On June 24, the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, thirty-one Catholic members of Congress authored a public statement of principles, falsely invoking specific teachings of the Catholic Church to defend their support of a legal right to abortion. Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, issued the following corrective statement in response:
“Members of Congress who recently invoked teachings of the Catholic faith itself as justifying abortion or supporting a supposed right to abortion grievously distort the faith. It is wrong and incoherent to claim that the taking of innocent human life at its most vulnerable stage can ever be consistent with the values of supporting the dignity and wellbeing of those in need. ‘Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception,’ including through the civil law [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2270, 2273]. Abortion violates this with respect to preborn children and brings untold suffering to countless women.
“Conscience rightly enjoys a special regard both in Church teaching and in the public sphere. And policymakers should support the freedom of Catholics and of others to serve the common good in accord with their beliefs in a wide range of areas – from services and assistance to recently arrived migrants, to offering health care and social services.
“Nevertheless, conscience is not a license to commit evil and take innocent lives. Conscience cannot and does not justify the act or support of abortion. In fact, conscience ‘must be informed and moral judgment enlightened’ with the Word of God in faith and prayer, and ‘guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church’ [CCC 1783, 1785]. Moreover, the reality that the preborn are our living sisters and brothers is not only a matter of faith, but is attested to by science and sound reason.
“We once again implore and pray for Congress to join us in working toward the true common good by prioritizing authentic, uplifting support for the vulnerable and marginalized, including mothers and families in need.”
Bishop Burbidge’s statement as pro-life committee chairman marking the anniversary of the Dobbs decision was released earlier this month and may be read here.
From the U.S. Bishops conference
The Democrats’ statement
The group of Democrats, led by Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro and including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, cited their Catholic faith and St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Christifideles Laici as reasons to support abortion.
“The fundamental tenets of our Catholic faith — social justice, conscience, and religious freedom — compel us to defend a woman’s right to access abortion,” the letter stated. “Our faith unfailingly promotes the common good, prioritizes the dignity of every human being, and highlights the need to provide a collective safety net to our most vulnerable.”
In a separate statement of her own on the Dobbs anniversary, DeLauro decried the decision, saying it was made by an “activist conservative Supreme Court” that “disregard[ed] science to strip away a woman’s fundamental and constitutional right to make her own health care decisions.”
From the Catholic News Agency
No doubt in my mind that these two women actually believe they have cited JPII legitimately and properly. They are fundamentalists that cherry pick sacred documents and scripture, scouring them for proof texts to attack the Catholic Church in order to service an ideologic narrative. Would that they were the first to think of doing that.
There is no justification for abortion in the Catholic faith. After all one of the ten commandments clearly says, Thou shall not murder.
Ah, but the primacy of conscience is the escape clause, according to liberals. When I was a student at Archbishop Mitty, we were taught by all the junior year religion teachers — all of them — that primacy of conscience means that sin is going against your conscience, so sin is completely subjective. My teacher explicitly said that gay people don’t sin when they have sex or marry because in their conscience it’s okay. That’s what all Mitty students were taught. All these catholic Democrats use the same theory of the primacy of conscience to justify their support for abortion and everything else that is against Catholic doctrine.
If you do something you think is a sin, then you are guilty of violating your conscience, even if no Church teaching calls it a sin.
If you do something the Church says is a sin, and you know it, you are sinning.
If you do something the Church says is a sin and you did not know it, as soon as you can after finding out that it is a sin, you need to confess.
Conscience is +a little spark of God within you telling you right and wrong.
Usually, if you are going to hit your sister or steal her cookie, there is a second or longer before you do it when you know you should not do it.
It will bother you when you are trying to go to sleep at night.
It is easy to say especially for others, it does not bother my conscience. Some people will say “I would never do it but I can’t tell someone else what to do.”
That says that they know it is wrong but they think others are less than them.
That is truly horrific.
Well boys, it’s about time.
It is the common good to welcome every child conceived.
The dignity of the child in the womb needs to be respected and prioritized.
We need a collective safety net to protect the most vulnerable of victims, the infant in the womb.
About time.
During June, the the so-called Pride month, a conservative Christian organization in Washington, D.C., published an objection to the Sparkle Creed, an LGBT adaptation of the Apostles’ Creed, written by a leftist, lesbian Protestant minister. It begins, “I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural…” It states that Jesus Christ had two dads among other blasphemies. And the Holy Spirit was dubbed the Rainbow Spirit. Here is a link to the article:
https://washingtonstand.com/commentary/progressive-christians-can-now-confess-heresy-with-sparkle-creed
Many progressive, leftist Protestant churches believe in the “primacy of conscience,” along with the Bible. They interpret the Bible subjectively, the way they want. Their misuse of a highly individualistic, subjective, so-called “conscience” allows them to falsely believe whatever they want. These kinds of people are no longer seeking Christ nor His Salvation, which He died for. They don’t care about Eternal Life in Heaven, and don’t believe in Hell. They make “little gods” out of themselves, misusing religion. They are not Christian any more. Many formerly mainline Protestant denominations, as well as many Catholics of the post-Conciliar era, have been going down that same, false pathway.
I have read a number of articles on the Bishops’ statement declaring it strong, forceful, etc. But, they left out a couple of key facts. One, that all 31 members of congress were Catholic. Two, that all 32 were democrats.
The US Bishops are correct in correcting these misguided members of Congress.
However, folks, Catholic Democrats in Congress are not the only people who would put their conscience above everything else. They’re not the only ones who refuse or neglect informing their conscience with the Church’s teaching.
Why, you see this same disobedient attitude among those who would disregard the Magisterium’s teaching on other issues, such as liturgical discipline, the death penalty. The highest legislation in the Church, an ecumenical council, namely Vatican II, some people have disregarded, attacked, disobeyed.
So folks, the spirit of disobedience is found in the left and in the right. Do not think yourselves innocent of the same thing these 21 members of Congress are guilty of.
jon. Knock it off.
Wrong. It is the obligation of every Catholic whether he be a Democrat or a Republican to obey the teachings of the Church.
Tried to give jon a thumbs up. Thumbs don’t work.
I would say that most Catholics use their own conscience for almost everything.
They do not understand that the teachings of the Church come from God.
Sorry, meant, “Do not think yourselves innocent of the same thing these 31 members of Congress are guilty of.”
two very wicked witches;
no matter how you spell it
I spell it with a b instead of a w. I suspect you do too.
“Caught!”
These two women are among the “poorest the poor”. Let us pray for them. While there is life, there is hope. Let us also read “Killing a Conscience in Seven Steps” by Rev., Phillip E. Dion, C.M. lest we, too, commit the unpardonable sin. It contains excepts from a wonderful sermon by St. John Fishor.