"Catholics for Choice"?

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chasingcars

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Can somebody please explain me what is Catholics for Choice? I thought that the Church’s teaching is 100% pro-life so how is it possible that there are Catholics who support abortion and contraception? I’m not a member of the Church yet (only 57 days left til I’ll become one!!!) so I don’t know everything and I’m very confused about this.
catholicsforchoice.org/
 
In very simple terms: a tenet of the Church is that people must follow their conscience when making decisions. The Church lays out which conclusions are expected and/or required for a person to live close to God.

So what Catholics for Choice have done is use their conscience decisions to conclude that a pro-choice philosophy is appropriate, basing it on the belief that Catholics are supposed to follow their conscience. They kind of sidestep the other part of that, which says that God is pro-life.

I think.

I think it’s kind of flimsy.
 
They are ignoring God on this one. Paul tells us that the ends do not justify the means. Committing evil because you think it will result in a greater good is not okay.
 
Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC)

Promotes artificial contraceptive “rights,” including abortion. Their focus is the “intersection of Catholic teaching and public policy.” Bishop Bruskewitz excommunicated those that belong to this group in his Diocese. Member of Catholic Organizations for Renewal. They have been condemned by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB).
 
To follow up on on_the_hill’s post; Catholics are to properly form their conscience. Catholics for Choice most certainly have failed in this regard. Most are in a precarious position since they are well aware of how grave abortion and contraception is, but believe their feelings over ride Church teaching. It is an illness of the magisterium of one or magisterium of self. Instead of following Christ and saying “not my will, but your’s be done” they focus on themselves and say “not your will, but mine be done”. I can simply pray for them that they come to realize the great evil they support before it is too late.
 
In short, not all Catholics are good Catholics. Abortion is murder, contraception is disordered, and advocating any of them is a grave sin, for everybody.
 
They should actually call themselves “Former Catholics for Choice”.
 
So they are not Catholics, they more like “Catholics” who are members of the Church but don’t care what the Church teaches? And what they advocate is so much against the Church’s teaching that some of them got excommunicated? Okay, thanks for the answers I think I understand it now 🙂
 
The other problem with the whole “forming conscience” line of logic is that it’s not enough to conclude that pro-choice philosophy is right. You must also reject the infallibility of the Church, which means you must also reject the idea that the Holy Spirit guides the Catholic Church, which means why are you Catholic?

In fairness, one can claim ignorance that the pro-life position of the Church is a required and infallible teaching, but it seems rather hard to be that ignorant without keeping your head buried in sand.

Also - Catholics For Choice (CFC) isn’t really much of an organization. It mainly consists of non-practicing Catholics or people who aren’t even Catholic but desire for political reasons to dedicate themselves to changing Church teaching. Furthermore, it’s been denounced by the USCCB and that firmly declared it not a Catholic organization and asked CFC to remove the Catholic label. It’s also not a very large organization, just a handful of directors plus paid employees who then organize volunteers (who may not even be Catholic).

It’s unfortunate, but these people do exist and they mislead Catholics and others into thinking that being pro-choice is a tenable position for Catholics. They all need our prayers and desperately.
 
chasingcars said:
Can somebody please explain me what is Catholics for Choice? I thought that the Church’s teaching is 100% pro-life so how is it possible that there are Catholics who support abortion and contraception? I’m not a member of the Church yet (only 57 days left til I’ll become one!!!) so I don’t know everything and I’m very confused about this.
catholicsforchoice.org/
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The Church’s teaching is 100% pro-life. Just because these people call themselves “Catholic” doesn’t make them so. Anyone who makes such an adamant, public stand against the Magisterium and Christ is no Catholic.
 
Brianmcg321 said:
They should actually call themselves “Former Catholics for Choice”.
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Exactly! They are simply a group of people baptized catholic who are not in communion with the catholic church anymore and they simply use the term catholic to refer to themselves however, they are not in communion with the church.
 
chasingcars said:
So they are not Catholics, they more like “Catholics” who are members of the Church but don’t care what the Church teaches? And what they advocate is so much against the Church’s teaching that some of them got excommunicated? Okay, thanks for the answers I think I understand it now 🙂
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With regard to excommunication you would have to see each case individually but direct abortion carries excommunication so it is quite likely that if their members had or participated in direct abortions, they are excommunicated.
 
marymary1975 said:
With regard to excommunication you would have to see each case individually but direct abortion carries excommunication so it is quite likely that if their members had or participated in direct abortions, they are excommunicated.
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Even without direct participation in abortion, some Bishops have excommunicated anyone who is a member of Catholics for Choice in their dioceses.
 
Brianmcg321 said:
They should actually call themselves “Former Catholics for Choice”.
Click to expand...
chasingcars said:
So they are not Catholics, they more like “Catholics” who are members of the Church but don’t care what the Church teaches? And what they advocate is so much against the Church’s teaching that some of them got excommunicated? Okay, thanks for the answers I think I understand it now 🙂
Click to expand...
marymary1975 said:
Exactly! They are simply a group of people baptized catholic who are not in communion with the catholic church anymore and they simply use the term catholic to refer to themselves however, they are not in communion with the church.
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They may be in error, they may be in a state of sin, etc., but they are indeed Catholics.

To be clear, you can incur excommunication, but you’re still Catholic, according to the Church. Simply put, there is no way to “de-Catholicize” yourself.
 
Havard said:
They may be in error, they may be in a state of sin, etc., but they are indeed Catholics.

To be clear, you can incur excommunication, but you’re still Catholic, according to the Church. Simply put, there is no way to “de-Catholicize” yourself.
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The mark of baptisim indeed never goes away but if you break away from the church you are not in communion with the church anymore. Someone excommunicated is not in communion with the church. Catholics for choice do not form part of the body of the church.
 
marymary1975 said:
The mark of baptisim indeed never goes away but if you break away from the church you are not in communion with the church anymore. Someone excommunicated is not in communion with the church. Catholics for choice do not form part of the body of the church.
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Oh right, yes, I never meant to suggest otherwise.

I only included your post in my quotes because you mentioned how they “refer to themselves”. I was emphasizing that they are Catholics to us too, not just themselves.
 
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