Catholic Bishop to Pro-Life Groups: 'Merely Anti-Abortion' Not Enough

[rug]

Posted: 08/13/2013 11:21 am
John Gehring

Catholic progressives are used to feeling the heat from some bishops who give the impression that abortion is the only life issue. It's not every day that you hear a Catholic bishop directly challenge self-identified "pro-life" groups for their selective moralizing and crass tactics. Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg -- a moderate who has also questioned some religious leaders' apocalyptic denunciations of the Obama administration's contraception coverage requirements as part of the Affordable Care Act -- jumps into the fray on his blog:

I am convinced that many so called Pro-Life groups are not really pro-life but merely anti-abortion. We heard nothing from the heavy hitters in the prolife movement in the last week when Florida last night executed a man on death row for 34 years having been diagnosed as a severe schizophrenic.

And this:

Many priests grow weary of continual calls to action for legislative support for abortion and contraception related issues but nothing for immigration reform, food aid, and capital punishment. And, this is a big one, priests don't like unfair attacks on things they highly value and esteem, like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-gehring/bishop-robert-lynch-abortion_b_3745929.html

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Ehhhr. And what about *war*?

>>>Many priests grow weary of continual calls to action for legislative support for abortion and contraception related issues but nothing for immigration reform, food aid, and capital punishment. >>>>

Or whatever you want to call what the US government has been doing more or less constantly since 1941?

[Peregrine Took]

2. I caught this excellent quote, too. Can it be that moribund parts of the Church

are finally waking up?

[47of74]

3. More than that, some of them are proud of putting people to death.

That southbound end of a northbound horse Rick Perry, for example.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

4. Other bishops have been saying this for years.

The late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, for example, wrote about a Consistent Life Ethic (AKA "Seamless Garment&quot in 1983. He came out specifically against abortion, capital punishment, unjust war, assisted suicide, economic injustice and euthanasia. Many Catholic conservatives sneered at him.

[UrbScotty]

5. Of course, Bernardin's way of thinking was much more common among bishops in those years.

Nowadays, it's less common - or at least, bishops don't talk about it as much.

Fortunately, since Francis was elected, it's looking more and more like the bishops are at least willing to talk more openly about this once again.