Crazy? Angry? You decide and I couldn’t care less!

Cupich's Moral Equivalencies Are Not So Equivalent

Please! Someone make it stop! I’d first like to offer my condolences to my fellow Catholics in Chicago, and I beg the Holy Father not to give Archbishop Blase Cupich a red hat until he firmly embraces, teaches, and extols all of the teachings of the Catholic Church! Elevating him further would aid those that would like to send Catholicism in the United States back to the ’70s. No more ambiguity, please! We cannot afford that! (http://www.donotlink.com/g8o7)

Blase Cupich op-ed: Planned Parenthood and the muted humanity of the unborn child
By Blase Cupich
The release of videos of Planned Parenthood physicians discussing the market for tissue harvested in abortions has produced varied and strong reactions, and has, ironically, given us a reason for hope and an opportunity as a nation.

Starts off well, that is, then immediately takes such a wrong turn.

The tapes have generated a visceral reaction independent of how they were made or whether Planned Parenthood was making a profit.

What does “independent of how they were made” mean??? Why are we trying to cast aspersions on the young man (I’m only emphasizing his age because I adore these awesome 20-somethings!) who orchestrated the undercover endeavor? And since those on the tapes admit to a profit, why would he bring that up? Sounds like someone might not have seen all the videos released thus far?

Rather, the widespread revulsion over the tapes arose because they unmasked the fact that, in our public conversation about abortion, we have so muted the humanity of the unborn child that some consider it quite acceptable to speak freely of crushing a child’s skull to preserve valuable body parts and to have that discussion over lunch.

Well, that’s partly right. People are experiencing revulsion not just due to the lack of civility in the conversation but because most are hearing Planned Parenthood, for the first time, admitting that they are not dealing with a “blob of tissue,” but actually destroying a baby complete with discernible body parts. The fact that they are doing it over cocktails with lunch just makes it all the more horrific.

Yet, the outrage expressed by many at the physicians’ callous and flippant attitude toward trafficking in human body parts is evidence that American hearts have not been irreparably hardened by the steady devaluing of human dignity in our society. This awakening of our conscience gives hope that deep within the hearts and souls of Americans there still resides the truth that an unborn child manifestly is a human being, entitled to rights and respect.

Maybe Archbishop Cupich can turn this thing around???

This newest evidence about the disregard for the value of human life also offers the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment as a nation to a consistent ethic of life. While commerce in the remains of defenseless children is particularly repulsive, we should be no less appalled by the indifference toward the thousands of people who die daily for lack of decent medical care; who are denied rights by a broken immigration system and by racism; who suffer in hunger, joblessness and want; who pay the price of violence in gun-saturated neighborhoods; or who are executed by the state in the name of justice.

Aaaaaaaand…nope. He’s intent on crashing and burning by trying to link babies being ripped apart in the womb (or carefully killed but delivered intact to garner more cash) to other social issues. Sorry, Your Excellency. Maybe it’s because you downplayed abortion by equating it to other social ills for so long that hearts didn’t see the urgency.
Can I suggest, Archbishop Cupich, that you read “Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion” (https://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/cdfworthycom.HTM) and stop putting abortion on the same plane as immigration, gun rights/gun control, and the death penalty??? You do understand what “intrinsic evil” is, right? You and those who try to make these silly moral equivalencies are the reason we’re in this mess. By the way, Archbishop, yes, we should be less appalled at your laundry list of social justice causes. Why? Because they do not carry the moral equivalency of ripping babies apart! What part of that don’t you understand?
Maybe I can explain this to you. You see a three-year-old approached by a “doctor” and then ripped apart limb from limb in front of you and then the doctor sells those limbs. This is the moral equivalency of it, Archbishop. Immigration, joblessness, etc. are not. Those that actually get the reality are driven to stop it and they should hardly be accused of rhetoric or of making it harder to have a chat about it as you so often like to suggest regarding activists.
And guess what, Archbishop Cupich? A good portion of Catholics can and do licitly  disagree with you on HOW to handle some of the other social ills of our society. Personally, I want to live in a gun-saturated neighborhood. I would also prefer to attend Mass at a gun-saturated church, but you? Not so much. You would put that in the “unreasonable” column. (http://www.donotlink.com/g8o0) My differing opinion on this is, again, hardly morally equivalent to aborting a child. Do you get it now, Archbishop? Probably not.

The open and generous nature of the American people has the capacity to astonish and push boundaries. We crowdfund, sign petitions, dump buckets of ice on ourselves and embrace new ways of relating to our environment. Can we use our shared outrage at all these affronts to human dignity to unite us and begin a national dialogue on the worth of human life?

Listen Archbishop, we are already in a national dialogue on the worth of human life. So is the Church. Where have you been? No, seriously, where have you been? Shunning 40 Days for Life in your previous dioceses? (https://www.lifesitenews.com/?/news/spokane-diocese-clarifies-40-days-position-but-privately-discourages-priest) Yep, that’s where you’ve been. You have your personal social agenda (which more often than not undermines the Church’s social agenda), and you want to hijack the issues of baby body parts being sold to promote it. That’s not going to fly. Why would God ever bless our country with peace and bounty when we’re not making the killing of unborn children our priority?

If we create a framework for decision-making that is biased toward life, supportive of families and fair to people of all circumstances, our policies, legislation and commercial decisions will be vastly different. We then can begin to take needed actions and reforms that make a difference in the lives of those who are discarded and considered disposable.

Again, I’d like to point out that your framework for decision-making led you to shun 40 Days for Life in your former diocese. So much for supporting the idea of the power of prayer! By the way, congratulations to Spokane on your wonderful new bishop, but I’m reasonably sure the Chicago faithful are a tad bit resentful of you right now.

The nation’s children, families, poor, workers and senior citizens deserve more than lip service. They deserve more than outrage. They deserve real support, protection and solid action.
And so do we to be true to what is best in us.

Umm, yeah, Your Excellency! We all need a little more than lip service. When are we going to get it from you?

0 thoughts on “Cupich's Moral Equivalencies Are Not So Equivalent”

  1. Thank you for articulating exactly what I was thinking while reading the Archbishops lame attempt to hide beneath a ‘seamless garment’. Equivocation has long been the defense mechanism of choice among many Catholics. As long as you’re outraged about minimum wages and the ‘environment’ (whatever that means) you’ll never have to get too worked up when real evil rears it’s head.

  2. Rev. Mr. Vincent Kelch

    You’re right on that! The whole of the bishop’s exhortation is rather incongruent. I wonder how he did in English 101 when he was in college? If he wanted to talk about the entire subject of the culture of death, and the dearth of social justice in our society, he should have written it in two parts. Just a thought. Deacon Vince

  3. Where is the pure and utter outrage from our leaders? Christ got angry at sin and turned over the tables of the money changers and took a whip and chased people out of the temple. We need our leaders to “Go Temple” so to speak on this issue and not to constantly evaluate their words and to make sure that they all fit in a nice little package.

  4. I’m of the mind that we are to make a fuss until the job gets done. Our bishops, priests, cardinals, etc. need to go back to being priests instead of being politicians. Thankfully I’m seeing it more and more. Yes, you’re going to get petulant teens who aren’t happy with “dad” but you’re going to get a whole lot more who feel the real love of a real father!

  5. Cupich is promoting the “seamless garment” heresy which rests on the fallacy of moral equivalency. It’s championed by liberals who want to bury the issue of abortion. Compare Cupich’s mealy mouthed response to PP to Father Barron’s magisterial remarks. Barron was very fortunate to get out from under Cupich in Chicago.

    1. “It’s championed by liberals who want to bury the issue of abortion.”
      Correct, greg. And it (the “seamless garment” heresy) is also championed so they can continue to vote for the… um, donkey party in “good conscience.”
      Catechist Kev

      1. I agree but can I just say I’ve never liked “seamless garment”. I understand the reference. I just think it’s stupid. I henceforth say we call the premise the “Stupid Equivalency” heresy.

        1. The seamless garment theory *only* works if the garment is put on correctly.
          At present, our culture has the arms through the leg holes and the legs through the arm holes. Kind of like when one accidentally puts on a t-shirt backwards… something just does not feel quite right.
          Another analogy is (going *way* back) the culture has the head poking through the “back door” of the long johns!
          Once the garment is put on correctly *then* it fits well and all is good. As it is now we not only have it on backwards (or upside down) we also have the dadgum thing on inside out.
          Catechist Kev

          1. Perfect!
            I envision a bunch of combox regulars over at the Fishwrap pounding away on their keyboards, decked out in just such “wrong way” garments.
            Excuse me if I am being uncharitable…or not…

  6. Yup! I wasn’t worried about Fr. Barron, though. I feel for the poor people of Chicago! Fr. Barron’s a big boy. I think his appointment was an apology for Cupich and McElroy (whatever it was – thank you Pope Francis!) and I’m counting on the Holy Father to save us from a Cardinal Cupich. Like I’ve said, The Holy Father doesn’t follow the norm so I can hold onto my hope that he doesn’t in Chicago!

  7. Thank you for pointing out Cupich’s forbidding his Spokane priests to participate in 40DFL. I’m in another diocese in Washington, and was horrified when I heard about that. And appalled when I heard he was being promoted to the 3rd largest diocese in the nation.

  8. And people wonder why abortion is still legal. What Cupich wrote is nothing less than evil. He will have to explain why he was willing to sacrifice the babies hidden in their mother’s wombs in preference for materialistic equivalence and promotion of the socialist’s agenda.
    Jesus says, “By their fruits you will know them.”

  9. I won’t question the pro-life credentials of Archbishop Cupich. However, I will agree with the author of this article that he makes a false moral equivalence when he lumps in topics like immigration policy in a letter condemning the evil of abortion.
    Another important point. Whenever a moral leader arguing against a particular evil expands the discussion to include every evil known to man, that leader undercuts and diminishes the impact of their own message. If Archbishop Cupich did that deliberately, then he would be showing a lack of integrity. If he did it inadvertently, he would be showing a lack of wisdom.

  10. Yep, I mixed them up. Sorry about that. Feel free to delete my dumb comment. I shouldn’t be reading Facebook after midnight!

  11. No worries. A lot of us read after midnight so you’re likely not to be the last to make that mistake. So many C’s, H’s, and P’s. If you’re not from east of the Rockies, it’s easy to make that mistake!

  12. Pingback: Nuance vs. clarity

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