Posted on 06/02/2009 12:44:21 PM PDT by victim soul
WASHINGTON —Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, expressed profound regret upon learning of the shooting death of abortion doctor George Tiller.
"Our bishops' conference and all its members have repeatedly and publicly denounced all forms of violence in our society, including abortion as well as the misguided resort to violence by anyone opposed to abortion," Cardinal Rigali said. "Such killing is the opposite of everything we stand for, and everything we want our culture to stand for: respect for the life of each and every human being from its beginning to its natural end. We pray for Dr. Tiller and his family."
Kansas Bishops' Statement
http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=33701
We, the four Catholic Bishops of the Dioceses of Kansas, unequivocally condemn the murder of Dr. George Tiller that occurred in Wichita earlier today. The Catholic Church believes that every human life is sacred. The murder of a human being is the gravest of crimes and is an intrinsic evil. Such an act of violence against human life is a contradiction of the most fundamental principle of the Pro-Life movement. The fact that this attack occurred in a church, a place of prayer and worship, only adds to the horror of this terrible crime. We prayerfully commend Dr. George Tiller to the mercy of God and we pray for comfort and consolation for his family and friends.
Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann, Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas Most Reverend Ronald M. Gilmore, Bishop of Dodge City Most Reverend Paul S. Coakley, Bishop of Salina Most Reverend Michael O. Jackels, Bishop of Wichita
2009: Old Myths and Fake Rights January 16th, 2009 by Francis Cardinal George, OMI
http://www.catholicnewworld.com/cnwonline/2009/0104/cardinal.aspx
Two weeks ago, many of the offices of the [Chicago] archdiocesan Pastoral Center moved from 155 Superior St. to the refurbished Quigley building on Pearson Street. It was good to move to a place that was not built as an office building, for the church is not basically a civil corporation. The Quigley Center is a building that was built to house a high school seminary and has been part of the archdiocese’s life since 1917.The archbishop’s office in the Quigley Center was once the school library. Around the walls of the room now used by administrative assistants and secretaries are statues of figures important to the intellectual and artistic life of the church through the centuries.
No one would be surprised to find statues of St. Thomas Aquinas, Francisco Suarez, Giotto, Michelangelo or Cardinal John Henry Newman; but some who live with the conviction that a permanent state of enmity exists between the faith and scientific inquiry might be surprised to find in a seminary library a statue of Galileo.
Galileo was a believing and practicing Catholic all his life, as is evident in his lengthy correspondence with his daughter, who was a nun. Had he been content to teach his theories about the motion of the sun and the planets as a hypothesis, as had others before him, he would not have been censored.
As a matter of fact, much of the scientific community of Galileo’s day was not completely convinced of the truth of his teaching, and the final scientific confirmation of Galileo’s theories came some centuries after his death. But the myth has him uniquely a victim of the church. The myth, which strips away complicating circumstances in a sorry moment of church history, serves many purposes; and so it will continue to live and shape people’s mindset.
The current resurgence of anti-Catholicism in the media and in many classrooms is based, I would argue, not so much on old myths as on protecting fake rights.
Those who want to claim that we should have the right to kill an unwanted unborn child or who want to have the right to change the nature of marriage itself or who claim a right to kill those who say they want to die find their primary obstacle in the teaching of the Catholic Church about human life as a gift from God, to be respected at all stages of its development. The church can therefore expect to be attacked in order to weaken her moral influence.
No one can claim a moral right to do what is wrong; and a state with laws that invent false rights destroys the collective happiness of its citizens. That the breakdown in sexual morality and married life should go hand in hand with a breakdown in financial security and in political trustworthiness should not be a surprise. Morality is neither public nor private; it’s just a matter of right and wrong in every domain.
A thorough and timely analysis of political morality and its relation to the church’s teaching has been offered recently by Archbishop Charles Chaput in his book, “Render unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life,” (Doubleday).
Archbishop Chaput works patiently and with keen intelligence through false myths and fake rights that control our political life. The book makes a good New Year’s present, because the year 2009 will be a pivotal year in our political and economic life. The church’s social teaching applied to public life in our country can help us and our nation to face the challenges before us with intellectual honesty and moral authenticity.
The social teaching of the church is offensive to those who want social policy grounded on desire rather than reason. “If I want something, the law should permit me to have it,” is a popular way to describe what the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called “the triumph of the will.” There is a chasm between non-violent demonstration against an unjust law, like the laws that once protected racial segregation, and making violent threats against those who disagree with you.
Taking advantage of the economic chaos of the 1930s, fascists in Italy and Germany took to the streets in protest, but their protests provoked the very violence they claimed to be protesting and the violence, in turn, strengthened their claim to power. The United States today is not completely immune to forms of fascism, and the church, which stands for rational principles that judge every political arrangement, is a likely target.
As we enter a New Year filled with uncertainty, the church’s social teaching remains a sure anchor for our personal lives and for social polity. We can be grateful for the vision it gives us and resolve to use it well in the New Year to make decisions that shape our lives and the life of our country. With intellects enlightened by faith and wills strengthened by grace, we can face the future with confidence in God’s Providence. A happy New Year to all of you.
Sincerely yours in Christ, Francis Cardinal George, OMI Archbishop of Chicago
Why even mention his name?
1 million babies get aborted. But a million and one wrongs do not make a right.
It would be to the point to pray for his killer, too. Personally, I also think they should have used this as a moment to mention that Tiller’s killing was clearly connected with the hideous violence by which he had made his living and which he promoted at every moment. They make him sound like an innocent party.
Catholic teachings were quite a bit different when I went to Catholic school.
The differences are substantial.
You said — Personally, I also think they should have used this as a moment to mention that Tiller’s killing was clearly connected with the hideous violence by which he had made his living and which he promoted at every moment.
—
They mentioned both — the shooting and the abortions...
“Our bishops’ conference and all its members have repeatedly and publicly denounced all forms of violence in our society, including abortion as well as the misguided resort to violence by anyone opposed to abortion,” Cardinal Rigali said.
Ironically, I don't recall the Conference of Bishops speaking with one voice against Obama's appearance at Notre Dame. Cardinal Rigali did, but only 20% of the Catholic Bishops made their voices heard. While the murder of Tiller is wrong, it seems the Bishops are not quite as alarmed at the practice of killing millions of the most defenseless. Sad.
83 Bishops spoke out.
One Catholic priest got arrested
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiz4tfjSuPc
Where were we?
But a wrong?
Hmmmm ... this great Republic resorted to (at the time) unprecedented violence, in order to redress the injustice of slavery. Or secession. Depending on what you consider the Civil War to have been about.
Most folks consider that secession/slavery to have been a sufficiently bad injustice as to warrant a war in which more than 600,000 soldiers were killed, along with a similar number of civilians.
Are those folks incorrect. Was violence the wrong way to end slavery/preserve the Union?
Legitimate defense
2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. "The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor.... The one is intended, the other is not."[65]
2264 Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow: If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful.... Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one's own life than of another's.[65]
2265 Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life. Preserving the common good requires rendering the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. To this end, those holding legitimate authority have the right to repel by armed force aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their charge.[66]
I expect that the distinction here is intentional vs. unintentional killing in rightfully denouncing the assassination of Tiller.
But, what is a Catholic to do if those holding legitimate authority refuse to act against aggressors, or are themselves the aggressors?
How so?
You go to the head of the class for that.
In many ways.
Most relevant to me is that justice is no longer acceptable to Catholic prelates.
My preference lies in rational justice.
Would you pray for any mass murderer—Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein?? They all had plenty of opportunity to repent but they like Tiller did not. My feeling is that God works in ways we cannot comprehend so I will not pray for Tiller as he has already been judged by a Higher Authority. All I can think of is that many lives have been saved.
Loosely. But Tiller was an uncommonly vicious and violent man; he wasn’t even a plain, ordinary abortionist, but performed an uncommonly hideous procedure that had stirred up great controversy even among abortion supporters; in fact, people had already tried to kill him in the past, because he was surrounded by violence and brutality. Not to mention the way he bought the Governor of Kansas.
The left is out calling him a hero and holding candlelight vigils for their “martyr,” and the bishops had a responsibility to remind people of the hideousness of this man’s life. Then they can ask for prayers; as it is, they made him sound like just another “victim.”
Would we lament the death of an Auschwitz torturer who in such measured tones?
You said — Would we lament the death of an Auschwitz torturer who in such measured tones?
—
Well, I think the Catholic Bishops left out someone with greater responsibility for the deaths of those millions of unborn (greater than the abortionists themselves) — they left out the mothers and fathers....
If anyone should get the “death penalty” first — in abortions — it should be the mothers and fathers...
God is just.
Not getting arrested.
Yes. Lawful violence is awesome -- "And conquer we MUST, when our cause it is just..." (from the national anthem. Unlawful violence is problematic.
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