Pro-Life: November 2003 Archives

Another article brought to our attention by Ken Shepherd, whom we love: "Catholic Bishops Eye Possible Crackdown of Pro-Abortion Pols."

I'm not for driving off the confused and the under-catechized, but I am wholeheartedly in favor of contending in public for the Faith. Identify those who publicly oppose their own Church, lament their betrayal, and do penance on their behalf. In the end, though, if they do not repent, then recognize that they have cut themselves off from the living waters of the sacraments, and impose the proper penalty.

The time has long passed for convincing. The time has come for driving the wolves away from the sheep -- which is what the pointy end of the crozier is for, after all. Sure, the media will go nuts, but Jesus will love the bishops for it, and so (much less importantly) will faithful Catholics. Nobody ever died of embarrassment, and anyone ashamed to uphold the Gospel of Christ won't make it to heaven anyway. It's a couple of decades past due, but it's never too late to defend the faith. Do it!

Ken Shepherd, who often frequents the comment boxes of Catholic Light, passes along this story about Howard Dean's pro-death views.

I do not use "pro-death" loosely. He favored -- no, favors -- the judicially sanctioned killing of Terri Schindler Schiavo, and mocked Governor Jeb Bush (R-Badass) for intervening to save her life. He also thinks killing isn't a public act, but a private one.

"I as a physician would not be comfortable administering lethal drugs," Dean explained, "but I think this a very private, personal decision, and I think individual physicians and patients have the right to make that private decision."

In the Roman Empire, the paterfamilias, or patriarch, had the power to kill children he deemed unworthy of life, and the civil law had little to say about it. Far from being an advance in civilization, turning premeditated killing into a private act is retrogression of a very high order.