A voice in the wilderness

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 29, 2004

This week a militantly pro-abortion Catholic is being nominated for the US presidency, with a Catholic priest offering an invocation at the convention, and dozens of prominent Catholics enthusiastically participating in the events.

Now is a time when we need clear, unequivocal leadership from our bishops, to leave no doubt about where the Church stands on abortion.

And what do we get?

In Boston, Archbishop Sean O'Malley is out of town.

In Washington, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a series of statements:

• on restrictions on travel to Cuba
• on the US-Central America Free Trade Treaty
• on the crisis in Darfur
• on the latest World Trade Organization talks
• on restricted travel to Cuba (again)
• on over-the-counter sale of the "morning-after pill"

You might say that the US bishops have already spoke out about pro-abortion Catholic politicians, in their statement Catholics in Political Life. You know, the one in which they said:

... we seek to form the consciences of our people so that they can examine the positions of candidates and make choices based on Catholic moral and social teaching.

Right now-- this week-- would be a good time to form some consciences, while the pro-abortion candidates are squarely in the media spotlight.

True, the bishops would be repeating themselves. Is that a bad thing? Remember, this is the group that has posted two different statements on travel to Cuba in less than one week.