Understanding Nancy
By Michael P. RiccardsSpeaker Nancy Pelosi, on Meet the Press, made a statement that incurred the wrath of members of the Catholic bishops club. She dared to say that there has not been a consistent line of argument from great Catholic theologians on the issue of when life begins. Immediately the bishops moved in on her, for if there is anything they hate more than laymen talking theology it is women laymen talking theology. The fact that she has been a devout Catholic since being a child didn't count. First, one must say that she is right: St. Augustine in the fourth century and the medieval era's premier theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas, did not believe that the fetus was ensouled immediately after intercourse. In fact Aquinas talked of the 12th week. Their view is thus different from the current Catholic hierarchy that says that life begins immediately at conception. So Pelosi was indeed correct and is owed an apology by these bishops and also by EWTN, the fundamentalist Catholic television station that is really an arm of the Republican Party lately.
Where she is wrong, is that we know a lot more about embryology than Augustine or Thomas did. The more we know about life in the womb, the more problems there are with the right to choose position. For it appears that even in the earliest trimester, the fetus begins to move away from what appears to be intrusions that cause pain to it. Certainly the old divisions into three month periods that marked Roe v. Wade are not consonant what we know about the developments in the womb. Indeed by the third trimester we are talking about fetuses that can be and are saved by our newest technologies. Still there deserves to be a rational moral and scientific dialogue on this matter, and attempts to intimidate Catholic politicians are the wrong way to go.
Click here to listen to Dr. Riccards speak about the economy and capitalism among the gondoliers in Venice in his weekly podcast.
Michael P. Riccards is Executive Director of the Hall Institute of Public Policy - New Jersey.
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Syndicate
What?
Mike, I have to say you are realy an arm of the Democratic Party lately. Since Vatican II the church has been very clear on abortion. Nancy has spun her liberal tripe "it's not a life" so long, and not been confronted about it, that she actually belives it. That's what was evident in her statements. I say Nancy was the one trying to intimidate the catholic church, not the other way around.
What?
Mike, I have to say you are realy an arm of the Democratic Party lately. Since Vatican II the church has been very clear on abortion. Nancy has spun her liberal tripe "it's not a life" so long, and not been confronted about it, that she actually belives it. That's what was evident in her statements. I say Nancy was the one trying to intimidate the catholic church, not the other way around.
Nonsense about Trimesters
There are no abortions Roe v. Wade prohibits. Discussion of "trimesters" is academic.
Individuals who support Roe v. Wade endorse, usually enthusiastically, unrestricted abortion up to and including the day of delivery for any reason at all.
Barack Obama goes further, endorsing letting the baby in a botched abortion die, even AFTER delivery. Of course, Nancy Pelosi will claim that too is the Catholic Church position.
Nancy's fantasy
Nancy, Obama, and the rest of the far left are just not being clear about their true belief. They know that if they were honest about what they believe, most American's would not be with them. While there are those that believe in choice, they take it to the extreme (see Obama's votes in ILL senate regarding partial birth abortions ... if a baby is born alive during such a procedure, Obama said that the baby should not get any additional medical attention because that would complicate the original intention to kill the baby).
Though I hate the idea of abortions, I am not AS conservative on this issue as some others. I believe in the availability of abortion in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is in danger. My biggest thing with the abortion issue is that I do not want it to be so easy to get one that it is used as a form of birth control (don't kid yourselves, it is used that way) and I DO NOT WANT THEM PAID FOR WITH TAX DOLLARS !! The far left is out of touch and needs to look into their hearts, not just at their political positioning.
Third millenium challenge
Nancy's comments certainly struck a few sour notes in the cathedrals, but the swift rebuke of the bishops, who felt their domains assaulted, is also telling. If she is indeed Catholic raised, I would observe that she has broken the tired mold of the meek "pray, pay and obey" communicant. This denomination, more than any other, has grown soft-headed and corrupt, and needs challenge from within and without to strengthen its magisterium.
A Respectful Rejoinder
I am Catholic. I have read Nancy Pelosi's statements and the Cardinals' responses to them. I respectfully submit that Dr. Riccards mischaracterizes the Cardinals' responses in three ways.
First, Dr. Riccards contends that Speaker Pelosi is correct because some Doctors of the Church (including Sts Augustine and Aquinas) were unsure of the time of ensoulment. But the Cardinals agree with her on this point, and when Dr. Riccards simply repeats it he appears to prove that he has not given them the courtesy of a thoughtful reading. The Cardinals disapproved of her statement that the Catholic Church has ever taught ambiguously about abortion -- a point that Dr. Riccards failed to address.
So, to be clear: ancient theologians had different theorizes about the age at which children would receive souls, but they all agreed that abortion was evil; for Speaker Pelosi to say otherwise is disingenuous at best, so she needed correction.
Second, Dr. Riccards says that Speaker Pelosi's womanhood drove the Cardinals' responses. This is clearly not true: Women have said things like this before without receiving rebukes of this force. What's different, then? Pelosi's position as a politician. Politicians who claim to be Catholic carry special weight among the public, so the Cardinals must correct them as quickly and forcefully as possible.
Third, Dr. Riccards makes it sound like the theologians expect scientific discussion to cease. But Catholic tradition teaches us of the Natural Law, which holds that moral issues are accessible to intellectual scrutiny: in other words, that an objective and scientific view of abortion will show its evil regardless of one's religion. Dr. Riccards himself shows this to be true in his second paragraph.
I am glad that Dr. Riccards identified a few of the flaws in the so-called "pro-choice" argument. I just wish he didn't mischaracterize the reactions of the Cardinals when he did so.