I think it's important to realize that the Catholic Church is not what ultraconservatives say it is, and I think it's clear the priest in question falls into the ultraconservative category. There is some layman who printed up very official-sounding brochures that made it sound like voting for Obama was a mortal sin, and the brochure was distributed all over our country. Cars in our parish parking lot got leafletted during Mass the Sunday before the election - without permission from the pastor. I'm sure at least a good number of people were left with the impression that there was official Catholic Church disapproval of Barack Obama, and this was not the case.

The Doctrine of Infallibility has nothing to do with this. It's not the Pope who's infallible - it's certain teachings on matters of faith and morals that are promulgated under very strict (and quite rational) conditions, and only two doctrines have met those criteria since the Doctrine of Infallibility was promulgated in the 1870's.

On the other hand, I think it's foolish to say that the Catholic Church has no business saying abortion is evil. There are various perspectives on the issue, but belief that abortion is taking a life is certainly one valid perspective. Drop all the philosophical arguments for a moment and consider this: if a foetus is lost through miscarriage or abortion, don't we have a natural tendency to grieve? Even if the loss is necessary, it certainly is never a cause for celebration - and it certainly would be better if some alternative could be found.

My belief is that abortion is always evil, but sometimes it's the least evil of the available choices. Most Catholic bishops would disagree with me, but they would agree what we need to seek alternatives to abortion. Barack Obama said that, too.

Bill Clinton used to say that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. I'd agree with that.


-Joe-