Catholics & Catholicism

Question:

"Suzanne" <shm…@msn.com> wrote in message

news:#71WNjuHAHA.250@cpmsnbbsa09… > The party should "be more open and welcome pro-life members of the party," > Kerschen said. "For example, when a pro-life Democratic candidate runs for > office, they need to be supportive."

Oh, you mean just like the Republican party should be more welcome and open to pro-choice members? Right? Can you say "litmus test?"  The litmus test the Republicans have on the issue of abortion is very stringent. Either way, both parties have active members that do not agree with the party line on some key issues, including abortion. > "One is that if the Democratic Party in all other ways is good on social > justice and life issues, such as welfare and family leave, then maybe it > balances out. But, on the other hand, there are some who say the abortion > issue is paramount." > "First you have to have life," she continued. "Otherwise liberty and the > pursuit of happiness mean nothing. Then you have a fatal flaw."

Would you chide the Democrats for not allowing bigoted members to get up and state how much they think this country should be for whites only? Fortunately, few Democrats hold that view, but some do. Why is it any worse to shut out the views of the bigoted, but not those anti-abortion supporters who by definition support involuntary servitude?

Response:

————————————————————————— – —-  Where Democrat diversity, tolerance stop Pro-lifers wage uphill fight against ‘wrong stand on great moral issue’ ————————————————————————— – — Sinclair Oubre of Port Arthur, Texas, comes from three generations of working-class, pro-union Americans and has dedicated his life to the cause of organized labor. A member of the Seafarers International Union and an active Merchant Marine, Oubre has spent one month a year for the last 10 years at sea. He’s been involved in organizing offshore workers in Houma, La., and he’s helped with the effort to organize workers at a Houston plastic sack company that employed undocumented aliens from China and Central America. Oubre not only talks passionately about his Democratic Party principles, he lives them out. But when it comes to the subject of abortion, this old-school Catholic Democrat keeps relatively quiet to avoid "screaming matches" with most members of his party. And the abortion rights proponents tend to keep their distance from the subject as well, as they are likely tipped-off to Oubre’s position on the subject by the clothes he wears. You see, Oubre is known to his community as Father Sinclair — a priest who, though a devout Democrat, is staunchly pro-life. Father Sinclair is part of a small but determined camp attempting to broaden the Democratic Party’s position on abortion — or, in terms more familiar to the Republican Party, to build a "big tent." There’s even a little-known organization working to that end called Democrats For Life of America. The national organization, along with its handful of state chapters and affiliates, has dedicated itself to "elect pro-life Democrats to office, support pro-life Democrats while in an elected position, promote a pro-life plank in the Democratic Party platform, achieve legislation that protects unborn human life and participate actively in Democratic Party functions and offices." "We must be being heard a little bit, because they kept the language of inclusion in the platform, which had appeared in ‘96 for the first time," said Lois Kerschen, president of DFLA. Although the Democratic Party’s platform says it is the party that represents the "pro-choice" movement, it now also expressly recognizes the pro-life minority of the party in a phrase added at the 1996 national convention. "They have lost many, many, many members of the party over abortion. They’ve got to do something to bring those members back," said Kerschen. "Party leadership has been very successful in projecting the image that the Democratic Party is 100 percent pro-abortion, and that’s not true." Kerschen described the Democrat pro-life movement’s relationship with the party as "mostly hostile," saying party officials have even refused to acknowledge pro-life candidates. Beverly Clarke, a black female Democrat from Houston, ran for public office in 1994 and ‘96, Kerschen said. But when a voter called the Harris County Democratic Party for more information about the candidate, officials there did not even acknowledge her candidacy as a Democrat. Clarke eventually changed her registration to Republican in 1997. The party should "be more open and welcome pro-life members of the party," Kerschen said. "For example, when a pro-life Democratic candidate runs for office, they need to be supportive." "In some places, they are starting to understand that if they don’t appeal to the pro-life members of the party, they are going to lose elections — and they have been losing elections," she said. DFLA maintains a list of pro-life candidates from around the United States as well as current members of Congress. One candidate, Dr. Paul Perry from Indiana’s 8th congressional district, outlined the origins of his pro-life position. "I feel strongly as a physician that, not only am I sworn to protect and preserve life, but I think for moral and religious reasons, that extends to those that are born and unborn," he said, noting that he is a Roman Catholic. The southern Indiana area has a strong pro-life constituency on both sides of the political aisle, the orthopedic surgeon said. "I would say I’m probably with the majority of my party in terms of local politics," Perry remarked. "That’s not true nationally." The victor of a contested primary, Perry’s opponent was backed by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League — a formidable advocacy group commonly known as NARAL. However, Perry "doesn’t think the election was necessarily swung on the abortion issue," which is not a "litmus test" for Democrats in his area. "If progress is going to be made (nationally) on this issue in terms of advocating the pro-life cause, its going to have to happen on both sides of the aisle," he stressed, pointing to the long list of pro-life Democrats currently in Congress. WorldNetDaily contacted several such congressmen listed on the DFLA website, including Michigan Rep. David Bonior, New York Rep. Joseph Crowley and Ohio’s Rep. James Traficant. None returned calls. While at the DNC convention in Los Angeles last week, DFLA volunteers passed out flyers for a reception honoring the late Gov. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania — a pro-life Democrat who was barred from speaking at the national convention because of his views on abortion. Delegates receiving the flyers would occasionally wad up the paper and throw it back at the volunteers, Kerschen said. In one instance she recalled, a wheelchair-bound volunteer with cerebral palsy was harassed by abortion rights advocates passing out their own flyers for a different event. The disabled woman was "in their way," Kerschen said. "It can be very difficult to be pro-life and Democratic. But it’s the most consistent viewpoint indeed. It’s a consistent life ethic," she added, saying, "If we care about women, we should be against abortion because abortion is violent, and it hurts women, and it kills their children." "It is not compassionate to teach a teen-ager to kill," she continued, noting numerous reports of dead or abandoned infants of teen-age mothers. "It teaches them the wrong values. We’ve been telling them (teens) that these children are disposable. It carries forward. We tell them, ‘It’s your property. You can do what you want with it.’" Kerschen believes solutions to various life circumstances complicated by unwanted pregnancies exist without resorting to abortion. "No woman wants an abortion. She wants a solution to her problem. And that’s what we offer," she explained. "Offer them whatever help they need. And that’s regardless of age. The needs will differ, perhaps, but we need to give them all the support they want. If we really care about women, let’s go to their root problems." Having worked at a crisis pregnancy center, Kerschen said she saw many women pursue abortion because of their partners’ insistence. "As a feminist, that offends me," she exclaimed passionately. DFLA board member David Carlin, a former Rhode Island state senator, makes a political argument in an editorial against what he calls the "pro-abortion" sentiment of the Democratic Party. "Democrats For Life of America, Inc. will not bother making the philosophical argument against abortion," he wrote. "For the last 30 years, that argument has been very well made by others. Instead, we intend to make a political argument against being pro-abortion. We contend that being pro-abortion is dangerous to the long-term political health of the national Democratic Party." "The Democrats have always been the party of the relatively non-privileged, the party of those in the lower half of the socio-economic scale. But this is not the demographic base of pro-abortion sentiment; if anything, it’s the base of pro-life sentiment. The demographic base of pro-abortion sentiment is found in the upper-middle classes. In other words, it’s found among people who have traditionally not been among the natural constituents of the Democratic Party. This is producing a demographic distortion in the party. "What had always been a party of the masses is increasingly becoming a party of socio-economic elites. This new image — the elite image — is driving many traditional Democrats into the arms of the Republicans (who, as the result of abortion and other moral issues, are becoming less of an elite party and more of a mass party)." Kerschen echoed Carlin’s statement when she said, "The Democratic Party always says that it’s the party of the people," but it ignores polls showing a majority of Americans are pro-life. A 1999 Gallup survey cited on DFLA’s website showed that nearly three out of four adults in America would outlaw more than 90 percent of abortions. "Isn’t it time that the Democratic Party’s platform reflected the view of the people?" the group states. As for the party’s presidential candidate, Kerschen said the Gore-Lieberman ticket "presents a very difficult situation for pro-life Democrats." There are two schools of thought when electing national leaders, she said. "One is that if the Democratic Party in all other ways is good on social justice and life issues, such as welfare and family leave, then maybe it balances out. But, on the other hand, there are some who say the abortion issue is paramount." "First you have to have life," she continued. "Otherwise liberty and the pursuit of happiness mean nothing. Then you have a fatal flaw."

Response: