San Francisco Archbishop Responds to Pelosi's Abortion Statements
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AnotherVoice
Guest
I am very glad to see the bishop’s public response. He was clear while restrained and polite; but I see the time approaching when stronger statements will be necessary.
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dixieagle
Guest
Way to go, Archbishop!
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Stylites
Guest
Odd whenever I hear anyone try to claim that passing a law against an evil act will somehow thwart the freewill choices of people to choose evil. Laws against check-kiting didn’t stop Sen. Boxer from writing bogus checks.
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JReducation
Guest
I think that the archbishop is identifying a commonly heald misconception about freedom of choice. Ms. Pelosi is correct when she says that people must assume responsibility for their choices. But her statements begin to weaken from that point forward.
Even though we all must assume responsibility for our actions, we do not have the right to choose evil. The issue here is the question of human rights. Does a human being have the right to choose evil? The answer is pretty obvious. Absolutely not.
Philosophically, the choice of evil over good is misdirection of human freedom. Human freedom has as its goal man’s happiness and fulfillment. We must understand here that the term man is both individual and collective. Everyone has a right to be happy. No one has a right to be happy at the expense of another.
To use St. Augustine’s model, a thief steels because he believes that he needs to have the object of his attention to be happy. But he is achieving his happiness at a price to another person. That price is injustice. Even if it were true that stealing an object from another were to make one happy, that happines is achieved through an immoral means, because it violates justice.
In the case of the unborn, even if the abortion “resolves” a problem for the parent, it comes at a price to an innocent human being. No human being may be killed to satisfy the goals of another. That is a violation of justice. Therefore, abortion becomes the gravest violation of justice that man can commit, because it deprives a human being of the right to his life for the sole pupose of satisfying another person.
Even if you take away the Catholic label, abortion continues to be unjustifiable, because it is a violation of justice. No human being can legitimately use his or her freedom to commit an injustice against another human being. This is the part of freedom that Ms. Pelosi does not understand.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
Even though we all must assume responsibility for our actions, we do not have the right to choose evil. The issue here is the question of human rights. Does a human being have the right to choose evil? The answer is pretty obvious. Absolutely not.
Philosophically, the choice of evil over good is misdirection of human freedom. Human freedom has as its goal man’s happiness and fulfillment. We must understand here that the term man is both individual and collective. Everyone has a right to be happy. No one has a right to be happy at the expense of another.
To use St. Augustine’s model, a thief steels because he believes that he needs to have the object of his attention to be happy. But he is achieving his happiness at a price to another person. That price is injustice. Even if it were true that stealing an object from another were to make one happy, that happines is achieved through an immoral means, because it violates justice.
In the case of the unborn, even if the abortion “resolves” a problem for the parent, it comes at a price to an innocent human being. No human being may be killed to satisfy the goals of another. That is a violation of justice. Therefore, abortion becomes the gravest violation of justice that man can commit, because it deprives a human being of the right to his life for the sole pupose of satisfying another person.
Even if you take away the Catholic label, abortion continues to be unjustifiable, because it is a violation of justice. No human being can legitimately use his or her freedom to commit an injustice against another human being. This is the part of freedom that Ms. Pelosi does not understand.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
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Another_Mary
Guest
Thanks for posting this. I am a resident of the Archdiocese of SF and I am heartened that Archbishop Niederauer has spoken. I know he does not have an easy job as a visit to San Francisco will demonstrate.
I went to google news to see if I could uncover any comments in the local Bay Area media and came up with mostly links to Catholic sites. Maybe I didn’t use the best search terms?
Anyway, here’s a link to some sort of blog at Newsweek that expands upon the interview they did with Pelosi: Link
Instead of holding my breath waiting for the media to cover Archbishop Niederauer’s comments fairly (or at all) I am going to take part in the Walk for Life on January 23.
I went to google news to see if I could uncover any comments in the local Bay Area media and came up with mostly links to Catholic sites. Maybe I didn’t use the best search terms?
Anyway, here’s a link to some sort of blog at Newsweek that expands upon the interview they did with Pelosi: Link
Instead of holding my breath waiting for the media to cover Archbishop Niederauer’s comments fairly (or at all) I am going to take part in the Walk for Life on January 23.
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JReducation
Guest
God will bless you for taking part in the Walk for Life. The unborn are the poorest of the poor. As Catholics, we must always make a preferential option for the poor.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
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jdnation
Guest
Pelosi’s logic is completely askew… How the heck people like her become politicians doesn’t seem to have anything to do with intelligence but rather talking out of both sides of their mouth. Free Will allows anyone to freely choose good or evil actions. What Pelosi wants is to allow for more people to freely choose to do evil. What she wants is equivalent to arguing for someone’s right to commit murder. She’s out of her mind, and should be excommunicated for her own good, least she receive the Body of Christ in her current rebellious and misguided state thus bringing severe judgment on herself. But I doubt she believes that doctrine either, being the ‘practicing Catholic’ that she calims to be…
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