Nancy Pelosi, Christine O'Donnell and the Roman Catholic Church'S Beliefs
The Delaware Senate race is a battle of Chris's: O'Donnell v. Coons. Better a repentant candidate who sees the light and tries to do what's right (O'Donnell) than a lost one who, with Obama, Biden and Harry Reid, is tight (Coons).
Bulletin for non-Catholics, and perhaps "ardent Catholic" Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi: The Catholic Church disapproves of masturbation.
"The Catholic Church teaches that the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its primary purpose of procreation and secondary purpose of unification of the husband and wife within the sacrament of marriage. In addition, the Church teaches that all other sexual activity—including masturbation, homosexual acts, acts of sodomy, and sex outside of or before marriage (fornication), and the use of any form of contraception or birth control— is gravely disordered, as it frustrates the natural order, purpose, and ends of sexuality. Natural family planning is permitted, being not a form of contraception. To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
"Although '[i]t is said that psychology and sociology show that [masturbation] is a normal phenomenon of sexual development, especially among the young,' this does not change the fact that it 'is an intrinsically and seriously disordered act' and 'that, whatever the motive for acting this way, the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal relations essentially contradicts the finality of the faculty. For it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the moral order, namely the relationship which realizes "the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love."'
"The Catholic view of masturbation has been consistent for all of the Catholic Church's 2,000-year history. Early Catholic theologians universally condemned both masturbation and contraception as sinful. One such example is St. Clement of Alexandria, considered a saint and a Church Father, who said of masturbation, 'Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.'"
In disapproving of masturbation, now Delaware's Republican candidate for United States Senator Christine O'Donnell stood by her faith.
Should "Catholics" who rejected their faith yet profess to be "ardent practicing Ctholic[s]"be elected instead of faithful Catholics?
To my way of thinking, a candidate who professes to be a Roman Catholic yet rejects a basic church teaching is an opportunistic hypocrite who is not fit for public office...and a repentant sinner can be.
The burning question now is whether Speaker Pelosi will surprise me and rush to the defense of her faith and O'Donnell, a person now being pilloried by swarmy secularists for standing up for it?
Considering Speaker Pelosi's willingness to abandon her faith on the life issue, I'm not counting on it.
On August 24, 2008, Speaker Pelosi appeared on "Meet the Press" and absurdly denied that the Catholic Church condemns abortion.
John Jalsevac, in "'Catholic' Speaker Pelosi Denies that Catholicism Condemns Abortion" (www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08082502.html), reported:
"Referring to Barack Obama's now-notorious answer to Pastor Rick Warren to the question of when life begins, Meet the Press moderator Tom Brokaw asked Pelosi, 'Senator Obama saying the question of when life begins is above his pay grade…If he were to come to you and say, "Help me out here, Madame Speaker. When does life begin?" what would you tell him?'
"Pelosi responded by sidestepping the question, appealing to her Catholic faith as the source of her uncertainty.
"'I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time,' she said. 'And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator - St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know.'
"Pelosi then said that in her view the question of when life begins is a non-issue in the debate on abortion.
"'The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose. Roe v. Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child - first trimester, certain considerations; second trimester; not so third trimester. There's very clear distinctions. This isn't about abortion on demand, it's about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and - to - that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god.'"
As a self-described "ardent" Catholic, Speaker Pelosi should know that there's ONE God, not a different god for each woman.
Jalsevac continued:
"Brokaw continued to press Pelosi on the question, observing, 'The Catholic Church at the moment feels very strongly that it… begins at the point of conception.'
"Pelosi again side-stepped the question, suggesting that the Church's current position is only a recent position and that 'over the history of the church, this is an issue of controversy.'"
That's a politician's lie.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue promptly stated that the Church's position on abortion is NOT in doubt.
Donohue:
"Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: 'Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.'"
"It also says, 'Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.' Looks like Pelosi didn't study the subject long enough. But not to worry: We are sending her a copy of Catholicism for Dummies today."
I doubt that Speaker Pelosi's problem is that she's dumb or deluded.
National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez, commented: "It's the blind leading the blind in that party if the 'ardent practicing Catholic' doesn't care when life begins, only that women have the choice to do what they 'choose' (sometimes, thanks to people like Pelosi, not aware of what their choices actually are) whether it's life or not."
I doubt that Speaker Pelosi's is blind either.
Jalsevac ended his article:
"Pelosi concluded her appearance by contradicting another doctrine of the Catholic Church by advocating contraception. Contraception is officially condemned by the Catholic Church as 'intrinsically evil.'
"'My Republican colleagues do not support contraception. If you want to reduce the number of abortions, and we all do, we must - it would behoove you to support family planning and, and contraception, you would think,' she said. 'But that is not the case.'"
I expect that Speaker Pelosi will support masturbation as well as abortion and contraception--and perhaps on the ground that masturbation reduces the number of abortions; pray for Speaker Pelosi's conversion; and conclude that America would be much better off if Speaker Pelosi leaves Congress and the repentant O'Donnell joins it instead of her Democrat opponent, Christopher Coons, a self-described "bearded Marxist" who gave up the beard but not the Marxism.
The Delaware Senate race is a battle of Chris's: O'Donnell v. Coons. Better a repentant candidate who sees the light and tries to do what's right (O'Donnell) than a lost one who, with Obama, Biden and Harry Reid, is tight (Coons).
Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.
Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.
The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.
Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.
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