Joe Biden’s statements continue to be a major problem for Americans and especially for Catholics.
We have seen this across the board with Biden, including crucial remarks about Vladimir Putin and Russia, where he constantly needs correction by his staff. But for Catholics, Biden has been particularly damaging on moral-cultural issues, where he is creating embarrassment and scandal for his Church. His destructive statements constitute a long list, but to make this article simple, let’s stick with merely the most recent.
On the matter of unborn human life, Biden just dropped this whopper on the general public and people of his Church: “Roe says what all basic mainstream religions have historically concluded, that the existence of a human life and being is a question. Is it at the moment of conception? Is it six months? Is it six weeks? Is it quickening, like Aquinas argued?”
This assertion from Biden is particularly egregious. Americans definitely don’t want this man speaking as an authority on where “all” mainstream religions define the existence of life, particularly given that, for starters, he evidently doesn’t know where his own religion stands. Go online and you’ll find numerous Protestants correcting Biden.
What Biden said is obviously not what Biden’s Catholic Church teaches. This is not theology according to the Catechism or the Scriptures. I have long accepted the suffering task of following Speaker Nancy Pelosi—another lifelong and “pro-choice” Catholic—and I can tell you that Biden is echoing here not the theology of his Church but the theology of Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi has long said the same thing, in her case invoking not Aquinas but Augustine. In August 2008, when asked, “When does life begin?” by Tom Brokaw on NBC’s Meet the Press, Pelosi authoritatively spoke for her Church and even the Church Fathers. “I would say that, as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time,” related a scholarly Pelosi to a national TV audience.
“And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator—Saint Augustine—said at three months. We don’t know. The point is that it shouldn’t have an impact on a woman’s right to choose.”
I would recommend to the Catholic president of the United States to listen to his Catechism rather than Nancy Pelosi.
Quite interestingly, then-Senator Joe Biden, back in 2008, was likewise asked by Tom Brokaw about when life begins. He was asked two weeks after Brokaw had asked Pelosi, as a follow up to Pelosi’s answer. Biden’s answer then was different, and it has been forgotten in the current outrage over his statement last week.
It was September 7, 2008, shortly before the presidential election. Biden appeared on Meet the Press, where he was asked by Brokaw: “If Senator Obama comes to you and says, ‘When does life begin? Help me out here, Joe,’ as a Roman Catholic, what would you say to him?” Here was Biden’s answer:
“I’d say, ‘Look, I know when it begins for me.’ It’s a personal and private issue. For me, as a Roman Catholic, I’m prepared to accept the teachings of my church. But let me tell you. There are an awful lot of people of great confessional faiths—Protestants, Jews, Muslims and others—who have a different view. They believe in God as strongly as I do. They’re intensely as religious as I am religious. They believe in their faith and they believe in human life, and they have differing views as to when life—I’m prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception. But that is my judgment. For me to impose that judgment on everyone else who is equally and maybe even more devout than I am seems to me is inappropriate in a pluralistic society….’ ”
The above comes from a May 10 posting by Paul Kengor in Crisis magazine.
Still waiting for the decrees of excommunication
A long time ago, when I was a young woman, if some people discussed very serious subjects like abortion, I always thought, it’s a wonderful thing, that these extremely serious matters were already decided, with strict laws. All discussions on such very serious matters, were just superficial– thank goodness. Did some goofed-up movie star get pregnant out-of-wedlock, fly to Sweden, and get an abortion– and what did people think? Lay people who examine many of these very serious, life-and-death issues, simply lack the proper training, guidance, wisdom, and credentials, to seriously examine such issues, and make sound decisions. And long ago, it just wasn’t allowed. Experts in all fields, already had proper Western Cultural, Biblically-based, Judeo-Christian moral guidelines and laws, and proper rules, ethics, and procedures, mandated to go by and obey, set for ages. You didn’t tell the teacher, clergyman, doctor, or your mom and dad– what to do, based on your ideas.
The problem of abortion is far deeper. Traditional Marriage and family need to be strongly encouraged and promoted, in American society– and homosexual “marriage” and adoption should be strictly illegal. There should be good standards, firm laws, and strong censorship of all media material that promotes immorality. Dating social rules should be re-established– dating is to seek a proper marriage partner. The boy and girl must have self-control, respect, and be careful, don’t get too close, don’t be foolish. Virginity until your Wedding Night is a must! Sex outside marriage is a mortal sin– no Communion, go to Confession. And never do it again.
Of course, if you are not Catholic, you will not have the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion. But long ago, all Americans agreed– of every religion and none– that sex outside marriage is a sin, and just plain wrong. Abortion was illegal– and a a terrible sin!– unthinkable! Marriage and family life was the basis of society. Most people got married in their late teens/early 20s, and started families. Society was very stable, and nearly everyone went to church/synagogue, weekly. Ministers, priests, and rabbis were very much respected, and had a strong influence over Americans’ lives. That kind of good and decent society, with respect for God and morality, is what we must return to. That will help end the problem of abortion.
Orthodox Christians have those sacraments
Of course. They have Confession, too.
Our Bishops’ silence condemns them.
I believe that life begins at conception, but does it? What we believe may not be the same as what science tells us. How could that be?
“I believe that life begins at conception, but does it? What we believe may not be the same as what science tells us. How could that be?” Human life begins at conception– this is a trivial scientific fact. To say otherwise would be to say the developing baby is not human, or not alive. At issue is when “meaningful” human life begins. Democrats believe, generally, that meaningful life begins only when the mother deems it so. This could be any time prior to birth and if some lawmakers have their way, a good month after birth. So the only confusion between the dictates of science and what we believe concern not human life but our attempts to judge what exactly meaningful human life is.
According to the most recent scientific discoveries, a baby’s heart starts to beat 22 days after conception. Every baby deserves the right to exist, to see light the light of day, to have life. Abortion stops a beating heart.
when does life begin?
for Joe & Nancy, they need
to ask themselves, when does life end?