Cutting Through the Spin

by Fr. Roger J. Landry - June 15, 2007

In our modern political culture, spin-doctoring has become a valued skill if not a pseudo-virtue. On some occasions, spinning the truth involves nothing more than exclusively stressing the benefits of something while entirely neglecting the burdens, or stressing the negative aspects while ignoring the positive. At other times, the spinning involves consciously telling half-truths so that others will infer half-lies. Sometimes it involves outright deception.

In the face of this political trend, which is overflowing into the legal and corporate worlds, the Catholic Church has a profound responsibility. Jesus Christ said he came from heaven to earth to "give witness to the truth" (Jn 18:37) and he founded the Church to continue that witness. He also said that the truth he teaches and incarnates is what makes us free (Jn 8:32; 14:6).

If the Church as a whole has a responsibility to give witness to the truth, bishops and priests in particular must be truth tellers in an age of spin. Recently we have seen increasing evidence that the leaders of the Church are rising to the occasion to reverse the spin of popular sophistry.

We have seen it in terms of the various clarifications that have been made with regard to worthiness to receive Holy Communion. We have seen it in defense of the institution of marriage. We have seen it with respect to the issues of embryonic stem cell research, in-vitro fertilization and cloning. And we are seeing it much more in response to the pretension of certain Catholic politicians to be faithful Catholics while publicly supporting the practice of abortion.

Two weeks ago, Bishop Thomas Tobin set a new bar for the genre. He used his first column in the Rhode Island Catholic — the Diocese of Providence's redesigned and renamed newspaper — to address head on what he called Rudy Giuliani's "pathetic," "confusing," "hypocritical" and "preposterous" public proclamations on abortion.

Bishop Tobin was referring mainly to Giuliani's recent abortion speech at Houston Baptist College. "Here are the two strong beliefs that I have, here are the two pillars of my thinking," the Republican presidential candidate declared. "One is, I believe abortion is wrong. I think it is morally wrong . . . The second pillar that guides my thinking . . . where [people of good faith] come to different conclusions about this, about something so very, very personal, I believe you have to respect their viewpoint. You give them a level of choice here . . . I've always believed both of these things."

Bishop Tobin says this "drivel" is the "classic expression of the position on abortion we've heard from weak-kneed politicians in recent years," who claim to be personally opposed to something evil but unwilling to impose their views on others.

The bishop of Providence says that such a position is incongruous. "Would we let any politician get away with the same pathetic cop-out on other issues: 'I'm personally opposed to . . . racial discrimination, sexual abuse, prostitution, drug abuse, polygamy, incest . . . but don't want to impose my beliefs on others?'"

Such a position, he states, evokes the cowardice of Pontius Pilate, who personally opposed the crucifixion of Jesus but washed his hands from using his authority to stop the killing of an innocent man by a blood-thirsty mob.

The incongruity of the position stands out all the more when its premises are probed. Bishop Tobin publicly asks Mayor Giuliani:

"You say that you believe abortion is morally wrong. Why do you say that, Rudy; why do you believe that abortion is wrong? Is abortion the killing of an innocent child? Is it an offense against human dignity? Is it a cruel and violent act? Does it harm the woman who has the abortion? And if your answer to any of these questions is yes, Rudy, why would you permit people to . . . kill an innocent child, offend human dignity, commit a cruel and violent act or do harm to the mother? This is in the name of choice?"

Bishop Tobin adds that the issue obviously goes beyond Giuliani. He very candidly names those who have tried to advance similarly preposterous arguments and wonders aloud how they will fare in the most important election of all.

"Rudy's defection from the Catholic Faith on this moral issue is not unique, of course. Catholic politicians of both parties, nationwide, have followed a similar path in abandoning the Faith for the sake of political expediency: Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Pat Leahy, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden come quickly to mind. And on a local level, of course, Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Senator Jack Reed. How these intelligent men and women will someday stand before the judgment seat of God and explain why they legitimized the death of countless innocent children in the sin of abortion is beyond me."

It is easy to see why Bishop Tobin's column has quickly become an internet sensation. This type of candor is something that distinguished many of the great leaders in the history of the early Church, towering bishops like Athanasius, Chrysostom, and Augustine, who were prophets in the face of the political figures and issues of the day.

It's a style that today's Church leaders are increasingly adopting, as society has been losing its bearings on life, marriage and the family, and so much more, and trying to spin these developments as good rather than evil.

It's a style whose time is returning.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.