By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Virginia voters will decide this election on a proposed constitutional amendment that would establish abortion as a “fundamental right” under the state constitution. The measure, one of two proposed amendments on the ballot, has prompted the Catholic Diocese of Arlington to direct its priests to address each from the pulpit. The Very Reverend Father Paul D. Scalia, pastor of Saint James Catholic Church in Falls Church and episcopal vicar for clergy for the Diocese of Arlington, sat down for a direct interview to argue the amendment goes beyond existing abortion precedent and misrepresents its own ballot language.
Scalia was ordained in 1996 and currently serves simultaneously as pastor of Saint James, episcopal vicar for clergy, and director of the diocese’s Permanent Diaconate Formation Program, giving him a direct role in how the diocese communicates its position on the amendments to parishioners.
Scalia said the amendment’s actual legal text exceeds the protections established under Roe v. Wade. “What this proposed amendment does is it embeds something in the constitution that’s even more radical than Roe versus Wade … removing parental rights and removing guards on the abortion industry,” he says.
He said the ballot question voters will see does not reflect the amendment’s full scope. “The ballot language is very different from what’s actually being proposed in the amendment. It’s a bait and switch,” he says.
Scalia says Bishop Michael Burbidge has instructed priests across the Arlington Diocese to address the two proposed amendments directly with their congregations ahead of the vote.
He frames the dispute as a question of jurisdiction between church and state. “Caesar is stepping in and trying to take what is properly God’s. God is the Lord of life … and so when the state starts stepping in on the things of God, that’s when the priests step forward and say, wait a minute, you’re overstepping your bounds,” he says.
Scalia says his opposition to the amendment is not opposition to the people who support it. “In speaking out against these amendments, we don’t say no to persons. We’re saying no to these amendments out of love for each person in the state,” he says.
Asked how clergy and churchgoers should hold firm political convictions without losing sight of Christian charity toward opponents, Scalia points to Christ’s own example. “When our Lord tells us, ‘Love your enemies’ — the presumption there is that we have enemies. There are people who oppose what we think or what we profess. And that doesn’t mean we are exempt from loving them,” he says.
Virginia’s election is scheduled for November, and the diocese’s guidance to pastors is expected to continue through Election Day.
Father Paul Scalia participated in a direct interview with the show’s host.
