Editorial To Politician: Choose Pro-Abortion or Church

THE CATHOLIC SUN, August 6—The newspaper of the diocese of Phoenix took local Catholic U.S. Congressman Ed Pastor to task in an editorial Aug. 6. It told the Democrat to choose between his religion and his proabortion stance:

“Two of Arizona's representatives belong in the hall of shame on this issue [of partial-birth abortion]: John Kolbe [a Methodist from Tucson] and Ed Pastor both voted against the veto override.

“Pastor, a name which means ‘shepherd,’ ought to be thrice ashamed. The shepherd protects innocent, defenseless sheep from predators. Not Pastor; he has consistently voted pro-abortion and forsaken the defenseless unborn.

“Pastor is a Democrat, the party that for decades has aligned itself with the downtrodden, the oppressed, and those who have no voice; the Democratic Party ought to be the one to protect the voiceless unborn. While there are people of good will in the party, unfortunately it has consistently been the party of death when it comes to abortion.

“Pastor is also a Catholic. He knows the Church's teaching on abortion and refuses to follow it. He could do much to preserve the unborn lives, but does not. He supports the availability of any abortion, every abortion.”

“It is time for Pastor to change his heart — and his voting record — on abortion. If not, he ought to disavow his Catholic faith. He cannot possibly, in good conscience, reconcile his faith and his stance.”

Organ Recipients Likely to Embrace Religion

DALLAS MORNING NEWS, August 9—When Catholic apologists say that you need to share your heart with others to evangelize them, they don't mean literally. But perhaps they should reconsider: the Dallas Morning News reported that patients who receive life-saving organ transplants are almost universally interested in religion.

The paper interviewed three people who had organ transplants. George Cameron received a kidney. Bill Lombardi and Bob Seibold received new hearts. Experts in the field say their responses are typical of a phenomenon that they see in nearly every patient saved by an organ transplant: they have each found religion.

Cameron was a lapsed Catholic before his brush with death and the surgery that saved him. Now he centers his life around confession, Mass, and the Eucharist.

Lombardi is nagged by questions about the meaning of life, and says he feels God's presence. “It's an internal radiance that I feel,” he is quoted saying. “It's a feeling of love, an extreme and deep love. It's also an awareness that … something else is going to come about, but you don't know what it is.”

Seibold told the paper, “There is no plausible explanation for me being alive today other than that it was God's will.”

Woman Converted by Friends and Eucharist

WASHINGTON POST, August 8—The Washington Post is publishing occasional testimonials about religion by Washingtonians. Kim Marie Lamberty wrote that her conversion to Catholicism was sparked by her admiration for the grand architecture of the Washington National Cathedral, but fanned to a flame by friends.

“The year was 1989. I had a respectable job with a respectable salary, an advanced degree from an Ivy League school, good friends. I was buying a condo. Professional success, prestige, power, money, approval from others…I thought that the life I was working for would lead me to happiness and love; instead I was miserable.

“I…had a lot of Roman Catholic friends and through them experienced the strength of their faith. It was my earliest experience of community.

“A friend suggested I read some stories written by others who had converted.… ‘If you feel called by the Catholic Church,’ another said, ‘then go to Mass.’

“I went to Mass in the spring of 1990. It was a Wednesday night… When I got there I discovered that it was Ash Wednesday. It was raining buckets outside, and I was soaked and late. So I had to stand in the back.

“The priest was speaking about reconciling oneself to God. I stood near the door and cried as hard as it rained. I knew then that I had come home.…

“At the center of [my faith] is the Eucharist, which is receiving the body and blood of Christ. When I take Communion with the countless other Catholics in the world, it gives me hope. The hope is that despite all our divisions, our violence, hatred, anger, injustice, and poverty, that someday humanity will be one. This hope is what gets me through each week.”