With the Help of Catholics…Obama’s Victory

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.

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.

FWIW, my pastor this Sunday instructed the congregation that we should pray for 0bama

I've heard this phrase an awful lot but never really thought about it. I quipped on one of these posts, where someone posted "Obama is my President", that if Christians had the Internet in the first century I wonder if they would have posted "Nero is my Emperor". The more I've thought about that, the more profound I found it. Did Elijah pray for Jezebel? Did Moses pray for Pharaoh?

My more profound moments often come when I'm not thinking. (Although some would argue that most of the time I'm 1) not thinking and 2) not profound. But I digress.)

I looked up the verses that spawn this sort of "we must pray for our leaders" mentality. What are we to pray for and why should we pray? This is what the scriptures state:

1Ti 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
1Ti 2:2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

The reason we are to pray for leaders, is so that we can live a peaceful life. It does seem a bit self-serving but there you have it.

Christians who say we should pray for particular leaders need to ask themselves what precisely are we to pray for? That they make "wise" decisions? Clearly we wouldn't have abortion. The best we can do is that they will come to know the Lord in a personal way and repent of their sins. The worst is that they leave us alone.

...if Christians had the Internet in the first century I wonder if they would have posted "Nero is my Emperor"

IMO this exchange is close:

So the tribune came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And he said, "Yes."
The tribune answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum." Paul said, "But I am a citizen by birth."
- Acts 22:27-28

A Christian cannot support abortion yet rally against a war. A Christian can (and should) be against abortion yet may be in support of a war. There is a subtle difference.

Wow, for me that was about as subtle as a ton of bricks. :) Thanks for that great insight. If the moral has already been decided, that to legally kill innocents is OK, then it cannot be argued that legally killing anyone is wrong. However, if the moral is that it is wrong to legally kill innocents, then whether it is right to legally kill anyone else is unknown (based only on this moral). If that's a reasonable explanation then I'm definitely going to remember this one. :)

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.