The Record (New Jersey): No Whitman sampler for a
Trenton bishop |
Site last published: 01/06/10
The Record (New Jersey): No Whitman sampler for a Trenton bishop
October 17,2008
By:
Alfred P. Doblin
I WANT to promote a new bumper sticker slogan: "We don't need no stinkin' litmus test."
During previous presidential campaigns, Roe v. Wade, abortion, so-called "partial birth abortion" and a woman's right to choose have dominated the national discourse. Americans get worked up into a frenzy that the next president of the United States will nominate a Supreme Court justice who will either vote to overturn Roe v. Wade or ensure that it remains law.
It wasn't until Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen by Sen. John McCain as his running mate that abortion moved onto the stage in the 2008 campaign. With two wars and a global fiscal meltdown, most Americans have been focused on other issues.
Not so in Trenton. The Roman Catholic bishop of Trenton, John M. Smith, saw trouble afoot in his diocese. Former Gov. Christie Whitman was on the loose.
Apparently, some heretics at the Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic school for girls located in Princeton Township, had invited the only former female governor of New Jersey to speak at a "Women in Leadership Forum" to be held in the evening. The portals of hell were already spewing ash.
School officials apparently didn't realize that Christie Whitman, a moderate Republican by day, would transform at night into a rabble-rousing, pro-abortionist who would turn an evening about women in leadership into an attack on Catholic teaching.
As nonsensical as that sounds, Bishop Smith had the school un-invite Whitman about 10 days before the scheduled event, citing her known pro-choice positions.
Smith believed that allowing Whitman to speak about leadership would be akin to giving her pro-choice opinions his personal imprimatur.
The bishop can certainly do whatever he wants to Catholic organizations within his diocese. If Whitman's topic was women's reproductive rights, Smith's decision would make some sense. But Whitman said she doubted abortion would have come up even in a question from the audience.
She was taken aback by the bishop's reaction. "It took me totally by surprise," she said during a phone interview Tuesday. As governor, she had a good working relationship with then-Newark Archbishop Theodore McCarrick.
"I believe in life," she said. "I'm not pro-abortion. I'm pro-choice."
While it's easier to understand a bishop taking a position against a Catholic elected official who is pro-choice, Whitman isn't in office and she isn't even Catholic. She is an elder of the Lamington Presbyterian Church.
It is unfortunate that a former governor's views on abortion became the litmus test for her speaking at a Catholic facility. Would Smith bar Elie Wiesel from delivering a lecture on the horrors of genocide because Wiesel doesn't believe Jesus was the messiah?
Religious institutions do have a responsibility to teach the tenets of their founding faiths. But schools also must encourage critical thinking, and that requires being exposed to diverse opinions.
The topic of abortion should not obfuscate other life issues of equal importance ? from the death penalty to how we treat terminally ill patients.
This week, abortion came to the fore in the final presidential debate. McCain said he didn't want a litmus test for Supreme Court justices, but attacked Sen. Barack Obama for his views on partial birth abortions. Obama tried to clarify a previous vote in the Illinois Legislature on that procedure, saying he could not support legislation that excluded a clause for the "health" of the mother.
In the end, it was clear that both men really do have litmus tests for Supreme Court justices and they directly or indirectly revolve around the issue of abortion. As an aside, I still don't know where "Joe the Plumber" stands on Roe v. Wade.
Whitman said that being uninvited was a lesson of sorts for the young girls at the Catholic school. She's right. She was treated shabbily by the prelate. Bishop Smith did not even have the courtesy to speak to the former governor of this state and discuss his concerns. There might have been an amicable compromise that would have allowed Church leadership the opportunity to reinforce its position on abortion and still allow Whitman to speak to the girls.
Whitman wasn't given that choice. And that's a lesson for the students at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart.
Alfred P. Doblin is the editorial page editor of The Record. Contact him at doblin@northjersey.com
I WANT to promote a new bumper sticker slogan: "We don't need no stinkin' litmus test."
During previous presidential campaigns, Roe v. Wade, abortion, so-called "partial birth abortion" and a woman's right to choose have dominated the national discourse. Americans get worked up into a frenzy that the next president of the United States will nominate a Supreme Court justice who will either vote to overturn Roe v. Wade or ensure that it remains law.
It wasn't until Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen by Sen. John McCain as his running mate that abortion moved onto the stage in the 2008 campaign. With two wars and a global fiscal meltdown, most Americans have been focused on other issues.
Not so in Trenton. The Roman Catholic bishop of Trenton, John M. Smith, saw trouble afoot in his diocese. Former Gov. Christie Whitman was on the loose.
Apparently, some heretics at the Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic school for girls located in Princeton Township, had invited the only former female governor of New Jersey to speak at a "Women in Leadership Forum" to be held in the evening. The portals of hell were already spewing ash.
School officials apparently didn't realize that Christie Whitman, a moderate Republican by day, would transform at night into a rabble-rousing, pro-abortionist who would turn an evening about women in leadership into an attack on Catholic teaching.
As nonsensical as that sounds, Bishop Smith had the school un-invite Whitman about 10 days before the scheduled event, citing her known pro-choice positions.
Smith believed that allowing Whitman to speak about leadership would be akin to giving her pro-choice opinions his personal imprimatur.
The bishop can certainly do whatever he wants to Catholic organizations within his diocese. If Whitman's topic was women's reproductive rights, Smith's decision would make some sense. But Whitman said she doubted abortion would have come up even in a question from the audience.
She was taken aback by the bishop's reaction. "It took me totally by surprise," she said during a phone interview Tuesday. As governor, she had a good working relationship with then-Newark Archbishop Theodore McCarrick.
"I believe in life," she said. "I'm not pro-abortion. I'm pro-choice."
While it's easier to understand a bishop taking a position against a Catholic elected official who is pro-choice, Whitman isn't in office and she isn't even Catholic. She is an elder of the Lamington Presbyterian Church.
It is unfortunate that a former governor's views on abortion became the litmus test for her speaking at a Catholic facility. Would Smith bar Elie Wiesel from delivering a lecture on the horrors of genocide because Wiesel doesn't believe Jesus was the messiah?
Religious institutions do have a responsibility to teach the tenets of their founding faiths. But schools also must encourage critical thinking, and that requires being exposed to diverse opinions.
The topic of abortion should not obfuscate other life issues of equal importance ? from the death penalty to how we treat terminally ill patients.
This week, abortion came to the fore in the final presidential debate. McCain said he didn't want a litmus test for Supreme Court justices, but attacked Sen. Barack Obama for his views on partial birth abortions. Obama tried to clarify a previous vote in the Illinois Legislature on that procedure, saying he could not support legislation that excluded a clause for the "health" of the mother.
In the end, it was clear that both men really do have litmus tests for Supreme Court justices and they directly or indirectly revolve around the issue of abortion. As an aside, I still don't know where "Joe the Plumber" stands on Roe v. Wade.
Whitman said that being uninvited was a lesson of sorts for the young girls at the Catholic school. She's right. She was treated shabbily by the prelate. Bishop Smith did not even have the courtesy to speak to the former governor of this state and discuss his concerns. There might have been an amicable compromise that would have allowed Church leadership the opportunity to reinforce its position on abortion and still allow Whitman to speak to the girls.
Whitman wasn't given that choice. And that's a lesson for the students at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart.
Alfred P. Doblin is the editorial page editor of The Record. Contact him at doblin@northjersey.com