So Much For President Obama's Free Exchange of Ideas

My daughter was eating breakfast this morning while I reviewed pictures at Catholic News Service (video clip from YouTube). She asked me questions about Notre Dame and why they would invite (and honor) the President. I had no good answers.


"Maybe they didn't realize he is for abortion," she said.


"No, I'm quite sure they knew precisely how he feels about abortion," I told her. Then I recommended that she look to other Catholic universities when she considers a college (in about seven years).


In studying the pictures from Sunday, I had a few thoughts. First, it is obvious that President Obama's call for "a free exchange of ideas" is a farce. The President speaks freely from his podium, while others are taken away in handcuffs - priests, religious, laity. There is no free exchange of ideas on this day.


Secondly, I'm not sure there should be a free exchange of ideas, but the one who should not be speaking his mind at ND is the President of the United States. There should be no "free exchange of ideas" because this speaker has passed legislation that protects the right to take the life of the unborn - at every stage. If he had supported legislation for genocide or another holocaust or slavery, he would not have become president and he certainly wouldn't be honored at Notre Dame. Sometimes something is wrong - so wrong that the viewpoint simply shouldn't get a public venue. At the very least, it shouldn't get a Catholic venue, a Catholic honor, a Catholic endorsement (standing ovation, crowd chanting "Yes We Can", pat on the back, smiles and accolades). As Catholics, that is how we feel about abortion. It is an intrinsic evil. Yet, who is silenced?


Who has been denied the public venue? The pictures speak for themselves. . .

So Much For President Obama's Free Exchange of Ideas

Cardinal Rigali to those in public office

Dear Representative,

In a society where disagreements on abortion and the rights of the unborn child seem persistent and intractable, there are some statements that almost everyone can endorse. First, the fact that over a million abortions take place every year in this country is a tragedy, and we should at least take steps to reduce abortions. Second, no woman should ever have to undergo an abortion because she feels she has no other choice or because alternatives were unavailable or not made known to her. An abortion performed under such social and economic duress meets no one's standard for "freedom of choice." If you agree with these statements, I hope you will support and co-sponsor the Pregnant Women Support Act recently reintroduced by Representative Lincoln Davis (D- TN).


Read more of Cardinal Rigali's letter at: http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=33340

Cardinal Rigali to those in public office

A yes and yes people

Our Sunday reading at Mass went straight to the heart of the matter. We are not a people of yes and no. We are a people of yes and yes.

How does this really elusive piece of scripture have application for a people who promote a culture of life in the midst of a culture of death?

The website http://www.priestsforlife.org/ helps give framework to what we believe and how we act. Priests for Life work to protect the lives of the unborn. They give unborn babies their yes.

They also give all people, from conception to natural death, their yes. http://www.priestsforlife.org/articles/capitalpunishment.htm

http://www.priestsforlife.org/euthanasia/index.htm

They give all life issues their yes.

It is not yes for one (the unborn) and no to others (elderly, infirm and convicted). It is yes and yes and yes. . .

They also give us guidance, along with the bishops and the Holy Father, to see that some issues may conflict with others as we try to decide on a candidate for public office. In this situation, we must understand that not all issues have the same moral weight (which all Catholics already know). Some life issues eclipse others when we are deciding on which candidate to support (and maybe even which life issue to contribute to).

This, however, is not a yes to the unborn and a no to the elderly or infirm or convicted. It is a yes and a yes. Or rather, it is a Yes and a yes.

A yes and yes people

When Doubts Arise - Death Penalty

I must admit that my initial doubts about the death penalty were the result of a movement in my spirit which I could not explain. I could not say that the death penalty was always wrong. All I could say was that I had my doubts.

I alluded to the changes in my spirit in another post, and I received such a thorough response from one reader that I realized that I couldn’t have a general doubt about it; I had to find out what the Church says.

The writer had quoted some important people, but I know it is possible to take almost anything out of context and make it support one’s position. And so, I went to the place I trust.

I knew it was time to find an encyclical that addressed the topic. It is appropriate for a faithful Catholic to go to a faithful Pope for direction, especially when that Holy Father is writing an encyclical. Isn’t that what we believe as Catholics? So, here are some things I have turned up so far:

From Evangelium Vitae Section 9 (Pope John Paul II quoting Holy Scripture)

And yet God, who is always merciful even when he punishes, "put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him" (Gen 4:15). He thus gave him a distinctive sign, not to condemn him to the hatred of others, but to protect and defend him from those wishing to kill him, even out of a desire to avenge Abel's death. Not even a murderer loses his personal dignity, and God himself pledges to guarantee this.

(St. Ambrose quoted in that same paragraph)

“God drove Cain out of his presence and sent him into exile far away from his native land, so that he passed from a life of human kindness to one which was more akin to the rude existence of a wild beast. God, who preferred the correction rather than the death of a sinner, did not desire that a homicide be punished by the exaction of another act of homicide.”




So, my doubts in the death penalty remain. I still cannot say that the death penalty is always wrong. But I do believe that it is almost never right. AmericanCatholic.org has posted this: The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty in nearly all cases. Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, U.S. bishops and other Catholic leaders throughout the world have spoken out against capital punishment as act that stands in contradiction to the belief that all human life is sacred.

It is wonderful when something our spirit suspects is captured in words – and it is even better when those words come from a source we completely trust (an encyclical written by the Holy Father and supported by our bishops).

That said, how can anyone have doubts about the death penalty but continue to vote for a politician who supports abortion (or promises to keep abortion legal)? It seems like everyone, conservative and liberal, would have to acknowledge that the completely innocent deserve full protection under the law.

It is unlikely that the death penalty will end in the United States because, if it ever does come to an end, there will be no logical or rational argument left for taking the life of a completely innocent unborn baby.

When Doubts Arise - Death Penalty

It is too terrible for words. . .

http://www.catholic.org/video/?v=13



How can we let this happen to any child?

It is too terrible for words. . .

American and Catholic

My thoughts:

I could vote Democrat very easily. . . except for one thing. It isn't that I am a one-issue Catholic; it's just that the death of so many babies is such a big issue that it eclipses all other issues when I stand in the voter's box. Until that is resolved, and every life is held sacred, I find it impossible to vote for a candidate who gets some issues right but promises to protect a woman's legal right to abort her unborn baby.

One glance at the Catholic Democrats website http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/ and I realize that I could be persuaded to vote for a Democrat. . . if the candidate was pro-life. I admire their concern for social justice.

But even as I become more Catholic in my approach to the death penalty and immigration issues and poverty and war. . . I become incrementally more aware of the mandate to protect life from conception to natural death. And as long as abortion is legal in the United States, we cannot delude ourselves into thinking that a Democratic platform (that protects a woman's "right" to abort her unborn baby) merits our support.

It is more than insincere to blame "Republican Politics" for abortion numbers and to lay the burden at the feet of the "Bush Recession" when the DNC promises to protect a "woman's right to choose" (to abort her baby). While a downturn in the economy may have some effect on the number of abortions that take place, the economy is not the culprit. If the economy drove the abortion industry, we would have had more abortions during the Great Depression than any time in U.S. history. No, it is a matter of whether or not abortion is protected under law - or whether or not the life of the unborn is protected under the law.

I simply must vote pro-life. And yet, I am not a one-issue Catholic. I am starting to see that my giving (and my writing) must reflect how much I care about social justice and the needs of the poor, both in the United States and throughout the world.

Here's the thing, I don't have to be a Democrat to work for social justice. St. Vincent de Paul Centers, Catholic Charities, Aid to the Church in Need, and CRS (and other Catholic groups that do so much work to help the poor and needy) - well, they have no party affiliation. They accept donations from almost anyone. Contrary to what the DNC wants Americans to believe, pro-life Catholics can promote social justice without voting Democrat. And most of them do.

It is not easy to be American and Catholic. There is no perfect politcal fit for us. Even so, we must become a constituency that represents the unborn.

American and Catholic

If you still haven't read Render Unto Caesar. . .

You probably should read it.

He doesn't tell us to be Democrats. He doesn't tell us to be Republicans. He tells us that "the most powerful 'political' act Catholics can make is to love Jesus Christ, believe in his church, and live her teachings. . ." (73-74).

He goes on to say that we must engage the public square - and even the world.

On poverty, he says that "we can choose to ignore that [Christ told Peter to feed his sheep]. All of the damned do"(37).

On racism and abortion, he says "Catholics who know their faith know that publicly opposing racism and publicly opposing abortion flow from the same Catholic beliefs about the human person" (59).

And on that most difficult question of whether or not a Catholic can vote for a pro-choice candidate when there is a pro-life candidate on the ballot, he says it would have to "be a reason we could, with an honest heart, expect the unborn victims of abortion to accept when we meet them and need to explain our actions - as we someday will" (229-230).

I urge you to get the book. It is full of zingers like these. If you are like me, you won't be able to put the book down and his words will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

If you still haven't read Render Unto Caesar. . .

Abortion and Tax Dollars

According to Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman of the American Family Association, President Obama has lifted a ban on the use of tax dollars to pay for abortions around the world.

"President Obama lifted a ban on federal funding for international groups that promote or perform abortions, reversing a policy of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Obama's actions mean that hundreds of millions of your tax dollars will go to help groups like Planned Parenthood perform abortions around the world. His actions came one day after the 36th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in all 50 states."

http://www.afa.net/

Abortion and Tax Dollars

Littlest Flowers of God

The poem is a mere six lines long. At a glance, it seems like a silly little thing. A poem that might be as easily overlooked as the little flower that inspired the poem.

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower-but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

It's Tennyson at is his finest. At least that's what I think. Scholars might not agree. But I believe the poem expresses an important truth - several truths really. There is a God. He created all that we see, and all that we cannot see. We are seeking and sometimes finding.

But it is in the tiniest of life that we see the Hand of God most clearly - if we are willing to look closely. Consider the baby in the womb. This child is a clue. That God exists. That He creates. That there is great wonder and mystery in all life, because all life is God-breathed.

But if we "pluck" that life "out of the crannies" and toss it into a trash can, we will not see. We will not understand. We will not have the epiphany that the poet has had. We will never know the truth of "God and Man" and we might even continue to think that the whole question is "above our pay grade" when really, even poets like Tennyson know that it isn't above their pay grade to ponder the Hand of God in the creation of even a little flower. It is, perhaps, the most important question we ask ourselves. Who made me? When does life begin? Where does it come from? These are the questions we must ask. These are the questions that God will answer. If we really take a close look at that little life.

St. Therese, Little Flower of God, pray for us - and for the most vulnerable among us.

Littlest Flowers of God

Dear Mr. President:

The following article ran in a number of diocesan papers and is reprinted here, to mark this week, as our country celebrates a Presidential Inauguration and remembers the unborn through the annual March for Life. In an ironic turn of events, a dear friend sent me the link at the bottom of the post. It fits in so well with the article's message that I have included it here for your viewing.


A few weeks ago, my ten-year-old daughter sat at the kitchen table and nibbled on a snack. She thumbed through a Christmas catalog and asked me to get her a typewriter for Christmas. She pointed to a picture on the page in front of her. It was a cheap plastic replica of an old typewriter. I told her she didn’t need it. She could use my computer any time she wanted. She explained that a typewriter captures the words immediately and puts them on paper. No printer needed, she said, and emphatically added that she had an important letter to write.

Now I was curious.

I asked her who she needed to write. In a matter-of-fact tone, she replied, “The President – about the abortion thing.” She whispered the last part, almost like she was sharing some profanity that she had overheard and found distasteful to repeat.

It made me want to buy her that plastic typewriter on the spot. It also made me reflect on the twists and turns of the past couple of months.

We’ve had an interesting year in the Bossert household. Even though we are a pro-life family, the subject of abortion rarely came up in our home before 2008, but then my older daughter moved back home. She took a job at a shelter for pregnant women. Our Lady’s Inn not only helps women choose life over abortion, they give the women a place to live for up to two years. They help them complete school, learn a trade, and find employment.

We’re a pro-life Catholic family. We were thrilled when our older daughter started working at Our Lady’s Inn. But then something happened to make us really pro-life, right down to our DNA.
The twenty-one-year-old daughter became pregnant. She isn’t married. She hasn’t completed college – not even one full year of college. She doesn’t own her own car. She doesn’t have her own place. And now, she doesn’t have a job because she is in almost the same situation as the clients at the women’s shelter. No longer the house monitor, she is now the unmarried mother-to-be. The only thing that separates her from the clients that live in the shelter is that she has familial support. Still, by President Obama’s standard, she is a prime candidate for an abortion. If she wanted to terminate the pregnancy, he would think she’d made a difficult, but wise decision.

Even our ten-year-old knows how wrong that would be. She knows that she will be an aunt sometime in June. She knows the new baby will make her daddy and me grandparents for the first time. She knows that will make her sister a mother, even though she isn’t married. And she knows that there is a baby growing inside her big sister, not a blob, not tissue, not a potential baby. It is a baby. And she prays for that baby every night.

For that ten-year-old, “the abortion thing” is a very big deal. She cannot imagine why any president would support pro-choice laws. And she’s innocent enough to believe her little letter might make a difference.

I can almost imagine what she would write.

Dear Mr. President,
I know you think abortion is okay, but maybe there are a few things you haven’t thought about in awhile. I’d like to tell you what I’ve decided now that my sister is going to have a baby. Even when it doesn’t seem like the right time for a baby to come into our lives, babies are always a gift from God. They are always a blessing. I’m sure you would understand if you could just live here a little while. You might see something familiar in our family. You might see yourself in the baby’s face. Maybe then you will want to change things so that all babies have a chance to live, no matter what. In your deepest part, you have to know that this is only fair. So, about that abortion thing – maybe God protected you all those years ago from just such a tragedy for a moment in time such as this. Please do whatever you can to protect babies. It’s okay to change your mind on the subject. Change is often a good thing. I’m praying that you will have the strength to make the right changes.

During this month when our country has both a Presidential Inauguration and a March for Life, let us continue to believe that our little letters and prayers do make a difference. Let us keep our new President in our prayers, and may God protect the most defenseless among us!


http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/01/pro-life-commercial-from-catholicvoteorg/

Dear Mr. President: