Fordham award to Justice Breyer angers Catholic leader, sparks new fight over abortion rights

[Nambe]

Source: WASHINGTON (AP)

The leader of the Catholic church in New York is among those criticizing Fordham University for giving an award to Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, a supporter of abortion rights.

A spokesman for the New York Archdiocese said Cardinal Edward Egan was surprised to learn Breyer would receive an award from Fordham's law school and has spoken to the Catholic university's leaders to ensure "that a mistake of this sort will not happen again."

Spokesman Joseph Zwilling said Monday that Egan was talking about Breyer's votes on the court in favor of abortion rights. ...

Read more: http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-breyer-abortion-protest,0,693883.story

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Catholic leader angers billions of humans trying to save a dying planet and all of it´s wonderful creations.

[sasquatch]

1. And what is this we have hear??? MOLESTATION INDICTMENTS!!!

I think he better shut the fuck up before we throws his "holiness" in the clink.

[Bozita]

2. The bishop of Scranton went off on abortion. Read it here at DU this morning.

Gotta make sure all those Catholics vote Republicon.

[Bozita]

5. link ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7617862

[leftchick]

7. I purposely missed mass

so I would not have to be subjected to father freak in my parish going off. Imagine being told what to do about my health by a bunch of 'celibate' men, better known for their preying on the young.

hmmmmm :think:

[Bake]

13. The Bishop of Scrotum?

These pointy hat types really crack me up.

:rofl:

Bake

[patrice]

3. So, what's Eagan's prob? Breyer's Jewish. So even if "The Church" had the guts to speak "ex cathedra

" on the issue, "ex cathedra", i.e. Catholic Dogma, is Catholic, not Jewish.

So, even though "The Church" is NOT actually claiming INFALLABILITY on this issue, all other religions are to act as though they are AND that that teaching applies to them also, i.e. ONLY the Catholic Church is Right about EVERYTHING (i.e. Right even about matters that are NOT Catholic Dogma.)

Beyond the fact that if they are going to speak Infallabilly they need to step up to bat and say that that IS what they are doing . . . Isn't this Blasphemy, no matter how you parse it?

[fascisthunter]

4. Once Again Churches.... stay out of our government

and our government will stay out of your Church. Oh... try not to let your god get too far into your head, because when you act like this, you try to be a god yourself.

[patrice]

6. Dear Bishop Eagan, War is Abortion too. You will achieve respect for Pro-Life ONLY when

you speak out as aggressively against War as you do against Pro-Choice.

If a woman cannot choose Abortion for her own reasons, then a nation cannot choose to kill innocent CHILDREN for its own reasons.

[TygrBright]

8. I'd like to think Fordham's leadership...

...sent the Cardinal away with a polite flea in the ear.

But I'm not that optimistic.

irritatedly,
Bright

[JerseygirlCT]

9. The boys are really trying to crack down on Catholic

institutions of higher ed.

It's going to backfire on them, big time. If they succeed, they will manage to dumb down what have been some of the best colleges and universities in the countries by squelching academic freedom in favor of their very restrictive and authoritarian view of theology.

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. Just as a point of logic: is the award FOR supporting abortion rights? nt

[struggle4progress]

11. Here's an excerpt from a cached copy of the original webpage announcement:

Supreme Court Justice Breyer to Receive Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize
Contact: Paul W. Brennan
[email protected]

Justice Stephen Breyer has been selected to receive the 2008 Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize ...

"Justice Breyer has devoted his life to the public good,” said William Michael Treanor, dean of Fordham Law. “He was a brilliant, influential, and path-breaking scholar. His government service before taking the bench was of the highest quality. As a jurist, his opinions have been marked by thoughtfulness, balance, rigor, and a commitment to justice and liberty. He has been an eloquent and forceful champion of judicial integrity, as we saw this spring when he participated in a forum on judicial independence at Fordham Law together with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. In every facet of his extraordinary career, he has embodied the great ideals of the Fordham-Stein Prize, and he is a superb honoree."

Appointed to the Court by President Bill Clinton in 1994, Justice Breyer had previously served as an assistant to the United States assistant attorney general for antitrust, an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, and a special counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

Following government service, Breyer taught at Harvard Law School and was also a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. A leading expert on administrative law, he wrote a number of influential books and articles on issues ranging from deregulation to copyrights. He left teaching to join the bench, initially as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. In 2005, in his book Active Liberty, Justice Breyer presented his views on how the judiciary can best encourage citizen participation in the government’s decision making process.

"In every phase of his professional life, as a lawyer in government service, as a scholar, as a judge and justice, Stephen Breyer has exemplified the values that the Fordham-Stein Prize honors," said Bruce Green, co-director of Fordham Law’s Stein Center. "Justice Breyer is clearly an attorney whose career has been unwaveringly committed both to excellence and to upholding the integrity of the profession." ...

<original address: doesn't work for me:> http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/public_affairs/archives/2008/archive_1330.asp
<google cache:> http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:EbefgBBPxlEJ:www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/public_affairs/archives/2008/archive_1330.asp+Fordham-Stein+Ethics+Prize+Breyer&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. It gets a littlle dicey here: "....in every aspect....". *Every*.

>>>"Justice Breyer has devoted his life to the public good,” said William Michael Treanor, dean of Fordham Law. “He was a brilliant, influential, and path-breaking scholar. His government service before taking the bench was of the highest quality. As a jurist, his opinions have been marked by thoughtfulness, balance, rigor, and a commitment to justice and liberty. He has been an eloquent and forceful champion of judicial integrity, as we saw this spring when he participated in a forum on judicial independence at Fordham Law together with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. In every facet of his extraordinary career, he has embodied the great ideals of the Fordham-Stein Prize, and he is a superb honoree.">>>

OTOH, he's not catholic, as someone up thread pointed out. So the usual rationale the hierarchy uses in disciplining pro-choice catholic pols wouldn't normally apply.

The rest of the accolades are certainly in line with the essence of the church's express ethical philosophy, as I understand it to be. It's complicated by the fact that Fordham is administered... I think still... by a religious order that enjoys some degree of autonomy from the Vatican hierarchy and is separate and completely autonomous from the local Catholic "machers". ( Did I spell that right? I mean Jewish for 'big shots').

Perhaps an argument could be made that the "every" ( above) should have been dropped).

This single-issue preoccupation of the hierarchy is getting old... not to mention confusing... and they better move on if they want to survive as an institution. But they have to find that out for themselves. Right now, they are convinced they are battling to preserve a sacred principle: sanctity of life... albeit battling very selectively where that issue is concerned.

Meanwhile , as Kris Kristofferson sang, "this old world will keep on turning."

[AngryOldDem]

14. But it's all about the BAYBEES!

The ones of us who are already here can just go fuck ourselves, apparently.

That's some concern about "life," there, isn't it? Makes me wish that I hadn't been born -- literally. Maybe then someone would give a shit about my existence and quality of life.

I have had it up to fucking HERE with abortion driving this election in some circles. See how much cat food that concern buys you when you have nothing left.