The unbroken teaching of the Christian Church has been – and continues to be – that every procured abortion is the taking of an innocent human life.
Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale is the “go to” witness these days for the radical abortion on demand lobby. She not only makes for good optics when she wears that clerical collar, she feigns outrage that anyone would attempt to stop any abortion for any reason. After all, she has now openly identified her position that abortion is a “blessing”. She has the audacity to defend this position as consistent with the Christian faith she claims to profess.The early Church lived through similar examples of apostate leaders claiming the authority of the Church. ..
On Thursday March 8, 2012, Rev. Dr. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, the President and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, appeared in a clerical collar to testify in the United States House of Representatives. Her testimony was an example of the counterfeit which now claims to be Christianity.
The Judiciary Committee on the Constitution was holding a hearing concerning a Bill introduced last summer entitled the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (H.R. 2299) This legislation makes it an offense if an adult, “knowingly transports a minor across a State line, with the intent that such minor obtain an abortion, and thereby in fact abridges the right of a parent under a law requiring parental involvement in a minor’s abortion decision, in force in the State where the minor resides.”
Representative Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a Democrat from New York, has publicly called the Bill an “assault to the reproductive rights of women.” He and others who oppose the fundamental Human Right to Life of the Child in the womb presented witnesses to support their opposition to this legislation.
Among the witnesses was Rev. Dr. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale. She is the “go to” witness these days for the radical abortion on demand lobby. She not only makes for good optics when she wears that clerical collar, she feigns outrage that anyone would attempt to stop any abortion for any reason. After all, she has now openly identified her position that abortion is a “blessing”.
She has the audacity to defend this position as consistent with the Christian faith she claims to profess. When she was appointed Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School on March 30, 2009, she gave a sermon in which she said, “These are the two things I want you, please, to remember – abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.”
In her testimony before Congress on Thursday she boasted of taking a 15 year old girl whom she had never met before for an abortion. She cited her vows as an Episcopal priest as authority for the act. She pledged that she would openly break such a law in the future if it was enacted.
She further attempted to clothe such a brazen act as noble and courageous. This woman regularly reminds me of these words from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah “Ah! Those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness to light, and light into darkness, who change bitter to sweet, and sweet into bitter.” (Is. 5:20)
Last year she gave an address at a fundraiser for the “Jane Fund” of Central Massachusetts which proclaims on its web site, “CHOICE should not be limited to WOMEN who have MONEY… Our mission is to help women who cannot afford abortion services.” This group offers her entire speech online for those who want a fuller example of her horrid rhetoric. It is an example of evil masquerading as good, espoused by one who claims to be a Christian and a member of the Clergy.
Here are some examples, “When a woman gets pregnant against her will and wants an abortion — it’s the violence that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing. When a woman might want to bear and raise a child but fears she can’t afford to because she doesn’t have access to healthcare or daycare or enough income to provide a home — it’s the lack of justice that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing. .”
“And, here’s one that really gets me in trouble, when a woman simply gets pregnant unintentionally and decides this is not a good time for her to bear and care for a child — there is no tragedy. The ability to enjoy healthy sexuality without risking a pregnancy that could derail her education or career, the development or exercise of the gifts God has given her, is a blessing.”
In her speech at the Jane Fund fundraiser she signaled where she is leading the opponents of the fundamental Human Right to Life in her final charge: “Our words matter. Our strategies matter — not only in their short-term efficacy but in their long term consequences. We have to play hard and play smart. We need to think farther down the road than the next bill in front of us.
“We must create a climate where abortion is not only a legal, safe, accessible, affordable option for every woman but where she can take advantage of that option without risking socially imposed guilt.It’s time to be angry — be fed up — to refuse to be nice. To eschew conciliation.”
The early Church lived through similar examples of apostate leaders claiming the authority of the Church. When the Apostle Paul traveled to Macedonia and Greece he warned the early Christian leaders of such false teachers, ” I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God. Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them” (Acts 20:28-31)
He cautioned his disciple, Timothy, whom he had installed in leadership over the Church in Ephesus, “The time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry” (2 Tim. 4:3-5)
The unbroken teaching of the Christian Church has been – and continues to be – that every procured abortion is the taking of an innocent human life. The first century Didache, the teaching of the twelve, is only one of many authoritative texts – throughout two millenia of Christianity – which affirm the Biblical admonition against intentional killing – which includes the intentional killing of our youngest neighbors in the womb:
“There are two ways, one of life and one of death; and between the two ways there is a great difference. Now, this is the way of life.The second commandment of the Teaching: “Do not murder; do not commit adultery”; do not corrupt boys; do not fornicate; “do not steal”; do not practice magic; do not go in for sorcery; do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant. “Do not covet your neighbor’s property; do not commit perjury; do not bear false witness”; do not slander; do not bear grudges. Do not be double-minded or double-tongued, for a double tongue is “a deadly snare.”
“Your words shall not be dishonest or hollow, but substantiated by action. Do not be greedy or extortionate or hypocritical or malicious or arrogant. Do not plot against your neighbor. Do not hate anybody; but reprove some, pray for others and still others love more than your own life”
The current effort to deny this unbroken teaching is not Christianity – it is apostasy. For any Christian leader to say otherwise constitutes a clear denial of their claim to teach the truth or to bear the very name Christian. It is time to expose the counterfeit Ideology claiming to be Christian with clarity and courage.
HT: Catholic Online
I am so appalled by this woman, all I can think is that she is so evil she must be possessed! And passiing it along to who knows how many young people–who sends their kid to this Divinity School anyway? The woman obviously needs our prayers–we need the power and intervention of the Holy Spirit for this one!
Don’t let the IOCC find out about her, or she may be invited to host next years gala if Sarbanes isn’t available.