Abortion and the Catholic Church
CHAPTER 43 — ABORTION AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
American Life League
No Catholic can responsibly take a 'pro-choice' stand when the 'choice' involves the taking of innocent human life.
National Council of Catholic Bishops.[1]
Anti-Life Philosophy.
A large number of Catholic theologians hold that even direct abortion, though tragic, can sometimes be a moral choice.
'Catholics' for a Free Choice.[2]
Introduction.
The Two Questions.
At this time in our country's history, vastly improved communications and fetal science are working together to tear the shroud of mystery and secrecy away from the unborn child and from abortion. Therefore, the abortion battle is becoming intensely feverish as more and more Americans are being forced to confront the issue.
At the heart of the abortion debate are twin questions. The first of these is purely scientific: Are the unborn living persons, or are they not? Science has definitively settled this question, and even pro-abortionists have been forced to admit that the preborn are living beings, as described in Chapter 70.
The second question is philosophical and moral: May these living beings be killed, and, if so, under what circumstances?
The very nature of this second critical question makes it an appropriate problem for all churches to discuss. And, since churches are made up of people, these individuals must have the right to act on their consciences, either singly or in groups.
The Unfulfilled Potential.
However, there are many people in this country who, while loudly proclaiming their right to follow their consciences, are actively campaigning to deprive those who oppose them of the same right.
Pro-abortionists correctly recognize that the Roman Catholic Church has the potential to be their most dangerous enemy. However, the Church certainly has not lived up to its possibilities, in large part because its hierarchy and its rank-and-file lay people have been intimidated into silence and inactivity.
Outline of the Chapter.
This chapter is divided into two sections. The first addresses the historical and current teachings of the Catholic Church regarding abortion, and also discusses the role of conscience, the "double effect," the issue of ensoulment, and the disposition of the souls of aborted and miscarried preborn babies.
The second half of the chapter addresses the various tactics used by pro-abortionists to confuse and deactivate the leadership and laity of the Catholic Church in America, and describes their inbred hatred of the Church and everything that it stands for.
On the Historical Opposition of the Catholic Church to Abortion.
I think it undeniable that some of the liberals' bungling can be dismissed as the unseemly sputterings and stutterings of a transparently camouflaged anti-Catholic bias ...
Roger Wertheimer.[3]
Lies to Confuse.
The most common pro-abortion lie about Catholic Church teaching claims that the Church has not always condemned abortion. This particular lie has been effectively used by unscrupulous pro-abortion activists all over the world to confuse and neutralize their Catholic opposition.
Just a few of the various forms this pro-abortion lie assumes are shown in Figure 43-1. The first quote, by the propaganda front group 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR), summarizes many of the most common outright pro-abortion lies about the early history of Church teachings regarding abortion.
FIGURE 43-1
TYPICAL PRO-ABORTION LIES REGARDING CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHING ON ABORTION
I go to church on Sunday but do not subscribe to many of the basic tenets of the Church. That does not mean I am any less a Catholic.
Pamela Maraldo, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, quoted in "More on Maraldo." National STOPP News, January 20, 1993, page 1.
Catholic theology, which now regards the early fetus as a person, did not always do so. The Church first adopted the belief of Aristotle, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas that ensoulment occurs several weeks after conception. Pope Innocent III, who ruled at the turn of the 13th Century, made that belief part of Church doctrine, allowing abortion until fetal animation. It was not until 1869 that the Church prohibited abortion at any time and for any reason.
'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights. June 1978 propaganda pamphlet entitled "ABORTION: Why Religious Organizations in the United States Want to Keep it Legal."
The Catholic Church is not consistent in its teaching. From 1211 to 1869, it recognised two types of foetus. It taught that the male foetus became animated at 40 days, and the female at 80 days. Furthermore, until 1869 the Church allowed abortion until quickening.
Diane Munday of the British pro-abortion group "Association for the Reform of the Abortion Law." Quoted in Colin Francome's Abortion Freedom: A Worldwide Movement. London: George Allen & Unwin Publishers, 1984, pages 89 and 90.
[Prior to 1869], the Church had officially accepted the theory of delayed animation for 500 years ... Abortion before ensoulment was tolerated by the Catholic Church.
Canadian psychiatrist Wendell W. Watters. Compulsory Pregnancy: The Truth About Abortion. Toronto: McLelland & Steward, 1976. Page 90.
Abortion was only declared illegal and condemned by the Roman Catholic Church in the 1800's. The Catholic Church condoned abortion until the fetus "quickened," meaning the time when a pregnant woman first feels the unborn child moving.
Ann Lukits. "The Agony of Abortion." The Kingston, Ontario Whig Standard, September 24, 1983, page 1.
Until just over 100 years ago, the Vatican's attitude towards abortion was relatively tolerant.
Penney Kome. "Woman's Place." Homemaker's Magazine, April 1976. Page 21.
Until the end of the 16th Century with the reign of Pope Sixtus V, the Church did, indeed, permit the termination of pregnancies within 40 days of conception for a male and 80 days for a female the old Aristotelian concept ... But I believe that a case can be made and many intelligent Catholics have agreed with me that the church's attitudes towards abortion have varied in past history, are not always consistent and can, like other elements of Catholic dogma, be changed to meet man's increased enlightenment and changing social conditions.
Illegal abortionist Ruth Barnett. They Weep On My Doorstep. Beaverton, Oregon: Halo Publishers, 1969. Pages 106 and 107.
Although Catholic teaching on abortion has shifted through the centuries, the current position is clear: abortion is murder. This position has been fixed since 1869, when Pope Pius IX reinstituted the doctrine that the soul enters the body at the moment of conception; from that moment on, the fetus is therefore a person. Furthermore, because the fetus has a soul, it must be baptized in order to remove original sin. Catholics therefore believe that not only is abortion murder, but it also condemns the unborn person to Hell.
Michael Carrera. Sex: The Facts, The Acts, and Your Feelings. New York: Crown Books, 1981. Page 290.
Michael Carrera's quote in Figure 43-1 is particularly significant. He calls himself 'Catholic,' yet makes at least nine major doctrinal errors in his short one-paragraph quote. In fact, this self-proclaimed "expert" does not make a single correct statement in this widely-circulated passage.
It is frightening to realize that uninformed people look to trash like this for clarification of the official teachings of the Catholic Church!
Summary of Rebuttal.
The falsehoods shown in Figure 43-1 have been bandied about by devious pro-abortionists for the last century, and the time has come to lay them to rest once and for all.
Most importantly, the Catholic Church has never "approved of" or "condoned" abortion in any part of its history. It has never taught that the time of 'ensoulment' of the unborn child depended on its sex, as stated above; this was merely the speculation of two theologians (who, by the way, both condemned abortion at all times).
And the Catholic Church has never accepted the theory of delayed animation. The only time that the Church has ever addressed this question is when Pope Innocent XI officially condemned the theory that animation took place at birth.
The teachings of the Catholic Church have been uniformly against abortion in any form, and have been stated and restated consistently through the centuries.
Those who believe otherwise are hereby challenged to produce a statement by any Pope, cardinal or bishop supporting abortion from any period in history (declarations by Modernist priests with suspended teaching authority don't count).
Early Teachings of the Church.
Figure 43-2 lists some quotes from the early history of the Church delineating its true teachings regarding abortion. This figure depicts passages from only a few of the many early Church documents that explicitly condemned abortion.
Other early Church theologians examined the methods, motives, morality and metaphysics of abortion. They all described abortion as a heinous sin, and their writings are listed in the second half of Figure 43-2.
FIGURE 43-2
EARLY PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AGAINST ABORTION
You shall not kill an unborn child or murder a newborn infant.
The Didache ("The Lord's Instruction to the Gentiles through the Twelve Apostles"). II, 2, translated by J.A. Kleist, S.J., Ancient Christian Writers, Volume 6. Westminster, 1948, page 16.
You shall love your neighbor more than your own life. You shall not slay the child by abortion.
Barnabas (c. 70-138), Epistle, Volume II, page 19.
For us [Christians], murder is once and for all forbidden; so even the child in the womb, while yet the mother's blood is still being drawn on to form the human being, it is not lawful for us to destroy. To forbid birth is only quicker murder. It makes no difference whether one takes away the life once born or destroys it as it comes to birth. He is a man, who is to be a man; the fruit is always present in the seed.
Tertullian, 197, Apologeticus, page 9.
Those women who use drugs to bring about an abortion commit murder and will have to give an account to God for their abortion.
Athenagoras of Athens, letter to Marcus Aurelius in 177, Legatio pro Christianis ("Supplication for the Christians"), page 35.
It is among you that I see newly-begotten sons at times exposed to wild beasts and birds, or dispatched by the violent death of strangulation; and there are women who, by the use of medicinal potions, destroy the unborn life in their wombs, and murder the child before they bring it forth. These practices undoubtedly are derived from a custom established by your gods; Saturn, though he did not expose his sons, certainly devoured them.
Minucius Felix, theologian (c. 200-225), Octavius, p. 30.
... if we would not kill off the human race born and developing according to God's plan, then our whole lives would be lived according to nature. Women who make use of some sort of deadly abortion drug kill not only the embryo but, together with it, all human kindness.
Clement of Alexandria, priest and the "Father of Theologians" (c. 150-220), Christ the Educator, Volume II, page 10. Also see Octavius, c.30, nn. 2-3.
Sometimes this lustful cruelty or cruel lust goes so far as to seek to procure a baneful sterility, and if this fails the fetus conceived in the womb is in one way or another smothered or evacuated, in the desire to destroy the offspring before it has life, or if it already lives in the womb, to kill it before it is born. If both man and woman are party to such practices they are not spouses at all; and if from the first they have carried on thus they have come together not for honest wedlock, but for impure gratification; if both are not party to these deeds, I make bold to say that either the one makes herself a mistress of the husband, or the other simply the paramour of his wife.
St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430), De Nuptius et Concupiscus ("On Marriage and Concupiscence"), 1.17.
Some virgins [unmarried women], when they learn they are with child through sin, practice abortion by the use of drugs. Frequently they die themselves and are brought before the ruler of the lower world guilty of three crimes; suicide, adultery against Christ, and murder of an unborn child.
St. Jerome, Bible Scholar and translator (c. 340-420), Letter to Eustochium, 22.13.
The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us. Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to the penalty for homicide.
St. Basil the Great, priest (c. 329-379), First Canonical Letter, from the work Three Canonical Letters. Loeb Classical Library, Volume III, pages 20 to 23.
Accordingly, among surgeon's tools, there is a certain instrument, which is formed with a nicely-adjusted flexible frame for opening the uterus first of all, and keeping it open; it is further furnished with an annular blade, by means of which the limbs within the womb are dissected with anxious but unfaltering care; its last appendage being a blunted or covered hood, wherewith the entire foetus is extracted by a violent delivery. There is also a copper needle or spike, by which the actual death is managed in this furtive robbery of life: they give it, from its infanticide function, the name of enbruosphaktes, the slayer of the infant, which was of course alive ... life begins with conception, because we contend that the soul also begins from conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does.
Tertullian, theologian (150-225), Treatise on the Soul, pages 25 and 27.
Those who give drugs for procuring abortion, and those who receive poisons to kill the foetus, are subjected to the penalty for murder.
Trullian (Quinisext) Council (692), Canons, 91.
SUMMARY OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EARLY CHURCH TEACHINGS AGAINST ABORTION
• The Apocalypse of Peter.
• Hippolytus, Bishop of Pontius and theologian (died 236), Refutation of All
Heresies, 9.7.
• Origen, theologian of Alexandria (185-254), Against Heresies, page 9.
• Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (c. 200-258), Letters, page 48.
• Methodius, Bishop of Olympus (died 311).
• Council of Elvira in Granada, Spain (305), Canons, 63 and 68.
• Council of Ancyra in Galatia, Asia Minor (314), Canon, 21.
• Ephraem the Syrian, theologian (306-373), De Timore Dei, page 10.
• Ephipanius, Bishop of Salamis (c. 315-403).
• St. Basil the Great, priest (c. 329-379), Letters, 188.2, 8.
• St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (c. 339-397), Hexameron, 5.18.58.
Apostolic Constitutions (late Fourth Century)
• St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430), Enchiridion, page 86.
• St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople (c. 347-407), Homily 24 ("On
The Book of Romans")
• St. Jerome (died in 420)
• Council of Chalcedon (451)
• Caesarius, Bishop of Arles (470-543), Sermons, 1.12.
• Council of Lerida (524).
• Second Council of Braga (527), Canons, 77.
• St. Martin of Braga (580)
• Consillium Quinisextum (692).
More Recent Teachings of the Church.
The Catholic Church has always taught that abortion is murder. However, some confusion exists because the penalties for the murder of a preborn child have been changed several times in the history of the Church.
In 1588, Pope Sixtus V tried to discourage abortion by reserving absolution to the Holy See alone. Because of the numbers of abortions taking place, it soon became evident that such an arrangement was impractical, and so in 1591, just three years later, Pope Gregory XIV returned absolution for abortion to the local ordinary (the local bishop).[4]
Paolo Zacchia, Physician-General of the Vatican, published a book in 1620 entitled Quaestiones Medico-Legales in which he argued that ensoulment takes place at conception and that development is a continuum.[5]
In 1679, Pope Innocent XI condemned the writings and teachings of two theologians, Thomas Sanchez and Joannis Marcus, who believed that abortion was lawful if the fetus was not yet animated or ensouled and the purpose of the abortion was to prevent shame to the woman.[6] This act showed decisively that the Church did not tolerate abortion, and was willing to prosecute those who spread error regarding child-killing.
The French Jesuit Theophile Raynaud (1582-1663) believed that indirect abortion of a viable baby to save the mother's life was allowable. This was notable because he was the first theologian to hold this view and his teachings were unique in the Church until about 1850. This is an early statement of the "double effect," described later in this chapter.
In 1869, Pope Pius IX took the action that 'Catholic' pro-abortionists deliberately misrepresent in order to buttress their heretical views. The abortophiles allege that, in this year, the Pope condemned abortion for the very first time.
In reality, the Pope officially removed the distinction between the animated and unanimated fetus from the Code of Canon Law.[7] This action dealt not with theology, but with discipline, and merely made the punishment for abortion at any stage uniform. The Pope removed the distinction in order to support the Church's stance that life and ensoulment both begin at conception.
Recent Teachings of the Catholic Church Regarding Abortion.
Nor can he [the politician] take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a[n abortion] law, or vote for it.
Vatican's Declaration on Abortion, November 18, 1974.
Declarations of Recent Popes.
The dissident 'theologians' quoted in this chapter are obviously in direct disobedience to the teachings of Rome. Every Catholic is bound to follow the Magisterium (teaching authority) of the Catholic Church, which originates in Rome. The opinions of renegade Catholics and publicity-seeking 'theologians' are utterly meaningless and carry no weight whatever. In case there is any doubt about the enduring position of the Catholic Church on abortion, consider Figure 43-3, which shows some quotes by Popes of this century on the topic of intrauterine child lynching.
FIGURE 43-3
STATEMENTS OF RECENT POPES CONDEMNING ABORTION
But another very grave crime is to be noted, venerable brethren, which regards the taking of the life of the offspring hidden in the mother's womb ... As to the "medical and therapeutic indication" to which, using their own words, we have made reference, venerable brethren, however much we may pity the mother whose health and even life are gravely imperiled in the performance of the duty allotted to her by nature, nevertheless what could ever be a sufficient reason for excusing in any way the direct murder of the innocent? This is precisely what we are dealing with here. Whether inflicted upon the mother or upon the child, it is against the precept of God and the law of nature: "You shall not kill." The life of each is equally sacred, and no one has the power, not even the public authority, to destroy it ...
The direct procuring of abortion is never justified by any "indication" nor by any human law; nor is it shown to be licit by appealing to the argument of self-defense or of extreme necessity ... Those who hold the reins of government should not forget that it is the duty of public authority, by appropriate laws, to defend the lives of the innocent, and this all the more since those whose lives are endangered and assailed cannot defend themselves. Among whom We must mention, in the first place, infants hidden in the mother's womb. And if the public magistrates not only do not defend them, but by their laws and ordinances betray them to death at the hands of doctors or of others, let them remember that God is the Judge and Avenger of innocent blood which cries from earth to heaven.
Pope Pius XI, Casti Connubii #67, December 31, 1930.
Every human being, even the child in the womb, has the right to life directly from God and not from his parents, not from any society or human authority. Therefore, there is no man, no society, no human authority, no science, no "indication" at all whether it be medical, eugenic, social, economic, or moral that may offer or give a valid judicial title for a direct deliberate disposal of an innocent human life, that is, a disposal that aims at its destruction, whether as an end in itself or as a means to achieve the end, perhaps in no way at all illicit. The direct destruction of so-called "useless lives," already born or still in the womb, practiced extensively a few years ago [by Nazi Germany], can in no wise be justified ... The life of an innocent person is sacrosanct, and any direct attempt or aggression against it is a violation of one of the fundamental laws without which secure human society is impossible ... [N]ever forget this: There rises above every human law and above every "indication" the faultless law of God [emphasis in original].
Pope Pius XII, Allocution to Midwives, October 29, 1951.
No matter what the distinction between those different moments in the development of life, already born or still to be born, for profane and ecclesiastical law and for certain civil and penal consequences according to the moral law, in all these cases it is a matter of a grave and illicit attempt on inviolable human life.
This principle holds good both for the mother as well as the child. Never and in no case has the Church taught that the life of the child must be preferred to that of the mother. It is erroneous to place the question with this alternative: Either the life of the child or that of the mother. No; neither the life of the mother nor of the child may be submitted to an act of suppression. Both for the one and the other the demand cannot be but this: To use every means to save the life of both the mother and the child.
Pope Pius XII, Address to the Family Front Congress, November 27, 1951.
In conformity with these landmarks in the human and Christian vision of marriage, We must once again declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun, and, above all, directly willed and procured abortion, even if for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as licit means of regulating birth.
Equally to be excluded, as the teaching authority of the Church has frequently declared, is direct sterilization, whether perpetual or temporary, whether of the man or of the woman. Similarly excluded is every action which, either in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, purposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible.
Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, July 25, 1968, Paragraph 14.
Disregard for the sacred character of life in the womb weakens the very fabric of civilization; it prepares a mentality, and even a public attitude, that can lead to the acceptance of other practices that are against the fundamental rights of the individual. This mentality can, for example, completely undermine concern for those in want, manifesting itself in insensitivity to social needs; it can produce contempt for the elderly, to the point of advocating euthanasia; it can prepare the way for those forms of genetic engineering that go against life, the dangers of which are not yet fully known to the general public.
Pope Paul VI, September 11, 1968.
Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception; abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.
Second Vatican Council, Encyclical Gaudium et Spes, IV, 51.
It must in any case be clearly understood that a Christian can never conform to a law which is in itself immoral, and such is the case of a law which would admit in principle the licitness of abortion. Nor can a Christian take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it. Moreover, he may not collaborate in its application.
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. "Declaration on Procured Abortion." November 18, 1974, Paragraph 22.
Barbarity and cruelty are the right names [for abortion]: The mothers conceive a child, then accuse it of being their unjust aggressor and suppress it.
Pope John Paul I (as Cardinal Luciani), 1977.
I do not hesitate to proclaim before you and before the world that all human life from the moment of conception and through all subsequent stages is sacred, because human life is created in the image and likeness of God. Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person. Human life is not just an idea or an abstraction; human life is the concrete reality of a being that lives, that acts, that grown and develops; human life is the concrete reality of a being that is capable of love, and of service to humanity.
If a person's right to life is violated at the moment in which he is first conceived in his mother's womb, an indirect blow is struck also at the whole of the moral order ... Human life is precious because it is the gift of God, a God whose love is infinite; and when God gives life, it is forever.
From Pope John Paul II's homily at the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., on October 7, 1979. quoted in "Human Life is the Gift of God." The Wanderer, October 18, 1979, pages 1 and 9.
The unborn human being's right to live is one of the inalienable human rights. God, the Lord of Life, has given man the exalted task of preserving life, and this must be carried out in a way which is worthy of mankind. From the conception, therefore, life must be protected with the greatest care. Abortion is the taking of a child's life and is a repulsive crime.
Pope John Paul II, September 9, 1985, Knight's Hall, Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
If you want equal justice for all, and true freedom and lasting peace, then, America, defend life! All the great causes that are yours today will have meaning only to the extent that you guarantee the right to life and protect the human person.
Every human person no matter how vulnerable or helpless, no matter how young or how old, no matter how healthy, handicapped, or sick, no matter how useful or productive for society is a being of inestimable worth created in the image and likeness of God. This is the dignity of America, the reason she exists, the condition for her survival yes, the ultimate test of her greatness: To respect every human person, especially the weakest and defenseless ones, those as yet unborn.
Pope John Paul II, September 19, 1987, Detroit, Michigan. Quoted by Gary Potter. "Pope's Farewell Message ... "America, Defend Life!"" The Wanderer, October 1, 1987, page 4.
These Popes have condemned abortion clearly and unmistakably. No honest or open-minded person could possibly believe that there is a 'diversity of opinion' on the subject of abortion within the Catholic Church.
As strongly as the Church has spoken on abortion, perhaps nobody has described the very heart of the matter as well as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who even condemned it during her Nobel Prize acceptance lecture. On September 17, 1988, in Ottawa, Canada, Mother Teresa eloquently reiterated this belief; "Every abortion kills two the child and the conscience of the mother. The latter will never forget she, herself, has killed her own child. If you don't want that child, I want it, give it to me!"
On the Infallibility of Humanae Vitae.
Some so-called 'Catholics' claim that the only teachings of the Church that its members are bound to follow are those that have solemnly been declared to be infallible.
Conversely, they say, any teaching of the Church that has not specifically been declared infallible is open for individual interpretation. This category of teaching would, of course, include those that have addressed such sexual conduct as fornication, adultery, abortion, divorce, and the use of artificial contraception.
The question of conscience vs. authority must be answered on two levels, the most basic being from the standpoint of "natural law." As defined in Romans 2:12-16 and Jeremiah 31:33, God imprints the natural law on the heart and soul of man, and this leads him to know whether or not an act is moral or evil. In other words, "natural law" is man's instinctual knowledge of what is right and what is wrong his "conscience."
St. Thomas, who is quoted in The Catechism of the Catholic Church, says that "Natural law is simply the light of intelligence placed within us by God; by it we know what we should do and what we should avoid. God bestowed this light, or this law, with the creation."
The practical effect of pronouncements made under natural law is that they can never be changed not even by the Pope and all of his assembled Cardinals and Bishops. And certainly not by disgruntled lay people and dissident priests!
But 'Catholics' for a Free Choice is always telling us that we can choose abortion if we do so with a clear conscience. In other words, just as homosexuals are "born that way," some people are born with a conscience that is vestigial in that it does not restrict their activities in the slightest.
Occasionally these pro-abortion 'Catholics' will quote a Vatican II document entitled Declaration on Religious Freedom in support of their contention that we should be able to do anything our 'conscience' does not object to.
However, Father John Courtney Murray, S.J., principal author of the Declaration, anticipated this kind of dishonesty. He stated in a footnote to the Abbott-Gallagher edition of the council texts that "The Declaration does not base the right to the free exercise of religion on 'freedom of conscience.' Nowhere does this phrase occur. And the Declaration nowhere lends its authority to the theory for which the phrase frequently stands, namely, that I have the right to do what my conscience tells me to do, simply because my conscience tells me to do it. This is a perilous theory. Its particular peril is subjectivism the notion that, in the end, it is my conscience, and not the objective truth, which determines what is right and wrong, true or false."[8]
After settling the question of "natural law," we must turn our attention to the related issue of ex cathedra ('from the chair') pronouncements of the Pope.
There are two methods by which Catholics may know that a teaching of the Church is infallible and therefore must be obeyed by all Catholics in order to remain Catholic.
The first of these, of course, is an ex cathedra pronouncement. Popes use this mechanism very infrequently, and then only to address the very fundamentals of Catholic faith. Only once since 1870 has the Pope spoken ex cathedra; on November 1, 1950, when Pope Pius XII declared the doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Many pro-life theologians have debated the wisdom of having the Church's teachings on birth control and abortion be formally declared infallible, and have decided that this would not be wise in the larger scheme of things. The reason is that such a pronouncement in an area of morals (as opposed to fundamental beliefs) would give the impression that all other moral teachings of the Church were optional. This might lead to a situation where disbelief would run rampant in the areas not specifically addressed ex cathedra, and would lead to more and more demands for such pronouncements in almost every area of Church teaching.
The second means by which Catholics may know that a Church teaching is infallible is by examining the ordinary magisterium. This is the usual, day to day expression of the Church's infallibility.
The Canon of St. Vincent of Lorenz declares that any doctrine that has been taught semper ubique obomnibus always, everywhere, and by everyone makes it part of the ordinary and universal Magisterial teaching.[9]
As shown by the quotes of ancient and modern Catholic theologians in Figures 43-2 and 43-3, the prohibition against abortion has indeed been taught semper ubique obomnibus. Therefore, Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae does not declare or create some new doctrine or dogma. It simply reiterates the infallible doctrine that human life is sacred from conception to natural birth.
From this, we may state without fear of contradiction (from anyone who counts, that is) that the Catholic Church's ban on abortion is, indeed, derived from an infallible doctrine.
Before wrapping up this discussion on infallibility, we must consider this question: Do we really think that 'Catholic' abortophiles would suddenly stop their child killing if the Pope suddenly issued an ex cathedra decree that abortion was a mortal sin?
Obviously, they would not. Just as with the question of ensoulment, the pro-aborts couldn't really care less about the degree of solemnity of Catholic condemnation of abortion. This is another red herring they use to distract attention from the real issue.
An Expanded Definition of 'Abortion.'
The Catholic Church has recently expanded its definition of abortion to include new drugs and surgical procedures. This expansion has not been necessary until recently because such drugs and procedures simply have not existed until this time, and their invention had created a new 'grey area' that needed to be clarified.
The Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law, on November 24, 1988, stated that abortion is not only "the expulsion of the immature fetus," but is also "the killing of the same fetus in any way and at any time from the moment of conception."[10]
This definition of abortion includes the use of any of the following;
• all birth control pills, because every birth control pill manufactured today causes early abortions part of the time! For a description of the modes of action of birth control pills manufactured today, see Chapter 31.
• mini-pills, morning-after pills, true abortion pills such as RU-486, abortifacients such as Depo-Provera, and injectable abortifacients such as NORPLANT (described in Chapters 33 and 34);
• so-called "menstrual extraction" techniques, a Neofeminist favorite; and
• the use of all intrauterine devices (IUDs), which are all abortifacient and act by preventing the implantation of the already-fertilized zygote (in order for the sanctions [including excommunication] against abortion to be applied, the woman must know that the IUD's action is abortifacient). The modes of action of the IUDs are described in Chapter 32.
The Church Penalty for Assisting or Obtaining Abortions: Excommunication!
If you carefully examine your conscience and then decide that an abortion is the most moral act you can do at this time, you're not committing a sin. Therefore, you're not excommunicated. Nor need you tell it in confession since, in your case, abortion is not a sin.
'Catholics' for a Free Choice brochure entitled "You Are Not Alone."
On 'Playing the Game.'
If a person refuses to play by the rules of a game, he is almost always barred from playing that game. If a basketball player insists on travelling, he will eventually be ejected. If a card player insists on cheating, he will be identified as a cheater and nobody will play with him. If a soldier refuses to salute, wear a uniform, or carry a rifle, he will be court-martialled and jailed or thrown out of the service.
The same holds true of the 'games' of life and religion. If a person constantly preys on others, he is not playing by the rules that society has set down, and, if he persists in his predatory activities, he will eventually be separated from society or even 'ejected' from life if his crimes are serious enough.
Perhaps every faithful Catholic has heard ignorant bigots sneer "if da Pope no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules," with regards to abortion and contraception. These people are missing the point. The Pope is not a player in the game; for Catholics, he is the coach and referee. And if so-called 'members' of the team (members of the Catholic Church) do not play by the rules, then they should be 'cut' from the team by excommunication. We might take the "play the game" remark and turn it around to use against the so-called 'Catholic' abortophiles: "If you no play-a by de rules, you no play-a de game."
After all, what's fair is fair for everyone!
The Media and Excommunication.
The pro-abortion media, of course, might be expected to maintain a double standard on anything impinging upon abortion. Excommunication is no exception.
Members of the media simper that the excommunication of bad 'Catholics' is an unacceptable interference in public life, but they see no inconsistency when they attempt to meddle in Church affairs.
Of course, the media propagandists don't really care about excommunication; they only care about abortion. The New York Times proved this point with its greatly divergent reactions to the excommunication of two leaders from separate spheres of social activism.
When San Diego's Bishop Leo Maher excommunicated pro-abort state assemblywoman Lucy Killea in 1990, the Times sniveled "By imposing a test of religious loyalty, Bishop Maher threatens the truce of tolerance by which Americans maintain civility and enlarge religious liberty."
When John Cardinal O'Connor of New York threatened excommunication for pro-abortion 'Catholic' politicians, the Times squawked that he was "... tearing at the truce of tolerance that permits America's pluralistic society to work."
However, when Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans in 1962 excommunicated Leander Perez, a white supremacist and Louisiana political boss who had opposed desegregation of the schools, the Times didn't seem to mind at all; "Men of all faiths must admire the unwavering courage of the Most Reverend Joseph Rummel, Archbishop of New Orleans ... We salute the Catholic Archbishop. He has set an example founded on religious principle and is responsive to the social conscience of our time."
Of course, Catholic clergymen aren't the only people who excommunicate the dissenters within their ranks, but they are the only ones who get negative media attention.
Openly sodomite Congressman Barney Frank (D.-olt) was formally excommunicated according to Jewish law (Halacha) by Beth Din Zedek (the High Rabbinical Ecclesiastical Court) on June 27, 1990. The presiding Rabbi, Joseph Friedman, stated that the excommunication was for "Desecrating the name of God and the Jewish people, for bringing dishonor and disgrace upon the high office of Congressman, and for promoting and encouraging the moral corruption of society. A prominent Jewish public official, to our deep embarrassment, Frank has been a blatant promoter of moral depravity."[11]
Although this eminently justifiable writ of excommunication was extraordinarily stronger in tone and content than anything that Cardinal O'Connor or anyone else in the Catholic Church had issued, and although it was directed at a far more famous person than a lowly abortion clinic operator, the secular press played it down or ignored it altogether.
Obtaining An Abortion.
The position of the Catholic Church on abortion could not be clearer. Only a person who is willfully blinding himself or herself to the facts could make the ridiculous claim that there is 'room for a diversity of opinion' within the Catholic Church on abortion.
The church not only does not want to change its teaching on abortion it absolutely cannot change its teaching, because this critical issue deals with fundamental questions of faith, morals, and ethics.
Those 'Catholic' abortophiles who are waiting for a change will be waiting for a very long time indeed.
Canon 2350, promulgated in 1917, states that all who procure abortion shall be automatically excommunicated.
Canon Law Number 1398 states, quite simply, in Latin and English;
Qui abortum procurat, effectu secuto, in excommunicationem, latae sententiae, incurrat.
Those who successfully abort a living human fetus bring on themselves instant excommunication.
Abortum procurat means anyone who works to kill a human fetus in any manner at all. This may be the boyfriend or husband who drives the mother to the abortion mill, pays for the abortion in full or in part, or even advises that abortion may be an option in her case.
Latae sententiae means that the person brings instant excommunication upon himself with his act. No solemn pronouncement need be made by the Church or a Bishop or priest, and no one else need even know about the abortion. For automatic excommunication to take place, the woman must know that she is pregnant and must freely choose abortion. At the moment the woman's child dies, she is cut off from all the Sacraments completely, and cannot return unless she sincerely repents and makes a good confession. This sanction also applies to the abortionist, attending nurse or counselor, and anyone else who assists in the abortion. This is why Mary Ann Sorrentino, a "Catholic" who administered a Planned Parenthood abortuary in Rhode Island, was publicly excommunicated. Keep in mind that Rome or the Bishop did not excommunicate her, nor did any priest; she excommunicated herself.
It is important to note here that the woman must be fully knowledgeable of her act. She may using the birth control pill, intra-uterine device (IUD), NORPLANT, or some other abortifacient. Since many women are completely unaware of the abortifacient effects of these devices and drugs, they would not generally be liable to excommunication.
Effectu secuto means that the excommunication takes place only if the abortion is completed.
Assisting in Procurement.
Canon Law 1398 (quoted above) and Section 2 of Canon Law 1329 outline quite clearly the penalty for assisting in an abortion. The latter Canon Law states that "Accomplices, even though not mentioned in the law or precept, incur the same penalty [latae sententiae excommunication] if, without their assistance, the crime would not have been committed, and if the penalty is of such a nature as to be able to affect them; otherwise, they can be punished with ferendae sententiae [inflicted by clergy] penalties."
In fact, the United States Catholic Bishops have stated quite clearly that one cannot be Catholic and even support the general concept of abortion; "No Catholic can responsibly take a 'pro-choice' stand when the 'choice' involves the taking of innocent human life."[1]
In other words, the term "pro-choice Catholic" is the ultimate oxymoron.
Abortion to Save the Life of the Mother
The 'Double Effect.'
Source of Confusion.
The very rare cases of pregnancy that pose a real and immediate threat to the mother's life including uterine cancer and ectopic pregnancies are a source of great confusion, especially among Catholics.
It is absolutely true that the Catholic Church bans abortion to save the life of the mother. However (and this is an extremely important point) the mother's life may be saved by a surgical procedure that does not directly attack the unborn baby's life.
The most common dysfunctions that may set a mother's life against that of her unborn child's are the ectopic pregnancy, carcinoma of the uterine cervix, and cancer of the ovary. Occasionally, cancer of the vulva or vagina may indicate surgical intervention.
In such cases, under the principle of the "double effect," attending physicians must do everything in their power to save both the mother and the child. If the physicians decide that, in the case of an ectopic pregnancy, the mother's life can only be saved by the removal of the Fallopian tube (and with it, the unborn baby), or by removal of some other tissue essential for the preborn baby's life, the baby will of course die. But this would not be categorized as an abortion. This is all the difference between deliberate murder (abortion) and unintentional natural death.
The principle of the "double effect" also applies to sexual sterilization. If a woman must have a hysterectomy to remove a dangerously cancerous uterus, this will result in her sterilization, but is not a sinful act. However, if the purpose of the operation is not to heal or safeguard health, but to directly sterilize, then that act is intrinsically evil and is always a mortal sin.[12]
Statement of Intent and Principle.
Pope Pius XII summarized the intent of the double effect when he addressed the Family Front Congress on November 27, 1951; "Both for the one and the other, the demand cannot be but this: To use every means to save the life of both the mother and the child."[13]
Pius also stated the general principle of the "double effect" on October 29, 1951, at his address to the Italian Union of Midwives. This speech is codified in the Pope's Acta Apostilicae Sedis, 43(1951), page 855.
Article 14 of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Declaration on Procured Abortion (November 18, 1974) reiterates it.
The pertinent passage of this document reads; "Deliberately we have always used the expression 'direct attempt on the life of an innocent person,' 'direct killing.' Because if, for example, the saving of the life of the future mother, independently of her pregnant condition, should urgently require a surgical act or other therapeutic treatment which would have as an accessory consequence, in no way desired or intended, but inevitable, the death of the fetus, such an act could no longer be called a direct attempt on an innocent life. Under these conditions the operation can be lawful, like other similar medical interventions granted always that a good of high worth is concerned, such as life, and that it is not possible to postpone the operation until after the birth of the child, nor to have recourse to other efficacious remedies."
Yet More Silliness.
As described in Chapter 10 of Volume I, "Infiltration and Subversion," one of the most effective general strategies employed by pro-abortionists and other anti-lifers involves the assertion that "this is not a black and white question." In other words, the pro-aborts would have us believe that there is some enormous (and necessarily undefined) grey area within which many ethical questions fall.
Of course, this concept is the ultimate red herring: According to 'Catholics' for a Free Choice and other phony 'Christians,' any abortion that any woman wants inevitably falls into this "gray area."
As with every other ethical and moral question posed to pro-abortionists, "wanna-be" theologians stretch the "double effect" to cover all abortions, and the effects are frequently comical. For example, John Swomley, a propagandist for the 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights, claims that "The Roman church argues that although the death of the fetus is foreseen, it is not intended because the intention is to preserve the health and life of the woman. Isn't it just as reasonable to assert that the intention of most women is the separation of the fetus from the woman, not the killing of the fetus, though its death may be foreseen?"[14]
Swomley obviously isn't thinking here: He "forgets" that Canon law requires that the desired effect (in his example, "separation of the fetus from the woman") must be accomplished in such a way as to best assure the survival of both mother and child. Thus, the approved method to achieve "separation" would be the natural termination of pregnancy known as "birth," occurring at about nine months' gestation.
Additionally, if the intention of most women is the "separation of the fetus from the woman," why do 1.6 million women reject adoption each year? And why do abortionists deliberately use methods designed to kill preborn babies in late abortions? It is plain that the purpose of abortion is indeed to produce a dead baby.
The Question of Ensoulment.
Saints Thomas and Jerome.
Some pro-abortion propagandists with no particular regard for the truth point to the fact that Saint Thomas and Saint Jerome speculated as to when the soul was infused by God, and say that this uncertainty constitutes a definite approval of abortion. Others, like Dr. Robert E. Hall, simply make flatly untrue statements such as "One can admire St. Augustine for conceding that no one will ever know when fetal life begins."[15]
Other misleading statements by bogus "Catholics" used to prop up their unjustifiable support of prenatal child killing are even more bizarre. For example, "Catholic" Marjorie Reilly Maguire, a board member of the National Abortion Rights Action League, claims with a straight face that the Annunciation "proves" that ensoulment does not take place until the mother consents to "the pregnancy that is within her."[16]
Keep in mind that, according to the Gospels, the Virgin Mary consented prior to the moment of conception.
These statements are illogical and, of course, dead wrong. Both Saints Thomas and Jerome recognized that ensoulment and abortion were two distinct and separate issues. They both condemned abortion in the strongest possible terms (see Figure 43-2 for one of St. Jerome's statements against abortion).
In any case, the matter of when the body is 'ensouled' has historically made no difference to the Catholic Church; see the quotes in Figure 43-2 by Saints Basil and Jerome, for proof. It is quite obvious from the language he uses that St. Basil had extensive experience in dealing with Fourth Century pro-abortion doublespeak.
In summary, Saints Thomas and Jerome were postulating a theory based upon the best medical knowledge of their time, which had been set forth by Aristotle centuries before. Aristotle taught that the unborn did not become human until forty days after conception. This notion was only discarded in 1621, based upon the work of Paulo Zacchia in his Quaestiones Medico-Legales, question 9.1.
Consistency at Any Ridiculous Cost?
It is quite evident that the 'ensoulment' argument is nothing more than a red herring. It is an attempt to 'prove' that the Catholic Church is 'inconsistent' in its teachings on abortion.
In reality, of course, pro-aborts couldn't care less when the soul is infused. They know that such a concept cannot be scientifically proven one way or the other, so they are 'safe.' They can continue to kill with an uncluttered conscience.
If someone suddenly developed a new and advanced technology that could definitively detect the presence of a soul in the preborn child, does any thinking pro-lifer believe that the pro-aborts would suddenly give up their precious 'right' to kill as a result?
If there are people that naive out there, we know of a slightly-used bridge for sale at a very attractive price ...
Pro-abortion groups will go to laughable extremes in their attempts to prove 'inconsistency' in Church teachings. For example, they actually say with a straight face that the Catholic Church is not consistent because it does not insist on a funeral Mass for each miscarried baby.
Can you believe it? This idiotic statement glaringly highlights the pervasive pro-abortion double standard. On the one hand, the pro-aborts insist that any mother who wants to kill her child should be able to define it out of existence with a mere thought, i.e., "This baby is unwanted, and therefore does not exist." She doesn't need the validation of Church or State or any other authority. All she needs, curiously enough, is an abortuary to eliminate this supposedly 'nonexistent' baby.
On the other hand, a grieving pro-life mother who has miscarried has to jump all kinds of hurdles before the existence of her baby can be 'validated.' The pro-abortionists say that she must have a funeral Mass and the participation of the Catholic Church, a Catholic priest, and numerous other people before her opinions and feelings are legitimized.
What blatant inconsistency!
Also, whatever happened to the 'right to privacy' cherished by the pro-aborts? Apparently, it is only for them. After all, they're special cases. Just ask them.
This is typical of the pro-abortion mentality. The mother's wishes or biological fact do not make the baby a human being; the funeral does!
The National Abortion Rights Action League even insisted in its June 1978 A Speakers and Debaters Notebook that every Catholic woman must have a formal funeral Mass and burial each time she menstruates, since the 'products of menstruation' just might include an unnoticed very early miscarriage! Population controller Garrett Hardin, always at the forefront of the abortion debate with a wide variety of silly statements, weighed in with the slightly differing (but still profoundly absurd) opinion that "Whenever a woman is late with her period, the menstrual products will have to be collected and given a proper burial."[17]
These and other pro-abortionists know that the Catholic Church is potentially their most dangerous enemy, and thus they are constantly trying to saddle it with obviously impossible missions in the name of 'consistency.' NARAL would just love to see Catholic priests spend 90 percent of their time saying funeral Masses for used Stayfree mini-pads!
Ah, the 'logic' of the abortophile mentality! As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
Conclusion.
Most pro-abortionists don't believe in God (at least not a Christian God), and therefore don't believe that human beings have souls. Why, then, are they quibbling about a concept that they don't believe in to begin with? Why, to divert attention away from the central issue the immoral and unethical slaughter of real live unborn babies.
Curiously, those very few pro-aborts who do believe in 'ensoulment' are nevertheless willing and eager to kill what they believe does have a soul the unborn baby.
Baptism for Preborn Babies.
Is Their Baptism Possible?
Many Catholics believe that the greatest tragedy of abortion is not the actual deaths of preborn babies, but their loss of Heaven due to the fact that they were not baptized.
However, it is rather presumptuous to state as fact that all unbaptized people go straight to Hell (or even to some Limbo-like state), because this includes a broad assumption that God is restrained by certain laws as understood by man. God's power obviously cannot be limited by the desires or opinions of men; His power is infinite, and He can do anything He wants, including welcoming to Heaven unbaptized preborn babies. Some theologians believe that, after their deaths, God gives aborted and miscarried babies full knowledge and does so that they may make their own decision about eternity, just as they would have done on earth.
It is a repugnant concept that God would condemn to Hell a person who, through no fault of his own, has never heard of Christ. Therefore, the Catholic Church teaches that even persons who have never heard of Christ may be worthy of Heaven if they live a benign lifestyle that generally adheres to the precepts of Christianity. Since unborn babies are guilty of no sin other than original sin, they certainly fit this category.[18]
As proof of this, the Catholic Church has formally canonized as Saints a group of unbaptized persons the Holy Innocents, who died directly because of others who hated Jesus, just as all of the aborted babies are dying for hate of Him today.
The Baptism of Desire.
Catholic pro-life groups, including Catholics United for Life and the Shield of Roses, commonly pray the Rosary for the dying and the dead outside abortuaries. The purpose of these Rosaries, in part, is to request the baptism of desire for the unborn babies being slaughtered there that day. Even if the aborting mothers are atheists and couldn't care less about their babies' souls, Catholics believe that it is possible to request baptism for them. This is essentially the same understanding used by mothers who conditionally baptize their miscarried babies.[18]
The Baptism of Blood.
Many religions share the belief that those who die for God are martyrs who gain Heaven. Catholicism is no exception. Many believe that the little preborn babies who die of abortion are sacrificed for convenience (or necessity, in rare cases), and are therefore true martyrs, as were the Holy Innocents, the babies who died at Herod's hands in place of Jesus.
The Catholic Church canonized the Holy Innocents due because their deaths were to odium fidei, or hatred of the Faith. Father Benedict Groeschel says that it is reasonable to expect that unborn babies may also be killed due to odium fidei (or odium Dei), and therefore assume the status of latter-day Holy Innocents.[19]
On Extreme Unction for Infants.
Many pro-abortionists practically go into a frenzy looking for perceived 'inconsistencies' in the teachings of the Catholic Church, and will bellow triumphantly when they 'find' it even if their conclusions are mistaken because they have failed to do proper research.
One typical example of mistakenly-perceived 'inconsistency' deals with the administration of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction ("The Last Rites") to infants. As illegal abortionist Ruth Barnett asserted, "However, somewhat contraditory [sic] I would think, it the fact that Catholic priests do not, ordinarily, give a fetus the usual extreme unction or burial services afforded a still-birth. It seems to me that this kind of differentiation, in practice, is in variation with their beliefs. If they do consider the fetus to be alive, why do they deny it the extreme unction given the child born dead? I have never heard this question answered."[20]
It is quite obvious that Barnett never bothered to ask a competent Catholic priest her question on Extreme Unction, or she would have heard it properly answered. To begin with, Barnett flaunts her ignorance of the Catholic faith by asserting that stillborn babies receive Extreme Unction. This is impossible, since this Sacrament can only be given to living people. Stillborn babies are dead. If there is some question as to whether or not the baby is living, this Sacrament may be administered conditionally.
As for her 'unanswered' question, Extreme Unction is not usually given to any children under the age of reason (about seven years). This is because intent is a necessary part of any sin and children under seven are deemed incapable of having the intent necessary commit serious sin. Therefore, priests generally do not administer Extreme Unction to very young children because they have no intentional sins to remit.
For Those Who Think the Pope is Just the Bishop of Rome.
Almost all anti-life 'Catholics' know the truth about abortion. They simply want to rationalize their 'trendy' beliefs, both to themselves and to others (this is a very common phenomenon, and is well-known to psychiatrists). And they try to do so with absurd and dangerous assumptions that even they know, deep down inside, are false. Somehow they think, that on the Judgement Day, they will be able to excuse themselves by saying that they were sincere. But our eternal Judge knows better, because He knows us much better than even we know ourselves. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "The greatest power of the mind is its capacity to deceive itself."
One of the more common assertions made by anti-life 'Catholics' in this country is that the Pope is just another Bishop of a small and not particularly important Archdiocese in some far-flung Mediterranean country. As such, why should we listen to him? The reason for this subterfuge is obvious. The pro-abortion propagandists loathe the unyielding pro-life position of the current Pope, and so disregard his edicts in favor of a local 'authority' that better suits their viewpoint.
To these 'Catholic' pro-abortionists, we say: Listen to your own United States Bishops, who have repeatedly condemned abortion for any reason. The dates of just a few of their major declarations, statements, and letters against abortion are listed below.
SUMMARY OF RECENT STATEMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
CATHOLIC BISHOPS AGAINST ABORTION
The sweeping judgement of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Texas and Georgia abortion cases [the Roe and Doe cases] is a flagrant rejection of the unborn child's right to life ... Although as a result of the Court decision abortion may be legally permissible, it is still morally wrong, and no Court opinion can change the law of God prohibiting the taking of innocent human life.
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, January 24, 1973.
• Statements against abortion by the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops (NCCB), January 24, 1973; April 7, 1970; February 13, 1973;
September 18, 1973; November 13, 1973; and November 20, 1975.
• Bishops of Connecticut, September 1974
• Bishops of Illinois, March 20, 1969
• Bishops of Illinois, February 3, 1971
• Bishops of Indiana, December 1972
• Bishops of Maryland, January 27, 1971
• Bishops of Massachusetts, March 1971
• Bishops of Massachusetts, February 1972
• Bishops of Missouri, December 1970
• Bishops of New Jersey, March 1970
• Bishops of New York, February 12, 1967
• Bishops of New York, February 13, 1970
• Bishops of New York, March 19, 1970
• Bishops of New York, December 2, 1970
• Bishops of New York, April 7, 1972
• Bishops of Pennsylvania, September 1970
• Bishops of Texas, April 1971
Reference. All of the above Bishop's declarations, statements, and pastoral letters are reproduced in their entirety in the Daughters of St. Paul's book Yes to Life. Order from Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02130. 328 pages, 1976.
If, even after seeing all of this evidence, an anti-life person continues to insist that there is some ill-defined 'plurality of opinion' regarding abortion within the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, simply ask him or her for a statement by any Pope or Bishop supporting abortion for any reason. If the person is to any faint degree open-minded, this should finally close the argument. You may wish to conclude by showing them the next few paragraphs dealing with excommunication.
What "Diversity of Opinion?"
I know that if either of my girls came to me and said, "Mom, I'm pregnant, and I'm not gonna have that baby," I would say "Here's the money. Please go see a doctor."
Geraldine Ferraro, Ms. Magazine, July 1984.
Introduction.
Pro-abortion propagandists very commonly claim that the Catholic Church has, at one undefined time or another, tolerated abortion. Even if the Catholic Church had approved of abortion at one time (AND IT NEVER HAS), its position now is what is relevant. And that position is unyieldingly against abortion.
The treasured "diversity of opinion" has, on the one side, the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, all reputable theologians, and the Magisterium of the eternal Roman Catholic Church. On the other side is a ragtag, disreputable gaggle of defrocked priests, dissidents, and those with an unending itch to destroy that which stands for good. These people include;
• disgraced priests and ex-priests, including Father Charles Curran and Daniel Maguire, all of whom have been disavowed and reprimanded by Rome;
• renegade nuns, like Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey, who have been censured by Rome, and who have quit their orders; and
• famous pro-abortion 'Catholic' lay people who actually profit from their unethical stance, including Ted Kennedy, Pamela Moraldo, Frances Kissling, William Brennan, Mario Cuomo, Geraldine Ferraro, and Mary Ann Sorrentino.
Just a few examples of the dissidents' bizarre antics and ridiculous statements are shown below. The phrase, "by their fruits you shall know them" rings true in the cases of these pro-abortion propagandists.
Warped 'Tradition.'
Father Richard O'Brien, former Chairman of the Theology department at the University of Notre Dame, says that "Catholic tradition" forbids efforts to change current American law on abortion. Father Charles Curran agrees. Naturally, in their view, "Catholic tradition" allows changing the American law to permit abortion!
Father Raymond G. Decker, Assistant Dean of Loyola University School of Law, said that Roe v. Wade "... is more in accord with fundamental Christian principles ... than the positions reflected in the rather strident criticisms it has received from certain Catholic sources."
Washington's Archbishop James A. Hickey stated that pro-abortion Catholic politicians and judges, no matter how ruthlessly they push abortion, are "practicing Catholics in good standing." The examples he gave: Fanatical pro-abortion U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, who killed Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick, and William Brennan, the 'brains' behind the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that condemned literally tens of millions of preborn children to death.
Archbishop Hickey's claim was in direct contradiction to the November 18, 1974 Vatican Declaration on Abortion, which clearly stated that "Nor can he [the politician] take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a[n abortion] law, or vote for it."
That Blasted Vaccine Again ...
Certain pro-abortion priests and ex-preists (including Daniel Maguire, Richard McCormick, James Halstead, Louis Janssens, Abel Jeanniere, and Pierre Simon) say that Pope Leo XII declared in 1829 that smallpox was a judgment from God and that "the smallpox vaccination is a challenge towards Heaven."
In a failed attempt at parallelism, these dissidents use this purported quote by Pope Leo XII to 'show' that the Catholic Church does indeed change its moral teachings with regard to biological matters like birth control, sterilization, and abortion.
However, after intensive research, experienced investigator Father Donald Keefe concluded that no such papal statement or Bull existed in any records anywhere, and the above-mentioned dissident priests could not provide substantiation of the statement. In other words, some abortophile simply made the statement up and every one of these 'theologians' was so eager to attack the Catholic Church that they seized upon the fabrication without bothering to check it for authenticity.[21]
More 'Nunsense.'
The pro-abortion National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN), in its "Statement on Its Opposition to the Hatch Act," made perhaps the smoothest "personally opposed, but ..." excuse ever when it said that "While we continue to oppose abortion, in principle and in practice, we are likewise convinced that the responsibility for decisions in this regard resides primarily with those who are directly and personally involved."
Like rape and sexual abuse, eh, 'sisters?'
The 'Know-Nothings' Are Back.
Historians remember the hysterical anti-Catholic propaganda vomited by the Know-Nothing Party and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1800s and early 1900s. Embittered former 'Catholics' have resurrected this garbage and are freely spewing it today; "The financial demands made on Catholics are atrocious. Churches are extremely wealthy institutions. I see what Churches have because I work in a bank. I work hard for what I have, and I need what I have for myself. I can't afford to support a priest. Let the priest support me once in a while. The Pope sits over there and makes all the rules and shakes his head, "Yes, no, yes, no.' He's got all those jewels. Who does he think he is? Did he ever sit down and talk to a woman who got into a jam? I'd like to say to him, "If I had this child, would you take care of it? Pull a few of those rocks off that habit and take care of it for me? Give up your jewels ...'"
This trash is not produced by white-robed KKK bigots but by bitter former 'Catholic' Neofeminists who claim to 'love their Church.' The above quote is from a 'Catholics' for a Free Choice booklet entitled "My Conscience Speaks: Catholic Women Discuss Their Abortions." It is one CFFC's "Abortion in Good Faith" series of anti-Catholic tracts that bear titles like "I Support You But I Can't Sign My Name," "We Are the Mainstream," and, amusingly, "Morality Reborn."[22]
Using Contraception As a Wedge Again.
One particularly clever tactic the Neoliberals use to undermine Church teaching on abortion is to claim that most Catholic men and women ignore Church teaching on contraception. Therefore, of course, since this is America where the majority rules, the Church must be 'wrong' on contraception. It naturally follows that the Church might also be 'wrong' on abortion.
Unfortunately, the Neoliberals are entirely correct when they claim that the majority of Catholic men and women ignore Church teachings on artificial contraception.
The 1988 National Survey of Family Growth, conducted by the National center for Health Statistics showed that;
• 72 percent of all married Catholic couples of childbearing age in the United States use some form of artificial contraception or sterilization to limit childbearing. 55 percent of these said they relied on the pill, 22 percent on tubal ligation, 12 percent on vasectomy, and 11 percent on other artificial methods.
• 3 percent of all Catholic couples use some form of natural family planning (NFP), the only Church-approved method of limiting family size.
• the remaining 25 percent of all married Catholic couples use no form of fertility control, because they are either naturally infertile or are attempting to get pregnant.[23]
The flaw in the Neoliberal line of reasoning is quite plain. The Catholic Church is not anti-American; but it is un-American in that it is not a democracy. God did not set up a pluralistic system. He made the rules; the Church interprets the rules; and it is up to us to follow the rules.
If only one Catholic man or woman in the country adhered to Church teachings on abortion or contraception while everyone else ignored them, that one person would be in the right. Everyone else would be wrong.
It is as simple as that. But a Neoliberal mind simply cannot grasp the concept that some people might want to give up some of their "freedom of choice" in order to save their souls. Faithful Catholics 'trade' a portion of their personal autonomy in exchange for an infinitely great reward. Since Neoliberals do not believe in the existence of the 'reward,' they simply cannot understand such a transaction.
Analysis of The New York Times Statement.
As a Catholic, Jesuit, and priest, I'm against it [abortion], except for women!
Pro-abortion Catholic 'priest' Robert Drinan.[24]
Introduction.
There have been many full-fledged media campaigns conducted by pro-abortionists for the purpose of undermining Catholic Church teaching on abortion, but the 1984 New York Times statement is undoubtedly the most notorious example of this genre. It is also entirely typical of this type of subversive attack.
The New York Times advertisement by the pseudo-religious splinter group 'Catholics' for a Free Choice (which is excerpted at the beginning of this chapter) is an absolutely classic use of the propaganda strategy commonly referred to by professionals as "infiltration and subversion."
Simply stated, this pro-abortion group seeks to render ineffective or less effective a dangerous opponent to abortion 'rights' (in this case, the Catholic Church) by confusing its rank-and-file members and marginal priests as to authentic Catholic teaching.
This tactic has been effective in wars of all kinds since the beginning of time. The CFFC statement, which claims diversity and inconsistency within the Catholic Church is, quite simply, a barefaced lie.
For more information on the Neoliberal strategy of infiltration and subversion, see Chapter 10 of Volume I.
Dissidents in 'Action.'
Nearly a hundred persons signed the (in)famous New York Times statement challenging the position of the Catholic Church regarding abortion. Of these, all but four eventually retracted their statements after inquiries by Rome, betraying their total lack of courage and commitment to their cause. Of the four who refused to retract their statements, two were defrocked priests with an axe to grind (and nothing to lose) and two were marginal nuns who finally left their order after causing grave scandal.
People who have been excommunicated, and those without the courage of their convictions, frequently purport to speak for the Catholic Church. However, they obviously have no standing whatsoever.
Their Real Objectives.
Notice how the signers of the CFFC statement call abortion "tragic." These are pure crocodile tears, shed in an attempt to give their position a transparent veneer of humanity.
In reality, the people who bought this and signed it couldn't care less about the preborn. Renegade pro-abortion "Catholic" groups want abortion for everyone, for any reason, and demand that the public pay for it whether members of that same public believe that abortion is murder or not.
Many organizations that represent themselves as 'Catholic' are busily burrowing away at Church moral teaching from within, in attempts to water it down to the point where it is indistinguishable from Humanistic public morality.
Those subversive pro-abortion groups that falsely refer to themselves as 'Catholic' include;[25]
• 'Catholics' for a Free Choice (CFFC);
• 'Catholic' Women for Reproductive Rights (CWRR);
• Conference for 'Catholic' Lesbians (CCL);
• National Coalition of American 'Nuns' (NCAN);
• Women's Ordination Conference (WOC);
• Sisters Against Sexism (SAS);
• Women-Church; and
• Dignity, a 'Catholic' sodomite group.
CFFC: A Small, Vocal Minority.
Through media tools like expensive ads in virulently pro-abortion newspapers, CFFC and other dissidents allege that the Pope is a renegade and that the Catholic Church is unpopular, backward, and "out of touch with the mainstream." By implication, of course, pro-aborts can then assert that the positions of the Church on social issues are also 'out of touch.'
Marjorie Reilly Maguire and Daniel C. Maguire of 'Catholics' for a Free Choice, the best anti-Catholic propagandists the pro-aborts can field, slyly 'compliment' the Church while asserting that pro-life priests and laity are not part of the "real" Church; "Thus, the Catholic Church, when considered in its rich diversity, teaches that some abortions can be moral and that conscience is the final arbiter of any abortion decision. Unfortunately, the Catholicism that is taught in many Catholic parishes does not reflect the richness of the Catholic faith."[26]
Obviously, Maguire believes that parishes that are liberal on abortion are "mature," "diverse," "open," and "rich." Those that uphold authentic Catholic teaching on abortion are "narrow," "punitive," and "impoverished."
Polls commissioned by the secular media prove that CFFC is wrong and, not surprisingly, that CFFC and its contemptible ilk are merely (as they like to say about pro-lifers) "a small and vocal minority." These polls show that, if one considers the people to be the church, the real Catholic Church is, indeed, pro-life.
On the occasion of the Pope's 1987 visit to the United States, the New York Times and CBS News commissioned a nationwide poll of American Catholics during the period August 16 to 22 .
The poll found that 59 percent of all Catholics had a favorable opinion of Pope John Paul II. A tiny minority of dissidents and renegades (only 5 percent) had an unfavorable impression of the current Pope.
More than half of all Catholics (56 percent) agreed that Pope John Paul II is "... a moral and humanitarian spokesman for all people, no matter what their religion."[27]
On parallel issues, only 29 percent of American Catholics said that abortion should be as widely available as it is now; this is compared to 40 percent of non-Catholics. 61 percent of all Catholics said that abortion was the equivalent of murdering a child, compared to 47 percent for non-Catholics.[27]
Pro-Abortion Bigots.
I've always known that Catholicism is a completely sexist, repressed, sin- and punishment-based religion.
Trash star Madonna.[28]
Have Their Pie and Eat it, Too ...
As usual, the pro-abortionists want it both ways. On one hand, they claim that there is a 'diversity of opinion' within the Catholic Church on abortion, and boast that there are wide cracks in the moral positions of the 'monolithic, hierarchical church.' They say that many or most Catholics would not 'impose their morality' on others. And then the pro-aborts produce phony public opinion polls 'showing' that Catholic women get abortions more than any other class of women.
However, when it is convenient for them, the same people play the victim and pretend to cower before the 'onslaught against abortion rights' by the 'rigid and dogmatic' Catholic Church. They snivel loudly about how viciously they are being persecuted, while they themselves see no violence in tearing apart thousands of unborn children every day.
The same people who would blow a major blood vessel if anyone criticized them for being intolerant or judgmental see no problem at all with launching vitriolic tirades against Catholics that are bigoted and judgmental by any yardstick. For example, a writer in the Communist propaganda sheet Women and Revolution recently raved that "According to chief druid Karol Wojtyla, procreation is the only legitimate function of sex. The Church staunchly defends the family because it is a fundamental pillar of class society ... Church and state out of the bedrooms! For the full separation of church and state! The revolutionary democrat Garibaldi correctly stated that "the Vatican is the cancer of Italy ... Down with the Concordat! Church out of the schools! Expropriate the Vatican and all its assets! Abolish "conscientious objection [for doctors who do not want to do abortions]!" Those who would practice medicine cannot also declare themselves "objectors!""[29]
This is all part of a larger, more important two-step strategy. First, the pro-abortionists would like to irretrievably link abortion with the Catholic Church in the public mind. Then, they would like to thoroughly discredit Catholic teaching on abortion by 'proving' it to be inconsistent, unscientific, and politically motivated.
The end result would be obvious: Any opposition to abortion, whether it be by Catholics, fundamentalists, or atheists, would be discounted as religious fanaticism, or even worse Catholic religious fanaticism.
The pro-aborts are bigots to the core. They use America's residual anti-Catholicism to try to preserve their precious and bloody 'right,' and they use it effectively. Try to imagine the tactics described in the following paragraphs being tolerated when used against Jews or Blacks, and remember that these are just the most overt examples of such bigotry.
Litigation Chicanery.
The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case Harris v. McRae (which ruled the Hyde Amendment constitutional) tried to convince the Court that such an Amendment was a violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause because it "incorporate[s] into law the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church concerning the sinfulness of abortion and the time at which life commences."[30] Naturally, the plaintiffs did not point out the opposite side of the same coin: That declaring the unborn to be only 'potential life' is also a religious view held by several denominations.
Defining the 'Enemy.'
Anti-Catholic bigotry is a long and dishonorable tradition of the pro-death forces, beginning with Margaret Sanger. David M. Kennedy writes that "Remembering also the radical maxim that a visible enemy was an indispensable source of inspiration for a social movement, she [Sanger] used the Catholic church as she had previously used the 'plutocrats' and Anthony Comstock as a goad to energize her supporters and as a foil to dramatize her cause ... As she grew older, her childhood obsession with supposed Catholic deviousness became more and more exaggerated."[31]
A generation later, hate of Catholics had not abated a whit in the cold hearts of the social engineers. Dr. Bernard Nathanson describes a 1969 conversation he had (while still an abortionist) with fellow abortophile Larry Lader, in his book Aborting America;
Historically, every revolution has to have its villain ... Now, in our case, it makes little sense to lead a campaign only against unjust laws, even though that's what we really are doing. We have to narrow the focus, identify those unjust laws with a person or a group of people ... There's always been one group of people in this country associated with reactionary politics, behind-the-scenes manipulations, socially backward ideas. You know who I mean, Bernie ... the Catholic hierarchy. That's a small enough group to come down on, and anonymous enough so that no names ever have to be mentioned ...
Lader also tried to set church against church when he asserted in his originally-named book Abortion that "Unless Protestantism wants to continue its unstated but inherent subservience to Catholic doctrine, it is high time the Protestant leadership announces: A piece of tissue cannot be sanctified as human life." He also cast Catholics as anti-American and established a well-known pro-abortion slogan in the same book;
As long as the Catholic Church, or any faith, continues to block legislation allowing individual conscience and free choice in abortion, the core of our democratic system is crippled. The right to abortion is the foundation of Society's long struggle to guarantee that every child comes into this world wanted, loved, and cared for. The right to abortion, along with all birth-control measures, must establish the Century of the Wanted Child.[32]
It did not take the pro-abortionists long to pick up on Lader's virulent brand of bigotry. The Catholic Church's stand on abortion was first directly attacked on April 19, 1970, when the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for Women's (NOW) so-called Ecumenical Task Farce on Women and Religion burned a Catholic missal and sent the ashes to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.[33]
It did not take long for Lader's bigotry to explode into written and spoken tirades heavy-laden with hate and guilt, as demonstrated by Anne Gaylor (a Zero Population Growth fanatic who hypocritically has four children) in her bizarre book Abortion is a Blessing; "There is no point in our pretending that official Catholic views are enlightened and humane, or that Catholics are not different from anyone else. Catholics are different from others they are quite willing to associate themselves with an organization that has done and continues to do an immense amount of damage to women, to families, to countries, and to the world. If the Catholic doctrines on sex could prevail, all the world would be miserable instead of just some of it. All the world would be hungry. The world would end."[34] Gaylor also waxed ineloquent on the Edelin abortion/infanticide trial;
That gentle Dr. Edelin ever should have found himself a defendant against a charge of manslaughter beggars belief ... That card-carrying, dues-paying Catholics ever should have been allowed to serve on a jury deciding a charge of abortion-related manslaughter is a travesty of justice.[34]
It did not seem to occur to Gaylor that her statement was equivalent to asserting that no Jew should ever sit on a jury judging an American Nazi accused of committing hate crimes.
NARAL itself, of course, certainly did not stop at burning Catholic books. The minutes of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws Executive Committee meeting of Friday, May 12, 1972, show an obvious and extreme anti-Catholic bigotry as a parade of NARAL leaders proclaimed their hatred of Catholics and their Church in general.
Figure 43-4 consists of extracts from these minutes showing how the NARAL bosses alleged that the Pope runs America; that direct violence must be used against the Catholic Church; that the Catholic Church is "anti-life" and hates women; and that other illegal and unethical tactics must be used against the Church in the fight for abortion 'rights.'
FIGURE 43-4
ANTI-CATHOLIC QUOTES BY LEADERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE REPEAL OF ABORTION LAWS AT THE 1972 NARAL NATIONAL STRATEGY MEETING
NOTE: These summaries are exact quotes transcribed by a secretary for the minutes of the May 12, 1972 meeting of the executive board of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, later the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). All quotes below are copied verbatim from the Minutes.
Lawrence Lader, Chairman, NARAL Executive Committee
(1) Stated Billy Graham and the Pope running our country.
(4) Catholics trying to overthrow the most humanitarian legislation of our time.
(7) [Catholic] Priests went into assembly and terrorized [Texas] legislators.
(10) Stressed that he [Lader] uses every opportunity— Television appearances, radio interviews, newspapers to criticize the way the Catholic Church uses its tax free monies, etc.
Hon. Lorraine Beebe, former State Senator, Michigan
(1) Stressed financial strength of the Catholic Church.
(2) We have been nice, pleasant too long. We can be restrained no longer— Right to Lifers have a total lack of respect for human life. "We can no longer move restrainedly, sit on our apathy and hope Rome will burn."
(3) Catholics waged a smear campaign against me when they learned I had had a therapeutic abortion. They made threatening calls, threw eggs at my house. Had signs— 'A vote for Beebe is a vote against the Pope.'
(4) The catholics will stop at no ends to reach their goals.
Lawrence Lader— I share Mrs. Beebe's attitude, "I don't care if we have a Belfast and Dublin here in the U.S. we must have a direct conflict with the Catholic Church."
Reverend Robert T. Cobb— Associate Executive Director, N.Y. Council of Churches.
Rev. Cobb made a very dramatic entrance— ripping off his collar and asking "who are you afraid of" -when you thought I was a Catholic Priest you looked stunned. You should not be afraid of a church that condemns but does not forgive.
"Protestants have been bought by the Roman Catholic Church."
He proceeded to knock ecumenism and state[d] that if the Churches go to Rome he will go walking on his hands.
(5) A good Roman Catholic Liberal can be valuable.
William Baird, Director, Parent's Aid Society
(1) Single Greatest Threat to Women— Roman Catholic Church
(3) In attacking Catholic Church— concentrate on separation of church and state.
Summary -
(3) Their [NARAL] attack will be concentrated— even to court cases— against the Catholic Church and trying to make people believe that Pope is trying to run the country, and that the Catholic Church is trying to take over Protestant Churches."
[Secretary's final comment]: "At this point we had to leave— It was after 5 ... I was getting a bit nervous— the anti-catholic, anti-Right to Life feeling in that room was close to violent."
This virulent anti-Catholic bigotry was shared by virtually every rank-and-file member of NARAL. The same hate still smolders, but it has been muted in order to avoid public condemnation.
References: Catholic Church Position on Abortion.
[1] National Council of Catholic Bishops, Fall 1989 conference resolution of November 8, 1989.
[2] October 7, 1984 New York Times statement entitled "A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion," signed by 97 members of 'Catholics' for a Free Choice.
[3] Roger Wertheimer. "Understanding the Abortion Argument." The Rights and Wrongs of Abortion. Edited by Cohen, Nagel and Scanlon. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1974. Page 29, footnote 6.
[4] Lucius Farraris, Bibliotheca Iuridica Moralis Theologica. Roma: 1885, I, pages 36 to 38.
[5] Paolo Zacchia, Physician-General of the Vatican State. Quaestiones Medico-Legales. Lyons: 1701. Library 6, Title 1, Questions 7 and 16.
[6] Denzinger-Schoenmetzer. Enchiridion Symbolorum. Rome: Herder, 1965. Pages 2,134 to 2,135.
[7] Codicus Iuris Canonici Fontes. 9 Volumes. Rome, 1923 to 1939, specification number 552.
[8] Father John Courtney Murray, S.J., principle author of Vatican II's Declaration on Religious Freedom, quoted in Russell Shaw. "Answers." National Catholic Register, September 13, 1992, page 4.
[9] Monsignor William Smith, "Humanae Vitae, Dissent, and Infallibility." Presentation at Human Life International's "Conference on Love, Life, and the Family," held in Santa Barbara, California in March of 1991. This superb talk answers all of the difficult questions that may be posed by pro-aborts on Catholic teaching regarding abortion and artificial contraception. The tape of Msgr. Smith's talk would be very useful as a part of catechism classes and natural family planning presentations, and can be ordered from Human Life International, 7845-E Airpark Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879.
[10] "Church Elaborates Definition of Abortion." National Catholic Register, December 11, 1988, page 3.
[11] "Jewish Ecclesiastical Court Excommunicates Cong. Barney Frank." The Wanderer, July 19, 1990. Page 1.
[12] Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, #14, July 25, 1968, and Pope Pius XII, "Allocution to Midwives," #27, October 29, 1951.
[13] Pope Pius XII, address to the Family Front Congress on November 27, 1951.
[14] John M. Swomley. "Six Ethical Questions." Propaganda pamphlet by the 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights, June 1987, page 3.
[15] Robert E. Hall, M.D. "Time Limitation in Induced Abortion." Sarah Lewit (Editor). Abortion Techniques and Services: Proceedings of the Conference, New York, N.Y., June 3-5, 1971. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica, 1972.
[16] National Abortion Rights Action League board member Marjorie Reilly Maguire, quoted in D.J. Dooley, "The Cuomo Syndrome." Fidelity Magazine, December 1987, pages 8 to 11.
[17] "Interview: Garrett Hardin." Omni Magazine, June 1992, pages 56 to 63.
[18] The Homiletic & Pastoral Review has printed several excellent discussions on the concept of Baptism of Desire. Specifically, see Father Francis C. O'Hara's article entitled "Limbo in Terms of Abortion" in the January 1985 issue and the rebuttal letters by Father Thomas Cleary, Father David Altman and Richard A. Ruth in the June 1985 issue. Back issues of this monthly magazine, produced primarily to aid priests in the preparation of sermons, are commonly saved by priests in larger parishes and by offices of various Archdioceses.
[19] Christopher Bell. "Where Do the Unborn Go?" National Catholic Register, June 23, 1991, page 4.
[20] Illegal abortionist Ruth Barnett. They Weep On My Doorstep. Beaverton, Oregon: Halo Press. 1954, page 107.
[21] Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Newsletter of September 1986, quoted in the February 26, 1989 National Catholic Register.
[22] William McGurn. "Catholics & 'Free Choice.'" National Catholic Register, February 14, 1982, pages 2 and 6.
[23] Catholic News Service. "Most Catholic Women Ignore Church-Accepted Form of Birth Control." The Portland, Oregon Catholic Sentinel, January 24, 1992, page 7.
[24] Pro-abortion Congressman and priest Robert Drinan (D.-Ma.), quoted in "Drinan ... One Exception." National Right to Life News, August 1979, page 5.
[25] See E. Michael Jones. "The Pope and the Condom Worshippers." Fidelity Magazine, December 1987, pages 31 to 44, and Catholic Twin Circle, May 14, 1989, page 7.
[26] Marjorie Reilly Maguire and Daniel C. Maguire. "Abortion: A Guide to Making Ethical Decisions." 'Catholics' for a Free Choice," September 1983.
[27] Joseph Berger, New York Times News Service. "Survey Shows Catholics Regard Pope Favorably Despite Disagreements." The Oregonian, September 10, 1987.
[28] Madonna, quoted in US Magazine, June 13, 1991, and in "Madonna Blasts Catholics." American Family Association Journal, September 1991, page 3.
[29] "Vatican Leads Onslaught Against Abortion Rights." Women and Revolution, Summer/Autumn 1992, pages 19 to 21.
[30] Slip opinion at 14, citing Maher v. Roe, 432 U.S. at 473-474.
[31] David M. Kennedy. Birth Control in America. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1971. Pages 97 and 267.
[32] Lawrence Lader. Abortion. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1966. Page 165.
[33] Judith Hole and Ellen Levine. Rebirth of Feminism. Quadrangle Books: New York, 1971. Page 295.
[34] Anne Nicol Gaylor. Abortion is a Blessing. New York, New York: Psychological Dimensions, Inc. 1975, 124 pages. Pages 57, 81, and 84.
Further Reading and Resources: Catholic Church Position on Abortion.
Apropos, Volume 5.
A.S. Fraser, Editor, Burnbrae, Staffin Road, Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland, IV51 9HP, United Kingdom. Subscription is by regular mail, or by airmail. This is a magazine devoted to developments in the European Catholic Church. Lately, the European Church has become deeply embroiled in the continuing controversy over fertility science, including various forms of in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
Benedict M. Ashley, O.P. Theologies of the Body: Humanist and Christian.
The Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education Center, 186 Forbes Road, Braintree, Massachusetts 02184. 1985, 727 pages. A very in-depth examination of the history and implications of the attitudes towards the human body by Christians and humanists.
Roy Howard Beck. On Thin Ice.
Order from Bristol Books, Box 150, Wilmore, Kentucky 40390, telephone 1-800-451-READ. This book uncovers the means and tactics that the liberals have used to undermine and paralyze the mainline churches and, even worse, perverted them so completely that some of them embrace the entire left-wing agenda. Particular attention is lavished upon the National Council of Churches (NCC).
Claudia Carlen, IHM. The Papal Encyclicals.
McGrath Publishing Company. Five volumes, 2,260 pages. The complete text of every encyclical issued by each pope from Benedict XIV in 1740 to Pius ix in 1878 (in Volume I, 460 pages); Leo XIII, 1878 to 1903 (Volume II, 520 pages); Pius X in 1903 to Pius XI in 1939 (Volume III, 570 pages); Pius XII, 1939 to 1958 (Volume IV, 380 pages); John XXIII in 1958 to John Paul II in 1981 (Volume V, 330 pages).
Claudia Carlen, IHM. Papal Pronouncements: A Guide, 1740-1978.
The Pieran Press, Box 1808, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1990. 2 volumes, 957 pages. Volume I: Benedict XIV to Paul VI (entries 1:1 to 16:930). Volume II: Paul VI to John Paul I (entries 16:931 to 17:30).
Catholic Eye.
This periodical consists of incisive commentary on various political and life-issue events. Write to The National Committee of Catholic Laymen, Inc., James McFadden, Jr., Editor, Room 840, 150 East 35th Street, New York, New York, 10157-0137.
The Catholic Family News.
414 East Lawrence Street, Post Office Box 2435, Mount Vernon, Washington 98273. Telephone: (206) 336-5150. A monthly 16-page newspaper that includes general articles on items of information that will be of interest to traditional Catholic families.
Catholic Mailbox.
A free computer bulletin board that includes text files of the Pope's speeches, encyclicals, and an "Ask Father" question and answer box. 2400 baud, (313) 631-6870.
Catholic Twin Circle.
This weekly newspaper provides excellent, easy-to-read, conservative coverage of the most important ethical and moral issues of our day. Catholic Twin Circle may be subscribed to by writing to 12700 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 200, Studio City, California 91604, telephone: 1-800-421-3230.
Catholic World Report.
Post Office Box 6718, Syracuse, New York 13217. The main office for this publication is in Rome, and thus publisher Robert Moynihan has an advantage in reporting what is really going on in the Catholic Church. Subscription is for a journal that covers all of the hot issues in the Catholic Church today: Abortion, altar girls, persecution of Catholics in China, the politics of sainthood, the Tridentine Mass movement, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary (by Muslims)!, the Irish and abortion, apparitions, clandestine Catholic communities, and many others.
Catholics United for Life.
CUL issues this untitled 4-page aperiodic newsletter about once every six weeks. It deals primarily with the methods and spirituality surrounding sidewalk counseling. Write to Catholics United for Life, New Hope, Kentucky 40052.
Ronda Chervin. Feminine, Free, and Faithful.
143 pages. Order from Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528. Chervin shows that freedom and femininity are not mutually exclusive terms, but necessary elements for a woman to achieve her full potential as a Christian.
Mary Lewis Coakley. Long Liberated Ladies.
260 pages. Order from: Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528, telephone: 1-800-528-0559. A favorite Neofeminist myth is that the Catholic Church institutionally and systematically oppresses women as a class. This book outlines the lives of women who accomplished spectacular spiritual and material feats instead of whining about how terribly they were "oppressed." Stories include the lives of Saint Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Amelia Earhart, Isabella of Castille, and Florence Nightingale.
Father John Connery, S.J. Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective.
Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1977. Hardcover. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This study traces the entire history of the Roman Catholic doctrine regarding abortion from the beginning of the Christian era to modern times. Particular attention is given to the controversy and confusion within the Church regarding abortion to save the life of the mother.
Robert P. Craig, Carl L. Middleton, and Laurence J. O'Connell. Ethics Committees: A Practical Approach.
The Catholic Health Association of the United States, 4455 Woodson Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63134-0889. 1986, 95 pages. Topics covered include the functions of Catholic institutional (hospital) ethics committees, their structure, membership, formation, religious perspectives on them, their history and role, and the roles of the five key players: The administrator, the medical staff, nursing staff, theologian/ethicist, and the bishop.
Michael W. Cuneo. Catholics Against the Church: Anti-Abortion Protest in Toronto, 1969-1985.
University of Toronto Press, 1989, 221 pages. The author traces the history and sociology of the Canadian pro-life movement as it battles the most liberal Church hierarchy in the world. The author is not writing from the pro-life viewpoint, but his insights will be valuable for American pro-life strategists. A detailed recounting of the battle over the illegal but government-protected Morgentaler clinics is also provided.
Daughters of St. Paul. Pro-Life Catechism.
Order from Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02130. 98 pages, 1986. Catholic teaching on life issues, in a useful question-and-answer format. The answers to the questions are drawn directly from Church documents. This book contains useful and pertinent information for all Christian pro-life activists.
Daughters of St. Paul. Yes to Life.
Order from Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02130. 328 pages, 1976. May also be ordered from Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This is an outstanding sourcebook that summarizes the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding abortion from the first century to 1975. The book quotes the writings of the early church fathers in the first through fifth centuries and the teachings of five recent Popes, in addition to the documents issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Bishops of nineteen countries speak out eloquently and forcefully against abortion in this book. This book will be the ultimate debate weapon for any pro-life activist confronting any member of 'Catholics' for a Free Choice or any other pro-abort who believes that there is 'room for disagreement' within the Catholic Church about abortion.
Donald DeMarco, Ph.D. In My Mother's Womb: The Church's Defense of Natural Life.
Hardcover, paperback. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. An eloquent defense of the Catholic Church's defense of human life. An examination of abortion's terminology and perspectives, the unborn, contraception and bio-engineering. Also covered is the Church's perspective on new technologies, including in-vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, fetal experimentation, and genetic engineering. See especially Chapter 1, "Abortion and Church Teaching," pages 7 to 25, "Abortion and Bio-Engineering," pages 82 to 88, and "In Vitro Fertilization," pages 143 to 159.
Raymond Dennehy (editor). Christian Married Love.
Five excellent and incisive essays on the meaning of Humanae Vitae for Christian families, by Malcolm Muggeridge, Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar, Louis Bouyer, Jean Guitton, and Father Joseph Lestapis.
Christopher Derrick. Sex and Sanctity: A Catholic Homage to Venus.
Ignatius Press, Post Office Box 18990, San Francisco, California 94118. 1982, 219 pages. Reviewed by Donna Steichen in the Fall 1983 issue of the International Review of Natural Family Planning, pages 269 to 272. Why Christians and pagans have more in common with each other than with people who live in this 'desacrilized' world.
Jay P. Dolan. The American Catholic Experience: A History From Colonial Times to the Present.
Doubleday, 454 pages. 1985. Reviewed by David Rooney on pages 50 and 51 of the April 11, 1986 issue of National Review.
Ethics & Medics. Subtitled A Catholic Perspective on Moral Issues in the Health and Life Sciences.
This venerable monthly comments on all of the important developments in the life issues, to include animal rights and euthanasia. Subscribe by writing to The Pope John Center, 186 Forbes Road, Braintree, Massachusetts 02184, telephone: (617) 848-6965.
Fidelity.
This monthly publication is billed as "a magazine on the family that is as Catholic as the Pope," and is a scholarly journal which takes an in-depth look at a wide range of topics of interest to Christians. It dissects in detail various issues affecting the Christian Church in the United States today, and is fairly heavy reading. It is also lengthy at about forty pages. The bulk of each issue is devoted to a very detailed examination of some current pro-life or religious issue. Examples are a 27-page report on the Pensacola abortion mill bomber trial written by someone who shadowed the lawyers for the defendants for the duration of the trial, and a 30-page essay on the effects of witchcraft and feminism on Western thought and beliefs. Other recent topics include Modernism and the effect of Eastern religions on the Christian Church in the United States. Included in each issue is a lengthy (5 to 7 page) letters section which is very informative in itself. Although this magazine identifies itself as strongly Catholic, all articles should be of interest to any pro-life activist. Fidelity is a monthly magazine. Write to: Ultramontane Associates, Inc., 206 Marquette Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, 46617.
Father John Ford, Germain Grisez, Joseph Boyle, John Finnis, and William E. May. The Teaching of Humanae Vitae: A Defense.
224 pages. Order from: Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528, telephone: 1-800-528-0559. Five of the most respected theologians in the world explain why Humanae Vitae is the inevitable product of Catholic moral principles. The encyclical is shown to be valid and universal to all Christians, and is also shown to fulfill the requirements of infallibility under Vatican II's Lumen Gentium.
Anne Marie Gardiner, SSND (editor). Women and Catholic Priesthood: An Expanded Vision.
Proceedings of the Detroit Ordination Conference. New York: Paulist Press. 1976, 250 pages. Two hundred pages of sniveling from the usual (dissenting) suspects. All of the old shopworn arguments are put forth for women's ordination, and it all just seems so unconvincing. Interesting appendices include the conference roster of attendees, a list of the public sponsors of the conference, and "women in Catholic priesthood now."
Michael J. Gorman. Abortion & the Early Church: Christian, Jewish & Pagan Attitudes in the Greco-Roman World.
InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 60515. 1982, 124 pages. This book emphasizes the positions of early religions towards abortion and infanticide and covers the relevance of such teachings today. A good resource for those who want to refute the claim that the Catholic Church has not always opposed abortion.
Monsignor Orville N. Griese. Catholic Identity in Health Care: Principles and Practice.
The Pope John Center, 186 Forbes Road, Braintree, Massachusetts 02184. 538 pages, 1987. The author examines in detail every one of the incredible range of ethical and moral questions that more and more Catholic hospitals are going to be forced to address by our more and more pro-abortion government. Topics covered include sterilization; emergency infant baptisms; natural family planning; the use of the birth control pill; the various types of artificial insemination; surrogate motherhood; abortion; passive and active euthanasia; informed consent; gender identity problems and transsexualism; the "double effect;" fetal experimentation and organ transplantation; and the right of a spouse to be informed of his or her partner's AIDS infection. This book is the only known source that collects in one place all of the most important Catholic teaching on all of the above ethical and moral issues.
Weldon M. Hardenbrook. Missing in Action: Vanishing Manhood in America.
Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1987. 192 pages. Reviewed by James Bruen in the December 1987 Fidelity Magazine. Any Neofeminist who reads this book will die of apoplexy. The book surveys the feminization of American culture and the extreme confusion and the resulting lack of direction in our society. It is now men, not women, who are alienated from many aspects of the Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant Churches that have allowed themselves to be deceived and seduced by the Neofeminists. The author presents an array of solutions to the phenomenon of women's leadership by default: Avoid government programs that are biased towards women; adjust social programs to reflect the differences between boys and girls; and get men to accept their responsibilities as spiritual and moral heads of their families.
Father Robert J. Henle, S.J. "A Historical View of the Right to Life."
The Catholic League Newsletter, July 1981. This four-page reprint rebuts the lie-packed 1981 National Organization for Women publication entitled "An Abbreviated Chronology of Reproductive Rights, 2600 B.C. to the Present." In addition to correcting all of NOW's deliberate falsehoods and anti-Catholic slander, Father Henle shows that those ancient societies that practiced cannibalism, slavery, oppression of women, perpetual warfare, and had a great number of superstitions generally had very permissive abortion and infanticide laws. Those societies that had what anthropologists call the "high religions" and a high degree of civilization had a general consensus against abortion. For example, the ancient Vedic writings of India condemned abortion from 1500 to 500 B.C. Buddhism as far back as 600 B.C. totally condemned abortion. And, since 622 A.D., Islam has condemned abortion.
Homiletic & Pastoral Review.
This venerable monthly journal packs many articles and letters of interest into its approximately 80 pages. Although it is primarily designed to inform Catholic priests (half of whom receive it), it is of interest to all Christians who want to keep up on traditional theological theory. Write to Catholic Polls, 86 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10024, or call (212) 799-2600. Subscription rates are for one year and for two years.
Human Life International Reports.
These monthly reports give details on the progress of the international pro-life movement in many countries and the status of pro-homosexual and pro-abortion infiltration of domestic and foreign Catholic churches. Less detailed coverage of a broader range of topics is given in HLI's monthly Special Reports. To subscribe, write to Human Life International, 7845-E Airpark Road, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879, or call (301) 670-7884. HLI's FAX number is (301) 869-7363.
The Human Life Review.
This is a superbly presented scholarly journal modeled after the most distinguished psychobiology periodicals, and is published by the Human Life Foundation. It is mailed quarterly, and contains about 150 pages of essays by the best-known pro-life authors in the world, primarily on the legal and sociological aspects of abortion and its loathsome offspring, infanticide and euthanasia. One of the favorite topics of the authors is the continued lack of decisive action by the Catholic Church and other institutions. This excellent chronicle of the American Holocaust and its many effects is must reading for the serious pro-life activist. The nation's top conservative writers examine the anti-life philosophy in clinical and brilliant detail with their scholarly and insightful articles. Most back issues are available. Subscriptions are annual, and back issues, both bound and unbound, are available from: Editorial Office, 150 East 35th Street, Room 840, New York, New York 10016. Telephone: (212) 685-5210, FAX: (212) 696-0309.
J.A. Johnston, M.D., and D.B. Robert. Catholic Women and Abortion: A Profile, Sample and Case Study.
Sydney, Australia: Catholic Family Life Programme, 1978. 136 pages. Reviewed by Donald DeMarco, Ph.D., in the Spring 1980 issue of the International Review of Natural Family Planning, pages 74 to 81. This bizarre and muddled book shows that pro-abortionists use the same subtle anti-Catholic bias all over the world, even 'down under.' These authors present a purportedly comprehensive study whose numbers are impossible to follow because they change constantly and do not even add up! The pro-abortion bias and utter ignorance of the authors shows when they identify the Catholic Church as a "Right-to-Life Movement," and when they insist that a woman who aborts her child and sterilizes herself after using contraception during her entire period of childbearing years to cover up numerous acts of adultery is a "devout Catholic" because she occasionally attends Mass! This book, a combination of inept number-crunching and outright bigoted propaganda, is apparently what Aussie pro-aborts consider "leading-edge research."
George A. Kelly (editor). Human Sexuality in Our Time: What the Church Teaches.
1978: Paperback. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. Proceedings of the Spring 1978 conference by St. John's University's Institute for Advanced Studies in Catholic Doctrine. Topics include Catholics and the Pill; the Bible and human sexuality; the morality and sanctity of sex; and what the Church teaches on sex.
John F. Kippley. "Birth Control and Christian Discipleship."
1985, paperback, 36 pages, from the Couple to Couple League, Post Office Box 111184, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211-1184, or from Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This superb booklet outlines the history of artificial contraception, its effects upon the body, the family and society in general, and the history of traditional Scriptural and Christian opposition to it (both Protestant and Catholic), until the collapse of the Church's resistance in the period 1930 to 1970.
John F. Kippley. Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality.
Couple to Couple League, Post Office Box 111184, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211. 355 pages, 1991. A very detailed workbook-like approach to human sexuality and its relationship to marriage. The author shows how intercourse outside of marriage and the use of artificial contraception can never be licit and refutes many of the arguments set forth by the "revisionists" who would like to dilute Catholic teaching on sexual ethics.
Anthony Kosnik, William Carroll, Agnes Cunningham, Ronald Modras, and James Schulte, members of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Human Sexuality: New Directions in American Catholic Thought.
Paulist Press, 1977. 322 pages. Reviewed by Frances Day in an article entitled "Septenary Sex" in the Winter 1977 issue of the International Review of Natural Family Planning, pages 368 to 379. The title of this book is correct in that the authors generally follow current 'Catholic' American thinking on contraception and other evils. This type of thinking was the very first step taken by the Anglicans in 1930, and inevitably leads to abortion and euthanasia.
Carl Landwehr. "Involving Your Church in the Right to Life Issue."
How to involve your congregation and, even more importantly, your pastor in pro-life activism. One of a set of nine booklets that outline an effective, unified strategy for stopping abortion on a local level. Order separately or as a group from: National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, 419 7th Street, NW, Suite 402, Washington, D.C. 20044, or from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898.
Father Ronald Lawler, Joseph Boyle, Jr., and William E. May. Catholic Sexual Ethics: A Summary, Explanation, and Defense.
1985, 274 pages. Paperback. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. Reviewed by Father Robert Barry, Ph.D. on pages 346 to 348 of the Winter 1985 issue of the International Review of Natural Family Planning. A very clearly written summary of Catholic Church teaching on sexual morality. Topics include the Bible and sex; formation of conscience; chastity, virginity, and Christian marriage; and Church teaching on sex.
Linacre Quarterly.
This quarterly magazine is "A journal of the philosophy and ethics of medical practice," and is the official journal of the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds. It can be obtained from 850 Elm Grove Road, Elm Grove, Wisconsin 53122, telephone: (414) 784-3435.
Father Ermenegildo Lio, OFM. Humanae Vitae e Infallibilita: Il Concilio, Paolo VI e Giovanni Paolo II
("Humanae Vitae and Infallibility: The Council, Paul VI, and John Paul II"). Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1986. The detailed review (six full pages) of this book by Father Brian W. Harrison in the November 1987 Fidelity Magazine covers the author's essential points and will be very useful to the reader who does not want to plow through the nearly 1,000 pages of the book. The general view among competent Catholic theologians is that Humanae Vitae is non-infallible, although belonging to the "authentic" ordinary magisterium of the Catholic Church. The book lays out in detail the reasoning behind the view that the encyclical is, indeed, infallible, and therefore a necessary article of faith for salvation.
Joyce Lively. A Pro-Life Primer: The ABC's of Working in the Parish.
The Regina Coeli Institute, 145 Crestmont Terrace, Collingswood, New Jersey 08108. 1991, 71 pages. This book describes a compendium of 'low-key' activities that parishes can get involved in. Since these activities are relatively non-controversial, pastors have less of an excuse not to get involved. Topic include supporting crisis pregnancy centers, Masses for expectant families, phone trees, letters, fair booths, identifying support in the parish, and spiritual adoption of the unborn. Sample flyers are included.
Kevin C. Long. Anti-Catholicism in the 1980s.
Milwaukee: Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 1990.
Father Vincent P. Miceli. Women Priests and Other Fantasies.
Order from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. The author examines the pandemonium that results in the Christian Church (particularly the Catholic Church) when the senses of the sacred and supernatural are lost. The instant that Holy Scripture is judged by secular standards, the message of Christianity is hopelessly compromised and lost.
Stephen D. Mumford. American Democracy & The Vatican: Population Growth and National Security.
The Humanist Press, 7 Harwood Drive, Post Office Box 146, Amherst, New York 14226. 1984, 265 pages. This book is praised by Larry Lader and Paul Ehrlich, which clues us in to its contents. Sure enough, it is a rather unrestrained screed, filled with great quotes demonstrating the bigotry and the totalitarian and intolerant nature of the Humanists and population controllers. Mumford's thesis is that the Vatican and the Catholic Church are attempting to destroy democracy and even the world by encouraging uncontrolled breeding. All of the old tired slogans are trotted out: The Vatican runs the United States, dissident priests are quoted as authoritative sources, and Catholics are portrayed as mindless drooling androids.
National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the United States Catholic Conference. Pastoral Letters of the United States Catholic Bishops.
Five volumes, 2,630 pages. Volume I: 1792-1940. Publication Number 880, 480 pages. Covers the Age of John Carroll (1792-1828), the Provincial Councils (1829-1849), the Plenary Councils (1852-1884), and between the World Wars (1919-1940). Pastoral Letters include the 1932 Resolution on Indecent Literature and the 1939 Statement on Peace and War. Volume II: 1941-1961. Publication Number 885, 270 pages. Includes statements on a good peace, war and peace, secularism, compulsory military service, the Christian family, the child, persecution behind the Iron Curtain, censorship, the secular press, and bigotry. Volume III: 1962-1974. Publication Number 870, 500 pages. Includes statements on the government and birth control, clerical celibacy, abortion, human life, birth control laws, population and the American future, and the Human Life Amendment. Volume IV: 1975-1983. Publication Number 875, 605 pages. Statements include the Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities and resolutions on abortion and human sexuality. Volume V: 1983-1988. Publication Number 200-4, 775 pages. Statements include the Updated Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities and resolutions on abortion and school-based clinics. All volumes may be ordered from the Office of Publishing Services, United States Catholic Conference, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005.
Father William Oddie. What Will Happen to God?: Feminism and the Reconstruction of Christian Belief.
180 pages. Order from: Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528, telephone: 1-800-528-0559. The Neofeminists are striving to eliminate from all church documents and prayers what they consider to be "sexist" language. Father Oddie exposes the fallacies of this goal, and shows what will happen if we allow radical feminism to continue to dictate to the Church. The elimination of so-called "sexist" language is only the beginning!
Pope John XXIII. Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher), 1961.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Pope John XXIII. Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), 1963, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 342-6.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Pope John Paul II. Centesimus Annus (On the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum), 1991, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 436-8.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Pope John Paul II. Laborem Exercens (On Human Work), 1981, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 825-8.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Pope John Paul II. Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Man), 1979, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 003-6.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Pope John Paul II. Theology of the Body.
A series of four books designed to explain in detail the total Catholic Church position towards the sanctity of sex, marriage, and procreation. Order individually or as a set from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. (1) Original Unity of Man and Woman. A catechesis on the Book of Genesis and the foundations of the indissolubility of marriage. Paperback. (2) Blessed Are the Pure of Heart. A catechesis on the Sermon on the Mount and the writings of St. Paul. A discussion on the sins relating to adultery. Paperback. (3) The Theology of Marriage and Celibacy. A catechesis on marriage and celibacy in light of the resurrection of the body. Based on Matthew 22:24-33, which describes the 'renunciation' of marriage for the Kingdom of Heaven. Paperback. (4) Reflections on Humanae Vitae. The basis of the encyclical in light of the redemption of the body and the sacredness of marriage in the Catholic tradition. Paperback.
Pope Leo XIII. Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Workers), 1891, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 401-5.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Pope Paul VI. Humanae Vitae ("Human Life: On the Regulation of Birth").
Pope Paul's historic Encyclical Letter dated July 25, 1968. This letter may be obtained in booklet form from the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090, or from any Archdiocesan office. Also available from Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911.
Pope Paul VI. Gravissimum Educationis ("Declaration on Christian Education").
October 28, 1965, Available in a compact 4-1/2" X 7" , 21 page booklet for 15 cents from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 02130.
Pope Paul VI. Octogesima Adveniens ("A Call to Action on the Eightieth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum"), 1971.
This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Pope Paul VI. Populorum Progressio.
("On Promoting the Development of Peoples"), 1967, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 260-8. This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Pope Paul VI and the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican City. "Declaration on Procured Abortion."
Available as a compact, 4" X 6", 27 page booklet for 15 cents from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, 02130. This is the most succinct and authoritative expression of the Catholic Church's position on abortion, and is written to be easily understandable. Published by the Vatican on June 28, 1974.
Pope Pius XI. Quadragesimo Anno
(On Reconstructing the Social Order on the Fortieth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum), 1931, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 401-5. This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Roman Catholic Church, Bishops of Ireland. Love is for Life.
122 pages, sewn softcover. Order from Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528. A very readable and interesting summary of the Church's teachings on love and sexuality. Very useful as a reference work or backup for Catholic sex education programs.
Roman Catholic Church, Vatican City. Annuario Pontificio.
Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, published annually. 2,100 pages. Anyone who wants to know anything about the people in the Vatican should look at this reference. There is information on every Archdiocese in the world, followed by the composition of every important Vatican office, including the Secretary of State, tribunals, secretariats, commissions, offices, vicars, representatives, and religious and cultural institutes. This reference is somewhat arcane in nature, but can be found at all archdiocesan and diocesan offices.
Roman Catholic Church, Second Vatican Council. Gaudium et Spes
(Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 1965, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, number 015-X. This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Roman Catholic Church, Synod of Bishops, Second General Assembly. Justitia in Mundo
(Justice in the World), 1971. This and other encyclicals that are landmarks in Catholic social teaching are available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
J.N. Santamaria, M.D. and John J. Billings, M.D. Human Love and Human Life: Papers on Humanae Vitae and the Ovulation Method of Natural Family Planning from the International Conference, University of Melbourne, 1978.
Melbourne, Australia: Polding Press, 1979. 274 pages; paper, hardback. Reviewed by Carman Fallace in the Fall 1980 issue of the International Review of Natural Family Planning, pages 271 to 274. Proceedings of the largest-ever conference on natural family planning, which covered nine full days.
Father H. Vernon Sattler. Sex Education in the Catholic Family.
Paperback. Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. This short book shows that it is impossible to teach about sexuality unless we first properly define it. It is not exclusively recreation, procreation, or romance. Helps define "love" and introduces parents to the basic principles of Catholic sex education.
Janet Smith. Humanae Vitae A Generation Later.
Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C. 1992. Reviewed by Father Charles Mangan on page 5 of the August 2, 1992 National Catholic Register. The author provides detailed background information on the concept and promulgation of the encyclical, the dissent, the current Pope's views, and the players on both sides in the Papal Commission for the Study of Problems of the Family, Population and Birth Rate. She also addresses the several primary Natural Law arguments on the immorality of contraception.
Donna Steichen. Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism.
Ignatius Press, San Francisco. 1991, 413 pages. A very detailed and absorbing account of how the Roman Catholic Church in the United States has been infiltrated and subverted by Neoliberals and Neofeminists for the express purpose of blunting its effectiveness in its reaction to evils such as divorce, abortion, and euthanasia.
Father Rosario Thomas. The Philosophy of Life: The Pope and the Right to Life.
Pro Fratribus Press, Post Office Box 223, Warren, New Hampshire 03279. 1989, 278 pages. Despite the title, this neat little book will be of great interest to all Christians. There are topics covered in this primer that are found in few other similar works: The media and abortion, the basic philosophy and theology of life, women and motherhood, natural family planning (NFP), euthanasia, and abortion and peace. All of these are logically covered and well-presented, but the reading can get a little 'thick' sometimes. Definitely a book that even an experienced activist will find challenging.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger, Walter Kasper, et.al. The Church and Women: A Compendium.
280 pages. Order from: Ignatius Press, 15 Oakland Avenue, Harrison, New York 10528, telephone: 1-800-528-0559. A collection of articles by leading Church scholars on the role of women in the Catholic Church today and contemporary issues regarding feminism, including the ordination of women and the role and importance of the family. The role of women is developed in a context faithful to Scripture, tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church.
Dietrich von Hildebrand. The Devastated Vineyard.
Order from Keep the Faith, 810 Belmont Avenue, Post Office Box 8261, North Haledon, New Jersey 07508, telephone: (201) 423-5395. The author describes in harrowing detail the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church in America and in Europe, and the methods of infiltration and subversion now being used to confuse and paralyze all conservative Christian churches in our country today.
Dietrich von Hildebrand. Humanae Vitae: A Sign of Contradiction.
An orthodox essay on birth control and the development of the Catholic conscience. Paperback, 89 pages. Order from: Catholic Treasures, 626 Montana Street, Monrovia, California 91016, telephone: (818) 359-4893.
The Wanderer.
This superb weekly newspaper covers all of the life issues in detail from a Catholic viewpoint. In publication for more than a century, it will be of definite interest to any pro-life activist, because it covers in detail not only all of the most important abortion-related stories (including a heavy emphasis on rescuing), but all of the important stories on related life issues such as homosexuality, contraception, abortifacients, capital punishment, New Age, and the 'Seamless Garment." Write to 201 Ohio Street, St. Paul, Minnesota 55107. Telephone: (612) 224-5733, FAX: (612) 224-5735.
The following documents are considered landmarks in Catholic social teaching. They are all available from the Daughters of St. Paul, 50 St. Paul Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, telephone: (617) 522-8911, and from the United States Catholic Conference Publishing Service, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1194, telephone: 1-800-541-3090.
Rerum Novarum
("On the Condition of Workers"), Pope Leo XIII, 1891, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, No. 401-5.
Quadragesimo Anno
("On Reconstructing the Social Order"), Pope Pius XI, 1931, contained in Contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, No. 401-5.
Mater et Magistra
("On Christianity and Social Progress"), Pope John XXIII, 1961.
Pacem in Terris
("Peace on Earth"), Pope John XXIII, 1963 (No. 342-6).
Gaudium et Spes
("Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World"), Second Vatican Council, 1965 (No. 015-X).
Populorum Progressio
("On Promoting the Development of Peoples"), Pope Paul VI, 1967 (No. 260-8).
Humanae Vitae
("On Human Life"), Pope Paul VI, 1968.
Octogesima Adveniens
("A Call to Action"), Pope Paul VI, 1971. Justitia in Mundo ("Justice in the World"), Synod of Bishops, Second General Assembly, 1971.
Redemptor Hominis
("Redeemer of Man"), Pope John Paul II, 1979 (No. 003-6).
Declaration on Euthanasia
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1980 (No. 704-9).
Laborem Exercens
("On Human Work"), Pope John Paul II, 1981 (No. 825-8).
Centesimus Annus
("On the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum"), Pope John Paul II, 1991 (No. 436-8).
Familiaris Consortio
("The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World").
Sisters of Life (Soror Vitae)
Archdiocese of New York
1011 1st Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Telephone: (202) 371-1000
This is the only order of Catholic nuns in the world whose apostolate is pro-life activism. The order was founded in 1990 and is one of the fastest-growing orders of sisters in the United States.
© American Life League BBS — 1-703-659-7111
This is a chapter of the Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia Published by American Life League.
