tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post7335486293137745168..comments2023-07-05T08:17:21.505-04:00Comments on Getting to the Point: Talking About Conscience VIIIFr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-69771593432339671742012-02-17T19:13:48.551-05:002012-02-17T19:13:48.551-05:00God bless you, really. And thank you for disagreei...God bless you, really. And thank you for disagreeing with me with charity and courtesy! You could not possibly offend me, with such a spirit, and I do mean that.<br />There is indeed much to dig in and dig around with all these matters. Even if we have to agree to disagree for now, we can continue to dig in, but especially dig up (?) towards God who is the only One with the whole picture, eh?Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-60372273467605742162012-02-17T16:11:14.178-05:002012-02-17T16:11:14.178-05:00Father Denis,
Wow. That didn't take very lon...Father Denis,<br /><br />Wow. That didn't take very long.<br /><br />OKay, maybe acopalypytic was an exageration. I am sorry if I offended you. <br /><br />Thanks for defending my use of birth control pills. A lot of people who feel as strongly as you do about this...do not. They kind of throw people like me under the bus. <br /><br />I am afraid I might really offend you if I shared what I really believe about contraception. I actually among those who are not ideologically opposed to the use of certain contraceptives...and I am pretty well read on the subject. I guess the abortifacient data is just not that impressive. I could go on with this- but so could you. I think we might have to agree to disagree on this. <br /><br />What I do find attractive in the whole debate is the catholic notion of fertility. The idea that when we with hold fertility we somehow wound each other. I pray a lot about that actually. <br /><br />I still see the whole who funds the contraception debate as politictical one. Sorry. <br /><br />I am going to have to stop now, thanks for writing back. <br /><br /> Thanks you for using you good mind to dig around these issues. <br /><br />Dig deep. Dig everywhere.<br /><br />I will keep praying for you. It is sort of easy actually. Please keep praying for me too.Catherinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-41046028128621409612012-02-17T15:13:42.085-05:002012-02-17T15:13:42.085-05:00Oops - typos above: 'no moral objection...'...Oops - typos above: 'no moral objection...' etc. Typing on a slow and balky computer...Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-12705801586700411962012-02-17T15:12:14.667-05:002012-02-17T15:12:14.667-05:00God bless you! Well, for starters, there is nothin...God bless you! Well, for starters, there is nothing morally wrong in the eyes of the Church with your use of the birth control pill. It is the contraceptive intent: the deliberate self-sterilization and consequent alteration of the sexual act that makes contraception intrinsically evil in the Church's understanding. I don't ask you to agree with that statement, but to understand it. Your medical non-contraceptive use of the pill is no more morally problematic than taking an aspirin.<br />Plus, the Church has no objection to paying for this, since it has no moral obligation to using the drug in that way.<br />The 98% figure has been roundly debunked. Yes, many Catholic women use contraception, but that particular figure (which the White House is hyping non-stop) is based on one deeply flawed study by a group with close ties to Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. See this link: http://www.getreligion.org/2012/02/lies-damned-lies-and-98-of-catholic-women/<br />Now this link may help you understand why this really is important (if not apocalyptic, which I think is exaggerating my words), even if the 98% figure was accurate:<br />http://blog.cardinalnewmansociety.org/2012/02/16/bishop-lori-and-the-parable-of-the-kosher-deli/<br />Now, of course conscience is this deeply individual reality, as the Pope and I are exploring together here. So why should individuals who believe (as I do, as the bishops do, as EWTN and Belmont Abbey and CUA and Notre Dame admininstrators do) that contraception is not only evil, but that the many contraceptives that work as abortifacients are therefore morally equivalent to murder... well, aren't we individuals too? Does everyone get a right to exercise their conscience... except for bishops and priests? That seems strange and (yes) rather un-American.<br />While there is a political dimension to this struggle, my deeper point, and I think it stands, is that this is a spiritual struggle for the right to remain human, responsible, and free. It is the White HOuse that, completely unnecessarily, has dragged this into the political forum<br />I am not belittling Obama. I am informing him that he is doing a great evil, which is my sincere conviction, and calling on him to repent of that evil. How is that belittlement? Was Martin Luther King 'belittling' white Americans? Was Harriet Beecher Stowe 'belittling' slave owners? I think it is actually a compliment to give someone credit for the capacity to morally reason and repent, don't you?Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-8296823463258330572012-02-17T12:38:50.680-05:002012-02-17T12:38:50.680-05:00Father Denis,
Okay, it's me again. I keep r...Father Denis,<br /><br /><br />Okay, it's me again. I keep reading this hoping that i am going to find some way to really get this, despite myself.<br /><br />I should just tell you. I use birth control. I know. I have used it for years, it helps me with anemia. I am not sexually active. Sometimes, Jesus just does not heal bleeding women. I am getting old enough and I keep thinking this will be the year I can stop. I am graetful for my insurance, with that it costs only $4/month. Otherwise, might be closer to $85. This is the cheap stuff. I just wanted to tell you that.<br /><br />I read somewhere that 98% of catholic women of child bearing age have used birth control. I guess they have their reasons too. <br /><br />So, I can't really get the first ammendment argument. Okay, so what if the argument is not about contraception at all- but about religious freedom. The government doesn't get to decide about religious freedom, about what people's religious beliefs are. The church doesn't even get to decide. We decide in our own conscience...and that is why you are writing all this stuff I think. <br /><br />I am a little worried that you are going to wack me now, for trying to have a conscience. I am trying. I am reading here, I do pray. I am really trying to get this. <br /><br />I have couple things to say in response to your reflection:<br />1) I think the battle about contraception is already lost. 98% . <br /><br />2) Also, I think that on many of the major issues, the bishops are actually on Obama's side- not the least- extending unemployemnt benefits , which they call a "moral obligation". Honestly, on some of the major issues, i think the bishops are to the left of some of the leading democrats...even if both sides are loathe to admit it.<br /><br />So the battle over contraception no longer seems apocalyptic. No heavenly hosts pitted against the forses of Satan. To me this is a political brawl, not a crusade of believers or infidels. I think Obama tried to negotiate the line between religious sphere and protection of the spiritual dignity and freedom of individuals. <br /><br />I know that there are people who I really love and do church with daily who would struggle hard with my decision to use birth control. I know their struggle is based, as my decision is, in an adnirable conviction about the scaredness of life.<br /><br />We Americans, we are like that. We have wrestled with those questions in this way from the beginning. Some of the forfathers feared the church would corrupt the state. Some feared the state would corrupt the church. Over the years, the battle has gotten pretty ugly.<br /><br />Perhaps, you are belittling Obama to be provacative. But, please be cautious Father Denis, it is a big deal to use church words- when really you are talking polictics.catherinenoreply@blogger.com