Smack down for Nancy
The most powerful woman in Washington needs to go back to catechism class.- “After Mr. Tom Brokaw, the interviewer, pointed out that the Catholic Church feels strongly that life begins at conception, she replied, 'I understand. And this is, like, maybe 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history of the church, this [when life begins] is an issue of controversy,' " the release said.
[Archbishop Donald W.] Wuerl strongly disagrees.
He said, "We respect the right of elected officials such as Speaker Pelosi to address matters of public policy that are before them, but the interpretation of Catholic faith has rightfully been entrusted to the Catholic bishops. Given this responsibility to teach, it is important to make this correction for the record."
Wuerl pointed out that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear, and has been clear for 2,000 years. He cited Catechism language that reads, "Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception … Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”
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Actually, you're misrepresenting the Archbishop's statement and Pelosi was exactly right. You should know by now that just because you read something on a wingnut website, that doesn't make it true.
St. Augustine and Popes Gregory XIV and Innocent III believed that human life did not begin until "quickening."
In the first collection of Church Canon around 1100, life did not begin until the fetus was fully formed.
St Thomas Aquinas believed in "delayed hominization," where the fetus started out with a vegetative soul, then an animal soul, and finally a human soul.
As Pelosi correctly pointed out, it wasn't until about 50 years ago, in the Second Vatican Council that the Church officially defined life as beginning at conception, and even then there was so much disagreement that the statement was only added as an amendment to the original document.
True, I'm not Catholic, but I never thought of the archiocese of Washington DC website as a "wingnut".
http://www.adw.org/news/News.asp?ID=569&Year=2008
Read it and get back to me on who is exactly right, Pelosi or Wuerl.
"The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear: the current teaching of the Catholic Church on human life and abortion is the same teaching as it was 2,000 years ago. The Catechism reads:
“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception…Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.” (Catechism, 2270-2271)
The Catechism goes on to quote the Didache, a treatise that dates to the first century: “’You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.’”"
I suppose there have always been cafeteria Catholics, and perhaps you've found some?
Augustine, Aquinas, Innocent III, Gregory XIV, the Church Canon...are "cafeteria Catholics"? Wow. Maybe Catholics are cafeteria Christians, but describing the Church Fathers that way doesn't really seem to cover it. Why not just say that the issue of when life began was not clear then, but that they all believed that abortion once life began was wrong? That seems to describe the intellectual climate better, and distinguishes them from, for example, the Romans.
As an aside, growing up Catholic I read in one Catholic publication the claim that the Church had never changed any of its doctrine or opinions, ever. I found that to be a bit of a stretch.
I'll take the archbishop's word on the abortion issue, and yours on the Church never changing a doctrinal stand.
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