Heidi Schlumpf is an associate professor of communication at Aurora University outside Chicago and the author of Elizabeth Johnson: Questing for God.
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Becoming a 'Seamless Garment'
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THIRTY-FIVE YEARS ago, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago called for a “consistent ethic of life”—a broad, underlying attitude of respect for human life and dignity that would apply to issues as diverse as abortion, peace, and the death penalty.
In a 1983 lecture that landed him—and the consistent ethic—on the front page of The New York Times, Bernardin drew connections between nuclear arms and abortion: “The principle which structures both cases, war and abortion, needs to be upheld in both places. It cannot be successfully sustained on one count and simultaneously eroded in a similar situation,” he said.
If only we had listened.
A Church At The Crossroads
Sex abuse scandal, priest shortages, celibacy, ordaining women: The issues roiling the Catholic Church offer challenges - and hope? - for the future.
No Place to Stand
When you're Christian, progressive, and "pro-life," voting your conscience is often easier said than done.