by

Mike Cohen

Father Patrick O'Doherty (Star Banner 7/28/02) and I live in different Americas and I like mine better.

In Father O'Doherty's America: "It is only if and when a party's political program cuts across the moral law, as in pro-abortion platform, that the church reserves the right to become involved by very direct action in advising the faithful about what to do."

This sounds pretty reasonable on first reading, but I read it a second time and questions come up. Who's "moral law" is the father proclaiming? Since the beginning of history, one authoritarian after another has appointed himself guardian of the world's morality and here in the 21^st century the pattern continues. It is true that Father O'Doherty says he is advising "the faithful" but in practice, as in this piece in a public newspaper, it is obvious that his target is much broader. He attacks, for instance, the right of a political party to support the right of a woman to control her own body. Despite the fact that abortion is legal in the Unites States, his aim is to deny this right to everybody, not merely the members of his own church. So much for his statement about advising only "the faithful". He would, indeed, have his "morality" override the power of the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the majority of all Americans.

Father O'Doherty offers up "a real life example". "Ten years ago, a man came into the church after Holy Mass and said to me '... I'm voting for Ross Pero'. I replied, 'Mr Pero is pro-abortion, to vote for him is to make yourself an accessory to murder.' " Unbelievably, Father O'Doherty's essay equates the man's vote for Pero with a theoretical situation in which "as principle of the school, I knowingly place an active child molester as the second grade teacher and this teacher sexually molests your grandchild." Father O'Doherty then dismisses the man with the punch line (which he proudly repeats for us) "I hope your next social security check has baby's blood on it."

No, this is not a man I want in control of morality in my country. And yes, Father O'Doherty and I live in different Americas. I like my better.

Mike Cohen