I recently had a cyber-discussion with a friend (and fellow evangelical) about just what constitutes being consistently Catholic. He had taken issue with a statement I made in this post about the Catholic Church needing to act as if uncompromising opposition to abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell experimentation, etc. are critical elements of true Christianity. My friend claimed that Catholics did, in fact, oppose these things and that I was therefore slandering them in my implication that they were not.
I explained to my friend that the issue I was highlighting was the consistency of Catholic teaching as believed and acted upon by confessed Catholics. I pointed out the quite un-Catholic actions of people like Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and, relevant to that particular post, Joseph Califano and how the Catholic Church (the NCCB, individual clergy, periodicals, institutions, schools, and so on) had not properly responded to such dramatic dissident action.
I think I got through.
But, in case I didn't, here is another case which clearly illustrates my point. It is the momentous disagreement as to what is "acceptably Catholic" between the Catholic Health Association and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (liberal-oriented nuns, don't you know) vis a vis the Conference of Bishops' position on the Senate health care bill.
