This past week, Robert Novak provoked an exchange that touched the Catholic Church here on Long Island. Calling the Archbishops of New York and Washington “disobedient to Benedict” because pro-abortion politicians received communion at papal Masses in those cities, Novak’s column was answered correctly and clearly by New York’s Cardinal Edward Egan.

The teaching of the Catholic Church is clear and consistent for 2,000 years. Abortion is the direct taking of innocent human life. It can never be justified. That constant teaching was solemnly reaffirmed by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical, “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”). Here is what he wrote: “By the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his successors, and in communion with the bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral. This doctrine, based upon that unwritten law which man, in the light of reason, finds in his own heart, is reaffirmed by Sacred Scripture, transmitted by the Tradition of the Church and taught by the ordinary and universal magisterium.” (EV 57)

Pope John Paul continued to underscore this by citing some of the many solemn statements made by popes and councils, including the Second Vatican Council, which have never taught anything but this as binding doctrine for all Catholics for all time. He concluded the paragraph by saying “No one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly. Nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an action.” (ibid.)

This teaching is binding on all Catholics, not just politicians. Those Catholic politicians who have used specious reasoning to promote abortion carry with them the added burden of public promotion of an intrinsically evil act that poisons society and causes scandal. Yet all of us as Catholics have the same responsibility not only to understand and affirm with religious assent the truth of this teaching. We have the responsibility in conscience to see to it that our actions follow what we know to be true and right.

Following Cardinal Egan’s statement, Newsday called our Office of Public Information for comment and reported that “Sean Dolan declined to comment on the Long Island diocese’s position.” Well, no. That is not what was said to the paper. Even more, what was said cannot be (mis)construed as declining to take a position on these issues.

To set the facts straight, I was celebrating confirmation at St. Thomas More Parish in Hauppauge when Sean Dolan asked me how he should respond. I answered that I could not at that time comment on the cardinal’s statement because I had not seen it.
That does not mean that we declined to comment on the “position” the cardinal took, because he correctly reiterated binding Catholic teaching.

The same issue of Newsday included a “poll” of Catholics informing us that 51 percent of Catholics “believe that abortions should be legal in all or most cases” and 44 percent “oppose abortion in most or all cases.” Newsday then correctly and helpfully cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church which summarizes the binding teaching I presented above.

Herein lies the rub. The real issue before us is not Mr. Giuliani’s taking communion, which was wrong on his part. (Recall as well that as a Catholic whose current marriage was not sanctioned in the Church, he has by that action automatically excommunicated himself from the reception of the Eucharist.) The real challenge is the fact that Catholics today feel free to exempt themselves from even the most solemn and binding teaching of the Church. While I am personally convinced that the vast majority of Catholics would never countenance seeking or assisting at an abortion, the sad truth is that, with a skewed and false nod to “tolerance,” too many Catholics have become functionally at odds with what the Church believes and authoritatively teaches. What seems to have happened is a reversal of a relationship in which we as individual Catholics decide what teachings of the Church we wish to accept and we in practice leave to the side any that do not fit in with “my vision” or “my preference.”

This is simply wrong. We do not form or “reform” the Church according to our particular preferences. It is just the opposite. Catholics are formed by the Church’s teaching. The consciences of Catholics are informed by the Church’s teaching so that we can decide and act in ways that reflect the wisdom and the truth of Jesus Christ which alone the Church can authentically guarantee.

Often people write to me to ask me to speak out on this issue or that. I will never shirk my responsibility to do so. However some think that a word from the bishop is sufficient to shape our society or direct our political leaders. Sadly that is not true because our society and our politicians read the newspapers and polls like the one Newsday gave us on abortion. So long as Catholics indicate that Church teaching is an option to accept or reject, the bishops’ teaching can safely be ignored by civic and political leaders. That is sad in itself. Even sadder is the state of the souls of Catholics who place their own opinions ahead of Church teaching and deprive themselves of the richness of our tradition and the sure guide it is to life and life eternal.