NZ CATHOLIC BISHOPS SAVAGE THE ABORTION LEGISLATION

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The NZ Catholic Bishops' statement (Aug 9) on the abortion vote is so weak I don't know how it managed to stagger out of their computer.

It 'expresses concern'; it should express shock and horror. It looks forward to exploring 'the complexities surrounding abortion'; from the Catholic point of view there are absolutely no 'complexities': abortion is simply murder.

'When you live in poverty' etc 'you don't have real choices': the bishops are saying some people are forced to break the fifth commandment (Thou shalt not kill). If the mother is literally forced (with no free consent of the will) of course it is not mortal sin for her. Some women are obviously coerced and bullied by the fathers of their unborn children to the extent that fear overwhelms them; in that case their sin is not mortal, but their partners (far less frequently, husbands) are guilty of murder at one remove, of their own children.

'Making abortions easier', say the bishops, who are masters of understatement: this legislation makes abortion freely available up to birth and will inevitably mean infanticide, same as NY State.

The bishops fall over themselves to be conciliatory. They 'strongly support … the rights of the unborn who under the current laws are given statutory recognition'. Read 'statutory' to mean 'on paper'; those 'rights' are in fact meaningless.

The bishops coo about treating 'the matter solely as a health issue'. Abortion is never a 'health issue'; it's an issue of moral, mental and physical sickness. The late, lamented Sir William Liley, 'Father of Fetology' declared in the '70s when opposing the very first abortion legislation that there is no condition which requires abortion to ensure the survival of the mother. Not in Sir William's book.

Abortion is not just 'a significant and heart-wrenching moral issue'; it's murder and the bishops need the courage to call it out. If they did, and if they had for the last fifty or so years (post Vat 2, significantly), society would have marshalled all its forces to combat the 'pressures and stresses that very often leave couples with seemingly little choice but abortion'.

In reality, had Vat 2 never happened, and the Traditional Latin Mass - source of all succor for the human race - not in effect been abolished by the bishops and their predecessors, the societal stresses that 'leave couples with seemingly little choice' would not have materialized to anything like the current extent.

But cheer up! We can look forward to the result of the bishops' study of 'proposed changes concerning doctors' freedom of conscience and 'the suggestion of safe zones around abortion facilities'.

The bishops' use of the expression 'safe zones', meaning footpaths where pro-lifers will face arrest for praying, as in Victoria Australia, simply advances the cause of the abortion fanatics who have hijacked the public square to the extent that the bishops seem afraid even to mount a soap box.

Even so it is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish (Mt 18:14). 


'Anon' says:

The bishops statement can be seen at  https://www.catholic.org.nz/news/media-releases/abortion-is-both-a-health-issue-and-a-justice-issue/ 



It is a carefully crafted fudge, designed to seem to oppose abortion while being weak so as to not offend the wider left wing community, and avoid blow back from the powerful feminist lobby in the Church.  The Catholic Church was a champion for the unborn child a few decades ago.  Now it hides behind so much blandness it is all but irrelevant.




I love the bit "The Bishops strongly support the fact that, under the current abortion laws, the rights of the unborn are given statutory recognition"  What? The current law effectively gives abortion on demand.