Mario Cuomo Remembered for Being ‘Personally Opposed’
While Publicly Supportive of Abortion
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.2 Jan 2015New York, NY
Mario Cuomo, a three-time governor of New
York, died Thursday at the age of 82.
He is being remembered for many things, both good and bad,
but the one that sticks most firmly in the minds of many Catholics is his
famous articulation of a Catholic politician’s ability to be “personally
opposed” to certain unjust activities without having to impose his views on
others.
In its eulogy to the governor, The New York Times
praised Cuomo’s resolution “when he defied his church in 1984 by flying to the University of
Notre Dame to proclaim that Roman Catholic politicians who personally opposed abortion,
as he did, could appropriately support the right of a woman to have an
abortion.”
In that celebrated speech, Cuomo employed some logical
legerdemain that enabled a generation of Catholics to publicly support behavior
that they held to be morally unjust.
“As Catholics,” Cuomo
said, “my wife and I were enjoined never to use abortion to destroy the life we
created, and we never have. We thought Church doctrine was clear on this,
and—more than that—both of us felt it in full agreement with what our hearts
and our consciences told us.”
“But not everyone in our society agrees with me and
Matilda.” 7
Cuomo’s convoluted logic led conservative commentator
William McGurn to dub Cuomo “the founding father of
the enabler community” whose “most important achievement has turned out to be
his ‘personally-opposed-but’ speech at Notre Dame in 1984.”
Last January Cuomo’s
son, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, built upon his father’s words, describing
those who embrace the “right to life” as “extreme conservatives” who “have no
place in New York state.”
Renowned political scientist Hadley Arkes
compared Cuomo’s argument with that employed by Stephen Douglas in his
celebrated debate with Abraham Lincoln. Arkes wrote: “Douglas declared that he
was personally opposed to slavery, but he wished to leave the matter to
‘popular sovereignty.’” Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, retorted that “When
Judge Douglas says that whoever, or whatever community, wants slaves, they have
a right to have them, he is perfectly logical if there is nothing wrong in the
institution; but if you admit that it is wrong, he cannot logically say that
anybody has a right to do a wrong.”
The most decisive argument levelled
against Cuomo’s “personally-opposed-but…” thesis is that when the reason
you are personally opposed to a given behavior is that justice demands the
protection of innocent human beings, you are obliged to act in consequence.
Political figures are elected, in fact, to ensure this justice.
Being “personally opposed” to rape carries with it the
obligation to be politically—and not just “personally”—against it. Being
“personally opposed” to child abuse would make no sense unless one were also
ready to back it up with the force of law.
By now these arguments are eminently clear to Mr. Cuomo and
he sees all things as they are. May God have mercy on his soul. Requiescat
in pace.
University of Notre Dame
John
I. Jenkins is the president for the University
of Notre Dame, and was a director at the Millennium Promise.
Note: Raymond G.
Chambers was a trustee at the University
of Notre Dame, a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, and is the chairman emeritus for the Millennium Promise.
James
E. Rohr is a trustee at the University
of Notre Dame, and a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Millennium Promise, and the Committee
for Economic Development.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is the
founder & chairman for the Open
Society Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development, the American Constitution Society, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Donna
S. Morea was a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, and the EVP for the CGI Group Inc.
CGI Group Inc.
was the Obamacare contractor that
developed Healthcare.gov web site.
Obamacare
is Barack Obama’s signature policy
initiative.
University
of Notre Dame opposes the birth control provision in Obamacare.
Van Scoyoc
Associates is the lobby firm for the University
of Notre Dame, and was the lobby firm for the Boeing Company.
Barbara G. Fast
was a VP at the Boeing Company, and
a VP for the CGI Group Inc.
CGI Group Inc.
was the Obamacare contractor that
developed Healthcare.gov web site.
W. James McNerney
Jr. is the chairman & president & CEO for the Boeing Company,
and a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
Francis E. George
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, an archbishop for the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, and a cardinal for the Roman Catholic Church.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Faith Elizabeth
Gay was an attorney at Sidley Austin
LLP, and is a director at the American
Constitution Society.
Mario
M. Cuomo was a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society, and the governor, lieutenant
governor, secretary of state for the New
York state government.
Caroline
Fredrickson is the president of the American
Constitution Society, and was a general counsel for NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Barbra
Streisand Foundation was a funder for the American Constitution Society, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Barbra Streisand
is the founder of the Barbra Streisand
Foundation, and a William Morris
Endeavor Entertainment client.
Ari
Emanuel is the co-CEO & director for William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, and Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is Ari Emanuel’s
brother, a member of the Commercial Club
of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor,
and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Commercial Club of
Chicago, Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
William M.
Goodyear is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a trustee at the University
of Notre Dame.
John W. Jordan II
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a trustee at the University
of Notre Dame.
J. Christopher
Reyes is a member of the Commercial Club
of Chicago, and a trustee at the University
of Notre Dame.
Richard C.
Notebaert is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a trustee at the University
of Notre Dame.
Phillip B. Rooney
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, and a trustee at the University
of Notre Dame.
John
I. Jenkins is the president for the University
of Notre Dame, and was a director at the Millennium Promise.
Angelina
Jolie was a director at the Millennium
Promise, and is a co-founder for the Jolie/Pitt
Foundation.
Jolie/Pitt
Foundation was a funder for Doctors
Without Borders.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for Doctors
Without Borders, the American
Constitution Society, and the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
Barbra
Streisand Foundation was a funder for the American Constitution Society, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Caroline
Fredrickson is the president of the American
Constitution Society, and was a general counsel for NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Mario
M. Cuomo was a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society, and the governor, lieutenant
governor, secretary of state for the New
York state government.
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