Fr. Z's Blog

On 18 August Fishwrap (aka National Sodomitical Reporter) revealed its open support of abortion through an opinion piece by one of its star writers, Jamie Manson, a devotee of the heretical Sr. Margaret Farley and open lesbian.

Manson, for Fishwrap,  endorsed a ever-so nuanced “ethic of reproductive justice”.  That’s just dodgy language for relegating the rights of the unborn to be born to some vague spot along the spectrum of social issues.  Obviously exploiting the rise of black-wokeness she framed her lethal argument in terms of women’s rights, as if abortion were a women’s issue.

The right of the unborn to life and abortion are NOT women’s issues.  They are foundational human rights issues.   Do not let yourself be suckered by the “women’s issue” label. That’s a rhetorical trap.

A key to reading understanding Fishwrap‘s argument – via Manson – is nuance.  This is code.  If you want to be ranked among the intelligentsia, if you want to be numbered among the sophisticated, then you have to avoid un-nuanced positions.  For example, only mouth-breathers think that all the other rights that people may rightly claim have meaning only after you are born.   No, no!  Practice a little frown in the mirror, perhaps with a little lip-bite.  Rehearse a knowing nod of the head. See if you can get the ice in your high ball glass to clink as you salute the deft – no… nuanced – argument of the minor catholic Dem party surrogate.

Manson’s piece should close the deal for why the USCCB must do something about the Fishwrap.   Unless they are on board with this pernicious dross.

Her peroration (my emphases):

[…]

At its core, reproductive justice seeks to end oppression in all its forms. This broad vision includes access to abortion care, but that is one piece of a more comprehensive ethic of care. Reproductive justice demonstrates care for children and their futures by including issues like care for the migrants, the right to vote, protection for the planet, opposition to war and state violence and, of course, a call to action against racism and white supremacy.

These are the reasons why Ocasio-Cortez and I, who count ourselves among the 56% of U.S. Catholics who believe that abortion should be legal, embrace an ethic of reproductive justice.

These principles are all consistent with Catholic social teaching — and they may help progressive Catholics who are skittish around the issue of abortion see that they share more common ground with pro-choice advocates then they realize.

Remember, this was published on the first day of the Democrat Convention which will formally nominate pro-abortion Joe Biden.

There’s more.

On the second day of the Democrat Convention Fishwrap published another opinion piece by one of their regulars, Dan Horan of the ultra-lefty catholic Theological Union in Chicago.   The Horan of Babylon uses much the same approach as Manson.   This time, however, he weaponizes the Eucharist.

The Horan’s piece begins with a primer about heresy.   He says (my emphases):

[…]

But even without the retro labels of ancient errors, the general underlying predisposition of desired simplicity, binary framing, and black-and-white thinking continues to threaten orthodox belief for modern Christians.

It is understandable that people throughout history have sought easy answers and simple frameworks in an effort to make sense of a changing and, at times, inexplicable world.

[…]

Do you see where he is going?

“It’s understandable….”   This is where your having practiced that little frown and head nod in the mirror comes in handy.   Those unsophisticated people out there in the basket of deplorables need black-and-white answers.   But this is a complicated world.  We mustn’t let them have their way.   We, the elite, must guide them.

The Horan goes on.  Follow carefully.  You know where he’s going already, don’t you!  Again, my emphases with comment:

[…]

[T]oo many people refashion Christianity — its doctrinal teachings and moral guidance — into an idol of their own making in order to grasp a misguidedly simple and falsely clear message. Typically, such people unintentionally fall into a kind of heresy because they appropriate ideas, propositions, perspectives and elements of the Christian faith only in part and only insofar as it serves their worldview, in an attempt to assuage their anxiety about the complexities of life. Ironically, such unknowing heretics purport to be “traditional” or “orthodox,” touting an absolutist line from their propositional worldview that in turn rejects the broad range of legitimate Christian perspectives and the development of doctrine.

We can see this in many contemporary discussions of Christian faith and morals. [This surely means same-sex sins.]

We see this in the way that some Catholics obsess about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but to the exclusion of the three other ways the church teaches that Christ is made present in the celebration of the Liturgy. [See?] And how the eucharistic species of consecrated bread and wine become pawns in sectarian battles rather than the means by which Christ’s true sacramental presence is communicated to the church, which is also the body of Christ.

We see this in the way that some Catholics reduce the rich and nuanced moral teachings of the church to focus exclusively on abortion to the exclusion of other equally or greater pressing social sins, such as capital punishment, torture, economic inequality, euthanasia, racial injustice, among others. And how this distorted single-issue reductionism is deployed against those perceived to be political enemies.

[…]

There it is… “perceived political enemies”.  This, on the second day of the Dem convention, during which these sophisticates will nominate JOE BIDEN.

See what he did?

Some Catholics, probably you, “obsess” about the Real Presence.  You ignore all the other ways that Christ is present.  Forget the fact that you, in your parishes, have probably heard for decades now, and you firmly accept and believe, that Christ is present in the words of Scripture, in the person of the priest, in the person of your neighbor, especially in poor.   However, you probably, knuckle-dragging mouth-breather that you are, think that Christ is preeminently present in the Eucharistic species.  Because you believe that, you think that the Eucharist should be be profaned by, for example, reception in Communion while in the state of mortal sin.

No… wait… “contemporary discussions of Christian faith and morals”.  I forgot about that.  We have nuanced ourselves out of that old stuff about it being sinful to support the slaying of the unborn or inseminating another man’s innards.  No no.  Let’s be nuanced.   After all, what is “mortal” sin?  What is “sin”, when you get right down to it?

Some Catholics want to deny Holy Communion to Joe… the “devout Catholic”, because of his perennial support of death in the womb for the inconvenient.   That stems from an unsophisticated view of the Eucharist.  What The Horan does here is what Jamie did for Fishwrap, above: bury the thing that has primacy somewhere along the spectrum of all the other issues.

The Eucharist is just one way Christ is present, and probably not the most important.   If you think it is the most important, you are not “in the know”.

The right to be born is but one issue along the continuum of many issues, and probably not the most important.  If you think it is the most important, you are not “nuanced”.

We saw Manson’s peroration.  What about The Horan?  Of course he has a deeper case of logorrhea.

[…]

As this year’s political season heads into the final stretch before a historic presidential election during a historic global pandemic, public debates and commentary about what constitutes “genuine” or “true” or “orthodox” Catholicism have and will continue to play out on the national stage. With former Vice President Joe Biden, a devout Roman Catholic, as the Democratic nominee for president, such discussions and debates are bound to grow more heated and contentious as political operatives seek to harness an oversimplified Christianity to help their electoral aims. [There it is again.]

Already we have seen how some culture-warrior clergy, including bishops, [he means Bp. Tobin, etc.] have dismissed Biden’s Catholicity according to this kind of logic. [] The idea is that because of political party affiliation or legislative support for policies in conflict with Catholic teaching (a reality that equally affects both Republican and Democratic platforms, neither of which is fully in line with church teaching), an individual Catholic Christian is wrongly dismissed or rejected as illegitimately or insufficiently Catholic. The heresy here is the reduction of Christianity to a single issue — usually an issue of one’s own personal preference or choosing — as the sole standard for judgment without any of the necessary consideration of prudential judgment or conscience.  [Don’t be one of them!  Vote for JOE!]

But it is also important to realize that what begins as heresy in faith leads to hypocrisy in action. These culture warriors who paint Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular as reducible to a single issue do not hold themselves or their preferred political party and politicians to the same standards.

[… more blah blah …]

The way to avoid slipping into this kind of unwitting heresy is to steer clear of oversimplifying Christianity and accept the beautifully diverse, wondrously complex tradition that has been handed on to us. It may be discomfiting for some that doctrine cannot be justifiably reduced to propositional claims or that Scripture cannot always be read merely at face value or that moral dilemmas cannot be solved by memorizing a list of rules.

[…]

Didn’t the Jesuit homosexualist – who will appear at the Dem convention – James Martin nuance himself into posting on Twitter that maybe Scripture is wrong about homosexual acts?  Correct me if I’m wrong.

Fishwrap pimped both The Horan and Manson out for the Dem convention.