"Catholic" Democrats still hung up on 70s-style "primacy of conscience"

(NB: The initial title of this post "Catholic Demoncrats..." was completely unintentional, but probably freudian...)

First, the story:

From Catholic World News:

Washington, Mar. 01 (CWNews.com) - A group of Catholic members of the US House of Representatives has issued a "Statement of Principles" in which they claim a "commitment to the basic principles at the heart of Catholic social teaching," but refuse to accept the Church's opposition to legal abortion.

The "Statement of Principles" was released on February 28, and signed by 55 of the 72 Catholic Democrats in the House of Representatives. The group professes its commitment to carrying out Catholic social teaching in many ways: "reducing the rising rates of poverty; increasing access to education for all; pressing for increased access to health care; and taking seriously the decision to go to war."

The Democratic group goes on to acknowledge "the undesirability of abortion-- we do not celebrate its practice." But the statement says that although they recognize the Church's teaching authority the lawmakers "believe also in the primacy of conscience." Acknowledging the "tension that comes with being in disagreement with the Church in some areas," the legislators leave it clear (if not explicitly stated) that they will not attempt to end legal abortion.

The "Statement of Principle" does not mention other controversial issues on which Democratic lawmakers have often clashed with Church teachings, such as euthanasia, embryonic research, and government recognition of same-sex unions.

The statement was issued from the office of Connecticut's Rep. Rosa DeLauro. The others signing the statement were:

Click here to read the who's-who list of walking paradoxes.

Now, my take:

Could the democratic party be finally waking up to the fact that they've lost many close battles in recent years (Kerry, Gore) because they no longer have the so-called "Catholic Vote" (if such a thing really exists anymore) ? And now this is (they think) a smart way of getting it back?!

E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post, who I'm not agreeing with - as my comments in bold outline, has some revealing things to say about the issue. A couple excerpts:

"[This statement] is, to the best of my knowledge, an unprecedented attempt by a large number of elected officials to explain the relationship between their religious faith and their public commitments."

In other words, maybe we've finally got their attention.

"Democrats on both sides of the abortion question worry that it is crowding out all other concerns. And in very polite language, the Catholic Democrats suggest that their bishops allow them some room to disagree."

i.e., "we want your support, but we don't want to change our stance." ... This request is ironic because the majority of U.S. Bishops have already essentially given them all the "room to disagree" they could ask for.

"One of the troubling aspects of 2004 was the extent to which partisan politics invaded the churches and seemed to enlist them as part of the Republicans' electoral apparatus. But there is a difference between defending the legitimate right of churches to speak up on public questions and the hyperpoliticization of the church itself."

So now the Church is guilty of hyperpoliticization...

"For Catholics with moderate or liberal leanings, the argument from some bishops that they could vote only for staunch foes of abortion posed a wretched dilemma. It seemed to demand that such voters cast their ballots for conservative or right-wing candidates with whom they might disagree on every other question -- social justice, war and peace, or the death penalty. All are areas where liberals are often closer to the church's view. "Our faith does and should affect how we deal with issues," DeLauro said. "But we're rebelling against the idea of a one-issue church."

While clearly being Catholic does not mean one must be not a Democrat or must be a Republican (the categories aren't that simple), clearly the political arena is unused to the fact that some issues because of their inherent moral nature of themselves trump all others for Catholics. Magisterial Catholics aren't proportionalists, sorry.

Conclusion:

It will be intersting to see what kind of response this statement receives. I'd frankly love for a bunch of bishops who have been tacitly allowing pro-abortion Catholic politicians to do as they please suddenly be put in a state of more explicit endorsement of pro-abortion Democrats through statements like this which ask for even more freedom.

If I might be permitted a little analogy: there's nothing like a released convict pointing to the town sheriff in the middle of the street and shouting "stop oppressing me!" for everyone to notice that the sheriff should never have allowed the convict to be released in the first place.

(then again, maybe I shouldn't use analogies...)

UPDATE: thanks to reader Ed for pointing out this important news release from the Catholic League:

ABORTION ALBATROSS PLAGUES CATHOLIC DEMS