Catholic Prof and Evangelical Leader Blame Catholic Church, Republicans, “Religious Leaders” for Tiller's Murder

  • Thread starter Thread starter thereseozi
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

thereseozi

Guest
lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jun/09060209.html

Catholic Prof and Evangelical Leader Blame Catholic Church, Republicans, “Religious Leaders” for Tiller’s Murder

WICHITA, Kansas, June 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two American religious leaders have accused U.S. Catholic bishops of sharing the blame for the murder of Kansas late-term abortionist George Tiller because of their advocacy for legal protection for the unborn.

…

In a Huffington Post column yesterday titled “How I (and Other ‘Pro-Life’ Leaders) Contributed to Dr. Tiller’s Murder,” Evangelical leader Frank Schaeffer apologized for his involvement with the “hate-filled rhetoric” he associated with the “religious right.” Schaeffer is the son of the late, prominent evangelist Francis Schaeffer.

Earlier this year Frank Schaeffer, who has joined the Greek Orthodox church but is still considered a leader of the Evangelical movement, abandoned the strong pro-life position of his father and told an interviewer that he believes abortion should remain legal. Schaeffer said that thirty years of attempts to overturn the US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade have failed and that the “black and white” pro-life position is counterproductive.

…

Marquette University theology professor and former Jesuit priest Daniel Maguire published a statement on The Religious Consultation website lamenting the fact that Tiller was murdered “for honoring the law of the land.”

…
 
It is sad to see that members of the Body of Christ are wailing over the death of an admitted mass murderer. Did these men write an article (and the media publish it) blaming Democrats, Barak Obama, and the Episcopal Church for each of Tiller’s victims?

No, they did not. Let’s beware of the wolves.
 
Let’s be very careful how we respond to this kind of rhetoric. We do not want to degrade to name calling and to finger pointing, as is the case in the responses of these two men, if the press is truthful about what they’re reporting.

The fact remains the same. For the Catholic community and for men of good will all over the world, the murder of any person is a heinous act that demands our denunciation. As Catholics we are bound to proclaim the sacredness of all human life, from conception to natural death. Reducing the value of one person’s life, because he murdered others, is contrary to the faith and moral tradition of the Church.

The Church has never proclaimed the wrongful death of any human being, saint or barbarian, as a victory. Even during the Inquisition there were voices that questioned this practice and eventually persuaded the Church to re-examine its definition of justice. Today, the Church reminds us that taking a human life is stealing the opportunity for conversion. Men like our holy father Francis, also remind us that every man and woman, no matter how sinful they are, is our brother and sister. Every man and women is the work of the Father’s hand, the same hand from which all of us came.

Therefore, we mourn the fact that Dr. Tiller killed so many preborn human beings. But we also mourn the fact that we did not have the opportunity to celebrate his conversion from sin in this life, because it was taken away by the hand of someone who decided that vigilante justice is acceptable to God and man. Such a form of justice is not only unacceptable to God and man, but it is to be condemned in any civilized society that defends the dignity of life from the first stage: conception, to the final stage: natural or accidental death. Murder is never natural or accidental. It is premeditated and forces the hand of God to act according to man’s timetable rather than His.

All life is sacred. To hold the life of the victim to be more sacred than the life of the abortionist is moral relativism at its best. As people of prayer and contemplatives, we should be able to see the sacredness of human life in the incarnate Christ. It is the Father’s gift to the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the taking of any life without just cause is an affront to what the Father considers to be the perfect gift to his Son.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
The only person to blame for Tiller’s murder is Scott Rhoeder (assuming he’s guilty).

If the persons quoted in the article can find an instance where anyone speaking for the Catholic Church said, “George Tiller should be killed,” I’d like to see it, because I’ve never seen anything of the sort.

I have heard, many times, from the pulpit and in Catholic literature, that we should pray for the conversion of abortionists, and love them as Christ told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
 
One word:

WOLF!

‘Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial. Let us be neither dogs that do not bark or silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf.’

St. Boniface

It exaggerates our failings, and publishes them abroad as sins; it represents our venial sins as mortal, and our sins of infirmity as malicious. St. Paul says that charity is kind, but the world is unkind; charity thinks no evil, but the world thinks evil of every one, and if it cannot find fault with our actions, it is sure at least to impute bad motives to them, - whether the sheep be black or white, horned or no, the wolf will devour them if he can. Do what we will, the world must wage war upon us. . . let us be firm in our ways, unchangeable in our resolutions, and perseverance will be the test of our self-surrender to God, and our deliberate choice of the devout life.’

St. Francis de Sales

‘The declared enemies of God and His Church, heretics and schismatics, must be criticized as much as possible, as long as truth is not denied. It is a work of charity to shout: “Here is the wolf!” when it enters the flock or anywhere else.’

St. Francis de Sales

‘However, we must not only beware of all that is obvious and unmistakable, but also of all that can deceive by fraud and cunning. What could be more clever and cunning than the Enemy’s moves after being unmasked and worsted by Christ’s coming? Light had come to the gentiles and the lamp of salvation was shining for the deliverance of mankind, so that the deaf began to hearken to the Spirit’s call of grace, the blind to open their eyes upon the Lord, the sick to recover their health unto eternity, the lame to make speed to the Church, and the dumb to raise their voice aloud in prayer. Thereupon the Enemy, seeing his idols abandoned and his temples and haunts deserted by the ever growing numbers of the faithful, devised a fresh deceit, using the Christian name itself to mislead the unwary. He invented heresies and schisms so as to undermine the faith, to corrupt the truth, to sunder our unity.’

St. Cyprian of Carthage

Wolf! 🙂 And no mistake on this one!
 
Yep, I would ecco the sentiments of JReducation on this one as well. Be careful of the media because at this point most of them are very corrupt, and not even reporting complete facts, or worse yet, not reporting what they don’t want to.
 
JReducation said:
Let’s be very careful how we respond to this kind of rhetoric. We do not want to degrade to name calling and to finger pointing, as is the case in the responses of these two men, if the press is truthful about what they’re reporting.

The fact remains the same. For the Catholic community and for men of good will all over the world, the murder of any person is a heinous act that demands our denunciation. As Catholics we are bound to proclaim the sacredness of all human life, from conception to natural death. Reducing the value of one person’s life, because he murdered others, is contrary to the faith and moral tradition of the Church.

The Church has never proclaimed the wrongful death of any human being, saint or barbarian, as a victory. Even during the Inquisition there were voices that questioned this practice and eventually persuaded the Church to re-examine its definition of justice. Today, the Church reminds us that taking a human life is stealing the opportunity for conversion. Men like our holy father Francis, also remind us that every man and woman, no matter how sinful they are, is our brother and sister. Every man and women is the work of the Father’s hand, the same hand from which all of us came.

Therefore, we mourn the fact that Dr. Tiller killed so many preborn human beings. But we also mourn the fact that we did not have the opportunity to celebrate his conversion from sin in this life, because it was taken away by the hand of someone who decided that vigilante justice is acceptable to God and man. Such a form of justice is not only unacceptable to God and man, but it is to be condemned in any civilized society that defends the dignity of life from the first stage: conception, to the final stage: natural or accidental death. Murder is never natural or accidental. It is premeditated and forces the hand of God to act according to man’s timetable rather than His.

All life is sacred. To hold the life of the victim to be more sacred than the life of the abortionist is moral relativism at its best. As people of prayer and contemplatives, we should be able to see the sacredness of human life in the incarnate Christ. It is the Father’s gift to the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the taking of any life without just cause is an affront to what the Father considers to be the perfect gift to his Son.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
Click to expand...
I don’t know about Maguire, but I read Schaeffer’s statement. I don’t have it in front of me, but my take away was that it was mostly about his regret about his own past statements and actions. He said that he and his father made statements about killing abortionists and how violence would be justified. I think Tiller’s killer is responsible for his own actions, but I also agree that some of the rhetoric out there is imprudent. Most of that is coming from extreme fringe groups, but its worth remembering that we are all responsible for our words, as well as our deeds.
 
Shin said:
One word:

WOLF!

‘Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial. Let us be neither dogs that do not bark or silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf.’

St. Boniface

It exaggerates our failings, and publishes them abroad as sins; it represents our venial sins as mortal, and our sins of infirmity as malicious. St. Paul says that charity is kind, but the world is unkind; charity thinks no evil, but the world thinks evil of every one, and if it cannot find fault with our actions, it is sure at least to impute bad motives to them, - whether the sheep be black or white, horned or no, the wolf will devour them if he can. Do what we will, the world must wage war upon us. . . let us be firm in our ways, unchangeable in our resolutions, and perseverance will be the test of our self-surrender to God, and our deliberate choice of the devout life.’

St. Francis de Sales

‘The declared enemies of God and His Church, heretics and schismatics, must be criticized as much as possible, as long as truth is not denied. It is a work of charity to shout: “Here is the wolf!” when it enters the flock or anywhere else.’

St. Francis de Sales

‘However, we must not only beware of all that is obvious and unmistakable, but also of all that can deceive by fraud and cunning. What could be more clever and cunning than the Enemy’s moves after being unmasked and worsted by Christ’s coming? Light had come to the gentiles and the lamp of salvation was shining for the deliverance of mankind, so that the deaf began to hearken to the Spirit’s call of grace, the blind to open their eyes upon the Lord, the sick to recover their health unto eternity, the lame to make speed to the Church, and the dumb to raise their voice aloud in prayer. Thereupon the Enemy, seeing his idols abandoned and his temples and haunts deserted by the ever growing numbers of the faithful, devised a fresh deceit, using the Christian name itself to mislead the unwary. He invented heresies and schisms so as to undermine the faith, to corrupt the truth, to sunder our unity.’

St. Cyprian of Carthage

Wolf! 🙂 And no mistake on this one!
Click to expand...
“rhetoric” is a terrible word. We should always speak sincerely and not for personal gain.

This was the decision of one man who is now accused of killing another. And for those who love using such events as a way to motivate their followers, shame on you. As human beings, we need to deal justly with each other and speak the truth. We will all be called to give an account.

Peace,
Ed
 
thereseozi said:
%between%Catholic Prof and Evangelical Leader Blame Catholic Church, Republicans, “Religious Leaders” for Tiller’s Murder
Click to expand...
The day after Tiller was killed, an American convert to Islam – who was once detained in Yemen for possessing counterfeit documents – killed one soldier and seriously wounded another in an attack outside a recruiting office in Arkansas.

Why is there never the same level of finger-pointing against, say, Democrats and left-leaning civic and religious leaders whenever military recruiting offices are the targets of threats and/or actual violence, as there always is against Republicans and right-leaning civic and religious leaders whenever the shoe is on the other foot?

Why does it always seem like the perpetrators of violence against proponents of causes championed by the left are routinely (and almost immediately) accused of “being in cahoots with” some right-wing group, whereas the perpetrators of violence against the right are routinely (and almost immediately) found to be working alone?
 
JReducation said:
. . .

Therefore, we mourn the fact that Dr. Tiller killed so many preborn human beings. But we also mourn the fact that we did not have the opportunity to celebrate his conversion from sin in this life, because it was taken away by the hand of someone who decided that vigilante justice is acceptable to God and man.

. . .

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
Click to expand...
Yes!

Our intention in prayer and action is Pro-Life. This includes, but is not limited to, defending the lives of the preborn.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top