Editor's note. Please read Part Two, which discusses the unfortunate passage of a constitutional amendment in Michigan. When you can, drop me your thoughts at daveandrusko@gmail.com.

The fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops immediately brought to the fore the Bishops' profound unease with the implications of policies President-elect Barack Obama has said he would promote. The Bishops also discussed, according to published reports, the need to tweak the Bishops' "Faithful Citizenship" document so that (as Cardinal Francis E. George phrased it) portions are not "misused and misinterpreted." Cardinal George, the archbishop of Chicago, said Catholics seemed to have overlooked the "whole question of proportionate reason."

According to the Boston Globe, the Bishops agreed to authorize Cardinal George, who is also the president of the bishops' conference, "to write a statement for publication that will spell out their concerns." The Chicago Tribune said that in their discussion the Bishops urged George to indicate a desire to work with the incoming administration in a number of areas but to stress the Catholic Church's "intent on opposing evil" and "defense of the unborn child."

"They vowed to oppose any law or executive order that might loosen restrictions on abortion," the Tribune reported. Bishop Daniel Conlon of Steubenville, Ohio, said, "This is not a matter of political compromise or a matter of finding some way of common ground," adding, "It's a matter of absolutes."

The breadth of the Bishops' concerns were clearly on display as about 300 Bishops assembled at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel. For example, they fear that "a Democratic Congress and a sympathetic Obama administration" would "decide to eliminate the right of doctors to refuse to perform abortions," the Globe's Michael Paulsen wrote. That threat to conscience clauses for health-care workers would put Catholic health care institutions in jeopardy.

"If Catholic hospitals were required by federal law to perform abortions, we'd have to close our hospitals," Bishops Thomas Paprocki of Chicago, said in an interview with the Tribune. Paprocki told the bishops, ""I don't think I'm being alarmist." Catholic health care facilities make up a third of the nation's hospitals.

The Bishops talked at length, behind closed doors and in public, about "Faithful Citizenship," a guide for Catholic voters issued last November. "Though the document made clear that 'the direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life is always wrong and is not just one issue among many,' it also advised Catholics to weigh issues like poverty, war, the environment and human rights when choosing candidates," the Tribune wrote.

"But some bishops said they were surprised to see Catholics cite the document as justification for selecting candidates--like Obama--who support abortion rights. A slim majority of the nation's Catholics voted for the Democratic candidate.

"Several bishops said that Catholics could not in good conscience vote for a candidate who favored abortion rights after Obama pledged to pass legislation that would overturn state's restrictions on abortion such as late-term abortion bans and requirements of parental consent."

Part Two -- Michigan Voters Approve Embryonic Stem Cell Research Initiative