Two conservative pro-life Catholic readers have written me this morning separately to pass on the news that the board of trustees of Franciscan University, the orthodox Catholic college in Steubenville, has accepted the resignation of Nicholas Cafardi, the prominent pro-life Catholic legal scholar and former dean of the Duquesne Law School. The reason he quit the board? He's endorsed Barack Obama for president. The school says it did not request Cafardi's resignation. I've read that Cafardi's support of Obama has become a big issue in some Catholic circles.
Both the readers, neither of whom know each other, stressed that this move upsets them, because, in the words of one, it amounts to the attempt by conservative Catholic activists to turn the Church "into the Republican Party at prayer."
Thoughts?
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And revoking these state laws with the FOCA statute will result in more abortions taking place.
Fine, if you really think that voting for McCain will make a difference then vote for him, but be prepared to be disappointed, again. If any FOCA type legislation lands on McCain's desk he will most likely sign it as readily as Obama will. And in four years you will be back to sounding like an abused wife, "but he says he really loves me and wants to change and that this time he really means it". Whether or not a FOCA type bill would get past the Supreme Court is an open question, since they pay so little attention to what the Constitution actually says, but it would make little if any difference in the number of abortions performed in any event.
If you want to end abortion, fine, so do I, but expecting politicians to do it is foolish. At best politics lags societal change, if it reflects it all. If you want to end abortion then first of all be consistently pro-life, including protecting and advocating for the lives of adults. It amazes me the number of "pro-lifers" that don't have a problem with unjust wars, or torture, or capital punishment or the state taking huge chunks out of someone's life for a triviality. But most of all, live it, in your life, in your church, in your communities, in your institutions. The problem isn't abortion per se, but a culture that both fears and worships death; change the culture. You change culture by changing the way people think, not by voting for president. You change culture by infiltrating institutions, starting from the bottom and changing them. You change culture by producing more attractive alternatives than the other guys offer. Produce better philosophy, better theology, better communities, better art, including better popular art. Most of all, live a life in a community that other people are attracted to and want to emulate. Just don't think a vote for one presidential candidate or another is going to have any effect whatsoever.
Favog, I did read your piece; it's the reason I responded in the first place. And, vulgar euphemisms for the Almighty's actions aside, I don't think you can ignore what many church leaders have written on this topic, which is that abortion is currently a bigger problem, and has been since it was made legal.
Plenty of people who voted for GWB did so in spite of, not because of, the administration's war efforts. Plenty of people have let their congresspeople know in no uncertain terms that they don't support torture. But in the minute or so it takes me to type this post another two to three babies have died in an abortion clinic, so forgive me if I take that to be the most important issue we face, and if I can't fathom for a moment overlooking it as Kmiec and Cafardi have for the sake of partisanship.
Abortions are currently at a thirty-year low, too, so stamping our feet and saying that pro-life laws and policies from the federal government down to the state and local ones has made no difference whatsoever is ignoring that reality. Not only will abortions increase under Obama, but the ability of the people to take any effective actions against them will be curtailed as well.
I understand the temptation to be defeatist and say that our leaders can do nothing to end abortion. I understand the temptation to want to rail against the evil Republicans who have duped pro-lifers into voting for them. But unless you believe that it is the positive moral duty of every pro-life American to accept a virtual disenfranchisement and simply quit voting altogether (as some Catholics do, by the way) then what are you really saying? That we should have better choices? No argument there.
But you're still ignoring the reality that pro-life Americans will vote, and faced with a choice between a party that just can't get enough of baby-killing and a party that at least to some degree opposes it, it's not all that shocking that more of them vote with the (however weak) opposition than with the "Dead Babies For All" group, is it?
Joe wrote: "That Franciscan U. does not allow any diversnity of opinion about these speaks volumes to what they are about. They are not about educating young people. They are about indoctrinating and brainwashing young people."
EXCUSE ME???
As one of these "indocrinated and brainwashed" students, I will tell you right now that I am recieving an inredible education. I am forced to THINK about my stance on issues such as life and why I believe what I do. Since becoming involved in the pro-life movement here on campus, my understanding of a human life and my duty to protect it has been strengthened.
While it is true that the majority of students here are pro-life and conservative, that is because we have CHOSEN this school because of its Catholic identity-- not because we are brainwashed. Franciscan University supports the teachings of the Catholic Church-- that abortion is an intrinsic evil and we cannot participate in it.
The issue with Cafardi is that he is openly supporting a canidate who is blatantly pro-abortion. This is a form of participating in abortion and is out of line with Church teaching. The issue is not that Cafardi is voting Democratic over Republican, but that he is giving up on the fight for life and going along with the evil of abortion. That is something that we, as a Catholic school in practice as well as in name, cannot allow.
It is such a shame that a so-called intellectual Catholic forget the most basic of beliefs and that is "All things are possible through our Lord". For him to say the Abortion issue has been lost, seems to have lost his faith in what our Lord can do. I feel this is the real tragedy.
It seems that some of our educators and others have forgotten about the unforgiveable sin against the Holy Spirit. Despair and Hopelessness that the Holy Spirit cannot provide help to those in need, is the basis for this sin, which includes admitting defeat on the abortion issue and other moral decisions we must support. Our Lord told us about this unforgiveable sin, we did not make it up! Once again, we are witnesses to Liberal Intellectual Rationalization for taking anti-Christian and anti-Catholic positions on clear morally correct decisions. We cannot simply check our Faith in at the door like a hat and coat. Either our Faith is with us at all times, or it is merely a faith of convenience.
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