The Massachusetts bishops' polite collapse

The Catholic bishops of Massachusetts have released a statement criticizing legislation that would eliminate virtually all legal restrictions on abortion in the Commonwealth.

So pro-life activists should be grateful for the bishops’ support, right?

Wrong. This statement is a disgrace. It is wrong— even harmful— in many different ways.

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The timing is wrong. The bishops’ statement was released a week after the House of Representatives approved this bill, and only two days before the Senate scheduled its own vote. If they actually wanted to influence the vote, the bishops would have spoken out well advance of the legislative action.

The tone is wrong. “Our hope is that the state Senate will not follow the House on this measure,” the bishops write. They hope that a “gravely immoral” measure will not be enacted? Where is the sense of outrage? Where is the thunderous condemnation? The bishops say that the bill “is, in our judgement, a radical measure…” It is indeed a radical bill, but it prompts outrage not because it offends against the “judgement” of four prelates, but because it violates the most fundamental moral principles of our civilization.

The argument is wrong, because the bishops say that they “have a moral responsibility to present and uphold Catholic teaching”— thereby allowing the impression that opposition to abortion is a stand peculiar to the Catholic Church, like the Lenten fasting regulations. Opposition to abortion is not a sectarian issue; it is a command of the Decalogue, common to all Christians and Jews, as well as a “law of Nature and of Nature’s God.”

The argument is also wrong because the bishops focus on the radical nature of this legislation, which will allow abortion for any reason up until the instant of the child’s birth, rather than renewing the argument against any abortion, at any stage of pregnancy. This bill compounds the evil of the status quo; rejecting the legislation would be necessary but insufficient.

The call to action is wrong because the bishops in fact do not make any call to action.

• They do not remind the state’s legislators— most of whom identify themselves as Catholics, and therefore theoretically subject to the bishops’ authority— that in supporting this legislation they separate themselves from the Catholic community, render themselves unfit to receive Communion, and endanger their immortal souls.

• They do not urge donors and supporters of these legislators to consider their own culpability, their own responsibility for the grave sin of complicity in abortion.

• They do not encourage faithful citizens— of all faiths, but particularly Catholics— to call their state legislators and express opposition to the bill.

The feeble opposition of the Catholic bishops will not delay the passage of this horrible legislation. The Senate will approve it, with little if any debate. (In fact it may already be approved by the time this essay is posted.) The legislature is rushing to approve the bill, and Governor Maura Healey (who identifies herself as Catholic) is anxious to sign it into law.

The passage of this bill is no surprise, in what is effectively a one-party state. Nor is the failure of the Catholic bishops to mount any effective opposition. After several decades of surrender to the prevailing secular liberalism, the Church’s leader have lost whatever influence they had over the local culture of Massachusetts.

At best the bishops’ statement is a CYA memo. They have put their (mild) opposition on the record. Next week life will go back to normal, with pastors slapping the backs of the lawmakers who approved this atrocity, and Governor Healey pictured alongside a smiling archbishop.