Posted on 10/29/2008 4:57:26 AM PDT by Sons of Union Vets
....Q. Has the church always opposed abortion?
Bishop McDonnell: There has always been overwhelming evidence all the way back 2000 years, that abortion is wrong, that it is taking what God has created and destroying that life. That doesn’t mean that we don’t realize that women have a very difficult time. That is why there are so many services out there offered to help women who are pregnant.
Q. This issue is so polarizing that most people would rather avoid it, let alone be loud and proud and say “pro-life.” How can you encourage Catholics to really be a hero on this issue for the unborn?
Bishop McDonnell: I go to science. Since ultrasounds have become very common, all of a sudden, the wonder of what takes place during those nine months in the womb has become more understandable. I don’t think anybody can look at an ultrasound or read the scientific literature without realizing that this unique human life, this unique human being is there. I think we have to focus on the fact that 40 million lives have been ended since Roe v. Wade.
Q. Where does the respect life issue fall on the priority list for Catholics?
Bishop McDonnell: The right to life is at the basis of everything else we do. We have to understand that. There’s no either or, abortion or social justice. Abortion is a social justice issue......
(Excerpt) Read more at iobserve.org ...
The Most Reverend Timothy A. McDonnell is the Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts.
BRAVO, BISHOP MCDONNELL!
Any and ALL women that TRUST in GOD that their pregnancies are a GIFT and not to be destoyed by Abortion, will be SAINTS in heaven when they die.
Bravo! Our Bishops are getting into big trouble for speaking out and deserve all our support. God bless and pray for them.
More than a 100 reasons to not vote for Obama by Fr. West:
http://frwest.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-than-100-reasons-to-vote-against.html
More than a 100 reasons to not vote for Obama by Fr. West:
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Thanks for the link! That link is definitely a keeper. I bookmarked it and am passing it around to people I know who in turn will pass it around to people they know!
I agree Ann. And I have no patience for the ‘except in the case of...whatever’ crowd.
I have heard all of the political and emotional arguments for the “except in the case of rape or incest” illogic and though they are seductive, they are not convincing. From the political perspective, one might suggest that there is a better chance of getting anti-abortion legislation passed when exceptions are allowed and I have no reason to doubt that assertion. From the emotional angle, we all have heart-felt sympathy for the victimized mother.
There is a powerful reluctance to force a woman to continue her physically demanding and emotionally draining role in the most divine function of God’s nature when the initiation of that process was without the mother’s normally assumed consent. We would be assigning to her the responsibility to carry into this world a new soul who will be a seemingly unholy combination of her own self and of a man who is either frighteningly unknown or sinfully familiar.
There is, of course, the almost inescapable temptation to assume this new person will somehow not be good because the genetic code of a rapist was used in his/her construction. Or that the new person will somehow not be complete because of the potential for physiological problems to arise when daddy is grandpa.
Adoption is always an option when the post-birth burdens outweigh the natural desire of the mother to nurture a child which is, after all, still half her.
On any scientific or logical rationale, assuming human life has value, I would ask two questions:
-Does it continue to grow and change via natural biologic process? - If so, it is alive.
-What will you call this life if the process is allowed to complete? - If the answer is ‘human’, then it has rights.
The Bishops and Priests need to tell the people that GOD will REWARD them for bringing their children into the world....
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Well said.
By Tim Waggoner
WASHINGTON, October 27, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A comprehensive list compiled by InsideCatholic.com reveals that more than 80 U.S. bishops have proclaimed abortion and the life issues to be the defining issues in the upcoming election, including 22 bishops who signed on to a joint statement by the New York bishops, and another 10 bishops who signed on to a Pennsylvania joint statement.
Just three days ago, LifeSiteNews.com reported that popular Catholic writer and blogger Rocco Palmo had calculated that approximately 50 bishops have proclaimed abortion and the life issues to be the defining issues in the election; but according to InsideCatholic the number is significantly greater than that.
Increasingly, and with increasing urgency, the shepherds of the U.S. Church are encouraging their flock to see the gift of life as the most important election issue – even in the midst of a war and a struggling economy. As the New York bishops write, "The inalienable right to life of every innocent human person outweighs other concerns where Catholics may use prudential judgment, such as how best to meet the needs of the poor or to increase access to health care for all."
Many of the bishops have also observed that abortion is not the only violation against the right to life that voters must consider, but have urged Catholics to consider the candidate's positions on euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and other violations against the human embryo.
With one presidential candidate promising to promote a culture of life and the other vowing to put as one of his highest priorities the extreme pro-abortion Freedom of Choice Act, this election has seen an increasing number of bishops courageously defending life.
After listing several offenses against life, the Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann and the Most Reverend Robert W. Finn, only two of the 80 plus bishops to highlight the life issues as the most urgent issues currently facing America, said in a joint statement, "A properly formed conscience must give such issues priority even over other matters with important moral dimensions."
U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Vatican's highest court, said the Democratic Party "risks transforming itself definitively into a 'party of death."
The determination of these bishops to reach Catholic voters appears to be paying off.
Investor's Business Daily and the TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics (IBD/TIPP) has released a tracking poll that shows a dramatic shift in opinion that may be a result of the bishops' guidance to their flocks.
IBD/TIPP reported on Thursday that John McCain has gone from an 11-point deficit to a 9-point lead over Barack Obama among Catholic voters.
According to the Drudge Report, IBD/TIPP was the most accurate pollster for the 2004 election.
See InsideCatholic.com's article here: http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog...
InsideCatholic.com's list of bishops proclaiming abortion as the main election issue:
(Note that numbers 58 and 59 encompass 22 and 10 bishops respectively, who are included in joint statements issued by the bishops of New York and Pennsylvania)
1. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver
2. Bishop James Conley, auxiliary of Denver
3. Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.
4. Justin Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities
5. Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, chairman of the Committee on Doctrine
6. Edward Cardinal Egan of New York
7. Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo
8. Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh
9. Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs
10. Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio
11. Bishop Oscar Cantu, auxiliary of San Antonio
12. Bishop William Murphy of Rockville
13. Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa
14. Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas
15. Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin
16. Sean Cardinal O'Malley of Boston
17. Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando
18. Archbishop John Nienstedt of Saint Paul/Minneapolis
19. Francis Cardinal George of Chicago, President of the USCCB
20. Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker
21. Bishop Jerome Listecki of La Crosse
22. Bishop Richard Lennon of Cleveland
23. Bishop Ralph Nickless of Sioux City
24. Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco
25. Bishop Glen Provost of Lake Charles, LA
26. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn
27. Bishop Joseph F. Martino of Scranton
28. Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura
30. Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte
31. Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh
32. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, KS
33. Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO
34. Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, WS
35. Bishop Ronald Gilmore of Dodge City, KS
36. Bishop Paul Coakley of Salina, KS
37. Bishop Michael Jackels of Wichita
38. Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito of Palm Beach
39. Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth
40. Bishop Rene H. Gracida, retired, of Corpus Christi
41. Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of Houston
42. Bishop Paul S. Loverde of Arlington
43. Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond
44. Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Center
45. Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester
46. Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Patterson
47. Bishop Robert Herrmann of St. Louis
48. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore
49. Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix
50. Bishop Thomas D. Doran of Rockford
51. Bishop Joseph A. Galante of Camden
52. Bishop Robert J. Baker of Birmingham
53. Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett of Seattle
54. Bishop J. Peter Sartain of Joliet
55. Bishop John M. Smith of Trenton
56. Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing
57. Bishop Leonard R. Blair of Toledo
58. Joint Statement by the bishops of New York State (22 bishops)
59. Joint Statement by the bishops of Pennsylvania (10 bishops)
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