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Princeton Prof.: Pro-Abortion Catholics Worse than Pedophile Priests
A Princeton professor warns that prominent pro-abortion Catholics pose a greater danger to their Church then the scandal of pedophile priests. Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of Princeton’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, writes in the ecumenical magazine First Things: "Nothing undermines the cause of justice and cultural reform and renewal more than the bad example of prominent Catholics who have made themselves instruments of what Pope John Paul II bluntly described as ‘the culture of death.’ "The scandal given by these individuals over the past 30 years, particularly with respect to the exposure of the unborn to abortion and, more recently, embryo-destructive research, is far greater in its cultural effects even than the horrific – the word is not too strong – scandal of clergy sex abuse.” George acknowledges that clergy sex scandals and the widely publicized cash settlements threaten to cause Catholics to "lose confidence in the reliability of the Church as a teacher of truth, particularly in the moral domain.”
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But he asserts that there are two issues "so central to our future and, indeed, to the future of mankind that they must, surely, be given a certain priority... "I speak of the issue of marriage and the complex set of issues sometimes referred to compendiously as ‘bioethics.’ In respect of both matters, things will go one way or the other depending on the posture and actions of Catholics. "If the Catholic community is engaged on these issues, working closely with evangelical Christians, observant Jews, and people of goodwill and sound moral judgment of other faiths and even of no particular religious faith, grave injustices and the erosion of central moral principles will be, to a significant extent, averted. "Indeed, with respect to both marriage and the sanctity of human life, earlier reverses may themselves be reversed. "If on the other hand the Catholic community compromises itself, abdicates its responsibilities, and sits on the sidelines, the already deeply wounded institution of marriage will collapse and the brave new world of biotechnology will transform procreation into manufacture, and nascent human life into mere disposable ‘research material.’”
The professor writes that Catholic voters and public officials are obligated to stand against abortion, and calls on Catholic bishops and clergy to "reprove us when we fail in our obligations to defend human life, marriage, and the common good, as far too many Catholics, including Catholics prominent in public life, have done and, alas, are doing.”
© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved. Editor's note:
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