Why you shouldn’t blame the clergy that a majority of Catholics support abortion

Life Site News ^ | July 26, 2013 | MATTHEW WOJCIECHOWSKI

[NYer]

LifeSiteNews recently reported the unsurprising findings of a poll commissioned by The Washington Post and ABC stating that a majority of American Catholics are in favor of abortion in “all or most cases.” Coincidentally or providentially, LifeSiteNews published this article on the same day as the Catholic Church celebrated the 45th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s momentous encyclical Humanae Vitae. I suppose it was the latter, and I thank them for doing so.

The findings of the poll were disheartening. As a sinful, aspiring Catholic, this article provided me with a great lesson in humility and self-examination, and this is why.

As I read through the unsurprising, but equally devastating, results my anger grew stronger. What is wrong with all these Catholics? Where did the Church go wrong? Where did the pro-life movement go wrong? How is this possible and why don’t they just get it?

Within seconds, my mind began to play the blame game, and naturally, my first target was the clerics of the church: Priests, bishops, and religious. “This is all their fault,” I thought. Over the years, they have completely abandoned their flock. They stopped preaching the truth from the pulpit and with their own lives. They are to blame for this drastic dissent among Catholics.

Luckily, I quickly sobered up. I took a deep breath, and began to reflect more personally.

In reality, we are all to blame. How pro-life is my family? My relationship with others? Do I always stand on the side of life in conversations with my relatives and peers? How is my relationship with my wife? My husband? My children? My parents? My relationship with my pastor? And yes, this is supposed to sound like an examination of conscience.

Instead of blaming the usual suspects, we need to look at our own lives. Clergy have an immense responsibility in the Church and they should be held accountable – but not any more accountable than husbands ought to be to their wives (and vice-versa), parents to their children, etc.

If I want more Catholics to truly believe that the right to life is above all other rights, that the inherent dignity of every human being – born and preborn – must be protected and defended at all costs and that to be Christian is to be pro-life, then I need to start with me and my immediate family. Devout and faithful priests (and there are many) definitely help, but the immediate family is the nucleus of our society, and everything starts there. This is usually the hardest place to start, but it is fundamental.

On this 45th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, we should all take the time to sit down with our family, after dinner, and read through this amazing document that was given to us by an amazing pope. We should discuss it, ask questions, seek answers, clear up misunderstandings, and relate with each other honestly by surrendering ourselves to the graces of the Holy Spirit. Afterwards, pray together for all priests and bishops and for a culture of life to be restored in our nation and around the world.

The Church and the pro-life movement have a lot of work to do and these poll results are a sobering reminder. But rather than blaming others, as I initially did, these results should motivate us to take an active role in the new evangelization and to make sure that when the next poll comes around, members of our own families will fall into the category of those who oppose abortion in all cases, not the other way around. 

[JCBreckenridge]

“Ditto every other heavily Catholic state in the union. I tend to find that converts tend to be delusional about reality.”

Umm, you are aware that the majority of Catholic support for Obama comes from California alone? Excluding California, Romney won the Catholic vote.

[wintertime]

Please do not post to me.

[tomsbartoo]

I completely disagree, NYer, and I doubt seriously if you’ll be able to fool any genuine Catholic with the falsities that you have written. Intentionally or not, you are defending the modernist bishops and priests who would allow the faithful to determine what is right and wrong by themselves without having the benefit of being taught by the Church. You have focused, singularly, on abortion, but there are so many other issues that are also important that would fall under your same twisted reasoning.

You must know that it is the responsibility of the bishop and the priests that they train to teach all mankind the truths of the Catholic Church; the one and only true Church that was created by Jesus Christ, for the purpose of leading all men to salvation. Simply because Vatican II confused these bishops (and many others including you) with their heresies, does not give them a pass. When the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the pit. The modernist bishops would have us believe that collectively “feeding the poor” (whether through a government or a Church-sponsored program) will take us to heaven. The bishops have a duty to abandon their blind pursuit of these humanistic goals that greatly please the secular press, and to speak out against the sins that are leading so many people astray.

Had the bishops spoken out in a timely fashion since the vatican II as they should have on the great moral issues of out day, things might have been different. But they were virtually silent, not only on abortion, but on the countless other examples of the moral decadence of our day like birth control, homosexuality, living together without the benefit of marriage, pornography, masturbation, fidelity to all Church teachings, to name just a few. But they didn’t say a word and we are now witnessing the carnage of human, embryonic life, and the loss of so many souls. It is absolutely the fault of the bishops, along with the those lesser clerics who refuse to help others know and understand the true teachings of the Church that were well defined before the modernists of the heretical Second Vatican Council set their confusion in motion.

You would be wise, NYer, to read some of the many traditional Catholic publications that continue to teach the truth for those Catholics that would care to learn. The Catholic Family News and the Remnant would be an excellent start.