[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21641]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  ARTICLE BY DR. PHYLLIS ZAGANO CONCERNING CATHOLIC TEACHING ON HUMAN 
                                  LIFE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. THADDEUS G. McCOTTER

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 23, 2008

  Mr. McCOTTER. Madam Speaker, today I rise to place into the Record an 
article by Dr. Phyllis Zagano, Senior Research Associate-in-Residence 
at Hofstra University concerning Catholic teaching on human life.

                 [From the 2008 Religion News Service]

       Commentary: Catholics Dems and Bishops in for a Bumpy Ride

                          (By Phyllis Zagano)

       House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is clearly confused about 
     Catholic teaching on life issues. On NBC's ``Meet the 
     Press,'' Tom Brokaw asked her: ``When does life begin?'' She 
     answered, ``We don't know.'' Pelosi said ``that as an ardent, 
     practicing Catholic,'' this is an issue she's studied for a 
     long time. ``And what I know is, over the centuries, the 
     doctors of the church have not been able to make that 
     definition.''
       Pelosi is wrong, and some Catholic bishops have tried to 
     correct the record.
       I don't think the Democrats are worried.
       A few years ago I rode the New York-to-Washington shuttle 
     with a prominent politician who is a Catholic and a Democrat. 
     He said that U.S. bishops collectively squandered their moral 
     authority with the priest pederasty scandal. Whether for so-
     called ``liberal'' or ``conservative'' causes, he said, 
     Catholic bishops are the political touch of death. No one 
     listens to them. Including, it seems, Catholic-educated 
     Pelosi. While the bishops try to straighten out Pelosi, who 
     confuses medieval discussions about ``ensoulment'' with 
     historical teachings on abortion, the Democrats are trying to 
     sound like they are both for and against abortion.
       Brokaw backed Pelosi into a theological corner by playing 
     part of a televised interview in which California Pastor Rick 
     Warren asked Sen. Barack Obama (and, later, Sen. John 
     McCain), ``At what point does a baby get human rights?''
       Catholicism calls that two questions: First, is the embryo 
     human life? Second, when does the embryo become a person? 
     Obama addressed both questions. He said ``If you believe that 
     life begins at conception . . . then I can't argue with 
     you.'' He also basically said deciding when the embryo 
     becomes a person was above his paygrade. After seeing the 
     Warren-Obama replay, Pelosi muddled Brokaw's question. She 
     said--incorrectly--that the church only decided human life 
     begins at conception ``like maybe 50 years'' ago.
       Wrong, Madame Speaker. ``The Didache'' (the teachings of 
     the apostles collected a generation after Christ) says, ``You 
     shall not procure an abortion, nor destroy a newborn child.'' 
     Several church fathers--from Tertullian to St. Jerome--and 
     the apostolic constitutions all forbade abortion. Some, 
     however, confused matters by talking about ensoulment, asking 
     when the human being became a human person. The ensoulment 
     debate seems stuck in Pelosi's memory, and could be what she 
     was talking about. She said St. Augustine thought ensoulment 
     occurred about 30 days after conception. But trying to figure 
     out ensoulment only leads to debate over whether abortion is 
     merely similar to murder (killing a human being) or actually 
     equal to murder (killing a human person).
       No one knows for sure when the developing human being 
     becomes a person with a soul. It might be at conception, or 
     it might not. So Christianity, with other religions, has 
     historically forbidden abortion in the face of this dilemma 
     because the human being is always potentially a human person. 
     The earliest fertilized egg is not a future banana or frog. 
     It is human life. What's fascinating is that Sens. Joe Biden 
     and John McCain agree that life begins at conception. And 
     although neither expects (or possibly wants) help from the 
     bishops, McCain has the most to gain by Pelosi's misstep.
       Pelosi is at best misinformed, and has misinformed a 
     nation. The Catholic bishops will try to counter her bad 
     information. And Catholic politicians, who have increasingly 
     ignored a lot of Catholic teaching, don't seem to think that 
     what the bishops say will make any difference. Seatbelts, 
     everybody. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

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