Catholic blog browsing - the Pope chastises other Christians and my response to "Radical Catholic Mom's" Blog

I periodically peruse Catholic blogs to get a feel of what's going on in the Catholic Community. I guess 16-years of Catholic School and having my own daughter go through the process of learning the Catholic faith causes me to "feel at home" on some levels with Catholicism. I sincerely believe that the Catholic Church got it totally right when it comes to Confession - my substance-abuse recovery showed me the wisdom in that. I am proud of the Church for their anti-war stance as well as their efforts to end poverty and when I search the blogs, I actually go out there looking for areas of agreement rather than disagreement.

Of course, the Church Hierarchy and I have many disagreements. Shocked?

Anyway, in my perusal today, I ran across this at A Catholic Notebook:

Pope Benedict has taken Christians to task for focusing too narrowly on individual salvation,

“a way of abandoning the world to its misery and taking refuge in a private form of eternal salvation.”

source: Spe Salvi encyclical

I'd like to put that on a huge sign and post it out front of The Anchorage Baptist Temple.

Also, there are a number of good Alaska blogs out there posted by folks with whom I don't necessarily always see eye-to-eye.

Radical Catholic Mom is one of them.

In her April 21st post "An Open Letter to Alaska Democrats" she discusses her frustration with the treatment she feels she's received by Dems because she is a "Pro-life Progressive."

I started thinking about this after I ripped the pro-life community one for our continued support for people like Republican Don Young. The reality is that the Democrats bear responsibility in this mess as well. Why? Because Democrats are SO passionate in their treatment for the sanctity of abortion that they are anti-ANY pro-life Democrat in their midst. The result has been that people who are pro-life have no choice but to vote Republican.

I don't get that "no choice but to vote Republican" claim. Isn't not voting at all a viable choice?

She then states who she could passionately throw her support behind:

You give me a Democrat who cares for the unborn, cares for the social needs of a single parent and married working parents; you give me a Democrat who cares about the immigrant, who cares about worker, and human rights; you give me a Democrat who LOVES our system of Government and does not want the corruption that Republicans have married; you give me a Democrat who cares about the health care system for all people, and you give me a Democrat who cares about balancing our budget, I will WORK FOR YOU! I will campaign, I will donate, I will do everything in my power.
Until then, I am a woman without a party.

I responded in her comments:

I know Democratic candidates (Diane Benson is one) who espouses EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE VALUES you say you hold dear and will cause you to fight for them.

However, the one thing these Democrats are unwilling to do is legally force a decision on any woman.

There are Democrats like me who believe that our future is for folks from both sides of the abortion aisle to work towards making abortion obsolete...making sure every child is cared for from cradle to grave with health care and education, that "family planning" is not treated as a dirty word but makes available biological and birth control education with a push towards abstinence.

There are many Liberal Christians working together towards these goals, like the folks at Sojourners. (www.sojo.net)

Since "the law" issue must be the one thing keeping you from supporting a Democrat as all the other things are true, aren't you just as closed-minded as the folks you are accusing?

If you allow "the law" issue to keep you from voting for deserving Dems (throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak) - isn't your inaction helping keep folks like Don Young in office almost as much as if you voted for him?

I get irritated when "caring for the unborn" is only equated to fighting Roe v. Wade. Universal healthcare for pregnant woman, funding for more research into genetic diseases, more education for young girls and women on taking care of themselves during pregnancy, greater access to substance abuse treatment and recovery halfway-houses for pregnant women, making sure single moms can get a livable wage and access to affordable day care...all of these things are "caring for the unborn."

Narrowly focusing on reversing the law only allows the conditions to run rampant which cause women to get abortions in the first place.

I believe that using Roe V. Wade to justify voting in slime like Don Young is a moral and ethical issue unto itself.