Abortion presents a problem for
the Catholic left since it does not fit into its social justice agenda. It
certainly involves social justice in the highest degree since it is a great
injustice to deprive an innocent person of life. However, the left, by its
nature, always seeks to change “oppressive” social structures that they deem
unjust. Abortion does not fit squarely into this category. Indeed, some
Catholic leftists will use the oppressive structures of poverty or patriarchy
as a reason to justify abortion.
While
the Catholic left prefers other issues like climate change, social revolution,
and illegal immigration, it is hard to argue against the missing 60 million
Americans. These issues pale in comparison to the magnitude of death caused by
the sin of abortion. Thus, abortion has long occupied the preeminent place on
the American Catholic political scene.
A bishop
Speaks Out:
However,
a key Catholic figure is directly disputing abortion’s preeminent place as a
non-negotiable issue for faithful Catholic voters.
Speaking
at the University of San Diego on February 6, Most Rev. Robert McElroy, Bishop
of San Diego, cast doubt on abortion’s preeminent position, especially in light
of the upcoming elections. He did not directly discourage opposition to
abortion but put climate change on equal footing, declaring that “both abortion
and the environment are core life issues in Catholic teaching.”
The
two issues pose unequal threats, however. For the outspoken liberal bishop,
“the long-term death toll from unchecked climate change is larger [than that
from abortion] and threatens the very future of humanity.”
Three
questions about Bishop McElroy’s controversial statements need to be answered.
To Bishop McElroy, the
Politician
The
first is addressed directly to Bishop McElroy, the politician: “Your
Excellency, why are you raising this issue now?”
Bishops
need to be involved in political battles, but that is not their chief function.
They must uphold Church teaching even when it is not politically correct or
opportune.
Thus,
American Catholics must question why the bishop is raising this issue now.
Pro-life Catholics have reached the height of their political power mobilizing
millions nationwide. They have turned the tide to the point where nearly half
of all Americans identify as pro-life. No one, not even the president, can
ignore the influence of the pro-life movement.
This influence is starting to
bear fruit in the appointment of pro-life judges. Some are even saying that the
overturning of Roe v. Wade is possible. By denying abortion’s
preeminence, the bishop is undermining decades of work in the trenches by
countless Catholics and other Americans to end the intrinsically evil sin of
procured abortion in America and the world.
In
making this statement during an election year, Bishop McElroy intentionally
muddles the issues in the hope of encouraging Catholics to vote for radical
pro-abortion candidates who are eco- or illegal immigration-friendly.
To Bishop McElroy, the
Scientist
The
second question involves Bishop McElroy, the scientist: “Your Excellency, why
are you speaking as a scientist?”
Bishop
McElroy is not a scientist and thus speaks outside his competence when painting
a picture based on alarmist scientific speculation devoid of solid facts. He
cites “existing trajectories of pollutants” that are “unchecked.” Like so many
before him, he makes catastrophic predictions of rising temperatures, famines,
and even “perilous viruses.”
He
is quick to blame a “trajectory of danger unleashed by fossil fuels” that makes
action over the next 10 years imperative. His speech reads like a blessing of
the Green New Deal. He even claims that “it is a far greater moral evil for our
country to abandon the Paris Climate Accord than to provide contraceptives to
federal health centers.”
Just as abortion is not settled
law, catastrophic climate change is far from being settled science. Abortion
kills tens of millions every year around the world. There are no recorded
deaths specifically due to climate change. In striving to diminish the world’s
population, those promoting the intrinsic evils of abortion and contraception
work hand-in-hand with climate change activists.
To Bishop McElroy, the Bishop
The
third question is the most tragic and important one: “Your Excellency, why
aren’t you speaking as a bishop, which is your area of competence?”
Bishops
speak about matters touching on God and His relationship with humanity. But
Bishop McElroy’s speech projects a purely naturalistic worldview, a perspective
from which God and the supernatural are absent.
Sin
and vice distance humanity from God. They turn the world into a hell of
disorder and conflict. The denouncing and condemning of sin, the defense of
God, His Divine Law, and the Catholic faith – such are the bailiwick of a
bishop. So also is the extolling of the practice of the virtue of purity as the
true solution to contraception and abortion. Such are the messages the world
expects from a bishop. But this is especially true for Catholics since he is
their shepherd. How sad that today, instead of the bread they ask for, the
Catholic faithful so often receive stones (see Luke 11:11).
To
claim that climate change is deadlier than abortion is to deny the truth anyone
can see. Moreover, when sin expands its dominion unchecked, the world it
creates is necessarily an ecologically hostile one—as evidenced by China’s
environmentally disastrous, pro-abortion regime.
People
must work toward preserving the environment, a gift of God. However, their
first duty will ever be to obey God and His Divine Law.
Unless America can get it right
with God—putting an end to the nation’s sin in Roe
v. Wade, which legalized the mass slaughter of innocent pre-born
Americans—then all that can be expected are His chastisements.
And in chastising, as the Church teaches, God
frequently uses secondary causes, and
the forces of nature, which He created, are among them.
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