Saying it is so doesn't make it so.

The New York Times pays tribute to Frances Kissling as she steps down from her post as president of Catholics for a Free Choice. I read the article, but to be quite honest, my stomach churned as I did so. This woman is definitely not Catholic and her organization is not Catholic. She acts as if being Catholic is akin to an ethnicity that one passively claims.

I’m so Catholic, I can’t get away from it,” said Ms. Kissling, who was once in a convent. “How I construct concepts of life, of justice, it all comes out of being Catholic.”

“The constant refrain in this office is, ‘Are we really Catholic?’ ” Ms. Kissling said here in a recent interview. “I know with every ounce of my being that you don’t have to agree with the positions of the church on issues of abortion and contraception to be Catholic.”

You know on one level she is right. The question is not whether or not Ms. Kissling agrees with the Church. The question is will she humbly obey the Church. Her strident support for abortion and contraception brings her status as a Catholic in communion with the Church into question. Her dismissal of any authority of the Church hierarchy shreds any pretense of being Catholic. Without “Catholic” as part of her organization’s name it would be just another pro-abortion advocacy group. By including “Catholic” she becomes a media darling that is standing up to that outdated bastion of patriarchy.

It is Lent so the charitable thing to do is to add Frances Kissling to our prayers. But also include prayers for the souls of all the children she helped kill with her support of abortion. Pray for all the people she led away from true Catholicism. Pray for the courage to speak up and take action to defend the Church and all of its teachings.