The devout Roman Catholic Pierre Trudeau had no trouble liberalizing our divorce laws in 1967.I had to grab onto my desk as I was laughing so hard that I nearly fell out of my chair. Pierre Trudeau was many things but a devout Roman Catholic he was not. A man who was instrumental in liberalizing the divorce laws and instituting abortion on demand cannot be considered a devout Catholic by any stretch of imagination. Pierre Trudeau philosophically would have been more at home in the United Church of Canada than the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Monday, January 10, 2005
La vie en rose moments
A good editor is hard to find at the Globe and Mail and it very well may be that a good editor’s price is more precious than rubies. From the dead tree version of the Globe & Mail Michael Adams waxes on in "My Canada doesn’t include religiosity":
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6 comments:
I guess that you could say that there's a big difference between considering yourself part of a faith and your fellow adherants considering you to be a faithful participant.
For instance, I was under the impression that a majority of Canadians who consider themselves Catholic are pro-choice... (could have been mistaken.)
Ben,
The closest metaphor I can think to use is that of a catholic pimp. He may go to mass and even to confession, but as long as he earns his daily bread promoting women to prostitutes themselves he cannot be considered a ‘devout’ catholic. Catholic yes, devout no. Now I am more of a collapsed catholic but the catechism is very clear on abortion and divorce. Remember Catholics do not see marriage as a union of just a man and woman but man, woman and God. For one to seek a divorce is tantamount to cheating God. To a seek a divorce/abortion or have others help you in obtaining a divorce/abortion means that you are contributing to not only your own moral delinquency but theirs as well and that is a very grave sin indeed.
Remember the US election when there was an outcry by Catholic Bishops over John Kerry’s position on abortion – there was talk of excommunicating any public figure that was “pro-choice”. John Paul ll came out with a very clear statement on the obligations of politicians who want to identify themselves as Catholic; and they must follow the catechism in both public & private life. There is no separation for devout catholics allowed nor has there ever been - which is not the same as failing to live out the catechism.
The first I have heard that Catholics are pre-dominantly pro-choice group is from you and my experience while anecdotal would lead me to believe that the exact opposite is true with practicing Catholics. I would deem any source suspect that would suggest that practicing Catholics were pro-abortion/fetal reduction etc. It goes against the very grain of the catechism.
You go Kate!
I think a distinction has to be drawn between those who attend mass regulalry and those who don't. They're both Catholic because the church is like a family - you can leave the church but the church never leaves you. All one needs to do is make a good confession and one can be taken right back and recive the eucharist again. Unless you've murdered someone of done something really off the scale; then pennance might take a bit longer to fulfill. (That's my understanding)
There are all sorts of prodigal Catholics out there and they are, because of the lack of communication with the "family," not likely current or well versed. They may THINK they are, however. I go every week and I DO NOT consider myself well informed or even well formed. I have much work and learning to do yet.
I loath politicans like Trudeau or Kerry using the church in order to try and make themselves lilly white for the electorate. I think people saw right through Kerry, but sadly not Trudeau.
The distinction Curt makes is probably the accurate one. The "Catholics" who are pro-choice are no doubt Christmas and Easter church-goers, who claim to be Catholic for cultural reasons.
It would otherwise be impossible for us to have a country that declares itself to be both 76% pro-choice and 48% Catholic.
I still find it hard to fathom that 76% of Canadians are pro-abortion – it is certainly not apparent in my demographic. If anything, the interesting thing about my demographic is how we started out so very pro-choice and as we aged and gain life experience, and yes, had children, our opinion changed radically. At 24 weeks of age, I saw a picture of the Last Amazon sucking her thumb in my womb – a very living thing to do. I can't help but think whoever did the poll asked a loaded question. If you were asking: Do you believe that abortion should be allowed in certain cases e.g. saving the life of the mother, rape or incest victims etc - then I can see a 76% agreement. But if you asked something like: do you believe that abortion should be available on demand - I think you'd see that number drop, and drop substantially.
Point taken. Interestingly enough, the paper that the group finds has massaged the numbers is the National Post, in its more conservative days.
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