NY Times: Bishops Denounce Writings of a Catholic Theologian

Laurie Goodstein writes in yesterday's New York Times:

In a rare step, Roman Catholic bishops in the United States have declared as false teaching two pamphlets by a Catholic theologian who argues that abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage are morally permissible under Catholic doctrine.

The theologian, Daniel C. Maguire, teaches religious ethics at Marquette University, a Jesuit institution in Milwaukee. He is a 75-year-old former priest and a prolific writer, educated at the prestigious Gregorian University in Rome, who has been challenging Catholic teaching on sexuality for years.

Last summer, Mr. Maguire mailed two of his pamphlets, The Moderate Roman Catholic Position on Contraception and Abortion and A Catholic Defense of Same-Sex Marriage to 270 Catholic bishops. In them, he argued that the Catholic position on these issues was pluralistic, and that Catholic theologians through history had taken a variety of acceptable stances on these issues.

When will the Catholic Church finally accept the fact that its teachings on abortion and contraception are anachronistic and out of step with the beliefs of most Catholics?  As Catholics for a Free Choice points out: "Catholics believe in legal abortion.They also believe in contraception, sexuality education, government support for family planning programs in developing countries and the separation of church and state."  Read CFFC's brochures on Catholics and abortion and Catholics and contraception.

To read about other religious perspectives on abortion and contraception, see Sacred Rights: The Case for Contraception and Abortion in World Religions, edited by Daniel C. Maguire.

See also: Pro-Choice, Pro-Faith; NYT: Pope Reaffirms View Opposing Gay Marriage and Abortion.