Thursday, November 13, 2008

Can the Bishops be any more clear to Catholics?


Here's a sampling from their November meeting in Baltimore:

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE -

"One cannot compromise between the fire and the fire department, the fly and the fly swatter. There are things that don't admit of compromise - and vile … intrinsic evil such as abortion do not admit us any such compromise."

Bishop Joseph F. Martino of Scranton, PA -

"We are going to have to speak as firmly as possible to Catholic politicians who are not merely reluctant to vote pro-life, but are stridently anti-life." He mentioned that it is a foregone conclusion that at some point in the future the USCCB will most certainly have to consider canonical measures such as excommunication, as had been done in the past with slavery. He added, "We have to have something like that. I cannot have the vice president-elect coming to Scranton saying he learned his values there, when his values, at least in the area of abortion, are utterly against the teachings of the Catholic Church."

Bishop Robert Conlon of Steubenville, OH -

"Some people may think it's time for a truce, but we're dealing with a moral absolute. There's nothing here that allows for common ground. We're talking about a human being whose life cannot be compromised."

Auxiliary Bishop Robert Hermann - of St. Louis, MO

"Any bishop here would be willing, would consider it a privilege, to die tomorrow if it meant ending abortion.” “We should dedicate the rest of our lives to taking any kind of criticism, whatever it is, to stop this horrible genocide."

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago, IL -

"It could mean discontinuing obstetrics in our hospitals, and we may need to consider taking the drastic step of closing our Catholic hospitals entirely. It would not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell them to someone who would perform abortions. That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil. I do not think I'm being alarmist in considering such drastic steps. We need to respond in a morally appropriate, responsible fashion."

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