Abortion, Health Care and the Catholic Church

I urge all of Congress to get on with the health care legislation and eliminate the possibility of federal money being used for abortions. Liberals need to make sure that their own strongly held beliefs don't get in the way of passing this historic legislation. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater- so to speak. I'm sick and tired of hearing the endless fighting over the abortion debate. Abortion is but one single health care procedure. Americans need health care for the other thousands of medical issues that we all face in our daily lives. Abortion rights advocates just need to back off and find other ways to fund necessary procedures.

That being said, abortion is a right in this country and must remain a right. It is nobody Else's business! Growing up Catholic, I was always taught that we all have been given a "free will". We are taught that God always wants us to do good. God has not predestined us to do bad things in this world. If my 12 year old daughter were raped and became pregnant, she would be urged to have an abortion. God did not want a 12 year old to be raped and God does not want a 12 year old to be pregnant as the result of a rape. Here is were the true rub is; the Church would have us believe that God is the cause of the pregnancy. In classic form, the church avoids the science of reproduction and lays everything at the hand of God. We know that the pregnancy is the result of the action of man - not God. Believe if you must that God created Heaven and Earth, but God does not create the pregnancy (the exception maybe the Virgin Mary if you choose to believe that).

Pregnancy is the result of the action of a man and a women. When pregnancy occurs from the action of one man using a women (rape), I'm sure God never intended for that life to come into this world (see my April 9, 2009 post). Take for example the case of the 9 year old Brazilian girl that had been repeatedly raped by her step-father. At the tender age of 9, she became pregnant with twins in a country that outlaws abortion. The mother petitions the court to allow this child that weighed 81 ponds to have an abortion. The court agreed and the abortion took place. The Catholic Church's response was to excommunicate the doctor performing the abortion and the mother who petitioned for the abortion. The church did not excommunicate the step-father who was responsible for the surprise pregnancy. That guy thought he could get away with it until the girl got a little older and I guess the Catholic Church is more in tune with the behavior of the step-father.

It's time for the church to stay out of the papers and to preach their beliefs in the churches across this country. Don't you dare tell others what to do - Bishop Tobin! You are not God on earth and you certainly don't have all of the answers. My advice to Bishop Tobin is to pray on that and to pray for the victims of the heinous crime of rape. What a woman decides to do with a resulting pregnancy is her business - not yours. Life in the womb is precious but love needs to be an ingredient of conception and your love, Bishop Tobin, needs to extend to all women that have to make this gut wrenching decision.

As a side note; the Reverend Father Robert Drinan died today. He was the congressman from Massachusetts that had to make the decision of staying as the politician or staying as the Catholic priest. Father Drinan to his credit chose the latter. He must have been asking himself in his later years, what happened to his church? If the church continues to single out politicians, all churches Catholic and otherwise, should be taxed appropriately. The church silenced Father Drinan and then became super political. God speed, Father Drinan!

tomtoak

The Catholic Church Needs to Stop Throwing Stones

,That's right! The Catholic Church needs to stop throwing stones because they have lived in a glass house for centuries. I'm very angry at the self-righteous, pompous and arrogant members of the clergy that have expressed outrage at the University of Notre Dame inviting Barack Obama to be the keynote speaker at this year's commencement. Thank God there are still clergy left that walk the road of Christ. I was taught that Christ was open to all of humanity; including sinners, the Church evidently is not.

This attitude is not unique to this time; there have been many Popes in history that have been immoral and a disgrace to humanity (click here to learn about a few). We all know that there have been a lot of priests of late that have been immoral and a disgrace to their robes. In the United States alone, it has been well documented that 4% of the priesthood took advantage of young people during the last 4 decades (click here to see an independent church survey). While not in the same category, church attitudes towards listening to the President of the United States is another ugly chapter in a long line of ugliness.

Today a group of Holy Cross priests expressed their outrage at the University of Notre Dame for inviting President Obama. Nothing is said about a past invitation to George W. Bush who turned a deaf ear to the Pope on issues of clemency for Texas inmates that were sentenced to death.

The reality behind the Church's stance is a product of outright ignorance and puritanical attitudes towards sex. The millennial held belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus was forever virgin is a fantasy drilled into the minds of followers. All you really have to do is read the Bible and you learn that Jesus had 4 brothers and 2 sisters. It's right there in Mark and Mathew. The brothers of Jesus were; James, Joses, Simon and Judas (Mathew 13:55). The Church has spent the last 2,000 years trying to warp reality.

My broader point is this; we know how children happen. Conception is an act of man, not an act of God. If you want to believe that Mary had a virgin birth, that's fine; but we have figured out how other babies are conceived, and it's an act of man (this was God's plan). If you believe that God gave everyone "free will" ; do you think that God wants a person to rape a child? Do you think that a resulting pregnancy is God's will? This is where reasoned people have to draw the line. The Catholic Church is dead wrong here. Do you think the 9 year old girl in Brazil that became pregnant with twins because she was repeatedly raped by her stepfather should carry the pregnancy forward? The Catholic Church did! The local Bishop excommunicated the mother and doctors because a court ordered abortion was performed on this 80 pound child. Maybe the mother was complicit in the rape and should have been excommunicated. Guess what; the stepfather was not excommunicated. This poor innocent child should never have to carry those babies to term and God did not want this pregnancy. If you think so, that's downright sick! God did not want this scumbag to father 2 children with his 9 year old stepdaughter.

Barack Obama has said on more than one occasion; "nobody believes in abortion". I agree; I do not believe in abortion. The trouble is; "shit happens". If my 12 year old daughter were raped and became pregnant, I believe that there would be an abortion. I wouldn't be happy about it, but it definitely can't be against the law.

In the final analysis, the Church needs to look inward while reaching out. Isolating those that disagree with a church teaching is simply not Christian. The Church has every right to form it's own belief system, but making everyone follow Catholic dogma conjures up the history of the Inquisition. Thank you; University of Notre Dame. Sorry Mom.

tomtoak