Good News

bishops in Ecuador show spine in abortion debate

August 2008

If only their American counterparts would take inspiration from it...

By Andrew Peterson
For CoverUps.com

Commentary by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman brings us news from Ecuador that is both heartening and chastening for people on either side of the abortion debate in this country.

Ecuador's young and popular President, Rafael Correa, is locked in political and cultural battle with an unlikely opponent – Archbishop Antonio Arregui of Guayaquil, leader of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Church. Their fight arose over the potential insertion of language into Ecuador's new constitution – which is still being written – that promotes abortion, homosexual rights, so-called transgenderism, and other issues.

Although Ecuador has strong Catholic roots, as well as a lively minority of Evangelical Protestants, the new powers that be in Ecuador were betting that their unpopular position on human life and family issues would be of secondary interest.

 But President Correa's calculations proved to be faulty.

In response to the proposed document ... Archbishop Antonio Arregui of Guayaquil issued a bold and unequivocal statement denouncing the document's pro-abortion language, as well as other passages recognizing homosexual "rights", "transgenderism" (the notion that gender is all in one's head), and other anti-family provisions. Succinct and to the point, Arregui called the issues "non-negotiable".

Arregui's moral defiance exposed a dark side in Correa's government that should give pause to even his most ardent supporters:

Defying death threats, menacing language from the nation's president and political party, and even criminal charges filed against him, Arregui has held firm, and in recent days the entire Catholic hierarchy in Ecuador signed a statement giving him their unequivocal support. One Archbishop referred to the nation's new proposed Magna Carta as a "sandwich" laced with "cyanide".

The example set by Arregui and the Ecuadorian Bishops stands in stark contrast to the conduct of churches in America.

The response of the Catholic hierarchy and its allies in Ecuador, in the face of political and physical intimidation, offers an embarrassing contrast to the muted voices, silence, and even connivance of religious leaders in the United States, Canada, and Europe, who seem to fear the derision of the cultural pseudo-elites more than their counterparts in South America fear death.

Cullinan Hoffman takes American Catholicism to task for refusing to make an issue of the fact that many Catholic politicians flout the teachings of their own church, while using their Catholic identity to benefit themselves politically. But the path to redemption is open for institutions as well as individuals:

Religious leaders in the United States, mindful of the commandment of Christ to "be not afraid", can look to the example of Ecuador, Brazil, the Philippines, and other countries where the implacable and courageous efforts of religious leaders and laity have stopped the "culture of death" in its tracks. Although they are confronted with billionaire international foundations and quasi-governmental agencies, they have a weapon that is more potent than all of the wealth and power on Earth: they have the truth.

Our Take

It's understandable that recent scandals have produced on the part of church leadership in this country a desire to shy away from controversy of any kind. But one way for the church to recover some modest scrap of respectability and spiritual honor might be to boldly embrace and again actively, confidently promote its traditional values, which, sadly, it has failed to do for far too long.

Link to article.