To Whom It May Concern;

On a Local Catholic radio show it was announced that “BT”, a Catholic parish, was a pro-choice parish, because the pastor isn’t doing enough, in the mind of some for the pro-life cause. I did not hear the comment myself, but was informed by a reliable source.

The person who told me about the comment and I are registered members of this parish (BT). He took sincere offense at the statement as he is on the pro-life group at BT and a supporter of the radio station in question.

I have given the statement some thought and although I think another statement might have expressed the opinion of the Catholic talk show host better, I find little fault in what was said. The following explanation is my reasoning.

There is another pastor in our area that is very pro-life. So, it is said that because of his many homilies on the subject and his rules for different ministries in the parish, such as you must be pro-life to be a Minister of the Eucharist, because of his stance, the parish is known as a “pro-life” parish.

When someone refers to “QP” as a pro-life parish no one gets upset. Yet the designation “pro-life parish” is actually a misnomer. The designation “pro-life parish” can imply that the “whole” parish is “pro-life” yet it is common knowledge that this is not so. Yet everyone knows that it is called a pro-life parish because of its pastor not because everyone in the parish is pro-life.

Hopefully by now the reader can see where I am going with this…

Why, when someone calls BT a pro-choice parish should people suddenly think that it means the whole parish is pro-choice?

My thought is that my friend should look at the statement dispassionately.

What do you think?