/2008 5:00:35 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A potential big battle has begun, one of special interest to all Christians and guaranteed to generate a lot of attention from all Americans.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a stern warning to President-elect Obama and his incoming administration, highlighting grave concerns over what will happen to unwanted, unborn human life.
The statement was delivered at the end of the annual assembly that represents all American bishops-i.e., the full American Catholic Church. It was issued by Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, president of the USCCB.
The subject is the once unthinkable Freedom of Choice Act, which Barack Obama promised will be the "first thing" he signs as president. As the bishops forcefully noted, FOCA would eliminate countless reasonable restrictions on abortion enacted by bipartisan legislatures-Democrats and Republicans working together-over the past 35 years, including parental-consent laws and protection for babies who accidentally survive an abortion.
FOCA, wrote the bishops, "would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars." Every American would be complicit in paying for abortions-you would have no choice.
This would not only be unprecedented in American history but light years removed from Obama's claim that he "respects" those with different points of view in the pro-life camp.
Most shocking, and of special concern to the bishops, is the fear that FOCA would eliminate the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers-Catholic, non-Catholic, you name it-to not participate in abortion procedures at their hospitals. The bishops noted that this would be an attack on Americans' free exercise of religion. FOCA "would have lethal consequences" not only for prenatal human life but for the most basic freedoms that living, working Americans have long held dear.
Further, the bishops dread that FOCA would require all hospitals with obstetrics programs to do abortions, a natural expectation given that Obama has spoken of abortion as a "fundamental right," a basic government service, and a vital component of America's "safety net." He calls groups like Planned Parenthood a "safety-net provider." The bishops fear that this aspect of FOCA would mandate Catholic hospitals to provide abortions, which would force the hospitals to shut down rather than compromise their beliefs.
The bishops thus stated, "[FOCA] would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil." The consequences for what Pope John Paul II termed a Culture of Life are disastrous.
Many of those who voted for Obama will be shocked by all this. They shouldn't be. Obama openly made these promises. Sadly, it's a surprise to traditional pro-life Democrats who think they've voted for Harry Truman or Jack Kennedy.
As evidence of the rancor already taking hold in the Catholic Church, consider the striking scene at a parish in Greenville, S.C., last week, where the priest insists that any parishioner who voted for Obama must go to confession and do penance before taking Holy Communion. The priest's reasoning is based strictly on the radical abortion policies of Obama.
That reaction by the priest points to what I sense is an added motivation by the bishops: They feel partly responsible for what occurred on Nov. 4. Catholics, driven mainly by pocketbook issues-actually, driven by issues other than abortion-voted for Barack Obama over John McCain by a decisive margin of 54 to 46 percent. (John McCain won Catholics who attend Mass weekly, 50 to 49 percent, but lost in a landslide to Catholics who don't attend weekly, 58 to 40 percent.)
Catholics, who were 1-in-4 of all voters, delivered 17 million votes to Obama, twice the overall popular-vote margin. They arguably made Obama president. And they voted this way in spite of an extraordinary effort by bishops to warn their dioceses about things like FOCA. The bishops are also upset that Catholic politicians helped make this possible. A short list includes vice-president-elect Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, both pro-choice Catholics, and plenty of pro-life Catholic Democrats around the country, such as Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), who worked his tail off to deliver Pennsylvania's crucial Electoral College votes to Obama.
And there were groups like "Catholics for Obama," men like Doug Kmiec and Pittsburgh Steelers' owner Dan Rooney, and all those young people who voted in hordes for Obama, including the 60 percent of students at Catholic colleges who believe abortion should be legal, according to a new study commissioned by the Cardinal Newman Center.
What's more, the bishops see that Protestants didn't vote the same way as Catholics; they went for McCain in an exact reversal, 54 to 46 percent, with evangelicals voting McCain by at least 2-to-1, and in some polls 3-to-1. That's painfully ironic to the bishops, since Protestants have no pro-life encyclicals like Humanae Vitae or Evangelium Vitae, no Catechism or Catholic dictionary or encyclopedia that in the first entry in the glossary defines abortion as "gravely contrary to the moral law," no 2,000-year prohibition against abortion, no adamantly pro-life man in Rome like Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI, no Magisterium that constantly denounces abortion.
The bishops understand that Catholics held the potential in this election to spare America another 35 years of Roe v. Wade, the first 35 years of which produced 50 million aborted babies.
Instead, the legal permanency of abortion in America now seems guaranteed. And now, the bishops are digging in for the political fight of their lives. Expect leading pro-life Protestants to join them.
And to both Catholics and non-Catholics, get ready for some fireworks.
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Paul Kengor is professor of political science and executive director of the Center for Vision and Values at Grove City College. His latest book is "The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand" (Ignatius Press, 2007).
Right, post-election.
This is enough to make me want to ask all Catholic’s to take a month off from work or at least use it as a threat to keep this from becoming law. Can you imagine the drop in tax revenue if everyone who was pro life didn’t pay income tax for 30 days? I know that most likely it could never happen but I still think it is a good idea.
I am thrilled about this.
Think how much trouble Klintoon caused with don’t ask don’t tell.
this is going to consume an enormous amount of political capital. This leaves less to do more damaging things.
My heart hurts for those innocent unborn that will fall under the hands of Obama.
He will be held responsible should he do this by the Lord.
My prayer is that Ob will bend to the pressure and leave things alone at the least.
Looks like Obama and friends of Obama (FOO) are going to have a fight on their hands. It will give a whole new meaning to FOO fighters. (FOO fighters, the term, vis-a-vis Obama and company has been noted elsewhere on the 'Net, I think as mostly pro-FOO.)
I have no idea. I am not Catholic but I care about this issue a lot.
I do know that there are rouge Catholic that don’t know much about the heart of our Lord. They will some day though.
I’m so ashamed that my fellow Catholics helped elect Obama. We call them Cafeteria Catholics. They pick and choose what they believe in. They disgust me.
A number of the bishops spoke out against Obama before the election. Unfortunately, I think a lot of them didn’t initially believe Bambi really had a chance and thus waited until too late for their statements to have the impact that they might have had if issued earlier. About 1/3 of the bishops issued severely negative statements on Obama, about 1/3 were negative but so vague that it wasn’t clear what they were talking about, and then the other 1/3 made no statement at all or a very ambiguous statement because they were actually voting for Obama themselves.
The bishops are very divided. Several bishops at the above conferenced told reporters that they thought about 50% of their brother bishops were Obama supporters, but I think, personally, that the number was lower and there were some rabid Bambi supporters and a bunch of go along to get along followers.
That said, I think things are going to move much faster than the bishops had anticipated, and they’d better be getting their positions together right now.
Obama bought out the Evangelicals by getting Rick Warren’s ego to sell out. I hope he doesn’t find anybody to sell out the Catholic Church.
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Just an educated observation...
All of the compassionate community of pro-life Christianity will be pretty noisy on this one....
Catholics with red cheeks?
It’s time for some serious excommunicating. I simply don’t understand why the bishops didn’t denounce BO for his stand on FOCA. They were too wishy washy. Basically Catholics were told they could vote for either Pres. candidate in good conscience.
Wow! That's a major shame to the Catholics, even if you factor out the CINOs. We had quite a different result here in very Catholic Westmoreland County. Oba Mao didn't crack 42% in a county carried by Mondale in the 1984 Reagan landslide.
Add me to that shame. I know several “catholics” who voted for Obama. One of them was downright starry-eyed. He was from Johntown (Murtha country), of course.
They already did when they voted for him.
I know a LOT of “catholics” that voted for 0. They had to know full well that this is what he wants. I doubt they would protest.
Well isn’t it interesting that Cardinal George finally spoke out forcefully against the OBama FOCA?
Isn’t Cardinal George the bishop of Chicago who let’s Father Pleger who is a strong supporter of Obama do and say say whatever he pleases?
Wouldn’t it be nice to see the 13 Cardinals go to Capital Hill and confront the Senators and the Congressman and the President in the same manner when they were confronting these politicians on the Illegal Immigrants Amnesty Act?
Just call me a doubting Thomas because I believe that these Cardinals and Bishops will fold and do nothing when it comes to dealing with the FOCA.
These Bishops will fold like a House of Cards when the Messiah talks to them!
There are very few Bishops like Martino and Chaput.
Most of the bishops like Archbishop Gregory, Cardinal Mahoney, Cardinal O’Malley, et. al., are superb politicians and will bow to the will of the Messiah!
There’s gotta be a split — those that follow Benedict and those that follow Obama. No real Catholic can pledge fealty to both. Catholics who support abortion, women priests, revolution theology, radical rituals, unfettered Ecumenisism, moral relativity and marginalization of the Eucharest should have been excised a long time ago. If they remain and are allowed to achieve power, Catholicism is dead. What would remain without them will be pure and strong — a bulwark against heresy and secularism.
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