We need pro-life bishops who are not respecters of persons

Today Catholics celebrate the Conversion of St Paul. In his Epistle to the Romans, St Paul says (2:11):

"For there is no respect of persons with God"

Respecting persons is rejected in numerous other places in Sacred Scripture. It means that God's law applies equally to all persons, rich or poor, strong or weak, famous or obscure. God is not impressed with flowery words, studied artifice or manufactured sentiments, but with loving obedience to His commandments, not least "Thou shalt not kill".

That's why I am very grateful to Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island, America, who has punctured the balloon of President Barack Obama's rhetoric. In his local Catholic newspaper, Bishop Tobin wrote about Mr Obama's words in response to the recent shooting in Tucson, Arizona:

"[T]here was something that left me cold, unimpressed and unmoved ... President Obama’s persistent and willful promotion of abortion renders his compassionate gestures and soaring rhetoric completely disingenuous ... As he stood on the stage in Tucson, he was a prophet without credentials; his speech, a song without a soul."

Bishop Tobin's cutting criticism of Mr Obama is in stark contrast to the silence of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales in response to British pro-abortion leaders. For example, none of the bishops are on record as pointing out the hypocrisy of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown or David Cameron. I believe this is because the policy of the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales is to respect persons in government and officialdom. This is evidenced by:

• the reception of Tony Blair into the Catholic Church by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, despite Mr Blair's failure to repudiate (before or since) his anti-life/anti-family political record;
• the co-operation between Archbishop Peter Smith and Lord Falconer, then Lord Chancellor, in the passage of the pro-euthanasia Mental Capacity Act (Lord Falconer has since gone on to be a prominent advocate of assisted suicide)
• the whitewashing by Archbishop Smith of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)'s policy on assisted suicide

Rather, we need more bishops like Thomas Tobin who, like St Thomas More, are "the King's good servant, but God's first".

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
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