For Immediate Release
17 May 2010
Media Contact:
David J. Nolan
+1 202 986 6093
www.CatholicsForChoice.org
"Excommunication" of Nun in Arizona Very Troubling
This is a statement from Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice:
The news that a nun who works at a Catholic hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, was excommunicated following her participation in a decision to permit an abortion to take place is very troubling.
According to the local bishop, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, head of the Phoenix Diocese, Sister Margaret McBride was "automatically excommunicated" and reassigned to other duties.
Apparently, the abortion took place late last year when a woman, who was 11 weeks pregnant, was diagnosed with a condition that meant she would not survive if she continued the pregnancy.
While not all the facts are available, it is clear that the Vatican's hard line on abortion led to this terrible situation. Sadly, we see situations like this time after time, both here in the US and abroad. The Vatican's outright ban on all abortions is insensitive and reflects an unwillingness to acknowledge the reality of women's lives, including the difficult decisions that often have to be made during a pregnancy.
It is also unclear whether Sister McBride in fact met the criteria for an "automatic" excommunication. A Catholics for Choice publication, Notes on Canon Law No.1, outlines the conditions that need to be met, according to the Catholic church's law.
It is not immediately clear why Sister McBride's counsel was sought in this matter, but it is heartening to know that despite the Vatican's opposition to all abortion, local staff at a Catholic hospital made a conscientious and compassionate decision to save this woman's life.
Reasonable Catholics the world over acknowledge that access to abortion is sometimes necessary, and our polling and that of other organizations shows that a large majority of Catholics reject the Vatican's outright ban on all abortions.
Apparently the life of the mother is not a priority in cases where her life is at a risk in a high-risk pregnancy like the one described in this example! How tragic that Sister McBride was excommunicated for making a "conscientious and compassionate decision to save this woman's life"!
Catholics must follow their consciences always. Vatican 11 and even Pope Benedict made this clear in his writings.
I don't understand that pedophiles who abuse hundreds of children are protected and certainly not harshly punished by the hierarchy with excommunication, but nuns and woman priests who follow their consciences and spend their lives serving the people of God receive the gravest of ecclesiatical penalties. Do you think this could be another example of sexism in the Catholic Church? Do you think this is also another example of hierarchical abuse of power? Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
Living Gospel Inclusivity and Empowerment Now
You people are sick when you start suggesting that murder is less of an offense than fondling a child. It's murder folks! She deserved excommunication. This is not an abuse of power, but the perfect exercise of it.
ReplyDeleteSo Mike, Are you going to excommunicate the CATHOLIC HOSPITAL that preformed the 11 week abortion ?
ReplyDeleteAre you excommunicating the parents too ?
You know Mike, there have been victims of sexual abuse from the hands of Church authority, that have committed suicide.
This opinion of yours is not widely accepted by Catholics worldwide, when it comes to the child's life in the 1st term vs the Mother's life.
Yes, it is horrible and unimaginable to be a woman and have to face such a decision, choosing her own life over a 1st trimester child. This is something as a Man that you can not ever completely feel or understand. A woman will feel this forever indeed, just as a victim of sexual abuse feels the damage committed to them. Again, I stress that one would have to have been a woman, or a victim of abuse to actually know, feel, or understand.
In this case, with the little facts that were presented, I believe Our most Loving Lord would understand the Woman's choice. She shall be forgiven and the life of the child blessed into the eternal loving presence of Our Lord.
For the record, I am pro life ! I encourage life !
I thank God I do not have to make those decisions.
As for the Nun and her service, only she can speak for her involvement. As for a Catholic Hospital - they are so strict that they will not even preform procedures as "tying" tubes, so this MUST have been an extreme case.
Come to think of it, unless the Nun was a Dr. , she did not preform or have jurisdiction over the case. It does not state that SHE repeatedly supports abortions...
I think that may be a better comparison to the sexual abuses. They repeatedly happened and then CONTINUED (key word) to be covered up. With no excommunications or defrockings for many of the abusers - Male.
I think that is the comparison as I read the writers words.
Women get punished, excommunicated, Men ...well maybe not as often. Sometimes they have been punished - but there is so much evidence of cover up and irresponsible management.
Let us all pray for the Mother, the Father and the Child in this situation. As well as the employees that worked at the Catholic Hospital, and the Religious Nun - as well as the Bishop who is exercising the power over the Nun - but No others were mentioned as excommunicated.
Why Lord, why just the Nun ? Maybe we do not have the entire story.