Thursday, September 23, 2004
Prolife and Pro Choice from a Catholic Viewpoint
Good analysis of a faithful, not CINO catholic view of the pro-life stance, and why being a faithful catholic really doesn't let you waffle here by James K. Fitzpatrick writing at Catholic Exchange:
There may be reasons for a Catholic to vote for “pro-choice” Democrats, but this notion of a moral equivalence between them and pro-life conservatives is not one of them. Those who make the claim are either muddle-headed or engaged in a con job.... Well, I no longer have to defend my position on my own. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, has come to the rescue. A letter that Ratzinger wrote in June to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has recently been made public. The letter makes clear the difference between the way a Catholic must respond to the pope’s pronouncements on abortion and the way we must respond to his positions on issues such as capital punishment and the war in Iraq. (The existence of this letter was reported by the Italian daily La Repubblica, and subsequently confirmed by informed sources at the Vatican.)
The central theme of Ratzinger’s letter was whether Communion should be withheld from pro-abortion politicians. But in the course of dealing with that issue, Ratzinger also explained why the Church’s teaching on abortion is different from its position on capital punishment and Iraq. Said Ratzinger,Not all moral issues have the same weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to go to war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
Read the rest here
There may be reasons for a Catholic to vote for “pro-choice” Democrats, but this notion of a moral equivalence between them and pro-life conservatives is not one of them. Those who make the claim are either muddle-headed or engaged in a con job.... Well, I no longer have to defend my position on my own. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, has come to the rescue. A letter that Ratzinger wrote in June to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has recently been made public. The letter makes clear the difference between the way a Catholic must respond to the pope’s pronouncements on abortion and the way we must respond to his positions on issues such as capital punishment and the war in Iraq. (The existence of this letter was reported by the Italian daily La Repubblica, and subsequently confirmed by informed sources at the Vatican.)
The central theme of Ratzinger’s letter was whether Communion should be withheld from pro-abortion politicians. But in the course of dealing with that issue, Ratzinger also explained why the Church’s teaching on abortion is different from its position on capital punishment and Iraq. Said Ratzinger,
Read the rest here
# posted by Knitting a Conundrum @ 7:41 AM 
