Comments on: Freedom and Conscience http://cosmos-liturgy-sex.com/2008/10/07/freedom-and-conscience/ Now This Is The Real World! Where Theology and Real Life Meet. Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:41:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: David http://cosmos-liturgy-sex.com/2008/10/07/freedom-and-conscience/comment-page-1/#comment-1060305 David Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:51:55 +0000 http://cosmos-liturgy-sex.com/?p=1683#comment-1060305 Dim, Thanks for the quotes. I had forgotten about Ratzinger's allocution on exactly this point. Dim,

Thanks for the quotes. I had forgotten about Ratzinger’s allocution on exactly this point.

]]> By: dim bulb http://cosmos-liturgy-sex.com/2008/10/07/freedom-and-conscience/comment-page-1/#comment-1059235 dim bulb Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:51:08 +0000 http://cosmos-liturgy-sex.com/?p=1683#comment-1059235 <i>In fact, Cafardi goes so far as to say that the war against abortion is lost and so it is time to move on to other issues.</i> That's a mentality inviting disaster. "One widespread section of public position in the educated bourgeoisie may find it exaggerated and inopportune-indeed, downright distasteful-that we continue to remind them that the problem of respect for a life that has been conceived and is not yet born is a decisive question. In the last fifteen years, almost all Western countries have legalized abortion, to the accmpaniment of lacerating debates; ought we not today to consider the problem setled and avoid brushing the dust off antagonistic ideological positions that have been made obsolete by the course of events? Why not accept that we have lost the battle and choose instead to dedicate our energies to initiatives that can hope to find support in a broader social consensus? Indeed, if we remain on the superficial level, we could be convinced that the legal approval of abortion has not really changed much in our private lieves and in the life of our societies; basically, everything seems to be going on as before. Everyone can act in accordance with his conscience: a woman who does not want to have an abortion is not compelled to do so, and a woman who does have an abortion with the approval of a law would perhaps have done so in any case (or so we are told). It all takes place in the silence of an operating room, which at least guarantees that the "medical intervention" will take place with a certain degree of safety: and it is as if the fetus that will never se the light of day in fact never existed. Who notices what's going on? Why should we continue to speak publicly of this drama? Is it not perhaps better to leave it buried in the silence of the consciences of the individuals involved?... "First, there are no "small murders". The respect of every human life is an essential condition if a societal worthy of the name is to be possible. "Secondly, when man's conscience losses respect for life as something sacred, he inevitably ends by losing his own identity."-Cardinal Ratzinger, Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures. Can someone like Cafardi still identify himself as Catholic when he argues as he does? Can he identify himself as an intelligent man? In fact, Cafardi goes so far as to say that the war against abortion is lost and so it is time to move on to other issues.

That’s a mentality inviting disaster.

“One widespread section of public position in the educated bourgeoisie may find it exaggerated and inopportune-indeed, downright distasteful-that we continue to remind them that the problem of respect for a life that has been conceived and is not yet born is a decisive question. In the last fifteen years, almost all Western countries have legalized abortion, to the accmpaniment of lacerating debates; ought we not today to consider the problem setled and avoid brushing the dust off antagonistic ideological positions that have been made obsolete by the course of events? Why not accept that we have lost the battle and choose instead to dedicate our energies to initiatives that can hope to find support in a broader social consensus? Indeed, if we remain on the superficial level, we could be convinced that the legal approval of abortion has not really changed much in our private lieves and in the life of our societies; basically, everything seems to be going on as before. Everyone can act in accordance with his conscience: a woman who does not want to have an abortion is not compelled to do so, and a woman who does have an abortion with the approval of a law would perhaps have done so in any case (or so we are told). It all takes place in the silence of an operating room, which at least guarantees that the “medical intervention” will take place with a certain degree of safety: and it is as if the fetus that will never se the light of day in fact never existed. Who notices what’s going on? Why should we continue to speak publicly of this drama? Is it not perhaps better to leave it buried in the silence of the consciences of the individuals involved?…

“First, there are no “small murders”. The respect of every human life is an essential condition if a societal worthy of the name is to be possible.

“Secondly, when man’s conscience losses respect for life as something sacred, he inevitably ends by losing his own identity.”-Cardinal Ratzinger, Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures.

Can someone like Cafardi still identify himself as Catholic when he argues as he does? Can he identify himself as an intelligent man?

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