Bishop Tobin on O’Reilly and Hardball

On Tuesday evening, Bishop Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island appeared on The O’Reilly Factor on The Fox News Channel to defend his decision to prohibit U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy from receiving Holy Communion because of the lawmaker’s outspoken support for abortion.

Bishop Tobin conducted himself admirably, noting that Catholics have certain obligations to conform themselves to the teachings of the Church.

Every Catholic has certain obligations.  It means something to say you’re a Catholic.  No one is forced to be a Catholic.  If you choose freely to be a Catholic, it means that you do certain things and you believe certain things, and I think that all I am trying to say to Congressman Kennedy, and others who might be involved, is to say, if you’re a Catholic, live up to your Faith.  Understand what the Church teaches.  Accept those teachings and live that Faith.

Bishop Tobin also drew a clear distinction about the Church’s teaching on abortion — that it is always a gravely sinful sinful act and “intrinsically evil” — and teaching on the death penalty, which, at least in theory, is permissible under some circumstances.

On Monday evening, Chris Matthews of MSNBC used his interview with Bishop Tobin as a soapbox for “an extended and quite insulting lecture” on how the bishop had “transgressed” into the realm of public policy and lawmaking.  According to Matthews (who himself claims to be a Catholic):

And I would urge you to consider the possibility of error here, because in getting into telling public officials how to set public policy, you’re stepping beyond moral teaching, and you’re basically assuming a moral authority which I don’t think is yours.

Matthews pressed the bishop repeatedly on the question of whether women who procured abortions should be thrown in jail.  As the CNS observes:

The question of criminal penalties for women who seek abortions is a common talking point among supporters of permissive abortion laws. The issue was considered in an August, 2007 symposium titled “One Untrue Thing” on the conservative web site National Review Online.

In that symposium, Villanova University law professor Joseph Dellapenna said “none of the anti-abortion laws overturned by Roe v. Wade… treated the woman as a criminal.”

Rather, he explained, the laws treated the woman as a victim in part because of the dangers of abortion and in part because of the need for her testimony to convict the abortionist.

In the same symposium Clarke D. Forsythe of Americans United for Life pointed out that before Roe the abortionist, not the prosecutor, tried to argue that an abortion-seeking woman should be treated as an accomplice. This was done “for the obvious purpose of undermining the state’s criminal case against the abortionist,” he wrote.

This criminal penalties talking point is a favorite of Matthews.  No doubt Mr. Matthews would assert that it is his journalistic duty to “ask the tough questions” of Bishop Tobin, but his treatment of the courageous prelate was absolutely shameful.  Bill Donohue of the Catholic League claimed that a non-Catholic would never treat a bishop in this manner, only liberal Catholics being so bold.  I think that Mr. Donohue is sorely mistaken, but this in no way excuses Matthew’s disrespectful interview with the good bishop.

The Anglo-Catholic kudos to Bishop Tobin for his uncompromising defense of Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life.

No commitment is more important than your commitment to your faith because it involves your relationship with God.  And if your faith somehow interferes with, or your job gets in the way of your faith, as I’ve said on other occasions, you need to quit your job and save your soul.  Nothing can become more important than your relationship with God.