PrintAugust 27, 2008
Foot in botoxed mouth disease
Just as they have ignored the many pro-life demonstrations happening in Denver this week, the MSM has yet to notice the firestorm ignited when the self professsed ardent practicing Catholic Nancy Pelosi's told Tom Brokaw on last Sunday's Meet the Press that Church teaching is undecided on when life begins and that the question "shouldn't have an impact on a woman's right to choose." She based this on her understanding of the writings of Augustine, which not only aren't authoritative but are also based on 1500 year old science. This led one theologian to note that Pelosi chose to cherry-pick ancient Patristic sound-bites she does not understand.
Perhaps this kind of profound ignorance is par for the course with Nancy Pelosi. In the same interview with Brokaw, she repeatedly called natural gas an alternative energy source. The chief elected Democrat in the federal government seemed completely ignorant that one drills for natural gas, both onshore and off. In fact, natural gas is often produced in conjunction with oil.
The damage from Pelosi's interview may be profound. For the first time in several presidential election cycles the Democrats had a chance to bring pro life Catholics and evangelicals swing voters back into the Democrat party. Obama blew it at Saddleback by getting cute with that question is above my pay grade comment. On Sunday Brokaw gave Pelosi a chance to at least partially correct Obama's mistake and she blew it by delving into theoogical arcania. There is probably no doctrine more fixed in modern Catholic theology than that human life begins at conception. By maintaining that the issue is still open she invited rebuke from every major Catholic clergyman, theologian and public intellectual.
So far the rebukes have streamed in. Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, Bishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, Edward Cardinal Egan of New York, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington DC, and Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver have all forcefully rebuked Speaker Pelosi on her complete misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine. Noted Catholic author George Weigel was scathing of her reasoning in Newsweek. Her own Archbishop, San Francisco's George Niederauer is reported to be preparing to address the matter in a column for the Sept. 5 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
Ten Catholic House Republicans joined senior Church officials in their own letter to the Speaker this week.
To reduce the scandal and consternation caused amongst the faithful by your remarks, we necessarily write you to correct the public record and affirm the Church’s actual and historical teaching that defends the sanctity of human life. We hope that you will rectify your errant claims and apologize for misrepresenting the Church’s doctrine and misleading fellow Catholics.
No matter how much the MSM tries to ignore this issue, it is not likely to go away.
