Bishops Plan for Dealing with a Democratic Washington

The Catholic Church in the US must encourage Catholic Doctors to form a For Life group as some Canadian Physicians have done.

Canadian Physicians for Life

http://www.physiciansforlife.ca/

`I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform act or omission with direct intent deliberately to end a human life. I will maintain the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death and reject abortion that deliberately takes a unique human life.'

http://www.catholicdoctors.org.uk/CMQ/2006/Feb/hippocratic_oath_ii.htm

The Declaration of Geneva and the Hippocratic Oath

Am J Psychiatry 120:285-286, September 1963

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/pdf_extract/120/3/285

Physicians for Life:

http://www.physiciansforlife.org/content/view/1328/29/

Declaration of Geneva: Physician's Oath

http://www.mma.org.my/Portals/0/Declaration%20of%20Geneva.pdf

Declaration of Geneva: Physician's Oath

http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/geneva/

Declaration of Geneva: Physician's Oath

World Medical Association, 1948, 1968, 1983

At the time of being admitted as a member of the medical profession:

I solemnly pledge to consecrate my life to the service of humanity;

I will give to my teachers the respect and gratitude which is their due;

I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity;

The health of my patient will be my first consideration;

I will respect the secrets which are confided in me, even after the patient has died;

I will maintain by all means in my power, the honor and the noble traditions of the medical profession;

My colleagues will be my brothers;
I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics, or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient;

I WILL MAINTAIN THE UTMOST RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE FROM ITS BEGINNING EVEN UNDER THREAT AND I WILL NOT USE MY MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE CONTRARY TO THE LAWS OF HUMANITY;

I make these promises solemnly, freely, and upon my honour.

Will they include "Protection for Pedophiles?" in their "Faithful Citizenship" agenda?

Will they ask Bush to pardon Cardinals Mahony and Riveria for their complicity in hiding the pedophile "priest" Aguilar from US law enforcement?

This "conscience clause" makes a mockery of separation of church and state, which is already in a precarious position. I have said repeatedly and hope to do so soon in a way that will count that no hospital that refuses to offer legal procedures should receive taxpayer dollars.

All religious institutions that have endorsed a candidate should have their tax exempt status revoked immediately.

There is no point in having laws if we are to pass further laws that allow them to be circumvented, or ignore the laws when they are violated. Enough really is enough.

I would take freedom of conscience for health providers and pharmacists more seriously if it were to be applied across the board, and not only in the cases of contraception, abortion and end of life decisions. St. Joseph's Hospital System in Arizona is apparently one of the worst offenders when it comes to the forced deportation of uninsured patients, including legal residents. I'm not sure what part of Catholic teaching backs up patient dumping....

Conscience clause for medical personnel exists in most countries where abortion is legal.

The Nazi era is a strong reminder that doctors are not expected to listen to orders if it goes against their conscience.

Doctor related factors leading to reduction in abortions: 1. doctors are not given financial incentives for performing abortions; 2. with advanced knowledge of human embryology and ultrasound techniques which allows for viewing the growing child in the womb, more and more doctors are unwilling to perform abortions. (Some of them actually take their Physician's Oath quite seriously and will not be tempted by money!); 3. abortionists are not looked upon with respect by the rest of the medical profession (they are only glorified butchers after all).

Yes, I noticed too that President-Elect mentions the middle class but not the poor. The Catholic Church does right to remind him of the neglected poor.

Of concern is the poor of Chicago who get sent to primary health clinics even if they could need more than primary health care, because the hospital administrations are being streamlined for profit, by catering to the better insured. That should be something the Catholic Church could concern itself with. Fighting in every way for the poor as it has done for centuries.

It must be remembered President-Elect Obama is a non-Catholic. His Christian pastor taught him for twenty years that abortion is not wrong. It is the official stand of the UCC.

Only science and human rights based arguments can be used to spread prolife message to non-Catholics.

The focus of the Catholic Church should be on educating every single Catholic against abortion. It is taken for granted Catholics know. But they need not. The education should be science and human rights based in addition to Biblical verses and meditations that support an anti-abortion stand.

A comprehensive sex education should be part of the education so that Catholics do NOT have only STD, pregnancy and abortion as alternatives if they do not stick to sex within marriage and without contraceptive teaching.

The mind and heart of every Catholic should have grappled deeply with the abortion issue, should know every propaganda and lie used by pro-abortionists and know how to respond to it with a deep seated conviction that arises from faith in God and science and reason.

All the rest in the public arena to influence non-Catholics should be considered extra. The disciples of Jesus wrote only to their own communities, not to non-Christians, following Jesus' message to be in this world, but not of this world. Influencing Ceasar's politics is a later development in the course of Christianity.

Or, if that wasn't clear... Last time around, conservative Bishops *endorsed a screwup.* In the name of 'God.'

Any questions about 'authority?'

And, well, if I can add anything on, here, those Bishops *did* manage to tip things for another four years of Bush damage.

They did seem to want Catholics to obey them again.

Never did take responsibility for their part in Bush really screwing things up when we all should have known better.

Never did say exactly who that helped or why it was worth it.

May wanna look to that before you try any more kingmaking.

Ok, padre, listen:

" A few bishops went farther and said that Catholics voting for Obama would risk their immortal souls."

Yeah, believe it or not, people raised Catholic have heard the same thing about a *number* of things from people not-exactly-considered in touch on reproductive issues.

Seriously, tell kids the *same 'damnation' awaits for not telling priests you jilled off, long enough,* well.

People do get either skeptical or numb.

Those bishops were asking people to risk an awful lot of much more real suffering on behalf of the innocent, even after their policies were proven counterproductive...

"Whatever the case, episcopal authority took a major hit during the election. "

'episcopal authority.'

Gods, man. They painted themselves into a corner thirty years ago. They just refuse to admit it and hope they can revive the same homophobia that resulted in scandal for them and an awful lot of hurt for queer kids.

You don't *get* authority, anymore, Catholic hierarchy.

Maybe you could *lead,* if you got yourselves together over more than something about sexual shame.

*shrug.*

As you like.

Yeah, you probably did scare a lot of people out of voting their conscience.

But that's nothing new.

Thank you, God, for 'bad' Catholics. Rome supported every 20th century fascist regime and was originally not upset over child molesting. True Christians ignored such 'leadership'. Thank you, God, for 'bad' Catholics.

What the Bishops miss is that we are not a theocracy, where religious beliefs guide our government and policymaking. Our Constitution ensures that our government is there to represent and protect all of us, not just the Catholic voter or the Jewish voter or the atheist voter.

When we reduce voting to one single issue or belief, we marginalize all other issues. Should not the Catholic Bishops promote legislation that does away with civil divorce at the same time they are opposing civil same sex marriages? What makes one issue any more critical or threatening to society than the other?

In my private life, I defer to the teachings of the Catholic Church as taught and guided by canon law. In my public life, of which voting falls for me, I try to defer to what the Constitution stands for and interpreted to mean.

If I lived in a society that was solely Catholic, everything from schools to taxes was overseen and regulated by the Church, canon law was the law of the land and no other religions or beliefs were allowed to stand, my public and private life would be the same. However, in a pluralistic society, where many beliefs and thoughts are protected and embraced, what I believe is best in my private life and what is best for society may not be so closely aligned.

Would/should the Catholic voter accept the beliefs of other religions if they prevail at the voting booth? Maybe the Bishops should concentrate on what Catholic teachings are acceptable in our pluralistic society, i.e., serving the poor, caring for the sick and elderly, etc., instead of demanding and condemning the beliefs, or lack of them, by others.

I am a Catholic who voted for Obama. The bishop of my diocese did not speak publicly on the election. Although I find abortion to be repugnant for many reasons I simply was not convinced that a vote for Obama equated a vote for abortion. Pro-life presidents have occupied the White House for twenty out of the last twenty-eight years and Congress for the twelve years 1994-2006. Those branches of the government combined with a third conservative branch, the Supreme Court, all have failed to show any significant interest in making abortion illegal. A vote for McCain likely would not have made any difference on the abortion issue either.

Again, The RCC bishops and the religious leaders of other faiths must speak out when there are such obvious violations of the following rules that have evolved over 60,000 years of human history:

"Thou Shall not Kill"

"Thou Shall not Steal"

"Thou Shall not Bear False Witness"

"Thou Shall not Commit Adultery"

"Thou Shall not Covet Thy Neighbor's Wife/Husband"

The Violations and Violators:

One million dead womb babies/year x 35

Bill Clinton and other leadership adulterers

19 million cases of STDs/year

The Enron, Tyco, and Bernie Ebbers scandals

The 50% divorce rate