and that can be identified through reason. That is why the Church feels very comfortable advocating for the Gospel of Life. We are not insisting that they embrace the Catholic faith, but we are insisting that they defend human rights."

Cardinal O'Malley also corrected Biden and Pelosi's mistaken understanding of Church history, saying,

"We also need to impress on people that this is not some recent opinion. These teachings against abortion date back to the earliest days of the Church and some of the oldest writings of the Fathers of the Church. Right from the beginning, the Fathers of the Church were very, very clear as to the seriousness of this crime."

Archbishop Chaput is not the only Mid-America Capuchin voicing his opinion. Another Capuchin, Bishop Stephen Reichert, O.F.M.Cap. of Mendi, Papua New Guinea, recently added his voice to the debate in an e-mail that circulated widely among the friars. Below is his statement in full:

"Estimated one million human beings murdered in the USA annually along with the scandal given by Catholic Democrat legislators who actively support and promote abortion, thus causing many Catholics and others to think abortion can't really be all that bad, is a pretty big deal. Add to this the fact that a Democrat president would export this same kind of thinking overseas by providing government funding for abortion programs to any country that would take them, which would be many since such funding would be tied to other assistance. More killing. More scandal and more damage to a culture of life.

The next president will also have the opportunity to replace one or more supreme court justices. Could be the end of Roe v. Wade or the perpetuation of it for a few more decades. Pretty high bar involved here. Don't know if a pre-emptive war of debatable justification begun five years ago, authorized by both parties (Biden included) but now winding down is a large enough issue to climb over that bar. The economy? Well, 6.1% unemployment is the envy of almost every country in the world. And from the perspective of one who lives in a developing country (PNG with an unemployment rate of somewhere above 50% for young men and women) where the population relies mainly on subsistence farming at the mercy of fickle nature and one dollar a day cash income, that American economy, even when it takes a dip south both at the end of the Clinton administration and the Bush administration, looks pretty good. Not sure the economy trumps right-to-life either."

CAPUCHIN BISHOPS SPEAK OUT
Bishops Criticize the Recent Statements by Catholic Politicians
Br. Joseph Mary Elder, O.F.M.Cap.

"As an ardent, practicing Catholic, [abortion] is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the Doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition [regarding whether life begins at conception]... We don't know."

Such was the controversial statement by Democratic House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, on NBC's August 24th edition of Meet the Press.

The Catholic position on abortion and its relation to politics was further misrepresented on the same news show less than two weeks later by Obama running-mate, Senator Joe Biden. Regarding the Catholic Church's position on abortion, Biden commented, "I'm prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at conception." But, he added, "for me to impose that judgment on others is inappropriate in a pluralistic society."

Such statements, broadcasts on a widely watched news program and made during an election year pivotal for the Pro-Life movement by politicians claiming adherence to Catholicism, have served to fuel the opposition of Catholic Bishops - among them several Capuchins.

In a joint statement responding to the Pelosi comment, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M.Cap. and his Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley said in a joint-statement:

"Catholic public leaders inconvenienced by the abortion debate tend to take a hard line in talking about the 'separation of church and state.' But their idea of separation often seems to work one way."

The statement recognized Pelosi's strengths as, "a gifted and public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills," but lamented that, "regrettably, knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them."

Neither did Pelosi escape the correction of Boston Archbishop Cardinal Sean P O'Malley. Cardinal O'Malley commented on Pelosi's Meet the Press remarks on his web blog, stating that,

"It was very unfortunate Speaker Pelsoi was misinterpreting what Catholic teaching is on abortion. From the very first generation of Christians, abortion has always been considered a very serious sin and a violation of human life."

Like Pelosi, Senator Biden's comments received a quick response from Archbishop Chaput who charged that Biden's argument was erroneous, unjust, and bad politics.

"In his Meet the Press interview, Sen. Biden used a morally exhausted argument that American Catholics have been hearing for 40 years: i.e., that Catholics can't 'impose' their religiously based views on the rest of the country. But resistance to abortion is a matter of human rights, not religious opinion. And the senator knows very well as a lawmaker that all law involves the imposition of some people's convictions on everyone else. That is the nature of the law. American Catholics have allowed themselves to be bullied into accepting the destruction of more than a million developing unborn children a year. Other people have imposed their 'pro-choice' beliefs on American society without any remorse for decades."

Cardinal O'Malley likewise criticized Biden's remarks as well as their underlying philosophy. In a statement on his blog the Cardinal stated that,

"It is our firm conviction that abortion, like murder or racism, is a crime against humanity and a violation of the Natural Law that flows from who we are as human beings

    ST. CONRAD MESSENGER - FALL 2008 - VOL 4                                                                               

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