Free Republic

Among the several organizations using the term “common good” within the ranks of Catholic activism these days there are some who attempt to argue that when people like me emphasize that every procured abortion is intrinsically evil and can never further the Common Good, we are engaging in “a single issue” politics. They argue that this insistence fails to take into account other important elements of Catholic Social thought. I disagree and insist instead that it is the firm foundation for all that other Catholic Social thought. Some of these folks write me in response to my articles. I tell...

Whoever imagined that we would see a Republican convention rapturously applaud an unwed teen mother? Yet that is just what happened on Wednesday night in St. Paul. At the conclusion of Sarah Palin’s triumphant speech, the Alaskan Governor welcomed her family onto the stage: her husband, her five children and the fiancé of Bristol, her visibly pregnant 17-year-old daughter. That moment confirmed a dramatic evolution in American politics: the transformation of the pro-life movement from an unambiguously conservative force into something more complex. A quarter century ago, a sympathetic journalist named Burton Yale Pines set out to understand the origins...

The battle lines have been drawn, and the battle between the culture of death and those who celebrate life is ready to begin anew. I speak not of the legalities of abortion or of the obvious unconstitutionality of the Roe v. Wade decision but of the choices we make as people and of those we elect to lead us. In the Saddleback Civil Forum held by Pastor Rick Warren when asked the question, “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?” John McCain answered without hesitation, “At the moment of conception.” Barack Obama’s now infamous answer...

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver: "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a gifted public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills. Regrettably, knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them. . . . Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it – whether they're famous or not – fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith." Speaker Pelosi...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, under fire from U.S. bishops for comments she made about abortion, accepted on Friday an invitation from the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco for a private talk. Pelosi said in a letter to Archbishop George Niederauer that she'd "welcome the opportunity for our personal conversation and to go beyond our earlier most cordial exchange about immigration and needs of the poor to Church teaching on other significant matters." The proposed meeting stems from comments Pelosi made Aug. 24 on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Whatever Happened to Family Values?How the GOP gave in to anti-abortion absolutism. By Jacob Weisberg Posted Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008, at 7:02 AM ET In the 1980s, the rising conservative movement tried to frame the pro-life cause as part of a broader family-values agenda that included reducing rates of illegitimate childbirth, welfare dependency, and divorce. To Ronald Reagan and many of his most ardent supporters, abortion-on-demand was the pre-eminent example of the breakdown of traditional morality brought about the sexual revolution. Few remember it this way, but Reagan's "evil empire" speech, delivered to the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983,...

SBA List President Statement Regarding John McCain’s GOP Convention AddressContact: Joy Yearout, Susan B. Anthony List, 703-875-3370, jyearout@sba-list.orgWASHINGTON, Sept. 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, in response GOP Presidential nominee John McCain's Convention Address, the President of the Susan B. Anthony List offered the following statement: "John McCain has cemented his role as the one true, authentically pro-life choice for President," said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. "Last night John McCain reiterated his commitment to building a culture of life. His words, on the heels of his choice of pro-life heroine Sarah Palin for VP, are exactly what pro-life voters...

The uproar continues over the recent statements of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who defended her pro-abortion stance or, to be more nuanced, her “pro-choice” stance supporting a woman’s “right” to choose between having a child or an abortion. In her statement, she made it clear she was speaking “as an ardent, practicing Catholic” about “an issue that I have studied for a long time.” After saying that “the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition” of when life begins, she cites Saint Augustine to buttress her thesis and concludes that abortion is a decision “that...

Frank Pastore from KKLA in Los Angeles interviews Jill Stanek, the former registered nurse who served at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She testified before Congress about the death of infants who survived the abortion procedure only to die without care, giving rise to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. Frank Pastore: As you know Sarah Palin has five children her youngest is a child that has Down syndrome. She was diagnosed, obviously while she was still pregnant with the child, and she chose to go forward. You have got to remember that 90 percent of Down syndrome children...

Sen. John McCain electrified the Republican base and millions of people of every political persuasion last Friday when he selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Why?   First, because she is a reform-minded, no-nonsense, pro-life, pistol-packing hockey mom with five children. And her pro-life convictions have been illustrated vividly by her decision to carry to term and keep her fifth child, a son with Down syndrome. It is one thing to espouse a pro-life position. It is quite another to live your values and affirm life in this way. Now, it has been revealed that...

Cardinal George Corrects the Catholic Vote Debate Posted on September 06, 2008, 9:12 AM | Deal W. Hudson The most important statement from a Catholic bishop of the present political season was published a few days ago by Francis Cardinal George of Chicago. In essence, Cardinal George stated it was a violation of Catholic teaching to evoke the common good in politics without advocating legal protection of yet-to-be-born children. Several "Catholic" political organizations (Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United) have come into existence since 2004 using the "common good" as their guiding principle. Here is what...

US Bishops Issue Fact Sheet WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPT. 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a fact sheet issued by the U.S. episcopal conference's Committee on Pro-Life Activities, which clarifies the Church's constant teaching on abortion. The fact sheet responds to a misrepresentation of Church teaching made in remarks by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during an Aug. 24 interview on national TV. * * * The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "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...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is being invited by her hometown archbishop to discuss her erroneous views on the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion. In a statement released today, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco joined the list of bishops who have responded to Pelosi's misrepresentation of Church teaching, which she expressed during an interview Aug. 24 on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press." Catholic San Francisco, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, published Archbishop Niederauer's text.Pelosi, when asked to comment on when life begins, said that as a Catholic, she had studied the issue for "a long...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, under fire from U.S. bishops for comments she made about abortion, accepted on Friday an invitation from the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco for a private talk.Pelosi said in a letter to Archbishop George Niederauer that she'd "welcome the opportunity for our personal conversation and to go beyond our earlier most cordial exchange about immigration and needs of the poor to Church teaching on other significant matters."The proposed meeting stems from comments Pelosi made Aug. 24 on NBC's "Meet the Press." The Democratic congresswoman defended her support for abortion by saying "doctors of the church"...

One of the dirty little secrets of the abortion business is that some babies survive efforts to kill them in utero and are born alive. In the past these abortion survivors have been callously thrown into trash cans, where they died of suffocation or dehydration. Nancy Creger, a former nurse from Atlanta and a longtime friend of PRI’s, was the first to uncover the practice in the early eighties. She discovered that 14 infants had been born alive and subsequently “allowed” to die in Atlanta’s notorious “abortion-only” Midtown Hospital in the early 1980’s. Creger was horrified by the information, writing...

Campaign 2008: The Catholic Church in the Crosshairs September 5th, 2008 by David J. Hartline This fall’s Presidential Campaign will more than likely feature a new wrinkle. The Catholic Church will be in the crosshairs. Once again there will be a professed Catholic who supports abortion on a major party’s ticket — this time on the number two slot. You might ask why the Church would be in the crosshairs since a “pro-choice” Catholic on the ticket is nothing new. True, it happened in 2004 and 1984. However, that was before some bishops began to take a much tougher line...

WASHINGTON, September 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has released four new print ads, two addressing stem cell research and two focusing on abortion.   The ads were initially published in the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, and were distributed at the Democratic Convention in Denver and at the Republican Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul, by pro-life groups. The stem cell research ads highlight scientific advances using adult stem cells that are making embryonic stem cells obsolete. One ad shows a commuter running for a train, and asks: "Science is moving...

Contact: Jerry Horn, Rachel's Vineyard, 540-220-0095 STATEN ISLAND, Ny., Sept. 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- Kevin Burke, co-founder of the post-abortion healing ministry Rachel's Vineyard, said today that anger directed at Sarah Palin and her family may stem from the repressed grief and pain of those who have had or been involved in an abortion. "When someone publicly opposes abortion, this rejection can strike at a deeply repressed wound in the woman who has had an abortion or the man who has encouraged a woman to abort," said Mr. Burke. "We at Rachel's Vineyard know from our work with thousands of...

Greetings, Please take a moment today to thank Senator Hollis French – our pro-choice champion! It was an intense legislative session in Juneau. We battled two bills, House Bill 301 and House Bill 364, that would have had disastrous affects on the state of reproductive health in Alaska. Thanks to our champion, Senator Hollis French, we were able to stop these bad bills in the Senate. Please take a moment today and thank him and his staff for supporting the reproductive health and rights of thousands of women, men and teens across this great state. It has been a tough...

The web of “spiritual” gobbledygook around the Oprah Winfrey phenomenon is as thick and tacky as the fake eye-lashes she cried off her face during Barack Obama’s speech last Thursday. But if you do decide to “Live Your Best Life” and venture into the misty realms of Oprah’s “Angel Network,” you’ll find a dropdown menu under “Spirit,” and the last option there–after “Know Yourself,” “Inspiration,” “Emotional Health,” and “Body Image”–is “Martha Beck.” Beck is one of the luminaries in Oprah’s pantheon of guru saints, and if I were her I’d be severing all ties with Oprah today. Beck wrote a...

News from the Trenches (Editor’s Note: We reprint the item below at the request of Jack Smith, editor of The Catholic Key, official newspaper of the Diocese of Kansas City. In his blog entry below, Mr. Smith points out that a group calling itself “Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good” is really a front organization sponsored by the Democratic National Committee. “This group has been treated as legitimate by CNS and other Catholic news sources,” noted Mr. Smith in an email to California Catholic Daily.) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2008 Cardinal George Slams 'Common Good' Fraud Catholics in Alliance for...

Much or all of this has been said before and it may just be a matter of emphasis. Nevertherless... How McCain/Palin handle questions about abortion is critical in my view because for many women otherwise sympathetic to the McCain/Palin ticket the right to have an abortion is very important. I therefore believe that Palin needs to craft a response that, while adhering to their core beliefs, as much as possible frames the abortion issue not about whether abortion is right or wrong or whether abortion should be a fundamental right, but as an issue properly decided at the state level...

The book is: Author: Chaput, Charles J. (OFMcap -- Archbishop of Denver)Title: Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political LifeISBN: 0385522282 I was killing time in my public library, and I thought I would see if there were any books by Charles J. Chaput. I was pleasantly surprised to see the book has been ordered by my Public Library, and there are already two requests for the book. The liberals have gotten, in my opinion, a lot of junk in our libraries by various tactics. I honestly think every public library, as well as...

Three major advocates of abortion rights are planning to spend nearly $30 million to defeat John McCain’s run for president, citing his new running mate as the core reason. NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood and EMILY’s List have Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) in their crosshairs, calling her a staunch opponent of abortion rights. “This is the most anti-choice ticket in history of the Republican Party,” said Beth Shipp, the political director of NARAL. “McCain put someone as outside the mainstream as you can on his ticket, which is Sarah Palin,” Shipp added. Hoping to drive a wedge between the...

"Kill and Destroy" Synopsis: Featuring an interview with Jill Stanek, "Kill and Destroy" explores Barack Hussein Obama's support of infanticide in Illinois, an alarming decision that was opposed by every Democrat and Republican in the U.S. Senate."What does it take to make a man a monster any more?" Illuminati Pictures president Molotov Mitchell recently wrote. "If Americans can watch this video and still support Barack Obama, then America is...beyond all hope."

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The wife of Republican presidential nominee John McCain doesn't agree with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's opposition to abortion in cases of rape and incest. ADVERTISEMENT Cindy McCain also parts ways with her husband's running mate on sex education. Palin opposes abortion and rejects the view that pregnancies caused by rape and incest should be exceptions. Cindy McCain tells ABC's "Good Morning America" that "I don't agree with that aspect, but I do respect her for her views." Palin has opposed funding sex-education programs in Alaska. Cindy McCain tells ABC that she advocated abstinence as a...

Following is a statement by San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer in response to recent comments on abortion, Catholic teaching on the beginning of life, and other life issues made by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This statement by Archbishop Niederauer was published in the Sept. 5, 2008 issue of Catholic San Francisco, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Last month, in two televised interviews and a subsequent statement released through her office, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a Catholic residing in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, made remarks that...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As news of the pregnancy of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol makes the headlines, she is coming under attack from backers of pro-abortion candidate Barack Obama. But few have gone as far as former Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt, who suggested Palin is making her daughter keep the baby. "She probably feels powerless right now," Feldt said on Tuesday responding to the news about Bristol Palin. Feldt said Governor Palin’s pro-life views may have made it so she and her husband Todd prevented Bristol from getting an abortion. "Because of her family's attitude she...

Thursday, September 04, 2008 The Speaker's Archbishop Speaks In response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent statements on the church's teaching on abortion, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco -- the top Rep.'s hometown ordinary -- prepared the following column for tomorrow's edition of the archdiocesan weekly, Catholic San Francisco. * * * Last month, in two televised interviews and a subsequent statement released through her office, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a Catholic residing in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, made remarks that are in serious conflict with the teachings of the Catholic Church...

BALTIMORE, September 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Alliance Defense Fund and allied attorneys filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Harford County, the town of Bel Air, and seven police officials on behalf of three young, pro-life women. At least a dozen police officers arrived in more than seven marked vehicles and then arrested, jailed, shackled, and/or strip searched 18 pro-life advocates, including the three women, after they held signs and shared their message along a public street."The state shouldn't persecute Christians for expressing their beliefs on important social issues, nor deny them their constitutional rights," said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. "This...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-abortion group claiming to be Catholic is accusing the nation’s Catholic bishops of playing politics by virtue of their condemnation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s misrepresenting Catholic teaching on abortion and the beginning of human life. Catholics for Choice says the bishops were wrong to release a factsheet correcting her. Jon O'Brien, president of the pro-abortion group told LifeNews.com, that it is Catholic leaders who are wrong on abortion, not Pelosi. He accused the Catholic bishops of a “desire to place themselves at the center of the political discussion on abortion” and not representing...

"You don't have to be pro-life to oppose live birth abortion; you just have to be human." Copying and circulation is encouraged. For details, see Jill Stanek on Barack Obama's role in defeating Illinois' Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which would have made it illegal for hospitals to deny food, water, and medical care to babies that SURVIVE abortions (i.e. are live babies and legal "persons").

Fidelis has created an easy-to-sign public thank you letter: From the press release: Fidelis is urging Catholics and all people of good will to publicly thank Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput for his unwavering defense of Catholic teaching on the dignity of all human life, likening him to former Archbishop Joseph Rummel, who led the Archdiocese of New Orleans from 1935 to 1964 during a period of deep division over the civil rights of African Americans. Fidelis President Brian Burch commented: “Like Archbishop Rummel, who stood up against the prevailing culture of his time to defend the intrinsic dignity of every...

One of Barack Obama's elite fundraisers from the anti-American group Code Pink attempted to storm the stage last night during Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the GOP convention in St. Paul.Jodie Evans, one of a group of about 500 top financiers who have bundled tens of thousands of dollars for the Obama campaign was seized by the Secret Service after she had made her way to side of the stage and and started to yell at Palin.The Washington Post reported on the incident:10:45 p.m. A pair of Code Pink activists just got to the...

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—The motto of Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin comes from a Bible verse reminding believers that God has given them "no cowardly spirit." And he has not been timid during three years as the most prominent religious leader in Rhode Island, the nation's most heavily Catholic state. Tobin used his edgy humor last year to publicly skewer former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is Catholic and supports abortion rights. In the diocesan newspaper, during the Republican presidential primary, Tobin addressed the candidate by first name—"Hey Rudy"—and called his stand on abortion pathetic. Tobin recently took on U.S. immigration...

Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger. Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White...

Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger. By Gloria Steinem ...

"I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too. Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job...

Pelosi, By George Another day, another dollar, another ecclesial ripple Nancy Pelosi hath wrought. Nine days after two leading USCCB chairmen took on the House Speaker's Meet the Press debacle in the name of the entire conference, the bench's president -- Cardinal Francis George OMI of Chicago (shown above with You Know Who) -- made his first public intervention earlier today with the following letter to his hometown church: Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, In the midst of a lengthy political campaign, matters of public policy that are also moral issues sometimes are misrepresented or are presented in a...

First Vanity Post: Folks, I need actual sources for Obama's fourth trimester abortion positions to present to a doubting lib.

I now know what Barack Obama was thinking when he said he wouldn't want his daughters "punished with a baby" if they "ma[d]e a mistake" and had premarital sex.How pathetic that Obama obviously had his own tribe, liberals, in mind, who sure know how to mete out punishment with vicious aplomb at such times.Thanks to a Daily Kos blogger, who falsely accused Sarah Palin of faking her pregnancy with now 4-month-old son Trig to cover for his real mother, her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, the Palin family was forced to announce Sept. 1 that unmarried Bristol is five months pregnant.Besides the...

Reading the words carries an impact, but nothing compared to when you listen to them: It happened when a Planned Parenthood worker is asked to accept a donation specifically to abort a black child, and her response is: "Understandable, understandable." Now, however, those interested in the controversy over Planned Parenthood's large role in the nation's abortion industry may have to settle for seeing those words, since YouTube has decided to censor several audio recordings that had been posted by pro-life activists documenting the corporation's willingness to accept donations on the basis of race.

Obama has released a new radio ad attacking McCain's positions on abortion, labeling them as extremist. Here are some quotes on the ad's content from the Political Punch: "As a nurse practitioner with Planned Parenthood," says a woman's voice, "I know abortion is one of most difficult decisions a woman will ever make. I'm Val Baron. Let me tell you - if Roe v Wade is overturned, the lives and health of women will be put at risk. That's why this election is so important. John McCain's out of touch with women today. McCain wants to take away our right...

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 3, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Obama campaign threw their vehemently pro-abortion stance into relief by investing in radio ads attacking pro-life Sen. McCain for threatening to take away women's "right to choose."The ads feature the voice of a "nurse-practitioner with Planned Parenthood" warning her listeners that McCain will seek to have Roe v. Wade overturned and ban abortion.  "I know abortion is one of most difficult decisions a woman will ever make," says the woman's voice.  "Let me tell you - if Roe v Wade is overturned, the lives and health of women will be put at...

BEND - It is not possible this week to write about things related to the Catholic Church without making special note of the comments of a high-ranking U.S. official regarding abortion. This official, drawing from the rich tradition of the teachings of Saint Augustine, implied that he would have permitted abortion up to three months after conception. As has been well reported by others, Saint Augustine was working from the defective science of his day and he was trying to reconcile what he understood from science with the philosophical views of his day. It should be noted that Saint Augustine...

Hello, I’m going to go against what a very nice, well-meaning freeper warned me NOT to do just after joining FR and start an abortion discussion thread. Why? Because I’ve been thinking about these things, and my views on the issue are changing. I would like people’s input and hope that that input can help me shape my thinking(as I wrote in my introduction thread, I’m a 25 year old who is in this election for the first time going to vote republican)… Anyways, this isn’t a troll thread. I’m finding my views on this issue are morphing the more...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Change Basis for Allowing Abortions to Slavery Amdt Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In an amazing admission, pro-abortion Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told a feminist group that the basis for legalized abortion should be changed from the so-called right to privacy to the anti-slavery provisions found in the Constitution.

Most of my Chinese friends as is the case with many Americans, know very little about Governor Sarah Palin, John Mcain's choice for running mate in the 2008 Presidential Election. When they do learn more about her, there is one aspect of her life that will undoubtedly catch the attention of many people here. Earlier this year, Governor Palin gave birth to a baby boy despite the fact that doctors told her that he would have Down syndrome. Making the same choice in China is nearly unheard of. If a Chinese mother finds out that her unborn baby is afflicted...

Three memories have shaped my approach to this year’s general election. Here’s the first. In the late 1970s, during a two-year break from teaching to raise our second son, an adopted child, I found myself at a Los Angeles dinner party filled with DINKs, the “double income, no kids” crowd who were just emerging as a self-aware and upwardly mobile social group. I fell to talking—or more accurately, listening—to a chatty young female attorney who said she was putting in eighty hours a week as a junior associate on a variety of important cases. After twenty minutes or so, she...