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Bishops Respond To Senator Biden’s Statements Regarding Church Teaching On Abortion
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ^
Posted on 09/10/2008 3:12:59 PM PDT by flyfree
WASHINGTONCardinal Justin F. Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop William E. Lori, chairman, U.S. Bishops Committee on Doctrine, issued the following statement:
Recently we had a duty to clarify the Catholic Churchs constant teaching against abortion, to correct misrepresentations of that teaching by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Meet the Press (see http://www.usccb.org/prolife/whatsnew.shtml). On September 7, again on Meet the Press, Senator Joseph Biden made some statements about that teaching that also deserve a response.
Senator Biden did not claim that Catholic teaching allows or has ever allowed abortion. He said rightly that human life begins at the moment of conception, and that Catholics and others who recognize this should not be required by others to pay for abortions with their taxes.
However, the Senators claim that the beginning of human life is a personal and private matter of religious faith, one which cannot be imposed on others, does not reflect the truth of the matter. The Church recognizes that the obligation to protect unborn human life rests on the answer to two questions, neither of which is private or specifically religious.
The first is a biological question: When does a new human life begin? When is there a new living organism of the human species, distinct from mother and father and ready to develop and mature if given a nurturing environment? While ancient thinkers had little verifiable knowledge to help them answer this question, today embryology textbooks confirm that a new human life begins at conception (see http:// www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/bioethic/fact298.shtml). The Catholic Church does not teach this as a matter of faith; it acknowledges it as a matter of objective fact.
The second is a moral question, with legal and political consequences: Which living members of the human species should be seen as having fundamental human rights, such as a right not to be killed? The Catholic Churchs answer is: Everybody. No human being should be treated as lacking human rights, and we have no business dividing humanity into those who are valuable enough to warrant protection and those who are not. This is not solely a Catholic teaching, but a principle of natural law accessible to all people of good will. The framers of the Declaration of Independence pointed to the same basic truth by speaking of inalienable rights, bestowed on all members of the human race not by any human power, but by their Creator. Those who hold a narrower and more exclusionary view have the burden of explaining why we should divide humanity into those who have moral value and those who do not and why their particular choice of where to draw that line can be sustained in a pluralistic society. Such views pose a serious threat to the dignity and rights of other poor and vulnerable members of the human family who need and deserve our respect and protection.
While in past centuries biological knowledge was often inaccurate, modern science leaves no excuse for anyone to deny the humanity of the unborn child. Protection of innocent human life is not an imposition of personal religious conviction but a demand of justice.
TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; biden; catholic
1
posted on
09/10/2008 3:15:02 PM PDT
by
flyfree
To: flyfree
Spine growing at the UCCB! Whoda thunk it?
2
posted on
09/10/2008 3:18:34 PM PDT
by
don-o
(Avoid the rush. Donate to FR today. Do the RIGHT thing.)
To: flyfree
Very well written. I rejoice to see faithful Roman Catholics strongly maintain the high course on this issue.
3
posted on
09/10/2008 3:19:22 PM PDT
by
Fester Chugabrew
(Proud participant in "Operation Chaos")
To: flyfree
Absolutely no wiggle room.
4
posted on
09/10/2008 3:22:00 PM PDT
by
VRWCtaz
(McCain/Palin '08!!!)
To: flyfree
So Joe, was the holocost a personal and private religious matter?
5
posted on
09/10/2008 3:27:47 PM PDT
by
DirtyDawg
To: flyfree
Go Bishop Lori! (that’s my Bishop :)
6
posted on
09/10/2008 3:38:27 PM PDT
by
Ol' Sox
To: flyfree
So Biden is running against the Catholic Bishops while Obama takes on Palin. Brilliant.
To: Fester Chugabrew
Agreed - very well written.
Right to the point, and cuts through all the dust that people try to throw in the air on this matter.
8
posted on
09/10/2008 3:42:03 PM PDT
by
El Cid
(Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
To: AndyJackson
Biden is running against
the Catholic Bishops Almighty God while Obama takes on Palin.
I like the odds.
9
posted on
09/10/2008 3:44:42 PM PDT
by
Mrs. Don-o
("Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler."--- Einstein)
To: DirtyDawg
LOL - so true! These fools never understand the power or consequence of their idiotic ideas.
To: flyfree
The Catholic Church does not teach this as a matter of faith; it acknowledges it as a matter of objective fact. It doesn't get any more direct than this.
11
posted on
09/10/2008 4:29:01 PM PDT
by
Alberta's Child
(I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
To: flyfree
12
posted on
09/10/2008 5:16:38 PM PDT
by
Fred
(The Democrat Party is the Nadir of Nihilism)
To: flyfree
Protection of innocent human life is not an imposition of personal religious conviction but a demand of justice.Short and sweet. Excellent!
13
posted on
09/10/2008 6:44:03 PM PDT
by
SuziQ
To: flyfree; don-o
Bishops who have spoken out about Pelosi -- also applies to Biden.
Updated: American Bishops who have spoken against Pelosi
Here is the complete list of American bishops who have responded to Nancy Pelosi's comments so far:
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... Bishop James Conley, his auxiliary, joined him
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... Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, chairman of the Committee on Doctrine, joined him
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Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh and...
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... Bishop Oscar Cantu, his auxiliary bishop, has joined him
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Cardinal
Francis George of Chicago, President of the US Bishops,
has weighed-in
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{Last updated on September 10th.}
Notes:
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Previous #23 has been removed. Bishop Joseph Gossman of Raleigh, NC is actually the bishop emeritus, and the new bishop, Michael Burbidge has not, to my knowledge, made a personal statement.
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Previous #16 has also been removed, it was an erroneous duplication of current #13.
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#26 was added September 10th, although he published his column September 6th
14
posted on
09/10/2008 9:13:09 PM PDT
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
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