Nun Excommunicated After Saving Mother's Life With Abortion

Sister Margaret McBride was forced to make a decision between her faith and a woman's life last year, when a 27-year-old mother of four rushed into St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix only 11 weeks pregnant.

"I think [McBride] prayed and prayed and I'm sure that this weighed on her like a ton of bricks. This was not an easy decision for her," says her long-time friend Mary Jo Macdonald.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/church-excommu ... d=10799745

Try to think if it more like the Church does. Would it be ok to kill an innocent to save someone's life?
Run over a baby in the road to get a cardiac patient to the hospital in time? Would you fire the ambulance driver?

SS109 wrote: Try to think if it more like the Church does. Would it be ok to kill an innocent to save someone's life?
Run over a baby in the road to get a cardiac patient to the hospital in time? Would you fire the ambulance driver?

apples and oranges.....this situation was unique in that it wasn't a choice between the mother and the child, it was a choice between letting them both die, or saving the mother. There was never an option of saving the child as it was only 11 weeks along. How could anyone/church think it was better that they both died than the mother be saved?

I thought it was a perfectly reasonable analogy.

Becky wrote: I thought it was a perfectly reasonable analogy.

......only if by not running over the baby somehow both the cardiac patient and the baby would have to die. There was never a chance of saving this baby by letting the mother die.

Besides you could always have another baby, correct?

I have to think that something is missing here. I would agree with you archer if indeed there was no option to save the mother and her child, but there must have been something that led Bishop Olmsted to conclude that the child's life was sacrificed without the need to do so for him to resort to excommunicating Sister McBride for her decision. If not, the decision should be overturned and the Bishop reassigned since he would have demonstrated a basic lack of understanding regarding the teachings of the faith. Imminent death of the mother if the pregnancy is not immediately terminated is the only exception regarding abortion in Catholic theology, but it does allow for this one exception.

Sister McBride may appeal the decision to excommunicate her as it was likely to have been issued latae sententiae (immediately as a result of her actions) rather than ferendae sententiae (a decision of an ecclesiastical court). She is still a Catholic in the eyes of the Church, she may still attend Mass, but until this is resolved she may not receive any of the sacraments other than Reconciliation (confession). Reconciliation is available to her to overcome the excommunication, which is viewed from the perspective of the Church as a situation where one has separated themselves from the Church, not one in which the Church separates themselves from the individual. They may rejoin the communion should they so desire by reaffirming their desire to be a member of the Catholic Church through formal repentance, a renewal of obedience (since she was a member of a convent) and by participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

I add all of this so that those who might read the thread who are not members of the Catholic Church will have a true understanding of what has occurred with the excommunication of Sister McBride. Most people outside of the Church are unfamiliar with it and have an incorrect understanding of what it is.

TPP wrote: Besides you could always have another baby, correct?

I don't think that ever entered into the thought process of the nun...nor mine. If we go strictly by what the news reports have said....and like PrintSmith posted, we cannot be absolutly assured we have the whole story, then it was a simple choice of save the mother or let both mother and child die. An 11 week old fetus would never survive, so if the mother died, which we are led to believe was imminent if she wasn't treated, then the baby dies. If the mother is treated to save her life then the treatment would kill her baby. Either scenario involved the baby not surviving.

I have to wonder if the excommunication of the nun was done more to send a message to the catholic faithful then a measured response to the actuality of the situation.

"Critics are arguing McBride's punishment is a double standard. Many are pointing out that it has often taken years for priests who sexually abuse children to be even reprimanded, let alone excommunicated."
I guess raping young children and scarring them for life is much better than letting a mother with young children live. Makes sense to me. :bash Bless her for what had to be a difficult decision for her. Duh, but if the mother died so would the fetus. I'm sure her children are thankful that they still have a mother. I support her 100%. The hospital and the church 0%. JMO - and we all know I'll have one.

The hospital is actually supporting Sister McBride. She was not the only person at the hospital involved in the decision, but she, in accordance with the mother if the news story is correct, had the final say in the matter.