{"id":91020,"date":"2015-01-13T00:43:56","date_gmt":"2015-01-13T07:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=91020"},"modified":"2015-01-11T19:09:02","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T02:09:02","slug":"point-of-clarification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/01\/point-of-clarification.html","title":{"rendered":"Point of Clarification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

If somebody says that they believe all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims is revealed by God, obeys the Church on all the Pelvic Issues, accepts the infallibility of the Pope, professes and defends belief in the Church\u2019s teaching on the sacraments (including the Real Presence), accepts Just War doctrine, and supports capitalism (within the moral guidelines of the \u00a0Church\u2019s social teaching, he or she is not a dangerous fifth columnist morally indistinguishable from somebody who compares prolifers to Muslim terrorists<\/a>\u00a0if he or she also insists that prolife people must also uphold all the rest of the Church\u2019s teaching.<\/p>\n

Clip and save:<\/p>\n

People who compare prolife\u00a0Catholics\u00a0to terrorists = Not Prolife or Catholic<\/p>\n

People who demand prolife Catholics be fully and completely prolife = Prolife and Catholic<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I demand that Catholics be fully prolife and not use the unborn as human shields for various commitments to doctrines directly at odds with the clear teaching of the Church. \u00a0That \u00a0places me squarely in the second camp.<\/p>\n

Now, some Catholics will complain that this is unfair and that there are not enough hours in the day to oppose abortion and euthanasia *and* run around doing stuff about unjust war, gun violence, torture, poverty, the death penalty, desperate refugees, the environment, and the many other things the Church teaches are part of a fully prolife ethic. \u00a0I have no problem with that objection. \u00a0We can\u2019t all be everywhere doing everything. \u00a0So if your anti-abortion\u00a0commitments are where you put your limited time, talent, and treasure I have no objection to that at all. \u00a0Do what you can with what you have and the Lord be with you.<\/p>\n

Where I object is when anti-abortion Catholics manage to find lots of time and energy to sink into directly opposing and fighting *against* the obvious and clear teaching of the Church and who insinuate or say that concern about the rest of the Church\u2019s teaching is somehow an act of support for abortion. \u00a0It is these folks who are anti-abortion-but-not-prolife and who are using the unborn as human shields for dissent from clear Church teaching. \u00a0I refuse to let such people characterize\u00a0those who\u00a0accept the Church\u2019s whole teaching as \u201cliberal\u201d or to \u00a0buy the lie that accepting the whole of the Church\u2019s teaching is somehow \u201cwatering down\u201d opposition to abortion or euthansasia. \u00a0The Church\u2019s teaching is a whole weave and it is long past time that we treated it as such. \u00a0If you don\u2019t have the time or energy to address everything in the Church\u2019s teaching, that\u2019s fine. \u00a0But don\u2019t spend your limited energy opposing things in the Church\u2019s teaching you don\u2019t happen to like. \u00a0Spend it on that bit of the Church\u2019s teaching you can help advance.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If somebody says that they believe all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims is revealed by God, obeys the Church on all the Pelvic Issues, accepts the infallibility of the Pope, professes and defends belief in the Church\u2019s teaching on the sacraments (including the Real Presence), accepts Just War doctrine, and supports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[650,442],"class_list":["post-91020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-na","tag-prolife-means-more-than-anti-abortion"],"yoast_head":"\nPoint of Clarification<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If somebody says that they believe all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims is revealed by God, obeys the Church on all the\" \/>\n<meta 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