Catholics For Choice Goes Against Catholic Teachings- And Against Health Care

In a self-serving piece on Salon, former Catholics For A Free Choice (now Catholics?For Choice)?president Frances Kissling calls out American bishops for committing the “sin of ommission.” According to Kissling, their sin is a severe lack of effort by the bishops to create universal health care in America.

Being an ardent pro-choice advocate, Kissling criticizes?American bishops?for not organizing the 67 million+ American Catholics to fight for universal health care, and also hammers the bishops for fighting against abortion and euthanasia so aggressively, but not so ardently for universal health care (something the Church supports). According to this site,?the number of preventable deaths caused by the American health care system is 200,000. While a ghastly high number, it pales next to the approximately 1.3 million babies killed through abortion each year, according to the National Right to Life Council. Let’s look at the math: 1,300,000/200,000= a 6.5-to-1 ratio of deaths. Seems to me the Church’s bishops ARE fighting for the lives of human beings, and their health (since abortion kind of causes the death of a child and all) at a rate of 6.5-to-1.

Score: Kissling 0, Catholic Church, 1

According to their own website, Catholics For Choice “provides the most effective counterpoint the vocal, well-financed and powerful Roman Catholic hierarchy, which presents itself as the sole moral arbiter on matters where sexuality and reproduction intersect with religion and faith…CFC is the only organization with the knowledge, expertise, strategic sense and courage to meet the very real threats resulting from the inappropriate role the Vatican tries to play in public policy.” To me, this says a Catholic group is circumventing the official heirarchy to create policy. Since the Catholic Church’s policies (paraphrased) SAY that the Vatican’s rules and regulations ARE the sole arbiter on the above issues…I’d say CFC has no legitimate standing within the Church, and ought to have none with American Catholics.

In short, Kissling’s take on the “issue” she addresses is a false choice- she clearly does not follow the Church’s teachings on abortion and contraceptives, among other areas of Catholic instruction. For her to criticize the Church is to compare apples and oranges- she, a pro-abortion Catholic versus the pro-life Vatican. As a Catholic, I find it reprehensible to attack the Church for holding true to one of its many mandates, in this case to respect life from the moment of contraception. If you don’t like it, you can change it by going to the Church heirarchy; creating a grassroots movement to influence policy;?starting your own religion; or joining another religion, among other options. However, creating a schism within the Church as this group is attempting to do is not the proper way to handle policy changes, particular in a religion.

- dustin