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May 10, 2018
Jerry Heckert
San Mateo
Several articles and comments found in the recent Catholic SF (April 26) really highlight the confusion and ambiguity in the teaching – or rather, lack of it – on abortion. One thoughtful letter notes the amount of disagreement in the interpretation of the “Humanae Vitae” papal guidance. The conclusions drawn there and elsewhere seems to lead to the importance of one’s “conscience” in such life-or-death decisions. The eminent Catholic writer George Weigel leaves no ambiguity at all in his column “Roe v. Wade Derangement Syndrome.” The article “Poll: Americans still consider abortion a complicated issue” states that abortion remains a complicated and complex issue after half-a-century of legality. Fordham professor Charlie Camosy writes that an “Encyclical draws connections necessary to oppose abortion,” which seems to marginalize the issue. An adjacent column “America’s children crusade for gun reform” by Father Gerald Coleman of Santa Clara University praises the demonstrations in SF and other cities. This really is the same subject.
St. Teresa of Calcutta defined it most eloquently and simply when she said “If you can’t tell a woman not to kill her own child, you can’t tell anyone not to kill anybody else.” We’ve let our culture of life lapse, and we need to get it back. It can only happen after abortion is stopped.
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