Catholicism & Pelosi: Us vs. Them
By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 22, 2015
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi styles herself as a devout Catholic, and the New York Times happily promotes that myth with a puff piece whose title drives home the editorial point: In Pelosi, Strong Catholic Faith and Abortion Rights Coexist. But it’s Pelosi herself who gives the game away, with a telling quotation:
The church has their position, and we have ours, which is that a woman has free will given to her by God.
Taken by itself, that sentence is a muddled non sequitur. The Church teaches that women have free will given by God. The topic is abortion, not free will. Pelosi has played the trump-card of “choice” so often that she apparently believes the abortion industry invented free will.
But that’s not the most revealing part of the quotation. Notice that Pelosi says that the Church has “their” position, as opposed to “our” position. For Pelosi, it’s a question of them vs. us.
In this case “them” means Catholics, “us” means Democrats, and so Pelosi lets us know which side she’s on.
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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Posted by: Edward I. -
Jul. 22, 2016 11:04 PM ET USA
Bought the book this morning, just finished it. The book's greatest strength is its orthodoxy. It is not tightly argued nor is the prose particularly compelling. Father's proposed form of dating begins with "friendship dating" i.e. low-pressure, zero romance social dates, and escalates from there. He goes over in detail the importance of affection & light physical touching in a "courtship". There is a lot of practical relationship advice, and he champions traditional gender roles.
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Sep. 23, 2015 1:55 PM ET USA
Free will can be used to choose good or evil. The recognition of free will is no accomplishment, nor is it a statement of decision. She behaves as if she believes a Catholic has an intrinsic right to decide in favor of evil. No such right exists, regardless of politicians' demagoguery. The Church exercises her right to recognize and teach truth. This exercise does not represent a "position," but an unshakeable commitment to truth. The matter of "position" suggests prudential judgment, not moral
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Posted by: AgnesDay -
Sep. 22, 2015 2:44 PM ET USA
In general, I am amazed at the public figures of government and media who tout their credentials as Catholics in the same breath as their horrendous breaches of obedience to moral and theological teaching. Why do they bother?
