Biden: "My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine..."

Yet another catechetical moment arrives. This from today's Christian Science Monitor:

Against long odds, Senator Biden aims to be No. 4. He sees faith and values, as well as his own deep experience in public policy, as a key to that race.       

"The animating principle of my faith, as taught to me by church and home, was that the cardinal sin was abuse of power," he said in an interview with the Monitor. "It was not only required as a good Catholic to abhor and avoid abuse of power, but to do something to end that abuse."

The issues that have most engaged Biden in public life draw on those teachings, from halting violence against women to genocide. At a personal level, his faith provides him peace, he says. "I get comfort from carrying my rosary, going to mass every Sunday. It's my time alone," he says.

But the interface of faith and policy has long been problematic for Catholic presidential hopefuls. Governor Smith faced withering criticism over whether Catholic politicians are obliged by their church to take policy orders from Rome. John F. Kennedy famously disavowed "outside religious pressures or dictates," swept the Catholic vote, and won the presidency. By the time another J.F.K. from Massachusetts ran for president in 2004, the ground had shifted. Sen. John F. Kerry lost the Catholic vote because many of his faith questioned whether he was Catholic enough, given his strong support for abortion rights.

But Biden believes he can bridge much of that divide. "My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine," says Biden, a six-term Democratic senator from Delaware. "There are elements within the church who say that if you are at odds with any of the teachings of the church, you are at odds with the church. I think the church is bigger than that."    

If abortion isn't an abuse of power, I'm not sure what else qualifies. Who are more powerless than unborn children in the womb who, in the poignant words of Cardinal Egan, "smile and wave into the world outside the womb"? And does it really need to be pointed out that the Church is not bigger than the One who founded her? And that the Church was not founded as some sort of political "big tent," but is the household of God, and as such adheres in love and obedience to the teachings of her head, Jesus Christ, and to those He granted authority to teach, shepherd, govern, and guide?

As we well know, anybody trying to find where the Church says that abortion is morally acceptable, or can be allowed in certain situations, or is just another issue open to debate, is going to fail miserably. Which is probably why Biden and Co. don't bother to quote from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, which leaves no doubt about the Church's stance on the issue of abortion:

155. The teachings of Pope John XXIII,[314] the Second Vatican Council,[315] and Pope Paul VI [316] have given abundant indication of the concept of human rights as articulated by the Magisterium. Pope John Paul II has drawn up a list of them in the Encyclical Centesimus Annus: “the right to life, an integral part of which is the right of the child to develop in the mother's womb from the moment of conception; the right to live in a united family and in a moral environment conducive to the growth of the child's personality; the right to develop one's intelligence and freedom in seeking and knowing the truth; the right to share in the work which makes wise use of the earth's material resources, and to derive from that work the means to support oneself and one's dependents; and the right freely to establish a family, to have and to rear children through the responsible exercise of one's sexuality. In a certain sense, the source and synthesis of these rights is religious freedom, understood as the right to live in the truth of one's faith and in conformity with one's transcendent dignity as a person”[317].

The first right presented in this list is the right to life, from conception to its natural end,[318] which is the condition for the exercise of all other rights and, in particular, implies the illicitness of every form of procured abortion and of euthanasia.[319]

The CSM article provides some helpful hints as to why Biden thinks of himself as a good Catholic who has no problem denying core Catholic social teachings:

"My idea of self, of family, of community, of the wider world comes straight from my religion. It's not so much the Bible, the beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, the sacraments, or the prayers I learned. It's the culture," he writes.<snip>

"I was raised at a time when the Catholic Church was fertile with new ideas and open discussion about some of the basic social teaching of the Catholic Church," Biden says. "Questioning was not criticized; it was encouraged."

<snip>

"I don't think I have the right to impose my view – on something I accept as a matter of faith – on the rest of society," he writes in his autobiography.

<snip>

Without taking a position on how Catholics should vote, Biden makes a case for staying connected to the church and its culture. "If I were an ordained priest, I'd be taking some issue with some of the more narrow interpretations of the Gospel being taken now," Biden says. "But my church is more than 2,000 years old. There's always been a tug of war among prelates and informed lay members."

As if all Catholic priests believe and preach exactly what the Church teaches while "informed lay members" are restless free-thinkers pushing at the rigid boundaries of traditional doctrine. Hardly. This is both simplistic and misleading. The line of tension lies elsewhere: between those who accept and understand that certain matters of faith and morals are settled and those who think that it is one's all-powerful conscience that makes the final decision about such matters, even while paying lip service to loving the Church and so forth. The Catechism is quite clear that the latter approach is not the one taken by Catholics seeking to be disciples of Christ and loyal sons and daughters of His Church:

Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct. ...

A good and pure conscience is enlightened by true faith, for charity proceeds at the same time "from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith." (CCC 1792, 1794)

Perhaps Biden, Pelosi, and others do suffer from invincible ignorance. Or perhaps they are simply denying or ignoring what they know the Church does clearly teach. Regardless, any child receiving decent catechesis and anyone capable of reading the English language should recognize that Senator Biden's beliefs are not "totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine." One suspects, however, that the approach taken by Biden, Pelosi, and Co. will continue, which means the issue of abortion, Catholic politicians, and Church authority will continue to be a major story throughout the 2008 election.

• What Is "Legal"? On Abortion, Democracy, and Catholic Politicians | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• What Is Catholic Social Teaching? | Mark Brumley
• The Case Against Abortion | An Interview with Dr. Francis Beckwith, author of Defending Life
• Introduction to Three Approaches to Abortion | Peter Kreeft
• The Illusion of Freedom Separated from Moral Virtue | Raymond L. Dennehy
• Excommunication! | An interview with canon lawyer Dr. Edward Peters
• Some Atrocities are Worse than Others | Mary Beth Bonacci
• Personally Opposed--To What? | Dr. James Hitchcock
• Mixed Messages | Phil Lawler                                       

Comments

[Stohn]

I liked your "big tent" analogy...sometimes it seems like many think the Church is some sort of political party (probably due to the democratisation/liberalisation of society, where people think their 'voice' matters). I actually had a priest tell me (after I called him out on bashing Papa Ben's 'Summorum Pontificorum') that the Church is a "vehicle for change." Where have I heard that phrase before...?

[Ed Peters]

Biden's making this easy. He was supposed to be smarter than Pelosi.

[Stephanie]

Maybe what the bishops should do now is reach all Catholics with the message that what these politicians (Biden and Pelosi) say and do just does not work in real life. Perhaps it works in Washington, perhaps it works on tv, but no one can live this way. When you really love someone and believe in them, you don't start picking and choosing: you give yourself entirely. When you really love Jesus and His Church, it's the same thing. Somehow that seems more productive than excommunications, which will only make Biden, Pelosi and others into martyrs for conscience.

[Tim Reiver]

It is time for Catholics to be Catholics. I would like to know how Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi, as they meditate before the Blessed Sacrament, how is it that they explain to the God of the Universe that it is a matter of good conscience to allow an unborn child to be aborted? I would also like to know how they reason before God that it is absolutely correct in protecting the eggs of an endangered species where if they are destroyed the culprit could face jail and or fine, that it is okay to extend this protection to animals but not to human life? As Catholics we need to stand up and let the major parties know we are for the party that protects life from womb until tomb. That is the challennge God is asking of each one of us. Can we rise to the occasion? Not on our own but by the grace of God.

[Ted]

How's this for abuse of power?

Senator Joe Biden proudly proclaims that he was regularly and severely beaten by his older sister as a child and as an adolescent. This is the same sister that raised his two sons after his wife and daughter were killed in an auto accident.

Biden has often claimed that the Violence against Women Act is the greatest achievement of his career. He also claims that a woman cannot be a perpetrator of domestic violence, despite the fact that hundreds of studies show that women commit acts of domestic violence as often or more often than men. Many studies also show that lesbian women physically attack their intimate partners at higher rates than heterosexual men.

As a result of Biden's Violence against Women Act, the federal government pays states to create laws effectively requiring that innocent men be removed from their homes and families without even an allegation of violence, with no legitimate standards of evidence, when a woman makes a claim that she is afraid.

Elaine Epstein, president of the Massachusetts Bar Association (1999), has said "the facts have become irrelevant... restraining orders are granted to virtually all who apply. Regarding divorce cases, she states "allegations of abuse are now used for tactical advantage". According to Epstein, who is also a former president of the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association, restraining orders are doled out "like candy" and "in virtually all cases, no notice, meaningful hearing, or impartial weighing of evidence is to be had." Cathy Young reports on the Elaine Epstein quote and the broader issue at Salon.com here:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1999/10/25/restraining_orders/

This report from RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting) provides much insight into the situation brought about, in large part, by Joe Biden.

http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARreport-VAWA-A-Culture-of-False-Allegations.pdf

State restraining order laws are starting to fall because they're unconstitutional. The federal law behind them, written by Joe Biden, is likely to fall as well, not because it isn’t popular, but because it is clearly unconstitutional.

There is a rapidly growing activist community dedicated to addressing this issue. One of the focal points of this community is the Glenn Sacks blog, www.glennsacks.com .

[Ray Hill]

It's a sad day when Catholics who hold high positions in political office fail to get the very fundamental of life wrong. A Catholic who holds such an office needs to be a servant of servants, and that school is meditating before a Crucifix. No one who spends enough time looking at a Crucifix would be able to say that abortion is OK. I assure you that Obama / Biden will not get my vote.

[LJ]

"I don't think I have the right to impose my view – on something I accept as a matter of faith – on the rest of society," he writes in his autobiography.

I get really weary of that line of hogwash. On any moral issue, and all law is directly or circuitously based on moral determinations, someone's view is imposed on all of the rest. If you run for political office your moral views are what you base your decisions and votes on, and if you say that you cannot vote according to the moral dictates of the faith you adhere to, all you are saying is that you really don't believe it.

[EK]

I have to laugh at the sanctimoniousness of some of the posts here. Can a lie be different when the discussion turns to death? The current maniacs in charge reached out to Evangelicals as being "pro-life" and "born again", and then created a war built on lies. So far, 4000 young men and women have paid paid the ultimate price for those lies. Countless more thousands have been injured. Another war monger from the same party waits in the wings for more war, and more carnage. And you would ask me to vote for these types of traitors, individuals who are not Christian at all? Does your hypocrisy know no bounds?

[Serge Beltran]

It is time for all bishops, parish priests to use the homilies in church to defend precious life. The liberal press will not print anything which might damage the Catholic democratic
vote. Birth control, abortion must be bright to the front and tell like it is: A MORTAL SIN and Catholics who receive the Eucharist willfully knowingly, commit a mortal sin. Priests are
bound not to give those the Eucharist during Communion time.

[Carl E. Olson]

And you would ask me to vote for these types of traitors, individuals who are not Christian at all? Does your hypocrisy know no bounds?

Please show me where I've asked readers to vote for Bush or McCain. Show me. Waiting....waiting....waiting...

Sanctimoniousness. Indeed.

[Saralee Wisner]

EK: While it is tragic that life has to be lost in war, it is even more tragic that it has to be lost for no good reason, as in abortion. There are more lives lost through abortion in ONE DAY than there have been in the entire war in Iraq. How is it that you cannot possibly support so-called "warmongers", but have no problem supporting those who repeatedly vote to destroy innocent life in the womb, and aren't even sure if human babies have any rights...

[Grama]

One can't have two different thoughts on abortion on one hand Biden approves of Roe V Wade
on the other he is against partial birth abortion. Their both the same killing babies.
He is a (cafeteria catholic) choosing what he wants to believe.

[LJ]

Well, EK. If you want to stack up numbers you might think about the millions of babies, pretty much a whole generation butchered since Roe v Wade.

Even for those of us who thought that the Iraq war was a bad idea, and I count myself as one; and those of us who think that it did not qualify under Catholic just-war doctrine, and I count myself as one of those as well; and for those of us who think that the justifications given for that war, on their face did not justify the war (lies or no lies), and I count myself as one; and those of us who take the born-again crowd with a huge dose of salt, and I am one;

even for those like me, and I know there are a few; there is nothing that has happened in Iraq, bad as it is, that remotely stands up to the nonchalant butchering of babies in the womb, or the grotesque spectacle of babies alive from induced abortions being tossed aside to die, or the crushing of skulls of viable late-term babies and the sucking out of their brains.

Certainly, for a serious prayerful Catholic, the choice in this election may well be a choice of two evils, but the one evil (abortion) is always and intrinsically evil, and can never be supported, although some high-profile Catholics try to muddy the waters enough to allow them pretend they are being good Catholics. But it is not sanctimonious to speak against and vote against an intrinsic evil.

The one party and its candidate may not deliver on their anti-abortion platform, but the other party and its candidate will always maintain and promote abortion, and do it proudly. Change, change, change. Right. That will never change.

By the way, it seems from the latest reports out of Iraq, that the pull-out is already scheduled, so what does either candidate have to offer that is any different on that front? The point is now moot.

[Ingrid]

Obama/Biden will not get my vote. God's Truth is it and they have consistently proven through their words that they do not understand it.

[Pat]

It appears that Mr Biden is a cultural Catholic. Throught his own words, one can discern that he has not experienced the love of Jesus personally, and He has not made a personal comittment to Jesus as Lord of His life. If he were truly in relationship with our Lord, he would allow himself to be led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads us to holiness, not evil. His acceptance of abortion as a right ignores the sanctity of the life that God created, and displays for the world to see that He is not a disciple of Jesus. We should all be praying for his personal conversion as well as so many others who are deceived into thinking that church membership without the surrender of one's life to Jesus is a means of salvation.

[Tom Larsen]

Jesus said plainly, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me." Who can be more "least" than the unborn? Each of these babies have no defence, no words, and are totally dependedent on their mother's love. Hey abortion supporters, you are supporting the killing Christ! HIS words. HIS blood is on your hands.

[Kay]

"Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart, lean NOT on your own understanding/intelligence (Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden); in ALL your ways acknowledge HIM and HE will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

"There are six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to HIM...a lying tongue...hands that shed innocent blood...a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers." Proverbs 6:16-19

Seems like someone hasn't been reading their Bible-or hasn't been taking it seriously.

Now, LORD create in Nancy and Joe-and others like them-clean hearts and renew in them right spirits.
Psalm 51:12

They need our prayers...........Not just our comments.
Come Holy Spirit, Come.........

[Michael]

Biden is an example of what happens when a Catholic carry's his Rosary and does not recite it.... Where have the popes.... bishops...cardinals...priests..been since the new spirit of Vatican II has swept in the windows??? They are too busy socializing in the world instead of preaching conversion, penance..heaven and hell

Joe should consider well the last four things...

Death, Judgement, heaven or Hell

Pope Pius XII: "For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy." (Mystici Corporis Christi # 23, June 29, 1943

A Heretic is a baptized person who rejects an authoritative teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. A schismatic is a person who refuses communion with a true Pope or refuses communion with true Catholics. An apostate is a person who rejects the Christian faith completely. All heretics, schismatics and apostates sever themselves from the Catholic Church automatically (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, June 29, 1943). Therefore, if one is a heretic he is not a Catholic (Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, June 29, 1896). And most heretics convince themselves that they are not denying any dogma when they actually are.

[keith scharding]

It is written "all things work together for good to those who love god; and are called according to his purpose" - the supreme court ruling which created the abortion industry can be overturned; but that will not correct the improper way in which the reasons behind 'illegial abortions' took place before Roe v Wade. Some brave soul will have to write a thoroughly 'liberal and conscientious' law to spell out why and how abortion is to be used medically and what the rights of unwed and other women who suffer criminal abuse will have; other wise you will have only created another 'viscious circle'. Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it.

a pro-life pennsylvania brethern

[Vin]

The only good thing about cafeteria catholics is that true catholics are apt to think about their own depth of faith and perhaps benefit by it. No one can help those who make a choice to ignore church doctrine or claiim they can interpret it for themselves, except the Holy Spirit. One thing for sure, they get more prayers for their salvation than they would if they followed church doctrine by virtue of the Fatima prayer which is part of the rosary and which ends with the words "lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy." God Bless!

[Anita]

Someone should tell Mr. Biden that the Catholic religion is not a "pick and choose " religion. We don't just make it up as we go along. Either you follow the rules and doctrines, just like any other religion or don't call yourself Catholic. Mr. Biden, your tactics belong in the political arena not the Catholic church, it doesn't operate that way.

[Dan Deeny]

Carl, Very good observations on Sen. Biden and the abortion business. Abortion does seem to be an abuse of power. And furthering social justice would seem to encourage active opposition to the abortion business. Interestingly, Sen. Biden mentions genocide. Is he aware of the percentage of African-American women who have abortions?

[Telemachus]

keith scharding sez: "Some brave soul will have to write a thoroughly 'liberal and conscientious' law to spell out why and how abortion is to be used medically and what the rights of unwed and other women who suffer criminal abuse will have..."

I'm sympathetic to the opinion expressed by Mr. Scharding, but there is a huge problem with writing exceptions into any sort of abortion bill. We as Catholics object to the killing of babies in the womb because they are persons, human lives. However, the *circumstances* under which a human life is conceived do not change the person-hood of that life, so allowing abortion under circumstances of non-choice conception directly contradicts the reason why we believe abortion is wrong.

If the circumstances of conception determine whether a pregnancy is a human life (a relativistic view), then we might as well embrace abortion as morally justified. We can't do this, so we have no choice but to support a wholesale ban on abortion under all circumstances. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about this.

However, the only circumstance under which I could see an abortion medically (but not necessarily morally) justified is threat of death to the mother. I must at this point leave the decision up to the individual consciences of those involved. However, this is such a infinitesimally small proportion of all abortion cases, that I'm not really too concerned with such circumstances right now.

[SE]

Supporters of Abortion Rights on the one hand, War Mongers on the other. It seems that Catholics cannot vote!