How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma

Wall Street Journal ^ | 1/1/09 | Anne Hendershott

[wagglebee]

For faithful Roman Catholics, the thought of yet another pro-choice Kennedy positioned to campaign for the unlimited right to abortion is discouraging. Yet if Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of Catholics John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton, abortion-rights advocates will have just such a champion...

Caroline Kennedy knows that any Kennedy desiring higher office in the Democratic Party must now carry the torch of abortion rights throughout any race. But this was not always the case...

Even Ted Kennedy, who gets a 100% pro-choice rating from the abortion-rights group Naral, was at one time pro-life. In fact, in 1971, a full year after New York had legalized abortion, the Massachusetts senator was still championing the rights of the unborn. In a letter to a constituent dated Aug. 3, 1971, he wrote: "When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."

But that all changed in the early '70s, when Democratic politicians first figured out that the powerful abortion lobby could fill their campaign coffers (and attract new liberal voters). Politicians also began to realize that, despite the Catholic Church's teachings to the contrary, its bishops and priests had ended their public role of responding negatively to those who promoted a pro-choice agenda...

[wagglebee]

Until the clerics begin to counter the pro-choice claims made by high-profile Catholics such as Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and, now, Caroline Kennedy, faithful Catholics will continue to be bewildered by their pastoral silence.

Very true.

[wagglebee]

Pro-Life/Catholic Ping

[wagglebee]

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[Graybeard58]

I hear a lot about pro death Catholic politicians but very little about Protestant ones. The congress has to be full of pro death protestants as well. Shame on the lot of them.

[livius]

The former Jesuit priest Albert Jonsen, emeritus professor of ethics at the University of Washington, recalls the meeting in his book "The Birth of Bioethics" (Oxford, 2003). He writes about how he joined with the Rev. Joseph Fuchs, a Catholic moral theologian; the Rev. Robert Drinan, then dean of Boston College Law School; and three academic theologians, the Revs. Giles Milhaven, Richard McCormick and Charles Curran, to enable the Kennedy family to redefine support for abortion.

This was actually part of a larger movement among liberal theologians where the entire agenda of the Democratic Party was substituted for the teaching of the Church. A great book on this is The Faithful Departed, by Phil Lawler.

I think the bishops are beginning to wake up and fight back, and the heretical bishops are dying off, but I'm not sure they're going to be able to do much at this point. Still, they have to try.

[Lou Budvis]

The Kennedys worship power more than God. And unfortunately, there have always been priest, bishop and pope enablers in the RCC who will give sanction to the powerful to remain in their good graces. Such clergy is a disgace to St. Thomas More.

[wagglebee]

Very true. However, and it is difficult to say this without seeming critical of Protestantism though that is not my intent, mainline Protestant denominations today are either openly or tacitly condoning abortion. Additionally, Protestant leaders who are opposed to abortion often fail to prioritize it.

Catholic teaching against abortion is very clear as is the threat of excommunication, the problem has been the reluctance of the Church to actually follow through and start excommunicating politicians like Pelosi, Kerry, Biden and the Kennedys. I believe that if just one of them were to be publicly excommunicated, we would see a major shift in public perception.

[wagglebee]

I think the bishops are beginning to wake up and fight back, and the heretical bishops are dying off, but I'm not sure they're going to be able to do much at this point. Still, they have to try.

As I wrote in post #7, I believe that if the Church were to actually publicly excommunicate someone like Pelosi, Kerry, Biden or one of the Kennedys, we would see results.

[gscc]

“Catholic teaching against abortion is very clear as is the threat of excommunication,”

“Threats” mean nothing to these politicians. The Catholic Church fears alienating it’s flock by actually disciplining those that defy Church teaching. It is purely economic.

[DeweyCA]

Mr. Jonsen writes that the Hyannisport colloquium was influenced by the position of another Jesuit, the Rev. John Courtney Murray, a position that "distinguished between the moral aspects of an issue and the feasibility of enacting legislation about that issue." It was the consensus at the Hyannisport conclave that Catholic politicians "might tolerate legislation that would permit abortion under certain circumstances if political efforts to repress this moral error led to greater perils to social peace and order."

In other words, Catholic politicians "might tolerate" abortion if the alternative is that standing against abortion would lead to some unspecified social catastrophe. Using that logic, a person could justify almost anything. After all, if an action might possibly lead to a civil war killing millions of people, or to the rise of a Hitler type of leader, then the action could be justified. Oh, the glories of relativism. You can justify anything

[Guenevere]

There was a moment in time when... if the Protestant and Catholic church leaders had acted

.. we might have halted the advancing juggernaut of abortion and the slippery slope it became.

From 1988 to 1993 Catholic and Protestant church members, priests and pastors tried to make a difference....

..risking arrest to bring attention to abortion...

For their efforts they were beaten, thrown in jail and served with RICO...

..many lost jobs, finances, health....

..and the Church remained silent, for the most part....or turned her head in embarrassment.

The moment passed...and now we have partial birth abortion, infanticide, and soon, euthanasia.....just like we were warned 20 years ago.

[I-ambush]

I don’t think the concern is “purely economic;” I believe the Pope and bishops are also trying to avoid a formal schism, a possibility if an edict were to be published excommunicating anyone who publicly supports abortion rights.

I would add, however, that I would prefer such as schism to our current sorry state.

[wagglebee]

Very true.

This is the level of commitment that is necessary:

Catholic Bishop Says He Would Die Tomorrow if Abortions End as a Result

[wintertime]

Within the first week of her candidacy, Ms. Kennedy promised to work for several causes, including same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Why hasn't this woman been publicly (quickly and officially) excommunicated?

When public personalities **publicly** support abortion and same sex marriage, then the excommunication should be public and official as well. I would think that the integrity of the Church and its standing with the faithful demands it.

[NewJerseyJoe]

> despite the Catholic Church's teachings to the contrary, its bishops and priests had ended their public role of responding negatively to those who promoted a pro-choice agenda.
> In some cases, church leaders actually started providing "cover" for Catholic pro-choice politicians who wanted to vote in favor of abortion rights. At a meeting at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, Mass., on a hot summer day in 1964, the Kennedy family and its advisers and allies were coached by leading theologians and Catholic college professors on how to accept and promote abortion with a "clear conscience."

Right around the time of the Second Vatican Council and the introduction of the so-called "new mass." What a coincidence. (NOT)

[NewJerseyJoe]

A very heroic-sounding comment... but one that deals entirely in “ifs.” Other than being a sound bite, it has no meaning and no effect in the here-and-now. Actions will speak far louder than sound bites.

[wintertime]

The Catholic Church fears alienating it’s flock by actually disciplining those that defy Church teaching. It is purely economic.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I disagree.

I believe that too many Catholic leaders are Marxist Liberation Theologists. They worship Karl Marx instead of God. They don’t discipline liberal/Marxist public figures because it would be a set back for the cause of Marxism.

[wintertime]

One more thing:

If the Catholic Church is ever to be reformed it will be because faithful conservative Catholic demand it. I wish we had a nation full of these good Catholics ( some of whom post here.)

[Desdemona]

Why hasn't this woman been publicly (quickly and officially) excommunicated?

Because her archbishop is Edward Egan. This is the man who fired the exorcists. Orthodox Catholic Cardinals Egan is not.

[nina0113]

This is the man who fired the exorcists.

??? I guess I was absent that day. Gotta link?