Is it unJesus-like to hold anti-life church members accountable?

Left-leaning Matt used his new South Dakota political blog to tell his readers that I've done something ghastly, unpastoral and unJesus-like in noting here on my blog that church people working for the Campaign for UNHealthy Families is something church leaders should not overlook. About me, Matt writes…

He acts in a manner that is not consistant with any kind of Christianity that I know. What happened to Loving thy Neighbor?  

The Bible says to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. South Dakota women have been exploited and cast aside by those who profit from abortion - the depositions the Eight Circuit Court saw in our state's Informed Consent case established this as fact. Does love say nothing?

The harshest words we find in the Bible are some of Jesus' statements to those who harm children. He said better to have a millstone tied around your neck and be cast into the depth of the sea than mess with a child. Matt, if this isn't consistent with any kind of Christianity that you know, all I can say is there's more to Christianity than you've seen to date. I'd rather offend an adult working at UNHealthy Families than see another child dismembered without anesthesia.

Initiated Measure 11 stops Planned Parenthood from giving rapists and sex offenders a free pass to go out and do it again. This is a justice issue. And the Church has every right to fight this publicly and personally - in society at large, and among it's own constituency. The Church loses every ounce of moral integrity if they smile and say nothing. Christianity, Matt, is not on the side of the Campaign for UNHealthy Families. I'll reprint here something I wrote a couple weeks ago:

As one ordained into the ministry of Word and Sacrament, accountable to God, I won't have to stand before God one day and try to explain to him why I bestowed his blessing on those who advocated the slaughter of innocents. That amounts to blessing Herod…. Catholics are rising up to oppose Senator Joe Biden. Herod, Biden, Johnson, Herseth. People who care little for the things of God will undoubtedly vilify me for those last four names in the same sentence, but all four are governmental public officials who are enemies of innocent human life.  

Here's the key question… should the Church look the other way and continue to bless the lives of those who are complicit in the shedding of judicially innocent human life? What say you?

Last week church leaders across our state released a statement which included sworn testimony of how women in South Dakota are being treated by Planned Parenthood. Following several specific examples the statement reads…

This treatment of women is unacceptable to people of faith and in good conscience we as church leaders cannot sit quiet while this continues in our midst. Church leaders in the past have remained quiet during times of great human suffering and genocide. The family of churches in South Dakota are committing today to not commit “the sin of passing by” with regard to the one who hurting along the side of life’s road.  

So, Matt, have I really done anything different than Catholic bishops worldwide are doing to supposed Catholics Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi? At last count (9/11/08) 26 bishops in the United States have made public statements against Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi. I feel in good company calling out the church going people working for the Campaign for UNHealthy Families in South Dakota.

Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput didn't mince any words with regard to Joe Biden's attempts to mix faith with infanticide.

When Catholics serve on the national stage, their actions and words impact the faith of Catholics around the country. As a result, they open themselves to legitimate scrutiny by local Catholics and local bishops on matters of Catholic belief. In 2008, although NBC probably didn't intend it, Meet the Press has become a national window on the flawed moral reasoning of some Catholic public servants.

On August 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, describing herself as an ardent, practicing Catholic, misrepresented the overwhelming body of Catholic teaching against abortion to the show's nationwide audience, while defending her "pro-choice" abortion views. On September 7, Sen. Joseph Biden compounded the problem to the same Meet the Press audience. Sen. Biden is a man of distinguished public service. That doesn't excuse poor logic or bad facts. Asked when life begins, Sen. Biden said that, "it's a personal and private issue." But in reality, modern biology knows exactly when human life begins: at the moment of conception. Religion has nothing to do with it. People might argue when human "personhood" begins - though that leads public policy in very dangerous directions - but no one can any longer claim that the beginning of life is a matter of religious opinion.

Sen. Biden also confused the nature of pluralism. Real pluralism thrives on healthy, non-violent disagreement; it requires an environment where people of conviction will struggle respectfully but vigorously to advance their beliefs. In his interview, the senator observed that other people with strong religious views disagree with the Catholic approach to abortion. It's certainly true that we need to acknowledge the views of other people and compromise whenever possible - but not at the expense of a developing child's right to life. Abortion is a foundational issue; it is not an issue like housing policy or the price of foreign oil. It always involves the intentional killing of an innocent life, and it is always, grievously wrong. If, as Sen. Biden said, "I'm prepared as a matter of faith [emphasis added] to accept that life begins at the moment of conception," then he is not merely wrong about the science of new life; he also fails to defend the innocent life he already knows is there.

As the senator said in his interview, he has opposed public funding for abortions. To his great credit, he also backed a successful ban on partial-birth abortions. But his strong support for the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade and the false "right" to abortion it enshrines, can't be excused by any serious Catholic. Support for Roe and the "right to choose" an abortion simply masks what abortion is, and what abortion does. Roe is bad law. As long as it stands, it prevents returning the abortion issue to the states where it belongs, so that the American people can decide its future through fair debate and legislation.

In his Meet the Press interview, Sen. Biden used a morally exhausted argument that American Catholics have been hearing for 40 years: i.e., that Catholics can't "impose" their religiously based views on the rest of the country. But resistance to abortion is a matter of human rights, not religious opinion. And the senator knows very well as a lawmaker that all law involves the imposition of some people's convictions on everyone else. That is the nature of the law. American Catholics have allowed themselves to be bullied into accepting the destruction of more than a million developing unborn children a year. Other people have imposed their "pro-choice" beliefs on American society without any remorse for decades.

If we claim to be Catholic, then American Catholics, including public officials who describe themselves as Catholic, need to act accordingly. We need to put an end to Roe and the industry of permissive abortion it enables. Otherwise all of us - from senators and members of Congress, to Catholic laypeople in the pews - fail not only as believers and disciples, but also as citizens.
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Denver 

I'm going to head to Barnes and Noble and get his new book - it looks great… Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life.

If anything thinks I'm enjoying any of this they are sorely mistaken. I can't wait for the baton in this battle to be passed to the lawyers. If I were championing the plight of AIDS victims I'd be celebrated. But, God has plopped his burden for justice for the unborn in the lap of the South Dakota church and those who rise up on behalf of the unborn are vilified. Yet, I'd rather be smeared by some of you than face Him and try to explain why I kept silent. I tremble at the thought that God is just and that his justice won't sleep forever (Thomas Jefferson).