Nancy Pelosi and the Catholic bishops

By Julia Duin on Aug. 27, 2008 into Belief Blog

Here's the latest from the Archdiocese of San Francisco: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whose church history lecture on "Meet the Press" last Sunday has been condemned by six bishops, will not get a scolding — yet — from her own bishop.

Instead, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco wants to write "a larger, more thoughtful look on the issue," his press people tell me. The date it will go up on the archdiocesan Web site Sept. 5.

Mediawise, that's light years down the road. The Republican convention will be wrapping up at that point, and maybe everyone will have forgotten Mrs. Pelosi's thoughts on how St. Augustine did not consider abortion to be homicide.

Why the San Francisco archbishop is going the leisurely route while six other bishops could not wait to paste their objections, Wittenburg-door style, up on their sites within two days of the House speaker's remarks is a mystery. Last I talked with her press people, Mrs. Pelosi was pretty defiant, insisting her read of fourth-century patristics was correct.

Earth to Nancy:

Do not mess with the bishops. Do not suggest your understanding of church doctrine trumps theirs, especially when your only academic claim to theological expertise is a B.A. from Trinity College. If anything gets a bishop going, it's someone trying to supplant his traditional role as teacher of the faith.

Sen. John Kerry would be happy to inform you of what happens when you defy church officials. Not only can they deep-six your political career by telling you not to receive Communion at their altars, they can do serious damage to one's presidential aspirations. Remember Ohio.

When I called around yesterday asking why six bishops in a space of 18 hours issued statements condemning you, starting with Monday's salvo from the Denver bishops, well, there were a number of factors. Said one person at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "The bishops were taking advantage of a teachable moment in the culture to correct the misrepresentation of church teaching on abortion." In other words, if it's already being splashed around cable TV, it's time to put those church Web sites to use. Starting Monday night, this popped up on the Archdiocese of Washington's site, followed by this on the USCCB's site and then this on the New York archdiocese's site. Only the pope gets a faster reaction than that.

You are fortunate to have a bishop who moves kind of slowly on these issues. Everyone thought that the "wafer watch" of 2004 would not repeat itself. You and Sen. Joe Biden have helped resurrect that. Which is great for us religion reporters. But it might not be so helpful for you.

— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times

Comment

There are 4 Comments

fredm1

Ms. Duin- While Ms. Pelosi deserves every bit of the beating she takes in the press for her irresponsible "theological" commentary on non-negotiable Church teachings, I do have one gripe with your article. Please get rid of the "wafer watch" tag-line (or as it is also sometimes called, the "wafer wars.") The Holy Eucharist is the sum and summit of the catholic faith. As you are probably aware, catholics believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. It is not a "wafer," and practicing catholics everywhere cringe when the press takes this liberty. Moreover, what these catholic bishops are trying to accomplish here both morally and theologically is serious business within the Church. In another time, this type of public pronouncement by someone claiming to be "catholic" was called heresy. Your shorthand description of the problem does a disservice to their efforts by making it seem less important than it really is. Thanks. Fred

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Alligatorshoes

What Pelosi has done is to usurp the role of the leaders of her own church. To say that she has long studied this issue and come to a conclusion by pretending that the Church has not defined its stand on abortion shows an arrogance beyond belief. This is the modus operandi of the Democratic Party she leads: throw out falsehoods and watch gullible takers bite. When exposed deny, retract, do anything--but by then, most often, serious damage would have been done. I cringe.

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nokatrina

Pelosi and Biden both are arrogant people who put themselves above God Himself. It is my hope that all politicians who support the murder of the innocents will actively be denied the Eucharist and not told just that they should stop taking it.

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ncredwing

To MG: You never come out and state if you consider yourself a Catholic or are just another of the catholic bashers out there. At any rate you obviously do not understand Catholicism or for that matter the issue at hand. So by your premise, Nancy Pelosi can misrepresent the teachings of the Catholic Church and since the issue involved has political aspects the church has no right to clarify its teachings. Abortion is far more than a political issue, it is a moral issue and indeed a religious issue in that it is murder. No matter how you want to spin the issue it is taking the life of a human being and as such is murder. Even those who do not ascribe to a belief in God, acknowledge murder as wrong. And yes many Catholics do indeed support causes like the right to life. However many non-Catholics support these causes as well. In both cases it is not simply because the Church has told us to do so. It is because we recognize an evil in our world that needs to be addressed and removed. The Church is not trying to legislate religious constructs, it is clarifying the teachings of the Church which are in fact the teachings of Christ himself.

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Nancy Pelosi and the Catholic bishops

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