Why Abortion Isn’t Just Another ‘Life Issue’, by John Zmirak

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By John Zmirak, The Stream, November 18, 2019

John Zmirak is a Senior Editor of The Stream, and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism.

The recent controversy at the meeting of U.S. Catholic bishops mirrors tensions across the Christian world. They even reach into evangelical churches. At The American Spectator, George Neumayr notes that Catholic bishops divided over the centrality of defending unborn life. That’s the topic Pope

Francis’s lobby within the USCCB worked hard to try and deemphasize in Baltimore. Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, whom Francis is likely to promote, argued that abortion is not the “preeminent” issue facing the world.

The ghost of Cardinal Bernardin — who was the first to push the idea that abortion is “just one of many” life issues — haunted the conference in more ways than one. His so-called “seamless garment” still hides the heresies of many bishops. Almost a third of the bishops supported the seamless garment-style motion that McElroy represented. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who is retiring and may see his seat filled by McElroy (he is on the short list for Philadelphia), took issue with McElroy’s comment, for which he received applause.

The Mindless Garment

Pope Francis’s self-appointed champions, Bishop McElroy and Cardinal Blase Cupich, have already shown us how much to trust them. Read this crackpot manifesto organized and signed by McElroy. Among many other fevered demands, it calls on every U.S. Catholic parish to hide illegal aliens. And this op-ed by Cupich. It equates Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby parts with executing criminals, limiting Medicaid spending, and protecting Americans’ gun rights.

The good news? The U.S. bishops “voted 143-69 against including a full quote by Pope Francis in their document on citizenship that downplayed the issue,” as LifeSiteNews reports. Still, the final vote is staggering to imagine. One U.S. Catholic bishop in three doesn’t believe that killing almost a million unborn Americans per year for our sexual convenience ought to take precedence over other policy questions.

George Soros’ “Rented Evangelicals”

Similar leftist currents long ago captured Mainline Protestant churches, on the whole. George Soros now pours money into groups trying to boost leftist politics among evangelical churches, too. He and his allies are canny enough to see that churches still have political influence. Strong believers make excellent zealots. At least if you can pry them away from supernatural matters, and turn them into this-worldly Utopians.