You never cease to amaze me. First, you excommunicate a nun for allowing a vitally necessary medical procedure in a hospital that's supposed to take care of sick people (including mothers whose first trimester pregnancies may worsen deadly conditions). Second, you strip same hospital of Catholic status (and funding) for allowing these procedures to continue (never mind that this is the only case of abortion seen, that sterilizations are NEVER performed at this hospital, and that a family would have lost BOTH mother and child if this had not been allowed to occur). Third, you stay remarkably quiet on other life issues, including those in need of transplants yet who have lost coverage for these transplants due to state cuts in Medicaid. Nice going! You have shown yourself severely lacking in both compassion and a backbone. You hide behind your cloak of power and prestige while people, including members of your own flock, continue to struggle and suffer. How's that for Christian charity?
Dear Bishop, you are supposed be shepherd, yet I think you forgot a few basic tenets of our faith. First, Christ taught us that part of our duties include feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, healing the sick and many other duties that involving giving charity and dignity to those who are suffering. In the case of the mother, she was in her first trimester of pregnancy (meaning the baby was not viable yet), had a severe lung complication, and could not still be pregnant for the surgery she needed at that moment. This mother was a mother of four, she would have died, left behind these children and, in addition, her fifth baby would have died. Even our Church states clearly that if, during a pregnancy, the woman suffers from a condition where both lives are stake, efforts must be made to save one life. So, even by our theology, Sister Margaret was doing the just thing. She was healing the sick, much like Jesus Christ had commanded us.
Second, I am stunned by your hypocrisy and that of others in your rank. One thing that continues to appall me is the willingness of the bishops to shame politicians for abortion legislation, yet I hear almost nothing if these same politicians choose to support the death penalty, voted to go to war in Iraq (which Pope JPII had referred to as an "unjust war"), cut funding for nutrition programs, cut funding for health care and education, or live morally repugnant personal lives. Our Church demands a consistent life ethic, one that holds that no human life is more valuable than another. Yet, I find that you and others will ONLY support those if they fall in line with the politicians they choose to back. You all speak of abortion out of convenience, yet you choose life out of convenience. These patients have just as much of a right to live as you claim unborn babies do. Yet, you chose to stay silent. Christ never stayed silent. Aren't you supposed to follow his example?
Bishop, life is not a matter of convenience. Life is a gift from God and must be cherished. If that's not enough to convince you, then maybe you need to talk that over with the Almighty. Remember, Christ said not all those who call out, "Lord, Lord" will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. If you denied the poor, you deny Him. Kings have a long memory, especially if they're the King of Kings. I'd rather see you sleepless here on earth than sleepless in Hell. Just sayin'.
Signed,
A Pissed Off Catholic
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