The letters to the editor of Michael Macro and Richard E. Wachter (CR, Sept. 17) taking issue with Archbishop O’Brien’s comments on Sen. Edward Kennedy reflect an unbecoming ignorance of our Catholic faith.
Abortion is not a private issue, nor is religion for that matter. They are social issues that have a profound impact on the lives of people and the laws they make for the good of society in general. Religious freedom is not an invitation to water down one’s own religion to the point of tolerating a secular standard that is intrinsically wrong. There is an obligation to oppose, not support, those things that one’s faith decries, in particular the fundamental right to life from conception to natural death.
An archbishop pointing out Sen. Kennedy’s mistakes is not a condemnation of the man or his motives. It is a fact that an archbishop has a responsibility to expose and correct, lest misconceptions continue to lead people astray.
We need to do more than pray for an end to abortion; we need to support efforts to end its legalization.