Bishops, politicians:
We need loving shepherds to lead us

	Guest commentary  Kim Grimmer

I am responding to Judy Winter's guest commentary, "We need more battle bishops to lead us," (Catholic Herald, Jan. 29) and letters to the editor that appeared recently. The commentary and several letters to the editor in the same issue shared both a virulent tone and an apparent belief that abortion should trump all other sanctity of life issues for Catholics.

Ms. Winter responded to a Jan. 15 letter to the editor by Fr. Tony Schumacher. She sought to debunk the idea expressed by Father Schumacher that a Catholic legislator voting for the war in Iraq, or for the death penalty, is arguably violating the church's guidelines on the sanctity of life on a par with those that vote the pro-choice agenda.

Sanctity of life issues

Father Schumacher did not defend abortion in his letter; he simply pointed out that there are other serious sanctity of life issues. He properly questioned where it would take the church to selectively deny Communion to legislators for their votes as to only one right to life issue.

There are a multitude of problems in the world that raise important questions as to whether Catholics are doing all that they are morally obligated to do to protect human life. The list of such problems could fill all the column inches of this newspaper.

Trying to turn lack of support for government regulation of abortion into the main litmus test for whether a person is a devout Christian or a politician worthy of electoral support is simply to avoid the hard moral work that Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the "Cost of Discipleship."

Abortion as litmus test

Ms. Winter asks: "How can any Catholic with even a shred of moral sanity presume they can legitimately vote for such corruption [abortion]?" In one of the letters to the editor in the same issue, the writer stated: "If one does not accept Catholic teaching, he should in conscience join a religion with tenets he can embrace, and he is free to do so."

A second writer said that as to abortion, "you are with [Christ] or against [Christ]." The same writer then expressed her hope that Bishop Morlino will not give Communion to "these people."

Who are "these people?" Are they legislators who vote against what they believe are unconstitutional restrictions on abortion? Are they mayors and county executives that don't have to vote on abortion legislation but publicly express pro-choice positions? Are "these people" priests taking public stands on the need to avoid fixating on one sanctity of life issue to the exclusion of others?

Bishop's decision

How does Bishop Morlino, in deciding to act by directing the withholding of Communion, choose where to drop anchor on the spectrum of public positions at variance with Catholic sanctity of life doctrine?

These are not simple questions. But if Ms. Winter believes, as she seems to, by extolling a "battle bishop," that Bishop Burke is unquestionably morally and theologically correct in his action, then every U.S. bishop that does not promptly follow his example should be viewed by her with far more condemnation than the lay Catholic politicians who received Bishop Burke's letter.

Abortion is an important issue morally and politically. It is a tragedy of major proportions that almost a million abortions are performed each year in the United States.

But abortion should not be turned by a small minority of Catholics, whether laypersons or bishops, into an exclusionary issue that polarizes the church. It polarizes the church to attempt to turn the issue into the litmus test for one's right to the sacrament of the Eucharist, where only those in favor of a total ban on abortion are so worthy.

Follow Gospel of love

Instead of listening to angry voices of polarization, Bishop Morlino might consider the pope's weekly audience message set out in the same issue of the Catholic Herald: "Mutual charity and love are the source of [Christian] unity and can make a decisive contribution toward helping the human family to overcome divisions and conflicts."

This view is not the "political correctness" that Ms. Winter finds so distasteful. It is the Holy Father's acknowledgment of the enduring power of Jesus' direction that if we are to follow him, we must follow a Gospel of love.

Hopefully, Bishop Morlino will conclude that he and his diocese will better protect all life, unborn and living, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and that of non-believers, by looking intently for the face of God in all of the members of his flock, including pro-choice legislators, and encouraging them to continue to grapple with moral issues as faithful and prayerful communicants, rather than culling his flock as Bishop Burke chose to do.

Jesus' Gospel of love and forgiveness, as the fundamental foundation of man's relationship with God, requires nothing less.

Kim Grimmer is a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Madison.