The question of abortion may be decided politically, but the real test is if morality is taught.

The Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson changes our politics. For nearly 50 years, Roe v. Wade allowed abortion across the land.

Now it doesn't.

For nearly 150 years before that, U.S. states made their own determinations about abortion.

Now they do again.

Because the court has ordered that "the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives," a pastiche of state laws will kick in, some more restrictive than others.

Ever since the May leak by Politico of the draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, pro-abortion groups pressed their positions, for example, suggesting overturning Roe would put in vitro fertilization at risk, even arguing that pregnancy is bad for your health.

Both are key to pro-abortion strategy.

Since September 2021, a bill called the "Women's Health Protection Act of 2022" has been sitting in the Senate.

The proposed legislation allows all abortions before fetal viability and those "after fetal viability where it is necessary, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care professional, for the preservation of the life or health of the person who is pregnant."

Strongly supported by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the law passed the House of Representatives by a narrow (218-211) margin.

Three Representatives did not vote.

When it went to the Senate, the vote to proceed failed 49-51. Senator Manchin of West Virginia crossed the aisle to vote with the Republicans.

The Catholic Church has always allowed the "life of the mother" exception under the concept of double effect, for example, termination of an ectopic pregnancy or removal of the uterus to treat cancer of the womb.

But the "life or health of the person who is pregnant" presents possibilities for wide interpretation.

On the one hand, the sentence protects the practitioner who determines whether the baby is dead or dying in the womb. On the other hand, it seems to allow for abortions up until the moment of birth where the mother claims a traumatic psychological condition. Or maybe she's not ill, just worried about her health.

So, what now?

The Catholic Communion rail controversy can only increase.

A few bishops have banned Speaker Pelosi from the sacrament in their dioceses. A few others steadfastly remain silent, about her and, perhaps more importantly, about President Biden.

US President, Joe Biden has said he is not sure when human life begins.

Before you send him a biology book, consider that he is perhaps thinking about the Catholic concept of ensoulment — not conception, implantation, quickening or viability.

The Church prefers to recognize the sanctity of all human life, and there is no argument that every stage is human.

The controversy will not end soon, but if the bishops address "invincible ignorance," there may be fewer Catholic politicians supporting laws allowing abortion.

Maybe the bishops can redouble their efforts to teach Gospel values.

Maybe they can teach that "respect life" includes Catholic social teaching, which in turn requires just wages and proper working conditions.

Maybe they can expand Church efforts to assist the poor.

Politics is not the point. The point is to make abortion unnecessary.

• Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence and adjunct professor of religion at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Her most recent book is "Women: Icons of Christ."

She told the BuzzFeed political podcast Is It On? she is perplexed by the prominent role of the Catholic Church and its leaders in Australia's same-gender marriage survey.

"I can't understand why they haven't been told not to lead the 'no' campaign," Wall said.

"They don't have any moral authority."

"How can it, as an institution which has actively covered up the sexual abuse of children for over 70 years?"

Wall was surprised more Australians hadn't told the Catholic Church to refrain from getting involved in the same-sex marriage debate.

"I wish you'd talk about it and say to them, 'If you want to be a moral crusader, why don't you eliminate child sexual abuse? And be a leader in that?'" she said.

"Not against human rights, and especially in a process where young Australians are being so adversely affected."

"I find it absolutely appalling that they've come out and been so vigorous in their opposition."

Three Catholic archdioceses — Sydney, Hobart, and Broken Bay — are listed as official partners with the Coalition for Marriage.

Last month, Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart wrote an open letter to Catholics urging a "no" vote and asking them to consider the consequences of legalising same-sex marriage. A similar directive was issued by the Archbishop of Perth, Timothy Costelloe.

Wall authored the same-sex marriage bill that was passed into law by the New Zealand parliament in 2013.

Listen to a discussion on RNZ's the Panel.

Source

• Buzzfeed
• RNZ
• Image: The Guardian

Indeed, it's true that many Catholic universities traditionally ended the conversations on sex and underage drinking with a simple, "just say no!"

And yet, students attending Catholic colleges do not differ from students at other colleges, with sex and drinking nationally starting before college.

Recent surveys suggest the average age Americans start having sex is 17, and the average age of first use of alcohol is 14.

With 95 percent of Americans having sex before marriage, it's safe to say there's a bit of a gap between the official university policies and actual student behavior.

Moving beyond the stereotype, I suspect the traditional Catholic abstinence-only model isn't as black and white as some people may have painted it.

I spoke the other day with a recently graduated R.A. from a Catholic college who told me the way he was trained to handle sexual issues on campus.

"Sex is not allowed at this school between unmarried students," his Resident Director told him in training.

"But if sexual situations occur, including unwanted sexual acts," he said, dropping to a more hushed tone, "there are some off-campus resources for you to give students including counseling and comprehensive health centers that I'll email you."

This workaround mentality, while well-intentioned, doesn't seem that effective for students who may be uneducated about sexual responsibility, alcohol's effect on the sexual experience, and the shame reaction that occurs after sexual assault.

With a recent poll claiming 1 in 5 women experience sexual assault or attempted sexual assault during college, the "sex doesn't happen, but if it does, deal with it off campus" attitude seems to be a major pastoral missed opportunity.

This week's video, however, proves this stereotype is becoming less and less accurate. Continue reading

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Week

Recalling that Thursday was the 45th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae makes me cringe. In fact, I am pained whenever the 1968 papal decree comes up for discussion. I feel like a person who has witnessed a tragic event and made an intense effort to turn over a key piece of evidence — the "smoking gun" — that would make the truth known only to see lawyers either misplace the evidence or fail to use it effectively. I contend the evidence I am talking about would have been climactic — making it virtually impossible for Pope Paul to ignore changing the church's current birth control policy, or conversely, if used today, make it relatively easy for Pope Francis to correct the church's second "Galileo affair."

For readers not around 45 years ago when Pope Paul promulgated the decree that renewed the Catholic church's ban on all artificial forms of birth control, it may be helpful to offer a brief review of that history. Pope Pius XI first imposed the ban in 1930, six months after the Anglican Lambeth Conference allowed its church's married couples to decide the issue by themselves. In October 1964, several Catholic bishops raised the issue of birth control during a discussion of marriage and the family at the Second Vatican Council. Cardinal Leon-Joseph Suenens of Malines-Brussels pleaded with his brother bishops to study the issue and "avoid another Galileo affair. One [failure of the church to keep abreast of scientific advances] is enough." Continue reading

Sources

• Frank Maurovich in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Patheos

Frank Maurovich, founding editor of The Catholic Voice, left priestly ministry in 1977.

"Increasingly the institution of marriage is being replaced by simply living together, which has followed upon the sundering of the link between sex and fertility. This is not just a revolution in the area of moral norms; it reaches much deeper, into the very definition of man. If the drive which is innate in man as a physiological being conflicts with the optimum condition that we call a human way of life (sufficient food, good living conditions, women's rights), and therefore has to be cheated with the help of science, then the rest of our firmly held convictions about what is natural behaviour and what is unnatural fall by the wayside."

Milosz - who is buried in the basilica at Skalka in Krakow, traditionally held to be the site of the martyrdom of St. Stanislaus - had a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church. He was not a man who automatically accepted ecclesiastical dicta on the basis of religious authority. Thus his insight into the cultural consequences of cheap, effective and readily available contraception is all the more striking, in that it runs in close parallel to what Paul VI wrote in Humanae Vitae: an encyclical that was not so much rejected (pace the utterly predictable 45th-anniversary commentary) as it was unread, untaught, ill-considered - and thus unappreciated. Continue reading

Sources

• George Weigel in ABC Religion & Ethics
• Image: Letters to the Editor, etc

George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.

Though the announcement follows years of petitions for an official "gay-straight alliance" club on campus, the university has chosen a more radical idea: It envisages creating a permanent student organisation grounded fully in Catholic social and moral teaching.

This solution from Notre Dame's Office of Student Affairs "has both surprised and excited the campus and elicited praise from the local Catholic bishop", reports the National Catholic Register.

"I believe there is a need at Catholic universities to provide pastoral care and support to persons with same-sex attraction," said Bishop Kevin Rhoades of South Bend, Indiana. "This is what Notre Dame's 'Pastoral Plan' is attempting to do.

"This pastoral care should help the students not to feel unwelcome or alienated in the community, but also help them to lead chaste and holy lives."

"I think that people, especially youth, who feel isolated or alienated can be more susceptible to destructive unchaste behavior," the bishop said. "Isolation, alienation, insecurity, etc. can lead to pleasure-seeking in sinful behaviour that ultimately brings unhappiness."

However, Bishop Rhoades cautioned that pastoral plans and support groups for homosexual students and their friends cannot take a "morally neutral" position on homosexuality.

The Notre Dame plan declares that its "goals and objectives, as well as its programs and initiatives, are consonant with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church".

It dedicates eight paragraphs to making this point, repeatedly citing passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church dealing with marriage, sexuality, friendship and the life of chastity.

The plan repeatedly notes that the new student organisation will uphold "the challenging, even though beautiful and life-giving, call to chaste relationships" and that "Student Affairs neither condones nor supports sexual activity outside the marital relationship or any sexual activities that ‘close the sexual act to the gift of life' (CCC, 2357)."

Sources:

National Catholic Register

Text of Notre Dame pastoral plan

Image: The Blaze