Catholic Transcript Online

A piece in the current First Things by Princeton scholar Robert George, for whose continuing wisdom and leadership the Church in this country and America itself are much in debt, constitutes a dramatic reminder that we must be alert always for attempts to undermine our religious Constitutional foundations.

Recently, at Princeton, he recalls, a pamphlet was made available for a conference; it contained texts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The cover bore the logo of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.

Had St. Thomas Aquinas’s view of philosophy and theology not prevailed, "medieval Europe would have become like the Iran of the Ayatollah." Such was the assessment of the late Professor Ralph McInerny, one of the century’s greatest philosophers, in a lecture sponsored by Holy Apostles Bioethics Center in 1991. Dr. McInerny added that Aquinas’s thinking also ensured that lectures such as his could always take place down through the centuries in other academic institutions "with significant links to the medieval university."

A columnist for The New York Times recently (27 May) attempted to defend a woman religious at a Catholic hospital in Arizona who last year "gave permission" for an abortion, allegedly "to save the mother’s life." The argument attacked Catholic doctrine and the local Bishop’s decision for "excommunicating" the "revered nun" whose biography "looks more like Jesus’s than the bishop’s does."

Apparently it never even occurred to the writer that both the life of the mother and the life of her unborn infant were unique, precious and unrepeatable, and hence must be safeguarded. Thus, it is not morally justifiable directly to terminate the life of any innocent human being, either the mother or her unborn infant. Again, medical personnel are required to do whatever is humanly possible to save the lives of both. Incidentally, an excommunication for direct abortion is automatic; Canon 1398 of the Code of Canon Law reads: "A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication." (The idiom, latae sententiae, simply means "automatic" or ipso facto.) An unborn child is especially vulnerable; consequently, the severe penalty.

The seriously distorted reasoning behind the Arizona abortion espoused by a religious can be readily detected in a related story; specifically, the United States Bishops’ Conference’s reaction, during their May meeting, to the "profoundly flawed" and highly unsophisticated support of the national "health care" bill by some "Catholic" groups, such as the Catholic Health Association and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Disappointed and disturbed by the views of such groups, the Bishops’ Conference has labeled their tactics as wounding Church unity. Such dissident opinions reflect either ignorance or nonacceptance of fundamental Church doctrine, and can only be perceived as arrogant revisions of unmistakably clear Biblically-founded norms.

All of this happened while, according to a recent front-page story in the Times, individual States are beginning to adopt stronger legislation protecting unborn human life. On 17 May, for example, the newspaper reported that the use of ultrasound has become a widely used means of helping mothers fully understand what an abortion entails; namely the termination of a new, innocent human being. So far, no fewer than 20 States encourage an ultrasound prior to decision-making. Three States, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, reportedly require the procedure.

The Times’ apparent anxiety about the growing trend is reflected in another front-page story on 3 June. Thus far, it reads, 11 States "have passed laws this year regulating or restricting abortion"; in four other States, at least one House of the Legislature has adopted such measures. And 13 other States "have introduced or passed similar legislation this year."

The tide for reverence for human life from its inception is clearly returning to what it was prior to Roe v. Wade, before the Supreme Court chose to enter the situation. America can never disintegrate into an entity in which safeguarding life as cited by the Declaration of Independence is not taken seriously; "liberty" and "the pursuit of happiness" can only follow if the right to life remains first and fundamental.

Our Founding Fathers, as the saying goes, "got it right."

There are no exceptions.

A report on the recent death (3 April) in Milan of Pietro Molla at the age of 97 has largely been missed by most of the media, including religious press services. We read the news in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano (14 April).

Who was Pietro Molla? Why is his passing so newsworthy? The answer to such questions is astonishing, especially because of our highly secularized world. The answer is that Pietro’s wife, Dr. Gianna, is already a canonized saint – the very last saint raised to the honors of the altar by Pope John Paul II in 2004.

What remains to be said about recent claims of Papal "cover-ups" concerning allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy in Europe or America, except that the truth will always prevail over seriously flawed narratives? In the cases at hand, segments of the secular press, fortunately, have censured their own for what has the appearances, at least, of one major newspaper’s relentlessly spearheading a host of baseless charges, curiously raised during the most sacred season of the Christian calendar; namely, Eastertime.

Thus, New York’s Daily News, on 3 April, asked in an editorial: "What exactly did then-Cardinal Ratzinger do wrong?" His office approved the trial [of a particular perpetrator], the News noted, and he waived the ordinary limitations. "Those are not," it concluded, "the makings of a coverup."

The words, ti siamo vicine appeared on one large sign raised aloft among the estimated 100,000 cheering pilgrims on Easter Sunday in St. Peter’s Square this year. Santitá, ti siamo vicine is Italian for "Your Holiness, we are close to you." The greeting was of course for Pope Benedict XVI, who recently completed his fifth year in Peter’s Chair.

"Holy Father, we are close to you" is a phrase being sounded throughout the world by fair-minded Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Benedict XVI is an extraordinary leader, whom history will continue to accolade not only for his masterful encyclicals, but for his devotion to the sacred liturgy and, integral to it, his magnificent homilies, so solid and powerful, yet so subtle and disarming. We count it a special privilege to congratulate Benedict, and thank the Lord that we have been gifted by God to be alive during this remarkable continuum of towering Roman Pontiffs, in a sequence that just gave us one of the most memorable of all; namely, Pope John Paul II.

Like John Paul, our present Holy Father has been asked by the Lord to shoulder a unique cross. Knowing that with grace Benedict will be equal to the call, we repeat: Santitá, ti siamo vicini(e). Ad multos annos!

During this Year for Priests, the age-old issue concerning what is usually called "the scarcity of priests" is being raised anew with increasing frequency and intensity. Often, unfortunately, it is addressed from the context of various agendas, some of which emerge not from Gospel truth, but rather from sociological theory or even from refusal to accept the certain tenets of fixed doctrine and/or Magisterial norms and practices. Such questioning is happening despite the certainty that sociology can never reach to the heights of theology; nor can empirical psychology. Neither of these two "sciences," as helpful as each is in its own sphere, can be equated with philosophy, the queen of human science. And philosophy itself must stop and review quests whose nature is first defined as touching on Mysteries of Faith.

Manipulating or experimenting with human embryonic stem cells is viewed by Catholics as ethically contraindicated for several reasons, chief among them the dignity of each and every human being. A human embryo is a human being, hence must be revered as any human being must be revered; specifically as unique, precious and unrepeatable. A human being may not be used, for whatever alleged good intent. Obviously, too, the requirement of consent is lacking in such experimentation.

Pope Benedict XVI, at the close of his General Audience on 13 January, delivered an impassioned appeal for the victims and their families afflicted by the recent catastrophe in Haiti, caused by an earthquake of monstrous power. The Holy Father implored the Lord to console and relieve these victims, and he appealed to the generosity of people everywhere in behalf of "our brothers and sisters" in desperate need.

The 4,700-word document entitled the “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience,” about which The Transcript reported last month (December 2009, p. 14), continues to gather signatories from Christian leaders and scholars. At last count the original total (as of 21 Dec.) of 140 has risen to almost 305,000.