THE GODFATHER OF CATHOLIC PRO-ABORTION POLITICIANS IS DEAD! # 1 of 2
In pursuit of the truth - http://www.cinopsbegoneblogspot.com - Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015
From the article by George J. Marlin in Human Life Review - Fall 2014 -
Cardinal O'Connor vs. Governor Cuomo (June 15, 1932 - January 1, 2015)
Shortly after John J. O'Connor became Archbishop of New York in March 1984, he found himself in a battle with the state's governor, Mario M. Cuomo, which not made national headlines but also had a profound impact on the abortion debate.
It began when the archbishop said during a press conference: "I do not see how a Catholic, in good conscience, can vote for an individual expressing himself or herself as favoring abortion." That did not sit well with Cuomo.
The governor, who in the early 1970's had been publicly pro-life, changed his position after losing a primary foe lieutenant governor in 1973 and then a race for mayor in 1977. To advance his career, Cuomo adopted the now familiar line that, as a Catholic, he was personally opposed to abortion. But as an elected official it would be wrong for him to impose his religious beliefs on the general public....
On September 13, 1984, he flew to America's best known Catholic University, Notre Dame, to answer O'Connor in a talk titled "Religious Belief and Public Morality: A Catholic Governor's Perspective." ... "The Catholic Church," Cuomo said,"is my spiritual home." He added, "I accept the Church's teaching on abortion," but then asked, "Must I insist you do?"
"Our public morality then - the moral standards we maintain for everyone, not just the ones we insist on in our private lives - depends on a consensus view of right and wrong. The values derived from religious belief will not and should not be accepted as part of the public morality unless they are shared by the pluralistic community at large by consensus. He (Cuomo) evoked Cardinal Joseph Bernadin's "seamless garment" argument, saying that abortion "has a unique significance but not a preemptive significance ... [and] will always be a central concern of Catholics. But so will nuclear weapons. And hunger and homelessness and joblessness, all forces diminishing human life and threatening to destroy it." ...
As historian Richard Brookhiser has written, "Cuomo had found, in consensus and prudence, a way of having religion when he wanted it to not having when he didn't." The consensus argument was even too much for the very liberal Bishop of Albany, Howard Hubbard:
"While I support wholeheartedly the governor's position on capital punishment, there is no consensus in our state or nation on this matter. Quite the contrary. The polls show that 60 percent to 70 percent of the population favors the death penalty.
Also polls indicate that the vast majority of the citizens of New York are opposed to recent legislation about the mandatory usage of seat belts. Yet contrary to citizen consensus, the governor supports such legislation because it would save several hundred lives a year. Why not a similar concern about saving the thousands of human lives which are terminated annually through abortion on demand?
And the renowned theologian, Msgr. William B. Smith, dean of St. Joseph's Seminary, agreed"
"The governor's style was smooth and slick, but the content was specious and misleading. He is obviously a competent man, but a couple of points were horrendous, one being the complete ignoring of the human rights issue. Human rights do not rest on consensus. Respect for the human rights of blacks, Jewish people - any minority - does not rest on consensus. This is why we call them inalienable rights. He relied on the 15-year-old rhetoric of Planned Parenthood [that} we are trying to impose our morality on others. The Supreme Court didn't establish a consensus; it destroyed one. The laws in the 50 states weren't there because of the Catholic Church put them there." ...
For many Catholics, John O'Connor became a national hero. After years of bishops sitting on the sidelines, finally here was someone standing up and challenging whether Catholic politicians could separate their personal convictions from their public stance and still remain Catholic...
The media's consensus that he was shilling for Ronald Reagan re-election campaign... He told New Times reporter Joe Klein ... "he was saying what he'd always said:
"In fact, when I was consecrated a bishop in Rome.... I vowed publicly that from that day on there would be some reference to the dignity of the human person and, in particular, to the defense of the most vulnerable - the unborn - in every public address I make. I have done that scrupulously since the day I became a bishop. I am not saying anything new..."
GEORGE H. KUBECK,
I WISH ALL BISHOPS HAD MADE CARDINAL O'CONNOR'S VOW!
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