Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site loral.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard
From: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Catholic Pastoral Letter
Message-ID: <669@loral.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Nov-84 17:51:40 EST
Article-I.D.: loral.669
Posted: Mon Nov 19 17:51:40 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Nov-84 01:27:21 EST
References: <86@cadre.UUCP>
Reply-To: simard@loral.UUCP (Ray Simard)
Distribution: net.religion
Organization: Loral Instrumentation, San Diego, CA
Lines: 44
Summary: 

[This meeting of the USENET debating society will come to disorder]

     What stands out in the Catholic bishops' pastoral letter  is  something
shared  by  many  advocates of expanding the welfare state: an inability, or
perhaps unwillingness, to distinguish _e_n_d_s from _m_e_a_n_s.  Deploring  and  cal-
ling for an end to poverty and its effects are all well and good, and neces-
sary to compassionate citizens of this world.  But specifying means to  that
end  removes the bishops from the role of moral authority and places them in
the role of economist.  And, as a Canadian paper  commented,  (paraphrasing)
"If they behave as economists, they will be judged as economists".

     As a sector whose sustenance comes  from  the  voluntary  donations  of
those  who  prosper  in  the system they condemn, the bishops are especially
unqualified by personal experience to  advocate  specific  economic  policy.
While  I  always  support  the right of citizens, whether bishops or not, to
speak freely when moved, the bishops are not speaking as citizens; they  are
speaking  as bishops of the Catholic Church - and in that capacity, they are
absolutely out of their element of knowledge and expertise, and out of line.

     It would seem that, before preparing a document with such potential for
influence,  they would gather a spectrum of thought and give some considera-
tion for the track record of the methods they  advocate  that  have  already
been  enacted  for  years.   That  such  methods are provable failures is no
secret, but they have chosen to close their eyes to such evidence and behave
as if liberal doctrine were as sacred and above question as Church doctrine.
Charity as embraced in Christian faith (as well as much of the non-Christian
world)  is  wholesome, enriching and powerful.  But most of that power comes
from the personal choice in giving - a choice wholly  absent  in  government
transfer programs.

     If the bishops wish to maintain  their  credibility  as  caretakers  of
Catholic  moral  philosophy, they had better separate noble moral goals from
sanctimonious dicta of methods when  they  speak  under  the  aegis  of  the
Church.
-- 

[     I am not a stranger, but a friend you haven't met yet     ]

Ray Simard
Loral Instrumentation, San Diego
{ucbvax, ittvax!dcdwest}!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!simard

...Though we may sometimes disagree,
   You are still a friend to me!