Anyone who follows the Catholic Left knows that it rejects the Church’s teachings on abortion, contraception, marriage, ordination and other issues. Some are quite open about it; others less so. The National Catholic Reporter is mostly in the former camp.
Recently, the Reporter published a slew of articles that in one way or another support abortion rights.
Over the summer it ran a piece titled, “Catholic Discourse on Black Lives Matter Must Amplify Women Founders.” Black Lives Matter is an enthusiastic supporter of abortion, despite the fact that a disproportionate number of black babies are aborted.
It also posted a piece by Sister Simone Campbell, who heads a dissident Catholic group, NETWORK. The “nuns on the bus” leader (only a few were ever along for the ride on her luxury bus) is encouraging Catholics not to vote for President Trump. In her article, she offered a rousing endorsement of Kamala Harris, despite the senator’s anti-Catholic track record and her radical support for abortion rights. The good sister believes that abortion should be legal (unlike, for example, racial discrimination).
There was another article the Reporter published on how dissident Catholic groups, which are abortion-rights activists, are urging Catholics to “vote their conscience.” That’s code for rejecting the teachings of the “male hierarchy” (as the author put it), also known as the Magisterium, or the pope in communion with the bishops.
On the same day the media outlet ran a positive article on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the pro-abortion congresswoman from New York. This was its second piece on her. The earlier one announced that “AOC is the Future of the Catholic Church.” No one believes this to be true, including the Reporter, but it made them feel good to say it. AOC has a 100% NARAL rating, meaning she has never found a pro-abortion bill she couldn’t support.
There was one article that was different from the others in one way: the author, lesbian activist Jamie Manson (she is a regular columnist), wrote an article called, “AOC Embraces Reproductive Justice, and Other Catholics Should, Too.” This was a full-throated endorsement of abortion.
The editors, however, knowing that there was nothing unequivocal about Manson’s lust for abortion rights, felt compelled to provide an introductory note.
“NCR does not expect its columnists to share completely the views of our editorial page, and this column is a case in point. NCR has for decades supported a nuanced view of the ‘seamless garment’ approach to abortion and other life issues, as spelled out in this editorial and others over the years.”
Other than Michael Sean Winters, and possibly one or two more, it is not clear who at the Reporter might not be in the abortion-rights camp. No matter, the real issue is why any publication which assumes a Catholic identity would print a column that is flagrantly pro-abortion. It sure wouldn’t publish an article that belittled climate change.
There is nothing nuanced about abortion: It kills. Trying to fudge a reason to support it—by relabeling it “reproductive justice”—is a sham. But this is where the Catholic Left is these days.
