Sir, – I am reasonably sure that US president-elect Joe Biden can hardly not be aware of the church’s teaching on the evil of abortion, and on the grave obligation of legislators not to vote for it. This has, after all, been an issue for over 20 years, going back to the candidacy of John Kerry for the presidency, if not before.
In his election campaign, Mr Biden promised not only to copper-fasten the post-Roe v Wade US constitutional position on abortion, but also to support federal funding for abortions. Such a promise cannot be reckoned as remote, material cooperation that may be allowed given a proportionately grave reason, as Prof Patrick Hannon claims (Letters, December 10th).
My colleague’s thinking can most charitably be described as bizarre, when he claims that formal co-operation is “distinguished from co-operation that’s ‘material’, a contribution to the outcome which itself is morally neutral or good, and in itself does not signify moral approval.” How could the active promotion of abortion be seen as “morally neutral and good” and “not signify approval”?
Should one claim, as Patrick Hannon seems to do, that Catholic politicians who vote for abortion could do so in good conscience, then their guilt might possibly lie at a deeper level, namely in the failure to form their consciences in harmony with the eternal moral order written into our being, an order which proscribes the killing of innocent human life. –Yours, etc,
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D VINCENT
TWOMEY, SVD
(Professor Emeritus
of Moral Theology),
St Patrick’s College,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.
Sir – I think it’s an excellent idea that the two emeritus professors of moral theology in Maynooth, instead of using up an inordinate amount of space in your Letters to the Editor page should, instead of searching for a non-existent middle ground of agreement on the moral theology of Joe Biden, meet in Maynooth and have a chat among themselves.
The problem with such debates can be stated like this. You either accept or not that the Catholic Church is now a broad church; fundamentally, the division is on the question of the development of doctrine; and those on the outer edges will never agree with one another because they exist on different theological planets.
It’s the development of doctrine. Some see it as obvious, necessary and happening under our noses. Others just can’t live with it.
Fr BRENDAN HOBAN,
(Emeritus Parish Priest),
Ballina,
Co Mayo.