Charity, and Moral Clarity

Whenever Archbishop Burke speaks, you get the measure of the man. Even his enemies must concede that his positions are in no way ambiguous. This article by Deal Hudson at InsideCatholic.com covers His Grace’s position on public funeral rites for notorious public sinners:

Charity, Civility, and Speaking the Truth
by Deal W. Hudson

The funeral of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy provoked a highly charged debate among Catholics about civility. In the midst of this discussion, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, the prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, came to Washington, D.C., to be honored by InsideCatholic.com at its 14th Annual Partnership Dinner at the historic Mayflower Hotel.

Addressing more than 200 guests, Archbishop Burke said, “We must speak the truth in charity,” but also, “We should have the courage to look truth in the eye and call things by their common names.” The tension between these two admonitions is evident in his own heroic defense of the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of human life and his personal humility.

Frank Hanna, a Catholic businessman and philanthropist from Atlanta, noted this in his introduction of the honoree. Before ever meeting Archbishop Burke, Hanna said he thought of him as a lion, whose roar “would send chills of admiration” down his spine. But, when he finally met the man one day in Birmingham, he noted:

I was struck by his simple humility. He greeted me with kindness and warmth. And I thought to myself, that’s how lions are — no waving about, just quiet humble strength. There is a reason C. S. Lewis made Aslan, the lion, his hero.

Indeed, it is hard not to be struck by the gentle demeanor of the bishop who caused such a ruckus in the 2004 election by saying he would deny communion to presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry. Since then, he has remained one of the most outspoken American bishops on the subject of the defense of life and marriage.

Friday evening in Washington was no different. Throughout his 50-minute address, the archbishop returned again and again to the scandal of Catholic politicians who support abortion or same-sex marriage. He did not mince his words: “It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself in this manner.”

“Neither Holy Communion nor funeral rites should be administered to such politicians,” said Archbishop Burke. “To deny these is not a judgment of the soul, but a recognition of the scandal and its effects.”

With obvious reference to the Kennedy funeral, he argued that when a politician is associated “with greatly sinful acts about fundamental questions like abortion and marriage, his repentance must also be public.” He added, “Anyone who grasps the gravity of what he has done will understand the need to make it public.”

It’s not uncharitable to point out the scandal caused by these Catholic politicians. “The Church’s unity is founded on speaking the truth in love. This does not destroy unity but helps to repair a breach in the life of the Church.”

Archbishop Burke rejects all the standard arguments made by Catholic politicians and their apologists who support abortion and same-sex marriage. For example, the defense of the unborn and traditional marriage is not strictly a matter of religious faith. “The observance of the natural law is not a confessional practice — it’s inscribed in every human heart.”

Archbishop Burke describes the latest tactic of pro-abortion Catholic politicians, who talk about finding common ground, as a form of “proportionalist moral reasoning.” “Common ground is found rather on ‘the ground of moral goodness,’ and not in a compromise of certain moral truths, like the rejection of abortion and euthanasia.”

He warned against allowing this kind of false reasoning to enter the health-care debate. A Catholic cannot accept the attainment of universal health care if it includes abortion and other evils “just because it achieves some desirable outcomes.”

In this form of reasoning, the archbishop hears an echo of the type of “seamless garment” argument that conceals a distinction between intrinsically evil acts and those that may be evil in some situations; these acts “are not all of the same cloth.”

The standing ovation for Archbishop Burke lasted several minutes before Raymond Arroyo, the master of ceremonies and news director of EWTN, returned to the podium. Once again, as Hanna put it in his introduction, Archbishop Burke had “stood up for the Church and her teachings, in the face of violent world criticism and even some within the Church.”

As InsideCatholic.com editor Brian Saint-Paul handed Archbishop Burke the award for “Service to the Church and our Nation,” I commented that, “This lion speaks with the voice and face of a lamb, and, thus, is an example of how to speak the truth in charity.”

"Will Babies with Down Syndrome Just Disappear?"

A nice post today from the St. Louis Conservative blog about the horrific trend of aborting Down’s Syndrome babies after prenatal diagnosis– an interesting read.

Oratio Pro Summo Pontifice

Oratio pro summo Pontifice
Prayer for the Pope

V. Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Benedicto.

V. Let us pray for Benedict, our Pope.

R. Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius. [Ps 40:3]

R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. [Ps 40:3]

Pater Noster, Ave Maria.
Our Father, Hail Mary.

Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum Benedictum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.

O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Benedict, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Yet Another Missouri Bishop Says He Cannot in Good Conscience Support the Goverment Healthcare Takeover Plan

In addition to the anti-life provisions, Bishop James Vann Johnston of Springfield-Cape Girardeau cites the Catholic teaching on subsidiarity as a reason to oppose the bills currently before Congress.

The money line from this article is this:

Johnston quotes the Catholic Catechism to emphasize that subsidiarity is “opposed to all forms of collectivism” and “sets limits for state intervention.”

This statement comes on the heels of the statements by Archbishop Burke, Bishop Finn and (formerly of Missouri) Archbishop Naumann opposing the current healthcare bills.

From the story at LifesiteNews.com:

Another Bishop Says ObamaCare Violates Catholic Social Teaching

By Peter J. Smith

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Missouri, September 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Another Catholic bishop has stated that too many aspects of President Barack Obama’s health care reforms violate basic and necessary Catholic social principles, such as respect for human dignity, safeguarding human life, conscience protection, and the principle of “subsidiarity.”

“Health care reform is a very complex issue, with many important peripheral issues, such as cost and how to pay for it, economic impact, the role of the federal government, abortion, euthanasia, tort reform, etc.,” writes Bishop James Vann Johnston of Cape-Girardeau and Springfield, Missouri. “But as such, health care reform is particularly important in that, as Catholics, we understand the principles that should be at the very heart of this delicate work.”

Johnston says that of all the ways “to skin the health-care cat,” President Obama’s proposed reform raises serious and troubling questions for Catholics, such that the bishop says he cannot in good conscience support it.

“To begin, one must recognize that the provision of health care is rooted in our recognition of the basic dignity of every human person, made in God’s image. Individuals and society both have inherent obligations to protect, respect, and promote the human person and his/her good.”

Johnston goes on to observe that the Catholic Church has been involved in health-care since the first century A.D. following the example of the Good Samaritan, and that “one out of six hospital beds in the US today is in a Catholic hospital.” However, he says, health-care reform needs to take into account respect for human dignity, safeguarding human life, and conscience protection.

Johnston points out that a recent and disturbing incident of conscience violations illustrates “how real is the threat of federal power to coerce health care providers, employers, and individuals into participating in actions contrary to conscience and Catholic teaching.” Johnston is referring to the Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which “took action against Belmont Abbey College, a small Catholic college in North Carolina, for removing coverage for abortion, contraception, and voluntary sterilization from their employee insurance plan after they were inadvertently included.”

Guaranteeing the basic principle of “subsidiarity” is also essential to health-care reform, writes the bishop. That means delivering health-care to a patient through social channels most proximate to his situation, ensuring his basic rights and fundamental dignity are respected, providing him the treatments and loving care that he needs, and protecting him from a centralized bureaucracy that does not care for him. “One might consider this the principle of social dignity,” says Johnston.

Johnston quotes the Catholic Catechism to emphasize that subsidiarity is “opposed to all forms of collectivism” and “sets limits for state intervention.” He explains, however, that “the higher order” of central government does have a role in health-care reform; but it must only play a very limited and supporting role, not a dominant one, so as not to run the risk of crushing all the other necessary functions and expressions of society and trampling on the individual.

“Government may also be needed to see that no one, especially the working poor and the most destitute and forgotten, falls through the cracks,” writes Johnston. “But, the essential element of the principle of subsidiarity is the protection of individual freedoms from unjust micromanagement and manipulation by the state.”

In conclusion, the bishop states that he can not support President Obama’s reforms, because the proposed plans for restricting the way health-care is delivered violate these fundamental Catholic principles.

“May all those engaged in this issue craft a plan that provides universal health care that is affordable to all, distributes costs equitably, and above all, safeguards human life from conception to natural death and the freedom of conscience,” writes Johnston in conclusion. “We must never forget as then-Card. Ratzinger stated, ‘There is only one morality à, the morality of God’s commandments, which cannot be temporarily suspended in order to bring about a change in the status quo more quickly.'”

See Bishop James Vann Johnston’s Letter “Skinning the ‘Health Care Cat’“