Roe, Roe, Roe Your Boat

“The only responsible response to that would be to pass legislation to make Roe the law of the land. That’s what I would do.” (Joe Biden)

This afternoon, the Biden Administration began the follow-through of its promised sweeping abortion policy with the “Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad,” which may be read full here.

In short, the Mexico City Policy is dead. Many federal federal agencies & USAID will begin instructing our “global health partners” that the previous prohibitions on abortion advocacy or referrals no longer apply.

Once upon a time, Joseph Biden remarked:

I remember vividly the first time, in 1973, I had to go to the floor to vote on abortion. A fellow Senator asked how I would vote. “My position is that I am personally opposed to abortion, but I don’t think I have a right to impose my view on the rest of society. I’ve thought a lot about it, and my position probably doesn’t please anyone. I think the government should stay out completely. I will not vote to overturn the Court’s decision. I will not vote to curtail a woman’s right to choose abortion. But I will also not vote to use federal funds to fund abortion.“

I’ve stuck to my middle-of-the-road position on abortion for more than 30 years. I still vote against partial birth abortion and federal funding, and I’d like to make it easier for scared young mothers to choose not to have an abortion, but I will also vote against a constitutional amendment that strips a woman of her right to make her own choice.

Promises to Keep, by Joe Biden, p.104-105 , Jul 31, 2007

Asked on “Meet the Press” the same year whether he was opposed to public funding for abortion, Biden replied:

I still am opposed to public funding for abortion. It goes to the question of whether or not you’re going to impose a view to support something that is not a guaranteed right but an affirmative action to promote.

Source: Meet the Press: 2007 “Meet the Candidates” series , Apr 29, 2007

Today he has reversed course definitively, entrenching himself (and the American public) in a positive commitment to selling abortion both at home and abroad.

A couple bishops (Naumann, as well as Malloy of Rockford, Illinois) issued a USCCB statement decrying the order, saying that it is “antithetical to reason, violates human dignity, and is incompatible with Catholic teaching.” (No word yet on whether Cupich finds this “ill-advised” as the one previously made by Archbishop Gomez.)

A brief foray into the liberal Catholic internet finds many trying to cover their nakedness with the old seamless garment. However, without the fundamental consensus that the unborn should not be murdered, this proves rather too flimsy for decency.

Others appear to be studiously ignoring the issue, pretending it’s not there.

Still others see this as an opportunity for the ship of the Church to change course, as NPR notes:

For those who would like to see the church take a more permissive stance on issues including abortion, Biden’s election is an opportunity.

Jamie Manson, president of Catholics for Choice, said she hopes for what she describes as a “better dialogue” between church leaders and some rank-and-file Catholics who disagree with aspects of the church’s teachings.

“There are many issues in which Catholics are dissenting from the bishops and seeing that these are complex moral issues, whether it’s same-sex marriage, whether it’s contraception, or whether it’s abortion,” she said.

Indeed parroting Biden’s Catholic bona fides seems to be the response to every question on abortion policy, from Roe to Hyde, symbolically holding up Joe’s rosary beads in lieu of an answer or argument. When an EWTN reporter asked Press Secretary Jen Psaki for specifics on about Biden’s policy on the Hyde Amendment, she chose instead to offer assurances of his piety:

“I will just take the opportunity to remind all of you that he is a devout Catholic, and somebody who attends church regularly. He started his day attending church with his family this morning.”

Sister Simone Campbell similarly praised the president for his “very developed view of abortion” while bemoaning the “political obsession” some Catholics have on the issue.

So here is the point today:

We’re being instructed in our own diocese to take a special effort in evangelization.

Perhaps you are noticing the side eye, as we are, from non-Catholic Christian family and friends, or from individuals who heretofore have respected the Church for its pro-life stance.

Rightly, some are perplexed how one balances his position in the Church with an outright rebuff of one its major moral teachings on the very ethics surrounding human life, of which the Church has been a champion.

Also rightly they may ask how a person who frequently invokes his faith with respect to other issues (tackling poverty, racism. etc.) finds it suddenly to be an inappropriate imposition upon others when it comes to this issue.

And most of all, they may wonder to what extent this is okay with the rest of the Catholic Church. Is Joe a stray sheep, or are his actions against life compatible with the Faith and no big deal?

If the latter, it provides the ethical skeptic with one more reason to see the Church as a corrupt and man-made religion. Just as moral heroism born from charity offers the nonbeliever a powerful witness of the truth of the Faith, so do such sorry worldly compromises discredit it.

It’s more important than ever to tell the truth here.

The idea that none of this matters significantly to one’s faith, even in matters of reception of the Holy Eucharist, is the substance of the so-called McCarrick Doctrine. We must choose not to follow the lead of those for whom it seems nothing was sacred.

It is to be hoped, and much to be prayed for, that our priests and bishops and each one of us also, will not give scandal by failing to be clear here. That would be very wrong (Joe’s rosary beads notwithstanding):

Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. . . . Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others.

CCC 2285

We must be firm, clear, thoughtful, and unrelenting.

May Our Lady, Mother of the Incarnate Word, help us all.