in response to the question posed in OP, does the fact that a couple conceived children through in vitro fertilization cause scandal when they are self-identified, or identified in the media as “devout Catholics.” The answer should inevitably be NO for this reason: Christian charity demands that we regard all our fellow Catholics as devout, as we are obliged to assume, in the fullness of that charity, that they are freshly confessed and communicated and hence in a state of sanctifying grace. In this matter, common etiquette (i.e. Miss Manners) dovetails beautifully with Christian charity: we never, ever speculate, inquire, or make assumptions about how babies and children have come to be, because such speculations have no place in polite society,
That any intelligent human being would be scandalized about the behavior of any person as reported in the media is preposterous, as the media could not get the facts right if they tried with both hands for a week.
Another illustration of “what I heard is not what you said” just happened here last week. A homeowner, watching a group of children who are here in the park participating in a summer activity program, commented “Oh, look at all the rugrats” (popular slang, deriving from a TV cartoon, referring to small children). Someone overheard, and repeated to others that he had cast a racial slur concerning the children, who of course are mostly of Mexican extraction. This person heard “Look at all the wetbacks” and within an hour several protests were lodged with management against all the homeowners for racial bigotry. The story got back to the man who made the original comment, who hastened to the office with an explanation, but by then the damage was done, and in less than a day we have hostility between the homeowners, mostly Anglo, and other users of the facility from the community, mostly Hispanic.
