UPDATE: Mr. Ruse has responded to this posting in the comments section at the end. As indicated in my responses, I will do a follow up post as soon as I can.---------------------------
Catch up on the article written by Austin Ruse here. More background on his comments here and here.
Austin Ruse has been for me a pro-life hero with his Friday Fax publication and work at the UN. I do
my best to financially support his work but this latest rant raises doubts
about the future credibility of his work, sad to say.
Ruse asks:
But her challenger’s chances aside, the more interesting question is
what is the duty of the Catholic politician when it comes to contraceptives?
But he’s asking the wrong question, isn’t he? The correct
question is:
What is the duty of ANY Catholic when it comes to contraceptives?
And the answer clears the waters immediately: Any and every
Catholic must adhere to the Church teaching on the intrinsic
evil of contraception and avoid use of all artificial contraception—on pain
of mortal sin—and, in addition, oppose every effort to damage the common good
of society by unjust laws that advocate for such evils.
There, that wasn’t so hard at all, was it? And the amazing
thing is that everyone who has the slightest clue about being a Catholic knows
precisely this. Yet most Catholics personally dissent from Catholic teaching
and most see no danger to the common good through laws that liberalize use of
contraception.
How can this be? …thanks to dissenting
Priests and Bishops and their cowardly cousin Priests and Bishops who don’t
dissent but who prefer to remain silent and non-confrontational. And these are
the clergy that Austin Ruse partly uses to justify his position. Will they all
end up in
the fires together? I really don’t know but I’d be extremely fearful for
any soul who sought to identify with these enemies of the Faith.
Ruse’s argument, taken to what I see as its logical conclusion, is that we can cross the moral line in order to engage the culture politically and then work to bring society back to that moral standard. What’s the proof for my conclusion? Ruse politically supports a Catholic woman who is advocating for greater availability of contraceptives!
Ruse’s argument, taken to what I see as its logical conclusion, is that we can cross the moral line in order to engage the culture politically and then work to bring society back to that moral standard. What’s the proof for my conclusion? Ruse politically supports a Catholic woman who is advocating for greater availability of contraceptives!
This is wrong-headed and evil. Is it ever right to do wrong in order that good comes of it? You get the idea.
Yes, the practice of contraception is fatal to the faith. Doesn’t Mr. Ruse personally believe that the practice of contraception is intrinsically wrong, a moral evil precisely, and that the continued practice of such acts could well constitute grave sin and threaten the eternal soul of the individual involved? To read his article you kinda get the impression he might think this. As Catholics our primary goal is the salvation of souls, or am I wrong? Where exactly does that figure in to Ruse's equation?
Furthermore, failure to emphasize Church teaching on contraception undermines very
seriously our credibility on the evils of abortion and homosexual acts.
For goodness sake, laying aside Catholic dogma, even an 18 year old can make a very strong argument for a ban on contraception strictly from the natural law point of view.
For goodness sake, laying aside Catholic dogma, even an 18 year old can make a very strong argument for a ban on contraception strictly from the natural law point of view.
I really was shocked by Ruse’s closing paragraphs:
As for her critics, do they really want us to charge up Contraceptive
Hill, flying our flags high and singing Te Deums? Must we now launch campaigns
to ban contraceptives? And condoms, too? Must we make overturning Griswold and
Eisenstadt a litmus test for candidates and judges?
Certain defeat awaits us up Contraceptive Hill. We should not fight
there.
If we cannot fight for the eternal truth of Christ there,
where exactly will we end up fighting for it? Oh yeah, I forgot: we used to do
that in the Catacombs.
I’ll try to make it simple again Mr. Ruse. Every Catholic
needs to live the life of a faithful Catholic, in good times, in bad times, in
corrupt times, whenever, wherever. That’s enough to do it. That’s all it takes
because God will take care of everything else, even the politics. Once upon a
time most every real Catholic believed that, from Popes all the way down to
parishioner.
I hope and pray you'll quickly come to your senses Mr. Ruse. We need you to continue your good work.
I hope and pray you'll quickly come to your senses Mr. Ruse. We need you to continue your good work.
