Posted on 11/29/2009 12:58:46 PM PST by Chi-townChief
"Let the healthcare bill allow for one sterilization for everyone of these whacked out females who are so intent on killing babies . . . Then . . . if these Femme-a-Nazis want to have a child, they can rent one."
Reader comment posted on my Nov. 25 column
Incendiary e-mails are still rolling in on Wednesday's column.
It proves you can't write about abortion, women and Catholic bishops and not get heavy heat. Add universal health care to the conversation?
Kaboom!
It's OK.
I've had great role models in taking heat.
Jack Egan, for one.
In the winter of 2000, six months before he died, Monsignor John J. Egan, at 84, was battling failing health and rebelling against the confinement that came with it.
And so after yet another hospitalization, we still met as usual downtown for lunch.
It was classic Jack Egan. He talked about social justice, immigration and the tyranny of payday loans. Heavy topics leavened with many lighter moments and a lot of laughs.
Normally after lunch, Jack would walk back home to the rectory at Holy Name Cathedral.
Walking now was out of the question, so we were about to hail a cab when a well-known, very conservative politician approached.
"Monsignor Egan," said the politico. "I'm running for election and if I win, I'll be the first Catholic in that office."
I watched Jack's jaw harden.
"And I'm against abortion," said the politico enthusiastically, adding, "Aren't you?"
"Of course I'm against a abortion," Jack said with fury.
I was afraid he was going to blow a gasket, and so I frantically waved down the next cab and began to help him inside. Not, however, before the politico called out, "I'll pray for you, Monsignor!"
Jack shot back, "Pray for yourself, buddy."
Jack Egan did not believe in abortion.
But he was just as opposed to abortion becoming the church's moral obsession to the exclusion of other life-and-death issues. And he deplored politicians who cynically played the abortion card in order to get elected.
Though some labeled him left-wing, Egan was a moderate in the best sense. He loved his church, loved its teachings and stayed within its fold. But he was never afraid to speak truth to power when he felt church leaders had lost their way. Or their sense of proportionality.
Were he alive today, he would have been appalled to learn that Bishop Thomas Tobin had admonished U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) not to receive communion unless he got in line with church orthodoxy on abortion.
And he would have been horrified by Tobin's interview last week with MSNBC's Chris Matthews, himself a devout Catholic.
Matthews relentlessly pushed the bishop on the matter of separation of church and state. And on the church's outright lobbying of Congress to further restrict access to abortion in exchange for the passage of a health-care reform bill.
If all abortion is murder, asked Matthews, exactly what penalties would Tobin legislate for women and girls who have one?
Tobin wouldn't say. But it was impossible not to notice that he also couldn't muster a single word of compassion for the plight of a woman or girl in that situation. Or for the difficulty of their choice.
Jack Egan would have talked about compassion first.
For almost a century, the church he gave his life to has been a proud leader in the fight for decent, affordable health care.
But when bishops now hold passage of a sweeping, national health-care bill hostage to their own religious orthodoxy, they deserve all the heat we can give them.
mailto:cmarin@suntimes.com
Memo to the Archbishop of New York
posted on his blog, typos corrected].There is no need for a government in a highly developed free market society to appoint itself as "provider of healthcare coverage." None, whatsoever. The proposition would be identical to the government taking control of the restaurant and grocery businesses because there are some people who, regrettably, cannot afford to eat. To do so would undermine the market mechanism of distribution, which is quite an effective mechanism. I believe the discussion of "subsidiarity" speaks to this.
Furthermore, New York City once was a shining example of what Catholicism, when practiced, can do to generously overcome any "shortcomings" -- temporary or otherwise -- in the market mechanism...
There becomes a point when your called upon to “Testify” that is profess your beliefs and stand with those to defend them.
This has become that time,
The change begins by doing this
http://www.theusmat.com/
No - it was Pat Kennedy who waited until Ted died before making the noise.
Sounds like an excerpt from “The Audacity of Dope”.
Seriously, this might be one of the dumbest articles I’ve ever read by anyone (much less Carol Marin) and emblematic of the lunacy that grips the left. Utterly detached from basic human decency. She chooses to excoriate Bishop Tobin for not shedding tears for baby-killers, while proclaiming Matthews a “devout” Catholic.
There are certain articles that really make me fee like I just can’t take any more of this. Being exposed to these morons on a daily basis can literally suck the life out of you. I can’t believe she used to be one of my favorite news anchors...
Patrick made this public not Tobin.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Ted Kennedy was plenty public about his views on abortion.
Huh? Where are these politicians? Even the ones who vote against abortion seem to try to avoid saying they're against it!
Bearing false witness is a mortal sin, Carol.
Can. 915 Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.
No "h" in Teresa.
I’m no fan of Tobin but you are quite mistaken.
Time for a strategy session. We all know that the Catholic Church and its bishops strongly oppose abortion, but a substantial number of them are soft on social justice issues. The bishops would likely flip support if a Stupak type abortion exclusion amendment was passed in the Senate. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that 20 or more Dims could vote with the Republicans for an anti-abortion amendment. This cannot happen. If your Senator is a Dim, tell him not to support the anti-abortion amendment. If your Senator is a Republican, tell him not to vote or vote present.
The bishops are fair weather friends. Like Italy at the beginning of WW1, they would change sides on a dime and care nothing about the egregious breech of liberty which is embodied in this wretched bill.
Another perverted child molester, disguised as an intelligent human being.
Drilling a hole in a baby’s skull and sucking the brain out is the ultimate child molestation.
Uh ... I doubt it. Any parishoner in a state of mortal sin should not receive the host. Tobin is protecting Kennedy from further sin and Egan would have understood that.
**It proves you can’t write about abortion, women and Catholic bishops and not get heavy heat. Add universal health care to the conversation?
Kaboom!**
LOL!
Bravo for Bishop Tobin and all the bishops who are speaking out AGAINST this stupid heahthcare legislation!
Health Care and the Power of the Bishops' Conference
Health Care and the Power of the Bishops' Conference
US Bishops: Abortion Isn't Health Care
Denver Archbishop Chaput says promises were broken on abortion
Catholic Bishops: Health Care Bill ... ‘Money-Laundering System’ for Funding Abortion
Catholic Caucus: The Bishops Go On Offense
US bishops conference mounts late drive against 'unacceptable' health-care reform
Catholic Bishops Urge Members to Oppose Abortion Funding in Health Care Plan [Catholic Uprising!]
Bishops Announce Unprecedented Massive Catholic Opposition to Obamacare
Bishops Call for Massive Catholic Opposition to Abortion in Current Health Care Reform
Archbishop Charles Chaput on the Current Struggle Between Catholics and "Caesar"
The Bishop's Ax Falls on Obama. And on the Vatican Curia (bombshell article)
US Bishops: Heath Package Still Funding Abortions (Urge Congress to Keep Working)
Catholic Bishops Declare They Will ‘Vigorously’ Oppose Health Care Bill as It Now Stands
Bishops Restate Vow vs. Obamacare's Abortion
Important: US Bishops taking the gloves off on health care reform
BREAKING: Catholic Bishops On Health Care - Change Bills Or Else
U.S. bishops warn of vigorous opposition if Congress fails to fix health care bills
List: *41* Bishops against Obamacare (and counting!)
Bishop Murphy Issues Video Statement on Health Care Reform [Diocese of Rockville Centre]
Health Care Principles [Bishop Samuel Aquila, Fargo, ND]
Florida Bishop [Thomas Wenski] Weighs in on Health Care Reform
ObamaCare and Catholic social teaching [Bishop Neckless]
Some Catholic bishops question gov't health care
Boston’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Says He Confronted Obama about Abortion in Health Care Plan....
Iowa Bishop: Don’t Be Railroaded into the Current...Health Care Proposals
in a message issued by the Diocese of Sioux City (The Church on Universal Healthcare)
Nazi Health Care A Catholic Bishop Speaks Out Against "End of Life Care" (Germany, 1941)
Bishop Nickless: "No Health Care Reform is Better than the Wrong Health Care Reform"
Cardinal Rigali, Abp. Chaput Intensify Warnings Against Obamacare's Abortion Expansion
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