Several clergy members gathered to bless an abortion clinic after “renewed attacks on reproductive health rights.”
The 15 ministers and rabbis conducted a half-hour service outside a Cleveland abortion clinic, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
“Bless this building,” the Very Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, said. “May its walls stand strong against the onslaught of shame thrown at it. May it be a beacon of hope for those who need its services.”
Rev. Laura Young, executive director of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, says the time has come for clergy to rise up in favor of safe and legal abortions.
“Some people of faith might not choose an abortion for themselves, but they understand it cannot be outlawed without devastating consequences for women,” Young says. “Many religious people are pro-faith, pro-family and pro-choice.”
But for church leaders like Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life and president of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, the “blessing” of the abortion clinic is a perversion of biblical teaching.
“For clergy to bless an abortion clinic is contrary to the two central commands of the Christian faith—to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love (one another) as ourselves,” Pavone tells LifeNews. “We cannot claim to love God or each other by helping those who kill our brothers and sisters.
“Moreover, this breaks the commandment ‘You shall not use the name of the Lord your God in vain.’ This commandment does not only prohibit cursing by invoking God’s name. It also prohibits blessing in God’s name that which God abhors.”
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