Boston cardinal: Catholics have ‘right’ to clarity, after priest supports ‘right to choose’

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 27, 2020 / 02:26 pm (CNA).- The Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life are of preeminent priority, the Archbishop of Boston said on Thursday, August 26.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM, Cap., said that Catholics have “the right to expect the priests of the Archdiocese and those entrusted with handing on the faith to be clear and unequivocal on the Church’s teaching concerning respect and protection for life from the first moment of conception to natural death.”

“This teaching is of the highest priority for the Church,” he added in a statement provided to CNA.

O’Malley said that archdiocesan clergy, as well as “religious and laity who minister or serve in the Archdiocese of Boston,” as representatives of the archdiocese, are not to endorse or condemn political candidates or political parties.

“The teaching role of the Catholic Church brings religious and moral principles to the life of our society, our Commonwealth, and our nation,” said O’Malley.

“Our advocacy addresses protection of human life at all stages and in all circumstances, including issues of social and economic equality, the pervasive influence of systemic racism and welcoming immigrants and refugees.”

Catholics, said O’Malley, should play an “active role” in public life, and “fulfill the basic obligation of a democracy, to vote.” He said that Catholics are “called to bring the light of faith and reason to our civic responsibilities,” as they “strive to build a civilization of love.”

O’Malley’s statement comes two days after an Aug. 26, report by CNA including a statement by a priest of the archdiocese praising presidential candidate Joe Biden and supporting the “right to choose” abortion being enshrined in U.S. law.

Msgr. Paul Garrity told CNA that he did not think abortion would be illegal in the United States, and that the abortion was being used as a “a wedge issue that is being used to divide people for narrow political gains.”


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2 Comments

  1. Blah blah blah. This is as bland an action as he could come up with. Time to correct the priest albeit secular priest passing as Catholic publicly as the priest has publicly rejected Church teaching.. if this secular priest has criticized immigrants or even something so sacred to the secular clergy as Vatican II he would be lucky to not be locked up in an asylum under sedation. Let’s not even imagine if he dared to use Latin in a liturgy. He would have been disappeared completely. Teach the Faith of Our Lord or go get a job at the grocery store. Grow a pair.

  2. Cardinal O’Malley also must realize that Catholics require more than clarity. They require knowledge of and adherence to the definitive teaching of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Voting for pro abortion policy is prohibited and subject to mortal sin because the grave injustice of killing infants in the womb outweighs any other presumed just cause. “It must in any case be clearly understood that whatever may be laid down by civil law in this matter, man can never obey a law which is in itself immoral, and such is the case of a law which would admit in principle the liceity of abortion. Nor can he take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it. Moreover, he may not collaborate in its application” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion, November 18, 1974, nos. 19-2). “John Paul II, continuing the constant teaching of the Church, has reiterated many times that those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a «grave and clear obligation to oppose» any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life 2002, no. 4).

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