George P. Matysek Jr. is the assistant managing editor of The Catholic Review in Baltimore.

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About believing in communitarian values but being pro-abortion. It takes some real mental gymnastics to resolve this cognitive dissonance, as if the unborn are not part of God's community. As a psychologist, I think pro-abortion folks have to indulge in a lot of denial about the humanity of the unborn. Wish we could invent a time machine and ask the mom and dad to spend a day say two years hence with their child now in the womb. Watch them play, tuck them into bed at night. Think there would be ANY abortion then?

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I think John Gehring is focusing on (and deliberately confusing) Catholic teachings vs. doctrines and dogma--and thus setting up an equivocation and a red herring to criticize Rick Santorum as holding views not in the mainstream with the Church. For instance, he (Mr. Santorum) might disagree with the Pope on whether global warming is anthropogenic or natural, but that is not a disagreement on a fundamental teaching or doctrine of the Church, nor would it put Mr. Santorum in danger of being an inauthentic Catholic. If he didn't believe in the Trinity, then that is another matter altogether. But I think John Gehring's tactic is to say that because Mr. Santorum doesn't carry the water for the majority of liberal causes and supposed solutions of the moment that he, Gehring, does, then Santorum's not a good Catholic and is outside the mainstream. Nice try, John, but the rhetorical technique is quite hackneyed, and makes your point that much more shallow.

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The Narthex

Was Michele Bachmann threatened by an ex-nun?

Here's a story for the 'strange but true' file.  Rep. Michele Bachmann once claimed that an ex-nun was involved in holding Bachmann against her will.  From The Daily Beast:

In April 2005, Pamela Arnold wanted to talk to her state senator, Michele Bachmann, who was then running for Congress. A 46-year-old who worked at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Arnold lived with her partner, the famed Arctic explorer Ann Bancroft, on a farm in Scandia, Minnesota. Bachmann was then leading the fight against gay marriage in the state. She'd recently been in the news for hiding in the bushes to observe a gay rights rally at the Capitol. So when members of the Scandia gay community decided to attend one of Bachmann's constituent forums, Arnold, wanting to make herself visible to her representative, joined them.
Michele Bachmann anti-gay platform
Charlie Neibergall / AP Photo

A few dozen people showed up at the town hall for the April 9 event, and Bachmann greeted them warmly. But when, during the question and answer session, the topic turned to gay marriage, Bachmann ended the meeting 20 minutes early and rushed to the bathroom. Hoping to speak to her, Arnold and another middle-aged woman, a former nun, followed her. As Bachmann washed her hands and Arnold looked on, the ex-nun tried to talk to her about theology. Suddenly, after less than a minute, Bachmann let out a shriek. "Help!" she screamed. "Help! I'm being held against my will!"

Arnold, who is just over 5 feet tall, was stunned, and hurried to open the door. Bachmann bolted out and fled, crying, to an SUV outside. Then she called the police, saying, according to the police report, that she was "absolutely terrified and has never been that terrorized before as she had no idea what those two women were going to do to her." The Washington County attorney, however, declined to press charges, writing in a memo, "It seems clear from the statements given by both women that they simply wanted to discuss certain issues further with Ms. Bachmann."

The rest of the story touches on Bachmann's evangelical roots.  Check it out here.

June 17, 2011 07:24
By George Matysek