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No Need to Repent for Choice
Father Jay Scott Newman, a priest in the Roman Catholic church, thinks that every Catholic who voted for President-elect Barack Obama ought to repent before taking communion. He said that Roman Catholics who support Mr. Obama are "eating and drinking their own condemnation" because the president-elect supports abortion rights.
Geez.
To my relief, the Catholic church's authorities issued a statement that said that Fr. Newman was wrong to advise people to confess and repent before taking communion if they voted for the new president-elect.
Monsignor Martin T. Laughlin, who is the head of Fr. Newman's diocese, said that a person cannot be denied communion if he or she has acted in accordance with his or her conscience, nor should such a person he advised to go to confession before taking communion.
And, to Fr. Newman's credit, he later issued a statement that said he would not deny communion to Obama supporters.
But the whole scenario was troublesome to me and for me. Father Newman is pro-life and takes issue with the pro-choice stance of the newly elected president. His position on the issue has drawn comments, evoked anger and pushed people to defend their positions with a vehemence.
Why am I thinking that the good priest is a bit hypocritical?
Did Fr. Newman call for everyone who knew priests were molesting children to repent before taking communion? Funny. I don't remember hearing such an outcry.
The basis of the protest that surrounds the pro-life position is that abortion is murder. It IS wrong to take another human being's life. I agree with that.
But if a person is pro-life, ought not that person, or that institution (i.e., "the church) be in support of life on all levels? Isn't is murder as well when we ignore children once they are born, support policies that deny them health care, food and clothing, and shut our eyes to the conditions that lead too many children from the cradle to the prisons?
And if the scriptures are to be believed, isn't it murder when one harbors ill thoughts in his or her heart for another human being? That being said, then shouldn't people repent for being racist, homophobic, sexist and militaristic?
The issue of abortion helped George W. Bush win the 2000 and 2004 elections. While people were starving, and a whole host of social ills were plaguing America, Americans were being emotionally channeled to vote for Bush because he was pro-life.
That, in spite of the fact he engaged us in two wars that are taking scores of lives, wars that we did not have to initiate.
Is it a political ploy or plan to begin the emotional tirades now, even as the results of this election are not yet completely absorbed, so that in the next election, the harbingers of fear will have their way?
I sure hope that does not come to be the case. I sure hope that the American people will not succumb to those who like to pit us against each other over an issue like abortion - which is an issue of personal opinion and morality and not of political expediency.
If the government overturned Roe vs Wade, would the country be better? Would abortions stop? No, of course not. Women have been having abortions since forever, and women will continue to have them. They don't feel good about doing them, they are embarrassed once they have them, and they sure do not feel that they will be accepted in their churches if they confess to a human being that they have had them. Church people practice self-righteousness, not mere righteousness, which simply means one is in right relationship with God.
Nobody who feels like he or she has disappointed God wants to feel the cold, hard stare of a judgmental human being, especially if that person is supposed to represent the love of God. Humans give God a bad name, and keep too many people away from God, because they feel their shortcomings or mistakes are too great for God to forgive.
If men ended up having babies after enjoying sex, I wonder if the outcry against murder would be as pronounced? Somehow, I think not.
I admire Fr. Newman's passion on this issue, but I detest his pronouncement that those who voted for the candidate of their choice are somehow out of favor with God.
Get real.
By
Susan K. Smith
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November 17, 2008; 5:17 PM ET
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Posted by: Kay30 | November 21, 2008 7:24 PM
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I like the way you think. And besides, if you are against abortion, don't have one and let everyone else decide for herself!
Posted by: djw531 | November 20, 2008 1:59 PM
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Dr Smith,
You’ve hit the nail on the head! Some institutions choose to turn a blind eye to the conditions around them because they aren’t directly affected; instead feel they are supporting a strong cause by shinning a light of judgment.
I can’t express to you how many children are falling through the cracks of the system of child welfare. They become numbers and never have any true permanency in their life. Some children spend their formative years in the system of child welfare moving from foster home to foster home being rejected. So their natural reaction is to push people away before they can be rejected again or purposely sabotaging a placement in foster care because they are anticipating rejection. Then after years of being rejected, rejecting people, acting out in school, picking up juvenile charges; they turn 18 years old. Then the same behavior results in the Adult Correctional Facility.
The leaders of these intuitions should encourage their flock to become committed foster parents, therefore, taking care of the children that are already here with no home. Or to out reach in the community by helping a family in some way, to become a mentor to a child or volunteer to teach a parenting class at the community center. There are so many other productive actions that a person of the cloth could encourage members to do to help improve the quality of life of our children who are already being ignored.