The test is not in the easy cases but the hard ones.

Are you pro-life? Are you against torture? Do you believe completely in what the Church teaches or are you one of those ‘except’ people? This is the question I have been asking my self and I would venture that some of the commenters here might do well to do the same.

When one runs a website such as this you see many different types of ‘Catholics.’ You get the fire breathers who question parenting fitness because you let your 17 yr old go to see Harry Potter or that write very serious private emails because it is not ‘Catholic’ to make a joke about the Pope.

You also see another type, the ‘except’ Catholics. We saw this in the debate over torture. Now let me be clear. I am not referring to those who genuinely and honestly debated with themselves over where the line could be properly drawn or if there were ever mitigating circumstances. I don’t think think, as some might argue, that you stray from the faith just for wondering about these issues. That said, there are others who while ostensibly maintaining their Catholic bona fides, say ‘Who cares, they are our enemies -a bunch or terrorists and murderers. I am not shedding one tear for these thugs if they get tortured? They had it coming.’ This is an ‘except’ Catholic. Catholic, with exceptions.

I write this today because I have had to delete too many comments over this Tiller murder. Ostensibly pro life Catholics who have cluttered up the combox with quotes about “Who cares? He had it coming! He just got what he has been dishing out all these years. He was a monster who got what he deserved!”

Long time readers here know that we very very rarely delete comments on CMR. I will, however, delete any comments in which I even get a whiff of this sentiment. I will not have this blogs comments be used by the enemies of life to paint a picture of intolerance. No. Not here. No exceptions.

As for the notion that he got what he deserved? I certainly don’t want what I deserve, do you? With my sins I deserve to be permanently excluded from the company of the God who created me. This is what I deserve. I pray that through the merits of the suffering of Jesus that God overlooks my transgressions so that I do NOT get what I deserve. Remember, if you make exceptions about the faith here on Earth so that folks like Tiller get what they deserve, I fear you may lose the ability to ask for your own exception. I am not willing to take that risk. Are you?