Posted on 11/05/2008 10:42:55 AM PST by Alex Murphy
November 5, 2008 (insidecatholic.com) - When the U.S. bishops hold their annual meeting in Baltimore next week, one item on the agenda will be approval of the new Order for the Blessing of the Child in the Womb.
The blessing, according to the USCCB, "was prepared to support parents awaiting the birth of their child, to encourage in the parish prayers for and recognition of the gift of the child in the womb, and to foster respect for human life within society." If approved by the bishops, the Blessing of the Child in the Womb will be incorporated into the Book of Blessings.
It couldn't come at a better time.
The election of Barack Obama sets the stage for a series of potential executive and congressional acts that could remove all the limits set on abortion since the Roe v. Wade decision. The most pernicious of these is the "Freedom of Choice Act," which Obama has promised will be the first bill he signs into law as president.
It is estimated that FOCA alone would result in 125,000 more abortions a year in the United States. That figure does not take into account other measures, such as Obama's pledge not to renew the Mexico City Policy and to repeal the Hyde amendment. As a result of Obama's victory, there will not only be hundreds of thousands of additional abortions, but American taxpayers will be paying for them.
Polls of Catholic voters prior to the election suggested that Obama might win a majority of self-identified Catholic voters. A more significant measure of Obama's Catholic support will be the percentage of regular Mass-attending Catholics who voted for him.
But regardless of the final statistics, it is clear that the Obama-Biden ticket received substantial help from Catholics working for parishes and chanceries, as well as a number of high-profile Catholic politicians and jurists. They successfully promoted the flaws of "Faithful Citizenship" to Catholics nationwide, neutralizing any advantage the Church's pro-life and pro-marriage teachings might offer to McCain-Palin.
"Faithful Citizenship" stated that, under certain circumstances, a Catholic could in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights for "other grave reasons" as long as they do not intend to support that position (34-35).
It's a strange argument that allows Catholics to send a politician with an undeniably extreme abortion record into the Oval Office and yet somehow bear no responsibility for what happens to unborn children as a result. One can only wonder what "grave reasons" the bishops could have had in mind that would outweigh the 4,000 unborn children who are aborted each day.
Many bishops -- including Bishops Vann, Farrell, Vasa, Martino, and Chaput -- stepped forward in the last months to correct misinterpretations of "Faithful Citizenship," but it was too late. History will show that Catholics helped to vote into office a president whose record contradicts our most fundamental moral belief -- the sanctity of human life.
When the bishops meet next week and approve the Blessing of the Child in the Womb, just as important will be the steps they take in convincing the president-elect to change his mind about the Freedom of Choice Act.
Change, after all, can be a good thing.
***My pastor made a comment last Sunday that conservative Christians tend to vote for moral issues while liberal Christians tend to vote for social issues; but they were both Christians.***
There are social issues that should cover the spectrum of Christianity, but not at the cost of moral issues.
With all respect the pastor is illustrating the problem. The question is how to fix it.
I believe they are, at least the ones I know who voted for Obama are. I just think they voted their party before their beliefs. How sad is that?
I hope and pray that the churches will get off their apathetic behinds and get a heads up on this before it goes too much further. Love, Mary
Please do post it. Wow! Our deacon brought his own intentions for the last weekend’s Masses. There was pro-life inttention.
Anti-FOCA intention.
Pro family intention.
New elected leader to protect life intention
It was awesome.
I'm not as sure as you are. Voting for a candidate that believes infanticide is okay does not strike me as someone who is guided by the Holy Spirit.
I agree. To me social issues are secondary concerns. Moral issues are primary issues.
I fear no man, but God alone... Saint Thomas More, guide us forward to the fight, for as you “I am the King’s good servant, but God’s first.” Sancte Pie Decime, gloriose patrone, ora pro nobis!
Catholic Martyrs arise... not as feeble lambs led to the slaughter... but as fighting men and women of God. Fasten your armor, make ready your weapons, grasp the Holy Cross and straddle your mount.
For my portion, I shall not lay down my life in mere passive resistance to Marxist thugs, their wretched conspirators, and the evil soon to flood our native land. In the spirit of Joan de Arc, I choose the sword of truth. Yes, weep over the lost souls of the enemy, as the great saint once did; but spare them not their freely chosen fate.
Those who have betrayed the Catholic Faith from within are the worst foes of the Church; they must be exposed and expunged from the flock. Respect not their rank, for they have thrown the Holy Cross to the ground and trampled it in the mud. The time is arrived to engage not with soft word but by hard deed. What say you, my fellows?
Here we go with the anti-Catholic bs again. I voted Maverick and begrudgingly due to what I perceived as deficient(although physically appealing) Veep choice. Still to pin this one on the faltering Catholics is such a stretch. Heck as a Catholic, I am concerned at the dramatic drop in church attendance, in parishes and schools closing, in rise of lawsuits against numerous pedophiles allowed near our children and the drop in donations. So while there those in our church that think there is only one way or the highway, it’s this same mantra that got the Republican party in a bind. Remember, no matter how much you hate to hear this - without the center-rights like us (the doctors, the scientists, the white collars, and even blue collars) we’ll never win again. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you - and this goes for my fellow Catholics (regardless of whether you use a capital C or not)
Wrong, unfortunately. There's a correlation between frequency of attendance and conservatism. While not the whole voting chart, here's the relevant subset:
65% McCain, xx% Obama - Weekly church-attending Protestants7
55% McCain, 43% Obama - Weekly mass-attending Catholics 6,9
54% McCain, 44% Obama - Weekly church-goers1,4,7,12
54% McCain, 45% Obama - Protestants6,8
52% McCain, 47% Obama - White "regular-mass-attending" Catholics12
46% McCain, 52% Obama - Non-Evangelical Protestants 12
xx% McCain, 53% Obama - Monthly church-goers 4**
45% McCain, 54% Obama - Catholics1,4,6,8,9,10,11,12
xx% McCain, 59% Obama - Semi-annual church-goers4**
38% McCain, 61% Obama - Occasional churchgoers1
37% McCain, 61% Obama - Non-weekly-mass-attending Catholics6,12
xx% McCain, 68% Obama - Don't attend church4 **
23% McCain, 75% Obama - Unaffliliated with any religion11
Salvation,
Good news! I’ve just been informed that Father plans to publish a re-creation of last Sunday’s homily in our parish bulliten next week, so as soon as it becomes available, I’ll post it and ping you and NYer.
Keep in mind, that what Father is doing is re-creating the homily. He is a skilled author, so while I’m sure it will be equally moving, I’m not sure he can write it out word-for-word. I only wish someone had had a video camera at Mass on Sunday. It was riveting. Stay tuned!
Regards,
Well the people on this board have to blame somebody and Catholics are their prime choice.
Cool!
Freegards
With respects, I disagree.
There are SOME people on this board who have set out to blame EVERYTHING on Catholics...no credit for the good, just blame for the bad.
Nothing new. Hate is addictive.
I can agree with that.
Too many put the party first and God second. I don’t understand it either.
I am assuming this figure includes Blacks and Hispanics, bringing the 75% figure for White protestants as a sub group down to 65% for all Protestants. I'm figuring the Hispanic figure doesn't impact the Protestant % as much as Blacks because more of them are Roman Catholic.
If they are doing that they are placing something in front of God, not Christian behavior.
FWIW, my pastor this Sunday instructed the congregation that we should pray for 0bama, to which a small group applauded. My pastor then gave a sermon on election after which I couldn't help but wonder how many of those that applauded were not among the elect.
I think you are so right, moral issues are the primary issues and if we pursue dealing with them social issues get resolved. If we are placing social issues first we really are only trying to engineer society to our preference.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.