Recently, there has been a lot of negative press coverage concerning Bishop Tobin’s defense for the dignity of human life, especially among non-Catholic ministers in the State of Rhode Island. The new ‘Reproductive Health Care’ laws that are being promoted in the Legislature want to enshrine an even more radical view on abortion rights than was outlined in the Supreme Court decision of Roe vs. Wade. The Providence Journal, which normally has a well-balanced selection of opinion articles, has sided with the view in its editorials and opinion columns with those who want to promote the killing of children from the moment of conception until the moment right before a child is born. There have been multiple opinion columns from other protestant ministers, rabbis and non-religious people who have their own opinions on how the Catholic Church should be run. According to the teachings of the Catholic Church, abortion is an intrinsic evil and as such, we must reject any law that promotes it.
How does a person who claims to be a ‘Christian’ defend the idea that an abortion is a right and a good? If God creates all human beings in his image and likeness and imparts an immortal soul to that created being at the moment of conception, then who are we to determine that we can freely destroy what He has created? The bishop has every right and duty to defend and promote the Catholic faith and morality to all people who live in the territory of his diocese. As Catholics, we cannot separate our public life from our faith life, because Christ’s Kingship exists not only in Heaven — he also has dominion on Earth over all nations. When we die and stand before Christ on His judgment seat, He will not care about the separation of church and state, but He will care that we followed His law, His faithful bishops and that we lived our lives by their teaching.
