Archbishop Chaput: Catholic teaching trumps party loyalty on abortion
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Church teaching against abortion “requires absolute adherence” on the part of Catholic voters, who must “stand united” in opposition to the practice regardless of party affiliation, said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia.
“(Abortion) really is a big issue today, and I think what it requires of Catholics is a loyalty to the church prior to their political party,” Archbishop Chaput told Catholic News Service Oct. 20 in Rome.
“We’re Catholics before we’re Democrats. We’re Catholics before we’re Republicans,” he said. “We’re even Catholics before we’re Americans, because we know that God has a demand on us prior to any government demand on us. And this has been the story of the martyrs through the centuries.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re not being good citizens,” the archbishop said, “because being good citizens means giving God his rights prior to the government making its claims upon us.”
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, abortion is “gravely contrary to the moral law” in all cases — a church teaching that “has not changed and remains unchangeable.” Under canon law, any “formal cooperation” in abortion automatically incurs the penalty of excommunication.
“If we don’t stand united on this issue, we’re bound to failure,” Archbishop Chaput said, “not only in the area of protecting unborn human life but in maintaining our religious freedom.”
He said that a lack of such unity among Catholic voters had permitted support for legalized abortion to become part of the Democratic Party platform.
“Catholics have been historically part of the Democrat Party in great numbers, and I think really could’ve stopped that great development, movement, if they tried, but they didn’t in order to accommodate people from the other side of the issue,” he said.
Yet opponents of abortion must continue to put pressure on both parties, the archbishop said. [More]
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61 Comments
So, abortion is a sin, but what about racism, stealing from the poor, lieing etc. All sins committed in my opinion by the GOP. How can the church teach one sin is more grievous against God than others?
Hi Elizabeth.
So you think “abortion is a sin”.
I totally disagree. I believe it is no accident that neither the Bible nor the Ten Commandments specifically states “abortion is a sin”. In fact, the word abortion is never used in either writing.
I am against abortion but as a male I don’t have to worry about ever making that final decision.
I think that decision should involve the women, her faith, and her doctor. No room for politicians.
A final note. I wish all these anti-abortionists were just as strongly anti-war. There is no grey area here – “Thou shall not kill” (I think that is the sixth commandment).
“Thou shall not kill” means just that, no wiggle room – taking an innocent life through abortion is to kill, your own flesh and blood. Do you think that God would be telling us that “abortion” is not a sin, Dennis? Perhaps our civilization has reached a new low, unknown even in Bibical Times.
Catholic Lady.
Why doesn’t the Bible say what you want it to say?
I don’t think your definition of abortion is accepted by everybody. For example, at what stage of development does life begin?
Catholic Lady.
FYI
The beginning of human personhood is the period in an individual’s life when he or she is recognized, or begins to be recognized, as a person. The precise timing and nature of this occurrence is not universally agreed upon, and has been the subject of discussion and debate in science, religion and philosophy. The question of when and how personhood begins is the often the nexus of controversy on issues such as abortion, stem cell research, reproductive rights, and fetal rights.
Catholic Lady,
Is the day after pill a form of abortion?
Dennis; Why else does one take a pill the day after?
Catholic Lady, to make sure they don’t get pregnant.
Should taking the pill be a sin?
Do your homework Dennis: See the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1849 – 1850- 1852 – 1853 – to 1864 then on to 1865 – 1866- 1867 – and (for you) 1868 – by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
Good night, Dennis, sleep well.
Good night Catholic Lady.
The Catechism is not the Bible, was written by mere mortals centuries later and is at best a poor sequel to the Bible.
Dennis, scripture found in the Bible – Exodus 21:22 (not abortion but miscarriage) When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,…Dennis this is for accicentally taking the life of an unborn child.
Catholic Lady.
Sounds like the miscarriage was not the focus of the punishment.
Mr. Jim.
Up a little late.
Ah sounds like all “true Catholics” (not to be confused with true Scotsmen) would think the Catechism is as Holy as the Bible.
Not what I believe.
Nice to know you are still wheezing.
Dennis — genuine Catholics understand the Catechism to be part of the Church’s Magisterial teachings, and thus its proclamations must be accepted to be a Catholic in good standing. Quit sniffing the rocket fuel and start reading and believing the Catechism.
Elizabeth; the Church teaches CCC1858 – Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and your mother. The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.
Elizabeth…..come on now, don’t let your political bias cloud your reasoning. The truth is that abortion is murdering and taking of a human life. can you really equate that with stealing or lying….really?
Dear Elinor.
Some of my best friends are Jewish.
I think a fair description of the Jewish position on abortion is:
Judaism recognizes psychiatric as well as physical factors in evaluating the potential threat that the fetus poses to the mother. However, the danger posed by the fetus (whether physical or emotional) must be both probable and substantial to justify abortion. The degree of mental illness that must be present to justify termination of a pregnancy has been widely debated by rabbinic scholars without a clear consensus of opinion regarding the exact criteria for permitting abortion in such instances. Nevertheless, all agree that were a pregnancy to causes a woman to become truly suicidal, there would be grounds for abortion. However, several modern rabbinical experts ruled that since pregnancy-induced and post-partum depressions are treatable, abortion is not warranted.
Not exactly the same as your position.
Who is right?
Comparing the Jewish Religion to the Catholic Religion is like comparing Apples to Oranges. If I am Catholic I heed the teachings of the Catholic Church. End of argument Dennis.
But Catholic Lady you certainly don’t want the government to infringe on religious freedoms, yet you want a federal law to make Jewish practices illegal.
Why don’t you just keep abortion out of the government?
Dennis; I did not ever say that I wanted government to infringe on religious freedoms of anyone here in Canada or in the United States – What I did say is that Abortion is a Sin – plain and simple, no matter how you wish to dress it up and make it acceptable it is the murder of your own flesh and blood. – If you wish to sin, do not call it Women’s Health Care.
In other words Dennis if you wish to purchase a gun to murder someone; do not ask me to pay for it. Or if you wish to drink yourself into a stuper buy your own booze.
Elinor.
Just a little more info for you to think about.
Contemporarily speaking, observant Jews firmly oppose abortion after the 40th day, with health-related exceptions, and liberal Jews tend to allow greater latitude for abortion.
Yes, Elizbeth, abortion, racism, stealing are all sins. CCC (Catechism of Catholic Church) states that we can not cooperate with or condone ANY of those sins (and yes, that includes unjust wars.)For me the problem is that the politicians who are right on social justice are wrong on abortion and vice versa. It makes voting torture for me.
Since when has political activity become ‘formal cooperation’? Many immoral actions are not illegal nor should they be. The Clergy have often urge the Laity to “cast the first stone” by lighting fires at the stake!
What I’m reading here in these comments is an enormous amount of very, very angry men. Perhaps it would be best to take your hostility elsewhere. You cannot succeed by playing god. God is still in charge no matter what ill conceived and ignorant ideology you promote. Render to Caesar only what is Caesar’s. Your reasonings for the most part prompt pity. They are scandalous for any Catholic at best.
One could only wish that the current president would be judged by your same standards. Then I might feel better about the country’s direction. With the values expressed here, I would not give you any power over my life…..
Is this guy for real?
As an American citizen no one can tell me how I must vote, especially power-hungry old men in dresses.
Amen, Jack, Amen………
I resent the intrusion of the bishops.
Jack — “power-hungry”, huh? No evidence at all for your assertion, which is a product of your own mind. It is likely that YOU are the one who is into power for yourself.
You sound just like Romney – flipping and deflecting and projecting. There is no one more into power than the heirarchy of the Church. They have forgotten what it means to serve. As many times as you accuse those who point it out that they are into power, it changes nothing.
the above was to Jim
No, Jim you are looking through blinded eyes.
My, my, aren’t we an angry bunch! Does anyone even know what Chaput’s record was in sheltering priests who were sexual abusers? We wanted leadership from Bishops and now when we get it we won’t accept it. Has anyone heard of the natural law? The problem is too many “Catholics” have never been educated in their faith or refuse to accept it. No wonder the Year of Faith has a recommendation that we become familiar with the Catechism.
Let us remember that abortion is LEGAL and Constitutionally protect. One’s oath of office requires the politician to uphold the Constitution—and you don’t do that by trying to outlaw abortion. Any effort to upend what is constitutional would violate one’s oath and that is a serious sin. So what do these fanatical Bishops want of a politician? Broken oaths? Mortal sin? Come on Bish.
“Legal” is irrelevant — abortion is still murder, still immoral, and still evil. Under Nazi Germany, the death camps were “legal”, so by your logic, Tom, the Holocaust was perfectly good under German law! Such thinking is, forgive me, purely demonic. “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you [the authorities] rather than to God, you must judge …” (Acts 4:19). The Holy Apostles suffered for doing what was right before God, not for what was merely “legal.”
Richard–come, come. You miss my point. One’s OATH of OFFICE prohibits one from hindering a woman’s right to an abortion. To violate the oath is a serious sin. The president can not stop abortions without committing serious sin—i.e. violating his oath of office. Legality is very germane to the oath. There is no comparison between abortion and Nazi death camps except in the minds of fanatics. Women have used abortion for thousands of years –as for example to save their culture or tribe from starvation where children would overly burden the food supply. Besides it is only murder if a fetus is a human being and that is open to various viewpoints in this pluralistic society with some people claiming human life comes at birth and others saying at viability and others at some point after birth and some at the time of conception. It ain’t so crystal clear. So please don’t be judgmental. What ever the truth is I am sure God can handle it.
Thomas Aquinas himself believed, as did most of midieval society, that ensoulment didn’t take place untill about 40 days after conception.
Tom,
If applying and supporting the OATH of OFFICE (as you say) actually results in sin, how in the world is that a good thing? You accuse me of missing your point. Rather it is you who have missed the point: you are thinking like a man and not like God (Read Romans 12). The Church has always condemned abortion, and it always will because abortion is evil.
You also say that women have been having abortions for thousands of years, as if that makes abortion OK. So what? Humans have been committing murder, adultery, theft, assault, and so forth, also for thousands of years. By your line of reasoning, murder, etc. should be OK because humans have always behaved this way. The truth is that no amount of modern, pluralistic, every-opinion-is-equally-OK rationalization will ever change the moral fabric of the world.
If you think that I am being judgmental, you should read the Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New. They understood what you apparently don’t.
Richard—All the moralizing in the world won’t change a thing—neither our President nor his Morman challenger can change the law on the subject. The Holy Roman Catholic Church can’t either though it huffs and puffs a lot. You are boxed in—you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. And that is how this great non-Christian (it ain’t) country works. And I am an American and support this great country and it’s marvelous experiment in freedom. So smile and bask in your freedom—-even freedom to sin. Preach all you wish. Most of all value our freedoms and don’t try to take them away from others you disagree with. And by the way—God doesn’t “think”. Peace. Satis.
Richard as an African-American and Catholic, I am sickened having to sit in a pew in my church and listen to my priest encourage me to vote for the GOP. My parents worked hard, though we were poor and could have used food stamps and welfare they never took a penny and put 5 children through catholic school. My dad would work during the week and clean yards on weekends for extra cash, but rick santorum said he does not want black people spending white people’s money. No, he is not running but that is what romney/ryan and the whole GOP teach and believe and most likely YOU too. I resent any man (priest) telling me how to cast my vote especially when I have not been able to get a meeting with a parish priest in years. You go to mass, you pay dues, you shake their hands outside church and then you are ignored. Maybe it’s my skin color…you think? I continue to attend catholic mass because I believe in the Eucharist not in man.
Elizabeth, I am so very sorry for your troubles. I’m Canadian and I have no idea what it is like to live in America. I do remember the “Freedom Rides” and “Dr. King”, but I thought prejudice was a thing of the past in your county. Please, my sister in Christ accept my sincere apologies for all the hurts you have sufferred because of your skin color..as for me I grew up knowing that we are all created by God the Father and are equal..Please continue to attend Mass looking Up, not down upon sinful mankind.
Romney and Ryan support abortion.
Obama cares for the people. He is the better choice for those who follow Jesus.
Tom,
Obama ALSO supports abortion — how, therefore, is he a “better choice”?
Tom — Romney and Ryan are willing to allow perhaps 500 to 1,000 abortions per year. Obama — Mr. 666 — is willing to allow over one MILLION abortions per year. Romney and Ryan’s position clearly is the lesser of the two evils.
To allow even one abortion negates one from being called prolife. Romney flip flopped on abortion in the past and allows it today for rape and incest.
But Tony, it’s simple math — clearly, Romney’s position is better than Mr. 666′s.
Jim.
Why, why, why?
You know it is 616 not 666.
If as the archbishop claims our Catholic Identity is so important shall we insist that no one eat meat in America on our days of absence, shall we make it a federal law that everyone in the country must assist at Mass every Sunday?
Hall we form a third political party of the Conference of Catholic Bishops so the can protect and defend and implimente their teachings? Wait, why don’t we just make the Pope ruler of our Country.
Hi Tony.
Notice you haven’t given up trying to educate the ignorant.
Very admirable.
I have been watching this site regularly but most of the articles are about what rituals and robes the clergy should use.
BTW – where is Jim the almighty?
Hi Dennis — I’ve been in Heaven with my Father.
I see you’ve been sniffing a lot of rocket fuel lately. Don’t you think it’s time to give up the juice?
So you have just returned from “Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament”. It has been a while since you have posted a comment here. I hope that all is well with your wife and family. Blessings..
Hi Catholic Lady — I continue to attend Adoration weekly, but I was just joking with Dennis. Indeed, at Adoration, it does feel like Heaven.
Let’s forget about the fact that Chaput’s credibility has taken another hit since he is a Republican using religion as the motive for joining Republicans, and just look at the fact that Chaput and the Bishops around the world have no credibility when it comes to morality. They have given their credibility away by not taking ownership of the sex abuse crisis, the financial crisis it has caused and the politics of the Vatican. They have no moral voice until they rectify those situations, atone for them and make a commitment to do the right thing going forward. As Dennis points out in his comments, if the Bishops cared about this so much they would be opening homes to take care of those who had fears in having their baby. But no, Chaput has demonstrated that he is making the church more and more political – as he speaks for the Republican party, he sets himself up for favors from high ranking republicans. If the Bishops really cared they would give up trying to legislate morality and simply go out and do what they could to make it easier for those who feel alone to believe that they had someplace to turn to. I wonder why Jesus never had his disciples form a protest against the government – simply because it was not what he was looking for – he wasn’t looking to control people, he was trying to shephard them. Jesus was not looking for blind obedience, he was looking for people to open their hearts to accept his gift. The Bishops of the US and around the world are out of touch with the message of Jesus, they are out of touch with the reality of today’s world, they are out of touch with people – they are simply OUT OF TOUCH. Until they get it together – their credibility just continues to disappear.
Are you so wise that you dare to judge another man’s servant? I am never so far away from sinning that I have the energy or even the desire to judge others – but chose to leave judgement up to my Lord, Jesus.
I had children in the days when abortion was not legal. With my third child I had a separating placenta and hemorraghed three times. My doctor tried to save the baby and did so successfully. During the course of all this, we prayed the rosary everyday for her safety and live birth and promised if it were a girl should would be named Marianne after our Lords mother and grandmother. People would tell me that it would be best if the baby self aborted because she would probably be retarded, deaf, or blind from this much loss of blood. She was finally taken Caesarean section when we could no longer persist with the heavy bleeding. She read 102 books in first grade, had to get a special note from her teacher when in 5th grade to get books on a high school level stating that she was on the reading level, and she was the only one of my three children who went to college. She has been very successful in her career and I am very proud of her. No one should consider abortion. My mother always said that Man proposes and God disposes and that is the best rule to live by. Let God Dispose
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is an idiot.
Somebody please tell him you can’t legislate morality.
If he really cared about reducing the number of abortions he would be opening Catholic centers to help women in this position – and maybe convince them not to have an abortion.
Dennis – Amen! Political efforts to massively reduce the number of abortions have failed for 40 years. If the US church would put it’s efforts into doing what you said, and promoting policies which will support women with unplanned pregnancies before and especially after childbirth, I’m convinced the abortion rate would be reduced by 90% over time. Of course the Tea Party would object because it would involve spending public funds.
Perhaps the archbishop Chaput now realizes that his priests messing with altar boys is also a grave moral offense as well as a crime, a serious crime, and a violent crime.
Perhaps he also realizes that covering up sex abuse is also a crime, a serious crime, and a loathsome, heinous crime, as well as a grave moral offense.
While abortion obviously offends the archbishops selective moral sensitivities, abortion is not (yet) a crime in the USA, and never was considered as such under the common law.
As to the morality of abortion, the archbishop Chaput has regrettably ceased to be a reliable “authority” on the subject of morality in general, choosing instead to cempel others to agree with HIS supersanctimonious absolutism. That’s wrong-headed, wrong-hearted, and just plain wrong.
I’m sure the Archbishop is fully aware of the lack of morality of some priests, but that is apples and oranges. His comments still remain as true ones in the situation of abortion.
When is the public going to stop offering the sex scandal as a justification for everything? Every priest was not guilty.
Every priest was not guilty, most were not guilty. But the Bishops have damaged their credibility by not taking complete responsibility for what they did by ignoring the guilty priests and the danger the posed. This damaged the Bishops credibility and will not simply go away as the bishops hope. They must earn back their credibility by demonstrating that they have taken the responsibility – something they have failed to do and as such will continue to diminish any credibility they can hope to have.