California Catholic Church endorses license to kill

By Gabriel Garnica


Recently, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose Gomez, participated in the ceremony honoring the passage of California's undocumented driver license bill. Gomez could have participated in and praised this effort without publicly endorsing or praising the scores of pro-abortion politicians involved. In doing so and, worse, celebrating these pro-abortion politicians on the front cover of his own archdiocesan newspaper, the Tidings, Gomez was celebrating the passage of a driver's license bill by seemingly endorsing the abortion lobby's right to kill the unborn. Governor Jerry Brown and new Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, staunch pro-abortion and Planned Parenthood supporters, were present, as were scores of other local pro-abortion politicians.

Citing driving as "one of the basic necessities of life" and asking for continued efforts to assure that "our brothers and sisters can join us in the promise of America, and so they can live with the dignity that God intends for them" Gomez seemingly forgot that the very people he was rubbing elbows with at this event do not believe that being allowed safety within the womb and in birth is also a basic necessity of life, nor that God intended that the innocent unborn be afforded dignity as well.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is often cited as the largest Catholic archdiocese in the nation, with Hispanics comprising over two-thirds of its five million Catholics. Statistics show that Hispanic opposition to abortion tends to decrease as one moves from the original, foreign-born generation to subsequent second- and third-generation Hispanics, with a concurrent increase in support for abortion rights along those lines as well. In other words, Hispanics are shifting toward a pro-abortion rights position, despite the fact that Hispanics tend to consider themselves more religious than other groups. This apparent discrepancy is easily explainable by the fact that the Catholic Church, through absurdities such as honoring pro-abortion politicians for helping illegal immigrants, is sending the message that it is far more important and politically convenient to help the living marginalized than worry about the unborn marginalized. How can young Hispanics respect the right to life and oppose abortion when their Catholic leadership, especially their Hispanic Catholic leadership, allows its twisted social justice, human rights perspective to trump the sacredness of human life itself?

I have written far and wide about how the Catholic Church's leadership pays lip service to the cries of the unborn aborted at the altar of a secular, Godless society. This leadership manages to do this via its social justice façade which buries the evil of abortion beneath a mountain of "human rights" concerns ranging from immigration reform, poverty, and war to the environment, animal rights, income redistribution (socialism) and, yes, abortion rights. Basically, what we have here is the Catholic leadership playing St. Francis by waxing poetic about the marginalized in society, which is a noble and important duty, but then elevating that historical responsibility above and beyond any concern for the aborted unborn. In fact, even a cursory review of human rights groups and supporters will easily reveal that many, if not all, of these organizations and people are ardent abortion supporters and defenders since they equate abortion rights as a basic human right. The irony, of course, is that these so-called defenders of human rights are defending the right of one human to ignore the right to life of another human.

All of this to say that, while human rights and social justice can be a legitimate concern and responsibility of the Catholic Church, their mantle has been hijacked as a cover for brushing aside the right to life of the unborn, not to mention their humanity. Wearing their St. Francis garb, many present Catholic leaders speak of defending the voiceless and marginalized, even as they ignore the most voiceless and marginalized of all, the unborn aborted daily. It is a despicable piece of selective, convenient hypocrisy which undermines the core Catholic message of respect for human life.

None other than Blessed Mother Teresa; a model of love for the marginalized, voiceless, and poor, eloquently and powerfully expressed and demonstrated that one can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and defend the marginalized without winking at the murder of the unborn. Her inspiring speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on February 5, 1994, has been quoted thousands of times since as a model of embracing the Catholic Church's commitment to the marginalized and voiceless while demanding its continued commitment to the most marginalized and voiceless of all, the unborn.

Tragically, far too many Catholic leaders have sold their duty to legitimately, courageously, and consistently defend the unborn for political convenience, social influence, and even societal popularity. It is no wonder that Catholics, young and old, Hispanic and not, are increasingly clueless regarding the central moral importance of opposing abortion and defending the sacredness of human life. It is the greatest, most insidious lie of all to seek unity and common ground on the backs of innocent unborn children deprived of life. Those who argue that the Catholic Church will sabotage its own message and mission by refusing to compromise, to break bread, to agree to disagree, and to dialogue with those violating its core teaching are truly confused and distorted in their thinking.

There is nothing wrong with feeding the poor, clothing the naked, and caring for the sick; just as long as you do not kick the unborn child under the rug to do it.

© Gabriel Garnica