Bishop Joseph Martino interrupted a parish forum on Sunday that one of the panelists described as "giving cover" to pro-abortion candidates. The Wayne Independent covered the story describing the bishop's statement to the forum:
"Martino, who arrived while the panelists were stating their viewpoints, took issue with the USCCB statement, which was handed out to everyone at the meeting, and also that his letter was not mentioned once at the forum 'No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese...The USCCB doesn’t speak for me....The only relevant document ... is my letter....There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable....Health care, education, economic security, immigration, and taxes are very important concerns. Neglect of any one of them has dire consequences as the recent financial crisis demonstrates. However, the solutions to problems in these areas do not usually involve a rejection of the sanctity of human life in the way that abortion does.... 'Another argument goes like this: "As wrong as abortion is, I don't think it is the only relevant ‘life’ issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote." This reasoning is sound only if other issues carry the same moral weight as abortion does, such as in the case of euthanasia and destruction of embryos for research purposes. ... National Right to Life reports that 48.5 million abortions have been performed since 1973. One would be too many. No war, no natural disaster, no illness or disability has claimed so great a price.' The letter also states that Catholic public officials who 'persist in public support for abortion' should 'not partake in or be admitted to the sacrament of Holy Communion.'"
If you'd like to thank Bishop Martino here's his contact information:
Diocese of Scranton
300 Wyoming Avenue
Scranton, PA 18503
Main Chancery Number: 570-207-2238
Fax Number: 570-207-2236
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2 comments:
Mary Ann - in the 1970s, as I recall, father Kenneth Baker, S.J., wrote in the Homiletic and Pastoral Review that the USCC, which was then separate from the Bishops' Conference, had no more authority than any other American nonprofit.
Shortly thereafter, they decided to merge the two bodies into the USCCB.
They kept on the same left-wing bureaucracy that hated Reagan, loved Gore and Kerry, and "had no more authority than any other American nonprofit."
Sound fishy?
There are valid reasons for abortions. For example, twins may share a heart. To save the twin with a heart, the baby without a heart is aborted.
Typically however, abortions are performed for many different reasons. Pregnant teens to mothers who have been unfaithful are especially trivial reasons when the life of the unborn is considered the solution. Abortions are now easily ‘style of life’ decisions.
Bishop Martino who would ban but not criminalize abortions would kill the twin with a heart to save millions more. This is witch hunting and abject fear mongering similar to the temperance movement of a hundred years ago. It is pre-Vatican II Catholicism. Banning abortions by violating the constitution is illegal. Criminalizing abortions through the legislative process would be the proper and legal process.
To believe one is now in possession of the truth is necessarily presumptuous in everything we believe and no one can avoid it. However this is different than claiming that what one has found is something that deserves to be part in the comprehensive and growing understanding that medical procedures and science have brought and will bring in the future. Vatican II allows this to assimilation to prevent the atrocity of killing the viable twin.
Bishop Martino stops at presumption. Vatican II will someday carry the Church beyond presumption assimilating new knowledge and expanding conceptions as they occur.
Vatican II would save the twin with a heart but Vatican II would condemn most abortions as practiced.
He states “The letter also states that Catholic public officials who 'persist in public support for abortion' should 'not partake in or be admitted to the sacrament of Holy Communion.'"” He would have us vote for the devil as long as the devil “promises” to ban abortion by unconstitutional means. This threat was made a hundred years ago during the temperance movement.
Bishop Martino imposing his pre-Vatican II Catholic beliefs about the beginning of life on others who religions may not share the same belief by resorting to un-constitutional bans and ignoring valid medical reasons for abortions prolongs the crisis.
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