Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship...?

The nation's bishops will vote next month on a political roadmap for Roman Catholics headed into the 2008 election that gives top billing to abortion but also spotlights a wide range of issues, including opposition to torture and killing noncombatants in war...

"It's to get buy-in from a broader group and to listen to any of the voices that want input on its final form," said Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., president of the conference. "Given the complexities of our political situation, this is a very good teaching document for the bishops and we're really very committed to it."

A draft of the document calls abortion and euthanasia "intrinsically evil" and "pre-eminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others." The bishops then cite other threats that can never be justified: human cloning, embryonic stem-cell research, racism, torture, genocide, and "the targeting of noncombatants in acts of terror or war."

Sounds like there is hope after all, but then we really should wait until the meeting to see what happens.

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, one of the country's most vocal bishops about Catholics' need to speak in the public square, criticized the previous version of "Faithful Citizenship" for not being strong enough in underlining abortion's pre-eminence.

Chaput said in an e-mail Tuesday the revised document "is better and clearer than any version in the recent past" but isn't ideal. He said would be offering suggestions, but wouldn't be specific.

Chaput wrote that "all bricks in a building are important, but the ones in the foundation support everything else. The latter aren't just important; they're indispensable."

Like building one's house on rock instead of sand...

The Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the anti-abortion group is "grateful to the bishops for this document, and for pointing out that abortion is not just one issue among many; it attacks the very foundation of all our rights."

The "anti-aborion group"...no media bias here. The phrase "Pro-Life" is forbidden in the secular media.

In 2004, some bishops and American Catholics worried that the voices of a few bishops were getting undue attention.

Undue attention? More like long-overdue attention...And why was that? Why were they "worried"? Was the USCCB's seemingly long term partnership with the party of death coming to an end? Were some afraid that the light of truth, pure and unadulterated, would awaken Catholics and jar their consciences? And whom does the press like to blame for upsetting this "apple cart"?

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke drew the most notice for saying he would deny Communion to Democrat John Kerry, a Catholic who supports abortion rights. Burke has indicated he would so the same for 2008 Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani, a Catholic who also backs keeping abortion legal.

He and a few other courageous bishops, spoke out affirming the teachings of the Church. And he and those few others were ridiculed because they chose truth over ambiguity. Hopefully as time passes, documents coming from the USCCB will be clear and unambiguous, especially when it concerns matters of faith and morals.

Let us pray that this time we see something from the USCCB which will benefit Catholics and others, which will exhibit a needed clarity of the Church's teachings and the responsibilities of citizens, especially with respect to foundational issues.