Clear as Mud Catholics

I just dropped by the website of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, looking for the pro-Obama lobby group’s take on the president’s meeting earlier today with Pope Benedict XVI.

I didn’t find anything about that, but I did come across a statement called “Catholics in Alliance Clarifies Position on Contraception.”

Call me obtuse, but I can’t say I find the following comments to be clear about much of anything in terms of stating where the group stands on the promotion of contraception:

Catholics in Alliance has joined other faith-based and secular advocacy organizations to find comprehensive strategies that limit unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and reduce the number of abortions.

While polling and research demonstrate a diverse spectrum of opinion among Catholics, abstinence until marriage is the sexual ideal promoted by the Catholic Church. We believe that Catholic teaching has valuable lessons to offer our instant-gratification culture that often separates sex from loving, committed relationships and frequently treats the sacredness of sexuality as simply another commodity in a marketplace of choices. Sexual fidelity in marriage and abstinence for young adults are important Catholic virtues to promote. At the same time, Catholics in Alliance also rejects the paralysis of debates that pit proponents of contraception against abstinence advocates. As the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has stated, research supports a comprehensive approach that includes providing accurate information about contraception and abstinence as complementary, not competing, strategies.

After more than three decades of political stalemate and legal gridlock, the Alliance applauds legislative efforts that are now bringing pro-choice and pro-life leaders together around the urgent need to limit unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and reduce abortions. These efforts include the Pregnant Women Support Act and the Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act. Applying broad moral principles from a particular faith tradition in a pluralistic democracy enriched by diverse values requires prudential judgment and recognition that politics is the “art of the possible.” Both of these efforts represent essential steps toward finding common ground in service of the common good.

It wouldn’t have been very hard to clarify where this so-called “Catholic” group stands on contraception, if that was their real intention. For example, if they support the Church’s teachings about the immorality of contraception, they could have said, “We support the Church’s teachings on contraception”; if not, they could have said, “We oppose the Church’s teachings on contraception.”

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Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.

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Sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

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We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them.