How far should a Catholic entity embrace an individual who expresses views publicly opposed to the core teachings of the Church? This is certainly an issue of great debate among American Catholics, and yet it seems to really only matter in selective circumstances. How do we deal with the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast? I know nothing of this outfit, other than that it is Catholic (so it proclaims in the title!), that it is moderately high profile, and that it has the support of some prelates. Should it therefore invite people to speak, who express public views that are opposed to core Church teaching on faith and morals? One would think that the answer would be obvious…but is it?
In 2008, they invited George Bush. This is a man who loves the death penalty (really loves it), began a gravely unjust war that led to at least hundreds of thousands dead and a quarter of the population uprooted, and implemented torture as a matter of government policy– torture, of course, is something the Church deems an intrinsic evil, something than can never be supported. Where was the outcry? And this year, they are inviting Antonin Scalia, a man who public dissents from Church teaching on the death penalty (quite sarcastically), and has also expressed public support for the use of torture for consequentialist reasons. Is he appropriate?
Is it so hard to find speakers with a consistent ethic of life, or were they not trying hard enough? And no, before anybody asks, I would not regard Obama as a suitable candidate either. But I do note very differing standards.
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