By JOSEPH MATT
During a webinar dated July 31, hosted by the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Ky., publicly criticized President Donald Trump, saying: “For this president to call himself pro-life, and for anybody to back him because of claims of being pro-life, is almost willful ignorance.”
For a Catholic bishop to attack President Trump on the issue of pro-life is totally dishonest and a disservice to all Catholics and an insult to those who consider themselves pro-life. Attacks like this from members of the clergy embolden and give a false impression to those Catholics who think they can be both practicing Catholics and “pro-choice.”
President Trump can be criticized on many levels, but his record on life is like no other president’s. A quick check of Trump’s record on the defense of the unborn brings to light obvious facts that support a strong stand on the issue of life — from the appointment of multiple pro-life judges on the federal level — to defunding and opposing the radical pro-abortion policies at the United Nations — from stopping taxpayer funding of abortion — to stopping the experimentation involving aborted baby body parts, and protecting conscience rights.
Just a few of the many examples of why President Trump arguably is the most pro-life president of our age.
To attack Trump as somehow being disingenuous to the pro-life cause based on arguments from the most overused and demagogic narratives of today — racism, the environment, and separating immigrant families — only adds to the total canard. “We have to be concerned for the unborn children, it’s foundational for us,” Stowe said. But, he added, “our understanding of pro-life has to be the vision that was described as the seamless garment vision.” For Bishop Stowe, being truly pro-life must include efforts toward racial, social, and environmental justice.
Pro-life must start with abortion or else every other argument is meaningless, not the other way around. The issue of abortion must be more than just a “concern” — its eradication is fundamental to the argument of pro-life. The erroneous “seamless garment” argument, as named by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, conflates non-negotiable moral doctrines (such as: abortion is a grave, intrinsic evil) with principles of life that consistently have negotiable pragmatic applications (like: how do we ideally direct public policy to facilitate our duty to help the poor, or what role should the state play in ensuring the adequate health care that human dignity demands, or how do we justly deal with immigration policy).
Bishop Stowe, you have only given more credibility to the man you are trying to destroy. You are a classic example of the term coined by President Trump: “fake news.” Given your recent attack on President Trump’s pro-life record you have either willfully or inadvertently aligned yourself with arguments made by members of today’s extreme Democratic Party, whose mission statement reads like a manual for death and destruction of society with no reference to Almighty God.
Make no mistake about the moniker “Party of Death”: It is well earned, it is not a mere ad hominem attack — members of the Democratic Party are proud of their abortions; their biggest abortion provider was caught selling baby parts; abortions are now supposed to be acceptable after birth. And they publicly celebrate their abortions. Leaders of the party openly admit that its members cannot be true Democrats if they are pro-life. They publicly pride themselves in their “victories” over natural law as every new milestone of evil pushes them closer to the abyss.
You, like many bishops, are quick to jump on the so-called social justice issues of the day that are totally embraced by this party of death. To align oneself with this crowd and with these feel-good narratives might provide safe cover for clergy to seemingly take a moral stand while currying favor among the elite. But it avoids giving attention to the true issues that their flocks demand of their shepherds. It is no wonder that there is a credibility problem in our Churches today.
Any child can realize that tearing babies from the womb cannot be compared to policies on immigration, heath care, and the environment. These social issues are not even close to the same point on the spectrum of pro-life. The hollow narratives disguised as “pro-life” that you cite that supposedly destroy President Trump’s pro-life record offer no solace for the unborn victims of our selfish, throwaway society.
As the millions of aborted babies continue to mount every day, we increasingly test the patience of our Creator. The unborn have a stronger voice in President Trump than they have in many members of the Church hierarchy today. Abortion remains as the foremost issue of our day. Bishop Stowe, the hierarchy of the Church needs to act like it.
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