By James Donahue

A group of about 300 Roman Catholic bishops gathering at a meeting in Chicago this week voted to “accept no compromise” in their efforts to press President-elect Barack Obama in a move for the legal protection of the unborn.

The bishops are appealing to church members across the nation to step up their opposition to abortion. Obama, who will not take office until his inauguration on Jan. 20, has taken a pro-choice stance.

Obama has pledged to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, which would overturn restrictions imposed by states on partial birth abortion and requirements for parental consent. The church has expressed concern that the act might force by federal law Catholic hospitals to perform abortions. If that happens, the bishops say the church would be forced to close its hospitals.

While abortion has remained a hot-button issue that has divided the nation ever since the Supreme Court made it legal in 1973, it will not be high on the list of priorities facing the Obama Administration when he hits the deck in January.

This nation is facing a mountain of issues created by the failed policies of the Bush Administration, ranging from a crashing economy, high unemployment, mortgage failures and home foreclosures, a revised bankruptcy law that won’t allow people to escape an entanglement of debts, a multi-trillion dollar national debt, two costly wars, an energy crisis, a compromised Constitution, a lack of adequate health care for most Americans, a crashed education system, a failing infrastructure, and other issues too numerous to include in this paragraph.

While abortion might be important to the Catholic Church, it is not a key issue in the eyes of world leaders who perceive an overpopulated planet as a primary cause of many of the other problems they are dealing with.

That the Pope and the church hierarchy would dare to encourage Catholics around the world to continue having large families and turn their backs on this issue of overpopulation is nothing short of criminal. The world is quickly running out of natural resources and our delicate eco-structure is collapsing around us because there are too many people. \

If anything there needs to be a moratorium on how many children families are allowed to have. Abortions should be mandatory for women after the first one or two children, and birth control should be encouraged everywhere, for the sake of the future of the children already on this planet.

And for heaven’s sake you pack of Catholic bishops, don’t bother President-elect Obama with your foolish demands just now. The man has enough on his plate without adding an issue that cannot and will not be argued further within his camp.

What Mr. Obama needs at this time is the prayerful support of these bishops and the entire nation as he uses the great mind God gave him to try to resolve issues that appear overwhelming to us all.