In E.J. Dionne Jr.’s article “A Thorn in Both Their Sides” (June 2006), he writes, “The 2004 election, more than any other in recent memory, left progressive Catholics worried that the institutional church was taking sides in a partisan fight.” For me, this is not just an election-year issue. In my view, the church itself constantly reinforces this belief.
While Catholic leaders and groups take out full-page ads in newspapers decrying gay marriage, organize groups around abortion, and give homilies about the evils of both, nary a dollar is spent or a homily said that condemns those who kill gays. And what about asking Catholics to adopt children with mental or physical handicaps so that a child who would otherwise be aborted would not be left to the state? Where are the full-page ads for this?
When it comes to protesting militarization, war, and the death penalty, the only groups I have seen do this are Catholic Workers, who are not particularly in favor with the church. Where are the busloads of Catholic schoolchildren who get the day off to protest the war (like they do with abortion)? This is not an election-year issue or a media issue; this is a church issue.
Kevin Roth
Waunakee, Wisconsin
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