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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"I dare not longer contradict the decrees of him [The Roman Pontiff] who keeps the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven, lest he should refuse me admission."
-- King Oswy, at the Synod of Whitby in A.D. 664, declaring himself in favor of the arguments of Bishop Wilfrid (who himself had just quoted Saint Peter) thereby aligning England with the Holy Apostolic See of Rome.

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"[The Holy Apostolic See of Rome] from God the Incarnate Word Himself, as well as all the Holy Councils, according to the sacred canons and definitions, has received and possesses supreme power in all things and for all things, over all the Holy churches of God throughout the world, as well as power and authority of binding and loosing. For with this Church, the Word, who commands the powers of Heaven, binds and looses in Heaven."
-St. Maximus the Confessor,(PG xci, 144)

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-Sub Tuum Praesidium-
We fly to thy patronage,O holy Mother of God;despise not our petitions in our necessities, but from all dangers deliver us always, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen. [Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, circa 250 A.D.]

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We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee; because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
-[Roman Breviary]

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Teach me to do Thy will, because Thou art my God.
[Psalm 142:10]