By
Kathleen Gilbert
DENVER,
Colorado, October 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- In an address delivered to
a women's group last week, Archbishop
Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese
of Denver strongly criticized
Obama-supporting Catholic Doug
Kmeic, and called it absurd
for self-professedly pro-life
Catholics to support Obama,
"the most committed 'abortion-rights'
candidate ... since the Roe
v. Wade decision of 1973."
"To
suggest - as some Catholics
do - that Senator Obama is this
year's 'real' prolife candidate
requires a peculiar kind of
self-hypnosis, or moral confusion,
or worse," said the archbishop,
who emphasized that his address
at the ENDOW ('Educating on
the Nature and Dignity of Women')
dinner expressed his views as
a private citizen, and not as
a representative of the Church.
Archbishop
Chaput made his remarks as he
spoke about his recently published
book, “Render Unto Caesar,”
in which he delineates the role
of Catholics in the political
life of the nation. He then
mentioned Prof. Doug Kmeic's
book, “Can a Catholic
Support Him? Asking the Big
Question about Barack Obama,”
in which Kmeic had quoted part
of Chaput's book and claimed
that the archbishop's reasoning
and his are "not far distant
on the moral inquiry necessary
in the election of 2008."
"Unfortunately,
he either misunderstands or
misuses my words, and he couldn't
be more mistaken," said
the archbishop in reply. Kmeic,
whose "strong record of
service to the church"
the archbishop commended, recently
went public with his support
of Obama, and has encouraged
Catholics to vote for the virulently
pro-abortion Obama as a morally
viable option.
"His
activism for Senator Obama,
and the work of Democratic-friendly
groups like Catholics United
and Catholics in Alliance for
the Common Good, have done a
disservice to the Church, confused
the natural priorities of Catholic
social teaching, undermined
the progress prolifers have
made, and provided an excuse
for some Catholics to abandon
the abortion issue instead of
fighting within their parties
and at the ballot box to protect
the unborn," continued
the archbishop.
"To
portray the 2008 Democratic
Party presidential ticket as
the preferred 'prolife' option
is to subvert what the word
'prolife' means," he said.
Archbishop
Chaput also criticized rampant
misuse of the "seamless
garment" theory, whereby
left-leaning Catholics "seek
to contextualize, demote and
then counterbalance the evil
of abortion with other important
but less foundational social
issues.
"This
is a great sadness. As Chicago's
Cardinal Francis George said
recently, too many Americans
have 'no recognition of the
fact that children continue
to be killed [by abortion],
and we live therefore, in a
country drenched in blood. This
can't be something you start
playing off pragmatically against
other issues.'"
Archbishop
Chaput complained that, because
"the abortion issue has
never been a comfortable cause,"
and is "embarrassing"
to some Catholics, these citizens
refuse to alter their political
alliances simply because the
homicides of abortion are ''little
murders'' - a hidden evil that
is easily "wordsmithed
away" as a crime the law
is helpless to stop.
"I
think that people who claim
that the abortion struggle is
'lost' as a matter of law ...
are not just wrong; they're
betraying the witness of every
person who continues the work
of defending the unborn child,"
said the archbishop. "And
I hope they know how to explain
that, because someday they'll
be required to."
Archbishop
Charles J. Chaput, a former
Democratic Party activist, is
one of the most outspoken bishops
in the U.S. about the pro-life
cause in American politics.
See
related LifeSiteNews.com article:
Archbishop
Chaput to Obama Catholics: If
You're Serious Catholics, You'll
Be Serious About Making Your
Candidate Pro-Life, Not Editing
My Words