Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi went on “Meet the Press” on August 24, 2008 and made false and outrageous claims about the teaching of the Roman Church. In answer to Tom Brokaw’s question about when life begins, Speaker Pelosi said: I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. ... I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins. Not only is Speaker Pelosi completely wrong on what the Roman Catholic Church teaches about when life begins, but she’s denying the obvious. Human life begins at conception. That’s a scientific fact: · “Human development begins at fertilization.” - The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th Edition, Moore, Persaud, Saunders, 1998, page 18. And every other book on embryology will agree. It isn’t above Speaker Pelosi’s pay grade – or anyone else’s for that matter – to know this. However, in a feeble attempt to justify her unbridled support for abortion – and confuse Catholics and others – she’s trying to “intellectualize” the issue. She’s trying to escape the fact that it’s really very easy to see that abortion is an act of violence that ends a life. To find out that truth, you don’t have to go to the Church or to St. Augustine. You just go to the abortionists and their advocates! · “Typically the skull is brought out in fragments rather than as a unified piece…" <>(Sworn testimony given in US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, WI, May 27, 1999, Case No. 98-C-0305-S), by Dr. Martin Haskell, an abortionist. He describes legal activity.) · "...The abortion-rights folks know it, the anti-abortion folks know it, and so probably, does everyone else. One of the facts of abortion is that … it is a form of killing ... you're ending a life." Ron Fitzsimmons, Executive Director, National Coalition of Abortion Providers, New York Times, 26 February 1997 The bottom line for Nancy Pelosi is simply this: She doesn’t want to protect those lives. And instead of having the decency to admit what abortionists do to defenseless babies – namely, rip off their arms and legs ... crush their skulls ... burn their bodies ... stab razor-sharp scissors into their heads – she goes back 16 centuries and argues about Church teaching. Incorrectly at that! The solution to abortion is not endless theological or philosophical debate. The solution is the ordinary light of human conscience when it is confronted with the abject evil, horror and cruelty of abortion. In truth, the tragedy of Speaker Pelosi is that she cannot bring herself to recognize and admit the truth. And in failing to do that, she is failing in her role as a public servant. Instead of working to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us and leading her fellow citizens to do the same, Speaker Pelosi supports an act of extreme violence that is responsible for the willful dismemberment and destruction of countless numbers of our unborn brothers and sisters. But what makes her recent statements on “Meet the Press” so damaging is the fact that, according to one media source, over THREE MILLION viewers heard her. How many were Roman Catholic? How many now believe what this “ardent, practicing Catholic” said ... as opposed to what the Church teaches about the sanctity and dignity of human life? There’s no way of knowing. Right now there is a concerted effort to confuse Catholics about abortion. But the Church is not confused. Statements of the Pope, various Vatican officials, committees and officials of the USCCB, and the entire body of US bishops, all point to abortion as the fundamental human rights issue of our day. And even without this teaching, can anyone with a functioning conscience read the quotes of the abortionists and still doubt that abortion is an act of violence that must be stopped? Not surprisingly, the secular media is helping spread confusion among Catholic voters. On July 30 the Trenton Times ran an article on Catholics and the 2008 election underneath this headline: U.S. Bishops: Vote your conscience, Catholics urged to weigh stands on all issues. You can see what’s happening. Despite the Church’s clear and unmistakable teaching against abortion, there are “Catholics” in America who are trying to deceive individuals and confuse them. This is the obvious work of the devil, of whom Our Lord said: He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie he speaks from his very nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). Regrettably, in our present age, there are many in the Church who are more loyal to the dictates of a political party’s platform than they are to the life-affirming teachings of the Church. The only way to expose their errors and lessen their influence is for all faithful Catholics – clergy and laity alike – to bear obedient witness to the teachings of the Church ... and this no matter what the political implications may be. As ambassadors of Christ we must fearlessly proclaim that all human rights are based on the fundamental right to life! That being our mission, Priests for Life has published concise voter education materials. Click here to help get these materials into the hands of voters! 1. Our booklet “Voting with a Clear Conscience” presents ten steps to faithful and active participation in the election process. It talks about how to distinguish the issues, how to learn where the candidates stand on those issues, and how to stay loyal to Jesus above all! 2. Our single-page voter guides for the Presidential race and many other races. These guides draw from the voting records and position statements of the various candidates. Best of all, these guides are suitable for distribution in Churches and by tax-exempt organizations. That’s because most guides that mention candidates are produced by a political campaign, a political action committee, or a “c-4” organization. But Churches and dioceses are a different kind of structure under the law. Since they are non-profit organizations, they fall under “c-3” guidelines which include stringent restrictions on what they can and cannot say or do regarding mentioning political candidates by name. These restrictions are so tight – and the consequences so severe if you violate those restrictions – that most Churches have been intimidated into silence during important election campaigns ... like now in 2008. Knowing that, Priests for Life hired the best attorneys in the nation to help us understand and follow those regulations. The result of this is that we have produced voter guides in just the right way. And we have the legal letters to go with them! All we need now is for you and other pro-lifers to help us get them into the hands of the pastors and bishops, and urge them to hand them out to their people! Make no mistake. Few organizations have put forth the kind of effort and expense that we at Priests for Life have. By successfully navigating the legal waters, we have created tools by which Churches can inform their people about the stands of the candidates! All of these resources – along with the legal letters endorsing them – are available in camera-ready format on our special website: www.PoliticalResponsibility.com. As you can see, this project is massive. It is also extremely expensive and will cost upwards of $100,000 for printing and shipping. But as Nancy Pelosi’s appearance on “Meet the Press” demonstrated, this project is absolutely vital if we are to make sure that our fellow citizens understand that abortion is a grave moral evil that threatens to destroy our nation, and is equally wrong for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. That said I need you to click here and let Priests for Life put your pro-life dollars to work printing and shipping literally hundreds of thousands of our IRS-friendly and thoroughly Catholic Voter Guides. Nothing less than the future of our nation is at stake this November. So hold nothing back! Thank you and may God bless you. Sincerely, Fr. Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life National Director, Gospel of Life Ministries PS When Denver’s Archbishop Charles Chaput heard what Speaker Pelosi said on “Meet the Press” he rebuked her in no uncertain terms saying: “Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it - whether they're famous or not - fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith.” Archbishop Chaput is right. Return to Home Page Created and maintained by Artmix Web Site Designs