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Gives Catholics the escape clauses needed to vote for a pro-abortion candidate in "good conscience"

Will the US Bishops' "Faithful Citizenship" document win the Catholic vote for the Abortion Candidate?...

"For that one reason among many, the United States will suffer unless there is placed into your government a group that fears the Lord if they cannot love the Lord. They will fear Him and find measures to stop the slaughter of the unborn." - Our Lady of the Roses, April 14, 1984

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 28, 2008:

Commentary by Deal W. Hudson

If BO wins on November 4 with the help of Catholic voters, the biggest factor in his favor will be the bishops' own document and Web site, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship."
 
I never thought it likely that Catholic voters could be persuaded to support a candidate with both the most extreme record on abortion and who favors gay marriage. Yet, barring a miracle, that paradox is only a week away: The New York Times is reporting BO 22 points ahead among Catholic voters.
 
As I have watched the campaign unfold, especially BO's outreach to Catholic voters, the USCCB document has played a decisive role. "Faithful Citizenship" provided BO's Catholic supporters the escape clauses needed to convince Catholics they could vote for a pro-abortion candidate in "good conscience."
 
There are two major loopholes in the document. First, it states that Catholics are allowed to vote for a supporter of abortion rights so long as 1) they do not intend to support that position (34) or 2) there are offsetting "morally grave reasons" (35).
 
Many bishops have spoken out forcefully that the document is being abused. Bishop Robert Vasa, for example, points out that voting for a pro-abortion candidate is never justified when the opponent is pro-life. Similarly, Bishops Kevin Vann and Kevin Farrell insist there are no "'truly grave moral' or 'proportionate' reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by legal abortion each year."
 
BO's Catholic surrogates made little note of the corrections. The cat, as they say, was out of the bag when the bishops approved "Faithful Citizenship" at their meeting in November 2007.
 
The presentation of "Faithful Citizenship" on the Web site of "Roman Catholics for BO" is typical:
 
We hope you'll spend time reviewing all of the material housed or linked from here. But if you read just two documents, please make them the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship -- which explains why "[t]here may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate's unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other grave reasons" -- and BO's Blueprint for Change, which outlines all of Senator BO's positions and is, we think, reflective of why he is the candidate whose views are most compatible with the Catholic outlook [emphasis added].
 

Visit any of the pro-BO Catholic Web sites and you will find this message taken from "Faithful Citizenship": Catholic voters can ignore BO's pro-abortion record because of mitigating factors.
 
At least some staff at the USCCB were aware that this was the import of "Faithful Citizenship." At a conference at Creighton University in June, John Carr, executive director of social development and world peace for the USCCB, "stressed that the bishops' document does not shut the door on any candidate, not even one who supports abortion rights."
 
By June 2008, of course, BO and McCain were the nominees.
 
What sentence did Carr then quote from "Faithful Citizenship" to back up his statement? 
 
[Carr] pointed to a caveat in the document: "There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate's unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons. Voting in this way would be permissible only for truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore a fundamental moral evil" [emphasis added].
 
When the bishops approved this document, did they realize how it could be used politically in upcoming elections? Further, when they approved the language quoted above -- "There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate's unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons" -- why didn't they provide more specific guidelines? The document is so abstract that it invites just the kind of abuse it is receiving at the hands of the BO campaign.
 
Is this election one of the "times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate's unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons"? Many bishops have said "no," but "Faithful Citizenship" has been taught throughout the nation's dioceses and parishes for many months. Stories abound of parish seminars where the pro-life concern was dismissed as "single-issue" or "divisive" and "partisan." It got so bad in the Diocese of Scranton that Bishop Joseph Martino crashed a panel discussion in a local parish and announced, "The USCCB doesn't speak for me."
 
The abuse will not end with the election, regardless of the outcome. The Catholic News Service reports that "group discussions, adult education programs, diocesan conferences, DVD presentations and Sunday Mass homilies" will not stop on November 4th.
 
If this is true, then the bishops need to take another look at "Faithful Citizenship" at next month's meeting. The mere fact that so many bishops have felt the need to correct misinterpretations is proof enough that it needs an overhaul.
 
Deal W. Hudson is the director of InsideCatholic.com. This commentary was originally published on October 27 on InsideCatholic.com.

See related articles:

Praise and Criticism for Lengthy US Bishops Statement on Catholics and Political Responsibility
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07111601.html

Scranton Bishop Unexpectedly Visits Forum, Repudiates False Teachings on Catholic Voting
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08102212.html

American Life League Leader Questions Usefullness of US Bishops' Document
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07111608.html

Bishop Vasa: Pro-Abortion Candidates are "Disqualified" - Clarifies "Faithful Citizenship"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08091203.html

Pro-Life Laws Must be the Primary Political Goal for Catholics says Catholic Leaders
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102809.html
 

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Just look: Cardinal Egan compares abortion crimes to those of Hitler, Stalin...

"For that one reason among many, the United States will suffer unless there is placed into your government a group that fears the Lord if they cannot love the Lord. They will fear Him and find measures to stop the slaughter of the unborn." - Our Lady of the Roses, April 14, 1984

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 27, 2008:

By Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York

The picture on this page is an untouched photograph of a being that has been within its mother for 20 weeks. Please do me the favor of looking at it carefully.

Have you any doubt that it is a human being?

If you do not have any such doubt, have you any doubt that it is an innocent human being?

If you have no doubt about this either, have you any doubt that the authorities in a civilized society are duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if anyone were to wish to kill it?

If your answer to this last query is negative, that is, if you have no doubt that the authorities in a civilized society would be duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if someone were to wish to kill it, I would suggest—even insist—that there is not a lot more to be said about the issue of abortion in our society. It is wrong, and it cannot—must not—be tolerated.

But you might protest that all of this is too easy. Why, you might inquire, have I not delved into the opinion of philosophers and theologians about the matter? And even worse: Why have I not raised the usual questions about what a "human being" is, what a "person" is, what it means to be "living," and such? People who write books and articles about abortion always concern themselves with these kinds of things. Even the justices of the Supreme Court who gave us "Roe v. Wade" address them. Why do I neglect philosophers and theologians? Why do I not get into defining "human being," defining "person," defining "living," and the rest? Because, I respond, I am sound of mind and endowed with a fine set of eyes, into which I do not believe it is well to cast sand. I looked at the photograph, and I have no doubt about what I saw and what are the duties of a civilized society if what I saw is in danger of being killed by someone who wishes to kill it or, if you prefer, someone who "chooses" to kill it. In brief: I looked, and I know what I saw.

But what about the being that has been in its mother for only 15 weeks or only 10? Have you photographs of that too? Yes, I do. However, I hardly think it necessary to show them. For if we agree that the being in the photograph printed on this page is an innocent human being, you have no choice but to admit that it may not be legitimately killed even before 20 weeks unless you can indicate with scientific proof the point in the development of the being before which it was other than an innocent human being and, therefore, available to be legitimately killed. Nor have Aristotle, Aquinas or even the most brilliant embryologists of our era or any other era been able to do so. If there is a time when something less than a human being in a mother morphs into a human being, it is not a time that anyone has ever been able to identify, though many have made guesses. However, guesses are of no help. A man with a shotgun who decides to shoot a being that he believes may be a human being is properly hauled before a judge. And hopefully, the judge in question knows what a "human being" is and what the implications of someone's wishing to kill it are. The word "incarceration" comes to mind.

However, we must not stop here. The matter becomes even clearer and simpler if you obtain from the National Geographic Society two extraordinary DVDs. One is entitled "In the Womb" and illustrates in color and in motion the development of one innocent human being within its mother. The other is entitled "In the Womb—Multiples" and in color and motion shows the development of two innocent human beings—twin boys—within their mother. If you have ever allowed yourself to wonder, for example, what "living" means, these two DVDs will be a great help. The one innocent human being squirms about, waves its arms, sucks its thumb, smiles broadly and even yawns; and the two innocent human beings do all of that and more: They fight each other. One gives his brother a kick, and the other responds with a sock to the jaw. If you can convince yourself that these beings are something other than living and innocent human beings, something, for example, such as "mere clusters of tissues," you have a problem far more basic than merely not appreciating the wrongness of abortion. And that problem is—forgive me—self-deceit in a most extreme form.

Adolf Hitler convinced himself and his subjects that Jews and homosexuals were other than human beings. Joseph Stalin did the same as regards Cossacks and Russian aristocrats. And this despite the fact that Hitler and his subjects had seen both Jews and homosexuals with their own eyes, and Stalin and his subjects had seen both Cossacks and Russian aristocrats with theirs. Happily, there are few today who would hesitate to condemn in the roundest terms the self-deceit of Hitler, Stalin or even their subjects to the extent that the subjects could have done something to end the madness and protect living, innocent human beings.

It is high time to stop pretending that we do not know what this nation of ours is allowing—and approving—with the killing each year of more than 1,600,000 innocent human beings within their mothers. We know full well that to kill what is clearly seen to be an innocent human being or what cannot be proved to be other than an innocent human being is as wrong as wrong gets. Nor can we honorably cover our shame (1) by appealing to the thoughts of Aristotle or Aquinas on the subject, inasmuch as we are all well aware that their understanding of matters embryological was hopelessly mistaken, (2) by suggesting that "killing" and "choosing to kill" are somehow distinct ethically, morally or criminally, (3) by feigning ignorance of the meaning of "human being," "person," "living," and such, (4) by maintaining that among the acts covered by the right to privacy is the act of killing an innocent human being, and (5) by claiming that the being within the mother is "part" of the mother, so as to sustain the oft-repeated slogan that a mother may kill or authorize the killing of the being within her "because she is free to do as she wishes with her own body."

One day, please God, when the stranglehold on public opinion in the United States has been released by the extremists for whom abortion is the center of their political and moral life, our nation will, in my judgment, look back on what we have been doing to innocent human beings within their mothers as a crime no less heinous than what was approved by the Supreme Court in the "Dred Scott Case" in the 19th century, and no less heinous than what was perpetrated by Hitler and Stalin in the 20th. There is nothing at all complicated about the utter wrongness of abortion, and making it all seem complicated mitigates that wrongness not at all. On the contrary, it intensifies it.

Do me a favor. Look at the photograph again. Look and decide with honesty and decency what the Lord expects of you and me as the horror of "legalized" abortion continues to erode the honor of our nation. Look, and do not absolve yourself if you refuse to act.

Edward Cardinal Egan
Archbishop of New York

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50 Bishops say abortion most important issue in U.S. election...

"For that one reason among many, the United States will suffer unless there is placed into your government a group that fears the Lord if they cannot love the Lord. They will fear Him and find measures to stop the slaughter of the unborn." - Our Lady of the Roses, April 14, 1984

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 24, 2008:

 

With only days remaining before the November 4 U.S. election, a tally has shown that over a quarter of America's bishops have published articles, issued statements or given interviews where they have declared that the most important issue for voters in their choice of a new president is the candidate’s stance on abortion.

The tally was put together by well-known Catholic journalist and blogger Rocco Palmo, and published in The Tablet, a Catholic periodical (See Rocco’s article here: http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/12189).

Catholics across the nation have taken the message pro-life to heart, as their pastors have repeatedly called on them to make the right to life the defining issue and to vote accordingly.

Bishop Robert Hermann of St. Louis wrote in the archdiocesan newspaper last Friday that "the issue of life is the most basic issue and must be given priority over the issue of the economy, the issue of war or any other issue."

"Saving our children or killing our children. This," wrote the Bishop Hermann in the St. Louis Review, "is the overriding issue facing each of us. All other issues ... have to take second place to the issue of life."

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St Joseph wrote in his diocesan newspaper that "despite hardship, beyond partisanship, for the sake of our eternal salvation," Catholic voters "should never" support a candidate who favours the continued legalisation of abortion.

Bishops Kevin J. Farrell of Dallas and Keven W. Vann of Fort Worth issued a pastoral letter on October 8 which singled out abortion as the "preeminent intrinsic evil of our day," and again stressed that all other rights originate in the right to life.

"It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop," the bishops wrote.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver made national headlines when he described BO as "the most committed abortion-rights presidential candidate of either major party since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision."

Archbishop Chaput later said that those Catholics who promote BO as "this year's ‘real' pro-life candidate," are under a "peculiar kind of self-hypnosis, or moral confusion, or worse."

The determination of these bishops to reach Catholic voters appears to be paying off.

Investor's Business Daily and the TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics (IBD/TIPP) has released a tracking poll that shows a dramatic shift in opinion that may be a result of the bishops' guidance to their flocks.

IBD/TIPP reported on Thursday that McCain, who has repeatedly declared his pro-life stance on abortion, has cut into BO's lead for a second day in a row and is now just 1.1 points behind. The spread was 3.7 on Wednesday and 6.0 on Tuesday.

Of particular note, however, the poll also shows that John McCain has gone from an 11-point deficit to a 9-point lead over BO among Catholic voters.

According to the Drudge Report, IBD/TIPP was the most accurate pollster for the 2004 election.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

U.S. Bishops Come out Swinging against Abortion, Pro-Abort Politicians
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08101706.html

Texas Bishops: Abortion is the "Defining Issue" of This Election
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08101509.html

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Cardinal Rigali: Abortion is the “transcending issue of our day”...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975
 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 24, 2008:

In a pastoral letter released yesterday, Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, calls abortion the “transcending issue of our day.” The release of the pastoral letter comes only days after Cardinal Rigali released a statement in his capacity as Chair of the Committee for Pro-Life Activities for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in which he observed that Catholics are “morally obliged” to oppose Roe v. Wade (See http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08102203.html).

In his most recent letter Cardinal Rigali drives home the point that the grave immortality of abortion is not a revealed truth known only to Christians, but rather a truth that is universally accessible to all, regardless of religious background. Because the dignity of human life is written on the human heart, he says, “no one … most especially, no Catholic, can ever say: ‘I did not know [abortion is evil]’.”

But despite this fact, he laments, America nevertheless supports abortion in its “most extreme and horrific forms.”

For this reason Cardinal Rigali warns that while a Catholic “owes loyalty to the communities of which he is a part,” this loyalty must be subject to a higher law - the natural and revealed laws of moral conduct. Throughout history governments have sanctioned grave evils, such as the Holocaust, slavery, and racial segregation, a fact that proves that governments cannot necessarily be depended upon to protect the dignity of the human person.

Like these intrinsic evils, the bishop states unequivocally, abortion cannot ever be condoned, even in circumstances where it has been made acceptable or "legal."

Cardinal Rigali writes: “The transcending issue of our day is the intentional destruction of innocent human life, as in abortion. We wish with all our hearts that no candidate and no party were advocating this heinous act against the human person. However, since it is a transcending issue, and even supported in its most extreme and horrific forms, we must proclaim time and time again that no intrinsic evil can ever be supported in any way, most especially when it concerns the gravest of all intrinsic evils: the taking of an innocent life.”

If the right to life is not defended as paramount, the Cardinal says, the cry for all other “rights” crumbles, rendered “illusory”: “Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights — for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture — is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination.”

Like those Catholics who risked their lives to end the atrocities of slavery, racial segregation, and the holocaust, today’s Catholics, he adjures, must be willing to respond “with the same generosity of body and heart, and the same courage.”

“When by the most barbaric means, unworthy of any civilized people, the brain of a child is sucked out of his or her head by a vacuum, God thunders: ‘This is a child!’”

“When a baby is left to die of exposure on a shelf because of a failed abortion, and this is considered a ‘right’ by any leader, God, the Source of all law and authority, thunders: ‘This is a child!’”

Cardinal Rigali’s pastoral letter can be found here: http://cst-phl.com/

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Comments expose long-festering problem of bishop's conferences and their often liberal bureaucracies

Scranton Bishop unexpectedly visits forum, repudiates false teachings on Catholic voting...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975
 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 22, 2008:

An unexpected visit by the bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania to a parish forum on the upcoming elections, has resulted in a small firestorm of controversy, after the bishop forcefully repudiated the idea that Catholics can vote for pro-abortion politicians. Some of the bishop's comments exposed a long festering problem since the Second Vatican Council over bishops conferences and their often liberal bureaucracies. The conferences, which have no actual teaching authority, quickly assumed a far greater role in the Church than was intended by the Council, often replacing the authority and obligations of local bishops on many issues.

Parishioners of St. John’s church in Scranton were discussing a statement that had been produced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that some argue lends itself to the interpretation that Catholics can vote for pro-abortion candidates under certain circumstances. They were taken aback, however, when Bishop Joseph Martino arrived at the forum unannounced and told his flock, “No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese. The USCCB doesn’t speak for me.”

An eyewitness said that the bishop told his audience that he had voted against the USCCB statement, titled “Faithful Citizenship,” and described it as a consensus document “written to mean all things to all people.”

“The only relevant document ... is my letter,” he said. “There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.”

Bishop Martino was referring to a pastoral letter he issued earlier this month that rejected a trend in the US Catholic Church, sometimes bolstered by official USCCB statements, that claims that abortion and euthanasia are moral equivalents to other issues such as war and economic injustice. According to this theory a Catholic can in good conscience vote for politicians who are pro-abortion but hold acceptable views on other “peace and justice” issues. 

In his letter, Bishop Martino called legal abortion “injustice of the worst kind” and said that laws that create a situation in which “the weakest and most vulnerable are denied, because of their age, the most basic protection that we demand for ourselves ... is discrimination at its worst, and no person of conscience should support it.”

Bishop Martino specifically cited and strongly refuted the common argument that says while abortion is wrong, it is not “the only relevant ‘life’ issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote.” Morally equivalent issues, he suggested, might be euthanasia and destruction of embryos for research purposes, because these involve the direct killing of human beings. However, while health care, education, economic security, immigration, and taxes “are very important concerns,” he said, “the solutions to problems in these areas do not usually involve a rejection of the sanctity of human life in the way that abortion does.”

A statement from the diocese later confirmed the Bishop’s comments at the forum, as reported in the media. The diocesan statement said Bishop Martino had been “concerned because of the confusion and public misrepresentations about Catholic teaching on the life issues.”

“Certain groups and individuals have used their own erroneous interpretations of Church documents, particularly the U.S. Bishops’ statement on Faithful Citizenship, to justify their political positions and to contradict the Church’s actual teaching on the centrality of abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research,” the statement said.

“When Bishop Martino heard how some of these issues were being presented at the forum, he determined that he must address the forum to fulfil his obligation as the authentic teacher of the Catholic faith in his diocese.”

In recent years, Catholics have received conflicting messages from their Church’s leadership over whether it is permissible to vote for a politician who, while supporting abortion, is supportive of efforts to help the poor, or of other “peace and justice” causes.

Bishop Martino’s letter is regarded as one of the stronger statements refuting and condemning the erroneous, but nevertheless popular, so-called “seamless garment” theory that downplays the unique evil of abortion. “Consider this,” the bishop wrote in his letter, “the finest health and education systems, the fairest immigration laws, and the soundest economy do nothing for the child who never sees the light of day. It is a tragic irony that ‘pro-choice’ candidates have come to support homicide – the gravest injustice a society can tolerate – in the name of ‘social justice’.”

He added, “Even the Church’s just war theory has moral force because it is grounded in the principle that innocent human life must be protected and defended.”

Pro-life advocates have noted that during the current US general election cycle, the tone of statements from the Catholic bishops has been considerably stronger than in the past.

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, told LifeSiteNews.com today, “There’s no question that the Seamless Garment was a convenient catch all term to describe things that are not morally equal.” But Euteneuer said that the wind is certainly shifting in the Catholic hierarchy.

Fr. Euteneuer said that statements such as the one from Bishop Martino are becoming more common. “The internal culture of the bishops’ conference itself seems to be changing and that is a good sign, because they seem to be immune to external influences.” Scandals, pressure from lay people and even massive law suits, Fr. Euteneuer said, have not had a profound effect on the Bishops’ conference, but “when the bishops themselves start to move in right direction, things begin to change.”

Fr. Euteneuer said the change in the US bishops has certainly been more noticeable since the visit this spring of Pope Benedict XVI. Their shift towards greater orthodoxy can be put down to the leadership of Pope Benedict, he said, who as a fellow bishop has the insider’s ability to break into the conference’s closed shop.

Such change is slow, he said, but comes as “more bishops are formed in orthodoxy and given a chance to act. The Catholic Church, because of its hierarchical structure has the capacity to reform itself like no other institution.”

Read the full text of Bishop Martino’s letter:
http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=29838

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Bishops: Catholics “morally obliged” to oppose Roe v. Wade...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975
 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 22, 2008:

In an October 21 statement Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., said, "Our faith requires us to oppose abortion on demand and to provide help to mothers facing challenging pregnancies," The bishops urged Catholics to study the teaching of the Church, rather than rely on statements and materials from outside groups and individuals.

Cardinal Rigali, chair of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop Murphy, chair of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, made the joint statement in response to arguments that the Church should accept the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision on abortion as a "permanent fixture of constitutional law" and should concede that the only way to reduce abortions is to provide more government support for pregnant women.

At the same time the two bishops also responded to those who argue that the Church's efforts against abortion should focus solely on restoring recognition for unborn children's human rights and that proposals to provide social and economic support for pregnant women distract from that effort.

"Providing support for pregnant women so they choose to have their babies is a necessary but not sufficient response to abortion. Similarly, reversal of Roe is a necessary but not sufficient condition for restoring an order of justice in our society's treatment of defenseless human life," they said.

The bishops also noted that "in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision knocked down laws against abortion in all 50 states, fabricating a constitutional 'right' to abortion that continues to haunt and divide our society. ... Roe v. Wade is a clear case of an 'intrinsically unjust law' we are morally obliged to oppose. Reversing it is not a mere political tactic, but a moral imperative for Catholics and others who respect human life," they said.

The bishops added that legalizing abortion had greatly increased annual abortions in the United States. "The law is a teacher, and Roe taught many women, physicians and others that abortion is an acceptable answer to a wide range of problems."

The bishops noted strides made in modifying Roe v. Wade's unjust legal precedent and drew attention to the many lives saved by the modest laws and regulations allowed under Roe. They voiced concern that the pending pro-abortion "Freedom of Choice Act" (S. 1173, H.R. 1964) in Congress would threaten advances made in limiting abortions.

"Bans on public funding [of abortion], laws requiring informed consent for women and parental involvement for minors, and other modest and widely supported laws have saved millions of lives. Laws made possible by reversing Roe would save many more," they said.

"On the other hand, this progress could be lost through a key pro-abortion proposal, the 'Freedom of Choice Act,' which supporters say would knock down hundreds of current pro-life laws and forbid any public program to 'discriminate' against abortion in providing services to women," Cardinal Rigali and Bishop Murphy said.

"By protecting the child's life to the maximum degree possible, improving life-affirming support for pregnant women, and changing the attitudes and prejudices imposed on many women to make them see abortion as an acceptable or necessary solution, we will truly help build a culture of life," they said.

The full text of the joint statement may be found at http://www.usccb.org/prolife/Rigali-Murphy-Joint-Statement.p....

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Bishop warns of BO’s promise to implement extreme “Freedom of Choice Act”...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975
 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 21, 2008:

Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, NJ penned a column for his diocesan website this week, warning his diocese of the possible implementation of the radical Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), particularly under a possible BO presidency.

In the article Bishop Serratelli compares BO to King Herod, the king during the life of Christ who ordered the beheading of John the Baptist in order to keep a promise he had made to Salome. Much like Herod, writes Serratelli, BO has made a promise - to pass the Freedom of Choice Act. However, should BO keep this promise, “not only will many of our freedoms as Americans be taken from us, but the innocent and vulnerable will spill their blood.”

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is a bill introduced in the United States Congress in 2004. It would remove all restrictions on abortion in the United States, both on the state and federal level. “FOCA goes far beyond guaranteeing the right to an abortion throughout the nine months of pregnancy. It arrogantly prohibits any law or policy interfering with that right,” says Bishop Serratelli. This is the “dark reality” kept secret by propagandists for ‘choice.’

The bill is strongly supported by presidential candidate BO, who promised in a speech for Planned Parenthood that “the first thing he would do as President would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.”

Among those no longer free to choose under FOCA, says the bishop, would be pro-life doctors and nurses, whose freedom of conscience is currently protected under the law. Religious hospitals and clinics would also be forced to perform abortions up until the birth of the baby.

NARAL America presents the bill as a systematic presentation of Roe vs. Wade, but opponents like Bishop Serratelli note that it would eliminate those restrictions the 1973 court case allowed, such as parental consent, waiting periods, information for mothers regarding emotional and psychological dangers, and restrictions on late-term abortions.

The bishop hails the death of freedom, should FOCA get passed. “Gone the freedom of conscience so essential for a civil society,” the bishop tells his readers. “Gone the freedom of women and young girls to have all the information they need to make their own choices!”

The bill would also “force taxpayers to fund abortions,” thereby nullifying the fundamental American policy of taxation with representation. It would also “redefine a woman’s ‘health’ so as to expressly permit post-viability abortions.” The bishop clarifies, “Thus, a child who survives an abortion can be left to die for the health of the mother … This is infanticide. Gone the freedom of her baby, once born, to live!”

Pro-Abortion advocates’ “zeal for the Freedom of Choice Act,” Bishop Serratelli writes, “sounds the alarm for decent Americans to wake up! The more the right to life is denied, the more we lose our freedoms. The ‘pro-choice’ movement is not pro-choice. It stands against the freedom to choose what is right according to the truth of the human person... At this point, we are still free to choose!”

You may find the bishop’s column at http://www.patersondiocese.org/page.cfm?Web_ID=2752

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Archbishop Chaput: BO supporting pro-life Catholics "absurd"...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975
 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 20, 2008:

In an address delivered to a women's group last week, Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver strongly criticized BO-supporting Catholic Doug Kmeic, and called it absurd for self-professedly pro-life Catholics to support BO, "the most committed 'abortion-rights' candidate ... since the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973."

"To suggest - as some Catholics do - that Senator BO is this year's 'real' prolife candidate requires a peculiar kind of self-hypnosis, or moral confusion, or worse," said the archbishop, who emphasized that his address at the ENDOW ('Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women') dinner expressed his views as a private citizen, and not as a representative of the Church.

Archbishop Chaput made his remarks as he spoke about his recently published book, “Render Unto Caesar,” in which he delineates the role of Catholics in the political life of the nation.  He then mentioned Prof. Doug Kmeic's book, “Can a Catholic Support Him? Asking the Big Question about BO,” in which Kmeic had quoted part of Chaput's book and claimed that the archbishop's reasoning and his are "not far distant on the moral inquiry necessary in the election of 2008."

"Unfortunately, he either misunderstands or misuses my words, and he couldn't be more mistaken," said the archbishop in reply.  Kmeic, whose "strong record of service to the church" the archbishop commended, recently went public with his support of BO, and has encouraged Catholics to vote for the virulently pro-abortion BO as a morally viable option.

"His activism for Senator BO, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress prolifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn," continued the archbishop.

"To portray the 2008 Democratic Party presidential ticket as the preferred 'prolife' option is to subvert what the word 'prolife' means," he said.  Archbishop Chaput also criticized rampant misuse of the "seamless garment" theory, whereby left-leaning Catholics "seek to contextualize, demote and then counterbalance the evil of abortion with other important but less foundational social issues.

"This is a great sadness. As Chicago's Cardinal Francis George said recently, too many Americans have 'no recognition of the fact that children continue to be killed [by abortion], and we live therefore, in a country drenched in blood. This can't be something you start playing off pragmatically against other issues.'"

Archbishop Chaput complained that, because "the abortion issue has never been a comfortable cause," and is "embarrassing" to some Catholics, these citizens refuse to alter their political alliances simply because the homicides of abortion are ''little murders'' - a hidden evil that is easily "wordsmithed away" as a crime the law is helpless to stop.

"I think that people who claim that the abortion struggle is 'lost' as a matter of law ... are not just wrong; they're betraying the witness of every person who continues the work of defending the unborn child," said the archbishop.  "And I hope they know how to explain that, because someday they'll be required to."

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, a former Democratic Party activist, is one of the most outspoken bishops in the U.S. about the pro-life cause in American politics.

See related LifeSiteNews.com article:

Archbishop Chaput to BO Catholics: If You're Serious Catholics, You'll Be Serious About Making Your Candidate Pro-Life, Not Editing My Words
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052107.html

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Bishop Finn says, "A significant new attack on innocent human life will likely send us into a moral freefall that would rival any financial decline"

U.S. Bishops come out swinging against abortion, pro-abort politicians...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975
 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 17, 2008:

 

In these final weeks before the American election, many US bishops are working hard to leave Catholics no doubt of where they must stand on the abortion issue when it comes to the ballot box.

Bishops Robert W. Finn of Kansas City, Robert Hermann of St. Louis, and Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore have all penned strongly worded columns on abortion in the last few days, calling on their flocks to vote pro-life and to support the pro-life cause more generally, describing the November election as one that comes down to "saving our children or killing our children." "This," says Bishop Hermann in the St. Louis Review, "is the overriding issue facing each of us."

The letters provide no room for equivocation or rationalization. "All other issues ... have to take second place to the issue of life," writes Bishop Hermann, whose article particularly targets "so-called good Catholics," regular church-goers who receive the Eucharist but "are quite ready to vote for a pro-abortion candidate under almost any circumstance."

The bishops agree that everything is on the line.

They are unanimous in their approach to the coming election. "Do some of our so-called good Catholics, who may go to Mass every Sunday and receive the Holy Eucharist, really believe that voting for a pro-abortion candidate, when there is a clear alternative and therefore no justifiable reason for so doing, is really not voting to have children killed?" questions Bishop Hermann. "This election is all about saving our children!"

Bishop O'Brien, whose column did not specifically address the question of voting, nevertheless had strong words for those who would support abortion. "Those who claim we have a 'right' to take innocent life usurp God’s dominant claim on every human being," he said. 

O'Brien urged professedly pro-life politicians to begin putting their beliefs into action. "To our elected officials who value innocent human life in the womb, a reminder and a plea: there are any number of ways within our Constitution to advance the protection of innocent human life. Is it not reasonable and honorable to take some steps, however small, to pursue that goal?" he said.

Some Catholics have expressed concern that neither John McCain nor BO are worthy candidates, due to the former's support for intrinsically evil embryonic stem cell research, and the latter's support not only for embryo research, but also for abortion. Bishop Finn responds to the concern by declaring that, when faced with two "imperfect" candidates, "we should choose the candidate whose position will likely do the least grave evil, or whose position will do the most to limit the specific grave evil of abortion."

It is the duty of all members of the Church, writes Bishop O'Brien, to fight "in defense of innocent human life." The Church "has no choice, but with love and compassion for all, to speak out" because "she sees the right to life as the basis of all other rights."

Bishop Finn tells Catholics firmly that to vote for a candidate for whom the unborn child is not to be protected under law is to disregard "the lessons of history by which African Americans ... were once regarded as non-persons; or the Jews in Europe were once marked for genocide or racial purification." Bishop Hermann also drew the comparison of abortion to past genocides.

"Our country," warns Bishop Finn, "is at the edge of the precipice concerning the protection of the life and dignity of the human person. A significant new attack on innocent human life will likely send us into a moral freefall that would rival any financial decline. The price for such a 'walk over the cliff' is millions more human lives for many more years to come."

To read the three columns see:

Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2008/10/way-of-life....

Bishop Robert Hermann of St. Louis
http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=30126

Bishop Finn of Kansas City
http://catholickey.blogspot.com/2008/10/can-catholic-vote-in...

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Texas Bishops: Abortion is the "defining issue" of this election...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975
 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on October 15, 2008:

Bishops Kevin J. Farrell of Dallas and Keven W. Vann of Fort Worth issued a joint letter on October 8 to the members of their dioceses in which they write that abortion is the "defining issue" of the upcoming election.

They observe that all other rights are predicated upon the right to life, which is gravely violated by abortion. The public acceptance of abortion, therefore, renders any attempts to "further the common" good impossible: "'It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop.'"

The letter, which identifies abortion as the "preeminent intrinsic evil of our day," draws from the earlier document issued by the bishops of the United States, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," published in November 2007.

As the Texas bishops relate, this earlier document distinguishes between those moral-political issues that are "intrinsically evil," such as "legalized abortion, the promotion of same sex unions and 'marriages', repression of religious liberty... [and] public policies permitting euthanasia, racial discrimination or destructive human embryonic stem cell research," and those which are subject to rational dialogue, such as "immigration reform, healthcare, the economy and its solvency, care and concern for the poor, and the war on terror."

Given the fact that abortion is a grave intrinsic evil, in only two circumstances, the two bishops write, could one in conscience vote for a pro-abortion political candidate: "If both candidates running for office support abortion or 'abortion rights,' a Catholic would be forced to then look at the other important issues and through their vote try to limit the evil done," or "if another intrinsic evil outweighs the evil of abortion."

They go on to clarify: "While this is sound moral reasoning, there are no 'truly grave moral' or 'proportionate' reasons, singularly or combined, that could outweigh the millions of innocent human lives that are directly killed by legal abortion each year."

The bishops leave no wiggle room for any Catholics who might take a soft stance on the abortion question, writing, "As Catholics we are morally obligated to pray, to act, and to vote to abolish the evil of abortion in America."

In the conclusion the bishops highlight the duty of each Catholic to educate himself in issues of conscience:

"The decisions we make on these political and moral issues affect not only the general peace and prosperity of society at large, but also may affect each individual's salvation. As Catholics, we must treat our political choices with appropriate moral gravity and in doing so, realize our continuing and unavoidable obligation to be a voice for the voiceless unborn, whose destruction by legal abortion is the preeminent intrinsic evil of our day. With knowledge of the Church's teaching on these grave matters, it is incumbent upon each of us as Catholics to educate ourselves on where the candidates running for office stand on these issues, particularly those involving intrinsic evils."

The pastoral letter from Bishops Vann and Farrell can be found here: http://www.prolifedallas.org/pages/Joint_Statement

Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship can be found here:
http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/

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No compromises: Kansas State Bishops declare voting for abortion candidate is "evil"...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975
 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on August 12, 2008:

A vote cast for a politician who supports abortion and same-sex "marriage" is nothing less than casting a vote for "evil" says a state conference of Catholic bishops.

In a voter's guide released for the second time since 2006, the Kansas Catholic Bishops make it clear that Catholics would "commit moral evil" by voting for a candidate who embraces abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning, and same-sex "marriage," when a morally acceptable candidate is available.

The voter's guide signed by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, bishops Ronald Gilmore of Dodge City, Paul Coakley of Salina, and Michael Jackels of Wichita sends a strong message to Catholics that advancing pro-abortion candidates and their aims is incompatible with the Catholic Faith. The statement means trouble not only for Catholic politicians like pro-abortion US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but also for the conservative Catholic Doug Kmiec, a well known constitutional law professor who endorsed BO as a "natural" for the Catholic vote.

The bishops observe that "voting is a moral act" and that in some matters of morality, such as immigration, universal health care, and affordable housing, "the use of reason allows for a legitimate diversity in our prudential judgments."

Other acts, regardless of the motive or circumstances, always "involve doing evil" and must be opposed: "These choices include elective abortion, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, the destruction of embryonic human beings in stem cell research, human cloning, and same-sex 'marriage.'"

"Such acts are judged to be intrinsically evil, that is, evil in and of themselves regardless of our motives or the circumstances. They constitute an attack against innocent human life, as well as marriage and family," state the bishops.

"In light of the above we would commit moral evil if we were to vote for a candidate who takes a permissive stand on those actions that are intrinsically evil when there is a morally-acceptable alternative."

Catholic voters have to bring a "correct conscience" on matters regarding innocent human life and the family even when faced with the choice of two unacceptable candidates.

"So when there is no choice of a candidate that avoids supporting intrinsically evil actions, especially elective abortion, we should vote in such a way as to allow the least harm to innocent human life and dignity," the bishops conclude.

"We would not be acting immorally therefore if we were to vote for a candidate who is not totally acceptable in order to defeat one who poses an even greater threat to human life and dignity."

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"It's time we stop accommodating pro-abortion politicians, and it's time we start demanding that they accommodate us." - Supreme Knight Carl Anderson

Supreme Knight of Columbus calls for Catholic revolt against abortion...

"What manner of government is there that condones sin? Abomination upon abomination--giving monies for the murder of children, giving monies for the murder of the elderly!
     "Your government, My child, has been infiltrated by men of sin." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 13, 1975

LifeSiteNews.com reported on August 6, 2008:

With an electrifying speech from the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus on Tuesday, the Catholic fraternal organization has begun mobilizing its members for one of the most ambitious political operations since Roe v. Wade: liberating the Catholic vote from pro-abortion politicians.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson addressed the 126th annual convention of the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal organization, in Quebec City and pledged the Knights to fight abortion promoting politicians, who buy Catholic votes with their stand on other issues.

"We have heard a great deal this year about the need for change," said Anderson in a clear reference to the mantra of BO, the presumptive pro-abortion nominee of the Democratic Party. "But at the same time we are told that one thing cannot change - namely, the abortion regime of Roe vs. Wade."

"It is time that we demand real change, and real change means the end of Roe vs. Wade," he said.

In contrast to other Catholic social justice issues like poverty and the death penalty, Anderson asked delegates, "What political issue could possibly outweigh this human devastation" of nearly 50 million abortion deaths in the US since 1973?

"The answer, of course, is that there is none," Anderson said.

He added, "Abortion is different. Abortion is the killing of the innocent on a massive scale."

"It is time to put away the arguments of political spin masters that only serve to justify abortion killing."

Anderson then committed the Knights to "end the political manipulation of Catholic voters by abortion advocates," whom he accused of entangling "Catholic people with abortion killing."

"It is time to stop creating excuses for pro-abortion candidates. Catholics should no longer be asked to be partners in the abortion regime by voting for politicians who support abortion."

"We will never succeed in building a culture of life if we continue to vote for politicians who defend and support a culture of death," said Anderson to thunderous applause from the assembly. "It is time that Catholics shine a bright line of separation between themselves and all those politicians of every political party who defend the abortion regime of Roe vs. Wade."

The Knights of Columbus speech comes at a critical time in this election year, especially with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once again justifying her advocacy of abortion and same-sex "marriage" while publicly describing herself as a "faithful Catholic," despite the jarring juxtaposition.

In 2006, Pelosi and other pro-abortion leaders of the Democratic Party regained power in Congress by running a handful of pro-life Democrats and wooing back Catholic voters who supported George Bush on abortion and other social issues in 2004. However, Anderson says that this election cycle the Knights are determined to send both Democrats and Republicans this message: the pro-life vote is a Catholic vote and abortion advocates need not apply.

"Imagine if this year millions of Catholic voters simply said 'no' - 'no' to every candidate of every political party who supports abortion," he declared. "It's time we stop accommodating pro-abortion politicians, and it's time we start demanding that they accommodate us."


See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:

Knights of Columbus Calls on All 230,000 Members to Demand Morgentaler Award be Revoked
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08071712.html

Knights of Columbus Calls Pro-Gay "Marriage" Knights "Embarrassing"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07070605.html

 

TLDM note: Why have not the U.S. Catholic bishops said what Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said? Why does it take a Catholic layman to say words that should be thundered from every Catholic pulpit? Our Lady of the Roses warns us: "Any country that allows the murders of the young and the unborn shall be destroyed. Any country that allows homosexuals to roam and to seduce the young shall be destroyed." (June 30, 1984)  If America willingly chooses abortion and homosexuality, God's justice will strike, just as it has against other sinful nations in history. "Sodom! Gomorrha! Nineveh! Babylon! All fell because of sin!" (Our Lady of the Roses, August 21, 1974) Will America join this list? 

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"It must be noted also that a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals." - Pope Benedict (Cardinal Ratzinger)

The Trenton Times gets it wrong on Catholics and voting...


LifeSiteNews.com reported on August 5, 2008:

Commentary by Deal Hudson:

There will be much media mischief aimed at Catholic voters between now and November 4. Perhaps the best example thus far appeared in the Trenton Times on July 30.
 
The headline of reporter Jeff Trently's article tells you all you need to know about his intentions: "U.S. Bishops: Vote your conscience, Catholics urged to weigh stands on all issues."
 
But Trently's version of the erroneous conscience-is-king argument is notable for several reasons: First, his bias is more obvious than usual; secondly, he puts the worst possible spin on a controversial line from "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" published by the USCCB. Finally, he misinterprets quotations from Bishop John Smith of Trenton, the bishop's communications director, Ravenne Bennett, and the director of the Office of Social Concerns, Rev. Ronald Cioffi.
 
Trently begins his report with a declaration: "Single-issue voting, like simply choosing the anti-abortion candidate, is out." In other words, the consistent teaching of the Church regarding the non-negotiable life issues is no longer more important than other issues. Did I miss an encyclical or a change in the Catechism of the Catholic Church?
 
According to Trently, all issues now carry equal weight. Catholic voters may weigh "each candidate's view on the entire spectrum of social issues - including the war in Iraq, health care, housing, the plight of immigrants, as well as abortion."
 
What is Trently's evidence for this momentous change in Church teaching regarding political participation? He cites one line from "Forming Consciences" and supports his interpretation with quotes from the chancery of the Diocese of Trenton.
 
Here is the passage, from section 34 of "Forming Consciences":
 
"A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter's intent is to support that position. In such cases a Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in grave evil. At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate's opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity."
 
According to Trently, Father Cioffi believes this represents a fundamental shift. "This is a change from four years ago," Father Cioffi said, also noting that some Catholics believed former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry shouldn't take Communion because of his position on abortion.
 
When Father Cioffi presented "Forming Consciences" to a staff meeting, Trently reported that Bishop Smith said, "It's hard to find a candidate who supports all of the church's teaching. . . . It's a difficult time to decide how we're voting, especially this year."
 
To state that a political candidate doesn't perfectly represent Church teaching obviously should not distract anyone from considering where those candidates stand on an intrinsic evil like abortion.
 
According to Trently, section 34 from "Forming Consciences" means that "a Catholic may vote for an abortion rights supporter, such as Democratic presidential candidate BO, if that candidate's views on other moral issues outweigh his abortion stand in the voter's conscience."
 
But this isn't what the bishops said at all. The document states that it is possible to vote for a pro-abortion candidate only if the voter's intent is not to support that position. Weighing the spectrum of issues is not the decisive factor, and any fair reading of "Forming Consciences" leads directly to the conclusion that the bishops did not publish section 34 as a loophole for Catholics to support pro-abortion politicians like BO.
 
In fact, the bishops go so far as to quote the passage from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's 2002 "Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Regarding the Participation of Catholics in Political Life" that was such a stumbling block for John Kerry in 2004:
 
"It must be noted also that a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program or an individual law which contradicts the fundamental contents of faith and morals (no. 4)."
 
The U.S. bishops echo Pope Benedict XVI's rejection of false moral equivalence:
 
"Not all moral issues are equal; these ten goals address matters of different moral weight and urgency. Some involve matters of intrinsic evil that can never be supported (section 90)."
 
"Trenton Makes - the World Takes" is the slogan that has long been displayed on the bridge over the Delaware River as you drive into the city. It isn't the job of the Trenton Times to make theology for the Catholic Church - and Catholics won't make the mistake of accepting it without recognizing the ruse that it is.

This article is reprinted with permission from http://www.insidecatholic.com

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Pro-Abortion Politicians - "No we cannot vote for these people because for us the Supreme Law of God is the Ten Commandments - which is the Law written into human nature." - Cardinal Dziwisz

Interview with Pope John Paul II secretary: Catholics may not vote for pro-abortion politicians...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on June 26, 2008:

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz was personal secretary to Pope John Paul II.  After the Pope's death he was appointed Archbishop of Kraków in 2005, and in 2006 was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.  LifeSiteNews.com spoke with Cardinal Dziwisz at the International Eucharistic Congress last week.

Asked if it was permissible for Catholics to vote for politicians who support abortion, Cardinal Dziwisz replied, "No we cannot vote for these people because for us the Supreme Law of God is the Ten Commandments - which is the Law written into human nature."

Asked about the European Union pressure on Poland to abandon its moral stands in favour of life, the Cardinal said: "Poland is the only country that, after years of abortion being practiced, abolished it when freedom arrived after the fall of communism.  We absolutely want to keep this law which defends life - but all the liberal and leftist forces from Europe are against Poland.

"They say there is no freedom in Poland and that women are oppressed.  However, we want to bring these (our) moral values to Europe because this is the richness of Europe. But they still don't understand.  We hope that in the future they will understand that the real and true richness that Poland gives to Europe is faith, life and the family - a healthy family."

The Cardinal also encouraged the pro-life movement all over the world to remain active.  "You can create a pro-life atmosphere.  If the 'movement for life' is present in the world - this helps us (referring to the Church in Poland) and we help you from our position," he said.

On the discouragement sometimes felt in the pro-life movement, the Archbishop of Krakow said, "To win we need to pray, to pray, and this Congress gives us the way - we can renew ourselves by returning to Mass, going to adoration and confession."

Cardinal Dziwisz also spoke about homosexuality and the efforts to alter the definition of marriage.  "Sin can never be a right or law. Herein is the ruin of a culture when sin is called 'normal'," he said.  "We can never accept bad for good. We cannot share in sin."

"For us the Ten Commandments are important because they saved many peoples throughout the centuries and they will save them in the future," he added. "We cannot therefore abandon the Ten Commandments for other laws made democratically.  We need to respect the laws of nature - respect the laws that the Lord gave us."

The former secretary to John Paul II was pleased to hear of LifeSiteNews.com editor John-Henry Westen's seven children.  "Seven children, seven children," he said smiling.  "You have a football (soccer) team - so your wife could be at one goalpost and you at the other and the children in between."

Concluding the interview, the Cardinal imparted his blessing on LifeSiteNews.com and handed the reporters a prayer card with the image of John Paul II and an embedded relic.

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France's Cardinal Babarin on how denial of the Eucharist can be an act of love...

"When a man has stepped over the threshold and allowed himself to fall into mortal sin, he must be purified by trial, but he must also, My children, be purified by the rule of penance and confession. 
     "What manner of evil is being set now upon mankind that compels him to lose his soul by rejecting the Sacraments, by no longer confessing to his confessor, but coming to receive My Son in sacrifice, while his soul is degraded by sin of mortal nature!"
- Our Lady of the Roses, September 7, 1976 

LifeSiteNews.com reported on June 25, 2008:

Philippe Cardinal Barbarin is the Archbishop of Lyon, in France. Born in 1950, Barbarin is one of the youngest Cardinal's in the Catholic Church.  He also has a reputation for speaking plainly and openly.

In 2005, the Cardinal was in the public spotlight after publicly informing women who underwent fake ordinations to the priesthood that they had automatically excommunicated themselves. In light of such seemingly hard-line actions, LifeSiteNews.com asked the Cardinal how the recent controversy over denying pro-abortion politicians Holy Communion should be seen from a truly Catholic perspective.

Even such actions, he said in response, are acts of love - of charity.

"Normally every act of the Church is an act of charity," Cardinal Barbarin told LifeSiteNews.com last week. "Every word of Jesus is a word of charity. Yet, at times Jesus was angry.  He took cords and knocked down the change tables and chased the sellers from the temple - solely for His love for them."

The Archbishop of Lyons added that when Christ called the Pharisees "hypocrites" it was the same - an act of charity.  "Jesus spoke with them with much force to change their hearts," he said.

On his arrival as Archbishop in Lyon in 2002, Babarin issued a challenge to Catholics to "Turn off the TV and turn on the Gospel."  The Archbishop expressed hope that the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City, where the interview took place, would launch a spiritual revival in Quebec.  "I wish with all my heart," said the Cardinal, "that this Congress will bring a new springtime for the Church in Quebec."

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Philadelphia Cardinal Rigali: One must believe what the Church teaches to receive Communion...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on June 19, 2008:

Cardinal Justin Rigali, the Archbishop of Philadelphia is in Quebec City for the International Eucharistic Congress - a week-long event focusing on the Catholic belief that Christ Himself is present in Holy Communion.

Cardinal Rigali, who is also the President of the Pro-Life Committee of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, discussed with LifeSiteNews.com the issue of worthiness to receive Communion in the context of Catholics who support abortion and same-sex "marriage", contrary to Church teaching.

"We're talking about the very life of the church when we're talking about the Eucharist and participation in the Eucharist," said Cardinal Rigali.  "St. Paul tells us that anyone who receives the Eucharist must be prepared.  This is the apostolic catechesis."

"St. Justin in the second century tells us: 'The only people who are to go to Communion are people who believe everything we believe'. So it's a question of our faith."

The Cardinal referenced St. Paul warning that, "Anyone that approaches the body of Christ has to examine himself to see where he stands, because if you're not worthy then you're heaping condemnation on yourself."

The Cardinal noted that there are "many people who are confused on the faith, many people are confused on the issue of life."  That is why, he said, "the Church has been putting in so much effort to try to clarify the absolute necessity to support, to promote, to cherish human life, and not to do anything to destroy it."

"We invite people to come to the Eucharist," he said, "but we are constantly reminding them 'just a moment now' this belongs to our tradition - the Eucharist is not just something we just receive; it's the body of Christ."

"We have to accept the teachings on the body of Christ and we have to accept the teaching of the body of Christ, which is the Church, on other things to be fully worthy," he said.

While he said that the prime responsibility is that of the person to examine himself before God regarding his worthiness to receive Communion, Cardinal Rigali added that "obviously the Church has an obligation to safeguard the Eucharist against abuses."

"We teach children who prepare for first Holy Communion to be worthy, to be in the state of grace," he said.  "That's what we tell everybody - you have to be in the state of grace."

He concluded: "To be in the state of grace you must embrace what the Church embraces, you have to embrace the faith of the Church, and you're not free to receive the Eucharist if you don't embrace the faith of the Church. This is St. Paul, this is St. Justin, this is the whole history of the Church."

 

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"It is my intention . . . to have similar pastoral dialogues with other Catholics in elective office who support legalized abortion"

Archbishop Naumann defends his call for pro-abortion politicians to refrain from Communion...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on May 27, 2008:

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City on Friday published a question and answer explanation and defense of his May 9 public request to Governor Kathleen Sebelius to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until repenting of her political support for abortion. The Archbishop also confirmed plans to address other pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

"In this column, I want to provide you with my responses to some of the more common questions and misunderstandings regarding my pastoral action." wrote the Archbishop in the diocesan newspaper The Leaven.

"Governor Sebelius holds the highest elective office in the state of Kansas, making her the most prominent Catholic in public life," responded the archbishop to accusations of "singling out" Sebelius.

"It is a time-intensive process to enter into verbal and written dialogue, as is necessary, to insure a person is aware of the spiritual and moral consequences of their actions, as well as to understand the scandal their actions cause for others."

"It is my intention eventually, as much as the limitations of my own time permit, to have similar pastoral dialogues with other Catholics in elective office who support legalized abortion," added the Archbishop.

Naumann went on to explain why Sebelius' abortion support is particularly scandalous, i.e. capable of leading others to sin through bad example.

"Governor Sebelius' public support for legalized abortion, as a Catholic, naturally leads others to question the moral gravity of abortion. In effect, her actions and advocacy for legalized abortion, coupled with her reception of holy Communion, have said to other Catholics: 'I am a good Catholic and I support legalized abortion. You can be a good Catholic and support legalized abortion.'"

Sebelius is known as an aggressive supporter of radical abortion "rights" and has vetoed a number of pieces of common-sense legislation over the years that would have reigned in an out-of-control abortion industry in Kansas.  As a result, abortion mills remain uninspected in spite of documented substandard conditions, and abortion laws meant to protect women and viable babies remain unenforced.

Sebelius has close ties to abortionist George R. Tiller, who has funneled huge amounts of campaign contributions to Sebelius in the past. Tiller currently faces 19 criminal charges, a grand jury investigation, and two open investigations with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts for criminal conduct and violations of the standard of care. Nevertheless, Sebelius remains supportive of Tiller and his notorious abortion business.

The Archbishop also refuted "pro-choice" rhetoric contending that a Catholic politician could be personally opposed to abortion while still supporting a woman's "right to choose."

"Freedom of choice is not an absolute value. All of our laws limit our choices. I am not free to drive while intoxicated or to take another's property or to assault someone else. My freedom ends when I infringe on the more basic rights of another."

Naumann also rejected accusations that bishops have been using the Eucharist in a political attack on the Democratic Party and approvingly cited the example of Cardinal Edward Egan's request for pro-abortion Republican Rudy Giuliani to refrain from Communion.

"I encourage Catholics who are Democrats to remain Democrats, but to change the extremist position of the party on abortion. If the majority of Catholic Democrats objected to the platform of the party supporting legalized abortion, it would change tomorrow," added the Archbishop.

While not yet requiring ministers of the Eucharist to deny Sebelius Holy Communion, the Archbishop left open the possibility of such a mandate in the future.

"I have, at this moment, not asked the ministers of the Eucharist not to give holy Communion to the governor."

In his letter titled "Worthiness to receive Holy Communion," then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that a Catholic politician who would vote for "permissive abortion and euthanasia laws" after being duly instructed and warned, "must" be denied Communion.  Ratzinger's letter explained that if such a politician "with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it."

See the archbishop's full article on the issue:

Governor’s Veto Prompts Pastoral Action
http://www.theleaven.com/columnists/archbishop_naumann.htm

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Archbishop Publicly Tells Pro-Abortion Kansas Governor Not to Receive Communion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051001.html

Bishop: Denying Communion to Obstinate Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians "in many cases becomes the right decision and the only choice"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07013109.html

Abortion-Politician-Communion Scandal Shows Real Lack of Pastoral Concern - Editorial
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08052102.html

Read the Archbishop's Q&A:
http://cjonline.com/stories/052308/bre_communion.shtml

Read the Ratzinger on denying Holy Communion:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/050419a.html

To contact the Archbishop for addressing pro-abortion politicians:

Archbishop Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann
12615 Parallel Parkway
Kansas City, KS 66109
Phone: (913) 721-1570
FAX: (913) 721-1577
Email: archkck@archkck.org 

********

 

New York Cardinal Egan slams Giuliani for receiving Communion at Papal Mass - demands meeting...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on April 28, 2008:

The decision by several prominent pro-abortion politicians to publicly receive Holy Communion at papal Masses during the recent visit of Pope Benedict XVI, despite clear Church teaching that says that their reception of Communion would constitute a grave sacrilege, may have backfired.  While at first it seemed like it would be business as usual, today Cardinal Edward Egan of New York issued a statement condemning the reception of Holy Communion by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The Archdiocese informed LifeSiteNews.com that the issue is being brought forward publicly at this time "because it has become a public issue and a public question."

"The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God," said Egan.  "Throughout my years as Archbishop of New York, I have repeated this teaching in sermons, articles, addresses, and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind."

He continued, "Thus it was that I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion."

"I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the Papal visit here in New York," said Egan, "and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding."

Responding to the matter in the press, Giuliani said that his faith "is a deeply personal matter and should remain confidential."

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, responded, "The Catholic faith is not simply about one's private and confidential relationship with God. It's public, as evidenced by the fact that Mr. Giuliani received Communion in public. Mr. Giuliani's support of legal abortion is also public. That's why Cardinal Egan's remarks are entirely appropriate, as is his expectation that Mr. Giuliani abide by those remarks."

The Pope, just prior to his elevation to the pontificate, issued a document to the US Bishops which outlined that in keeping with Church teaching, pro-abortion politicians who present themselves for communion even after being warned not to "must" be denied communion.

LifeSiteNews.com asked Joseph Zwilling, Director Office of Communications at the Archdiocese of New York, if there had been any communication on the matter between the Pope or Vatican and the Archdiocese.  Zwilling replied, "No."

********

Exclusive interview: Ottawa Archbishop explains why pro-abortion politicians are denied Communion...

LifeSiteNews.com reported on March 14, 2008:

The mainstream media has picked up on comments by Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast regarding reception of Holy Communion for pro-abortion politicians.  However, one part of the discussion which has received little discussion is the reason why the Church would deny politicians reception of Communion.

"The Code of Canon Law says in #915 that 'those whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin," explains the religious leader of Canada's national capital,"are not to be admitted to Holy Communion'." 

"What is at issue is whether a politician who does not himself or herself participate in an abortion but supports 'a woman's right to choose' (or however else shows support for abortion) is guilty of grave sin and then obstinately persists in this state of grave sin."

Archbishop Prendergast stresses that denying Holy Communion is undertaken out of concern for the offending Catholic (politician in the case at hand).  "The Church's concern is for anyone who persists in grave sin, hoping that medicinal measures (which is how excommunication and interdict are to be understood) may draw them away from the wrong path to the truth of our faith."

The Ottawa prelate points out how Christians from the beginning were told of the need to be in good standing with the faith before receiving Communion.  "(St.) Paul said that before receiving communion a Christian should take part in self-examination and only then receive the Body of the Lord after necessary conversion (1 Cor 11:28)."

Prendergast has no dislike for politicians, in fact just the opposite. "I deeply admire politicians for their desire to serve the public good and to make the many sacrifices necessary to win public office and to give themselves to public service," he says, adding, "They ought to be motivated by a concern for justice, good order, the public good, etc."

He notes however that "One of the greatest areas for effecting justice is the support of life in the womb and through all stages of life.  Abortion goes against the Church's understanding, based on the teaching of Jesus, on the inviolability of innocent human life - including the unborn - and of the obligation of public servants to protect the weakest in society.  It is hard to see how the support of abortion is not a very grave evil."

The decision to take "medicinal" remedies, says the Archbishop, is not taken lightly, and is simply an attempt at direct intervention with the politicians.  "Perhaps politicians embrace the support of a woman's right to choose unthinkingly, following party policy; this is where the church with the help of its pastors and through fellow believers needs to come to the assistance of those who serve the public good," he said.    

"It may take time to work with political figures before one can conclude that they are obstinately persisting in manifest grave sin and that, therefore, denial of communion or of encouraging them not to present themselves for communion is reached as the medicinal remedy to draw them back to the way of Christ, Our Lord, the Way, the Truth and the Life."

One other consideration in addressing seriously such grave violations of Church teaching is scandal.  "If one were to allow Catholic political (or other public) figures to freely espouse abortion without drawing to their attention that this is a grave evil," explained Archbishop Prendergast, "other believers might be tended to accept this, not knowing any better and be led on the wrong path: that is what 'scandal' is.  One must do everything possible to prevent others from falling away from the path of Christ - i.e. from being scandalized."

See related LifeSiteNews articles:

Pope Supports Excommunication for Pro-Abortion Politicians - "Incompatible with Receiving Communion"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07050901.html

Second U.S. Bishop Says Vatican Letter on Pro-Abort Politicians Withheld from Bishops
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/aug/04080603.html

Cardinal McCarrick Continues to Conceal Rome's Insistence that Pro-Abort Politicians Be Denied Communion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06102310.html

********

Archbishop Burke says ministers are "held, under pain of mortal sin, to deny the sacraments to the unworthy"

Archbishop Burke preaches tough Communion rule:
Turn away abortion-rights backers under pain of mortal sin...

The Columbus Dispatch reported on October 1, 2007:

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, a veteran of clashes between Catholic bishops and politicians, has attempted for years to enlist fellow bishops to deny Holy Communion to wayward politicians.

Now, the conservative cleric is invoking the church's highest punishment -- mortal sin -- to persuade the lay and ordained Catholics who distribute Communion at Mass to safeguard the sacrament.

Drawing on the works of the late Italian Jesuit scholar Felice Cappello, Burke says those ministers are "held, under pain of mortal sin, to deny the sacraments to the unworthy."

That argument could place Communion ministers on the frontlines of the "wafer wars" as the 2008 presidential race heats up, and as bishops debate a document on "faithful citizenship."

"It is clear that church discipline places an obligation on the minister of Holy Communion to refuse Holy Communion to persons known, by the public, to be in mortal sin," Burke writes in a new journal article.

Burke lays out his case like a legal brief in Periodica de re Canonica, a journal widely read in seminaries and published by Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, an elite school for Catholic clergy.

"No matter how often a bishop or priest repeats the teaching of the church regarding procured abortion, if he stands by and does nothing to discipline a Catholic who publicly supports legislation permitting the gravest of injustices, and, at the same time, presents himself to receive Holy Communion, then his teachings ring hollow," Burke writes.

A former top official in the Signatura, the Vatican's high court, and a noted expert in canon law, Burke previously has kicked off public debates over policing the Communion rail. While bishop of La Crosse, Wis., he ordered clergy to refuse to offer the sacrament to certain pro-abortion-rights politicians.

In 2004, Burke and a handful of other bishops said they would refuse Communion to presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Burke also said Catholics who voted for pro-abortion-rights politicians, such as Kerry, should refrain from taking the sacrament until they confessed their "mortal sin."

In his new article, the archbishop explicitly criticizes his fellow bishops, the majority of whom voted in 2004 to leave the Communion decision up to individual bishops.

Burke retorts: "The question regarding the objective state of Catholic politicians who knowingly and willingly hold opinions contrary to natural moral law would hardly seem to change from place to place."

The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the influential conservative Catholic journal First Things, called Burke's article "a scholarly tour de force."

"The (archbishop's) concern is not a political concern," Neuhaus said. "The article is about, how does the church preserve the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist?"

But the article is ambiguous in some areas, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center in Washington.

If Burke is calling on Communion ministers to disobey their bishops and deny Communion to Catholic politicians, it would be "revolutionary" and "encourage anarchy," Reese said.

"Most bishops do not want ministers of Communion playing policeman at the Communion rail," he added. "This is a significant change in focus. Suddenly, you're going to have a few thousand decisionmakers in parishes across the country."

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of St. Louis said Burke was unavailable to comment on this article.

 

"The discipline and rules set down by My Son and those He chose to write the Book of life and love must be adhered to. We direct, in the name of the Trinity, that you bishops and cardinals of the world must use your full powers as hierarchy to excommunicate and defrock all who seek to dethrone My Son and destroy the Faith!" - Our Lady of the Roses, August 21, 1974

"The Eternal City of Rome must now take action by those in rule, the cardinals and the bishops, to restore this city to the light. Those who seek to build a church of man must be removed by the power of excommunication given to those who rule as representatives in My houses, churches upon your earth.
     "As it was in the time of Noe, as it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrha, so shall it be upon your earth. Man shall be permitted to fall fast into the abyss. Why? Because he has hardened his heart and closed his ears to the truth. He has given himself to all manners of pleasures of the flesh. Sin has become a way of life in your country and in the countries throughout your earth.
     "The children of God, the candles upon earth, My child, shall suffer much persecution from the agents of darkness.
     "Man runs amiss, My child. He scatters the sheep. He seeks peace where there is no peace. He is going farther into darkness.
     "You shall not gather your flocks, My pastors, by compromising your Faith! You shall not gather the flocks for the Eternal Father in Heaven by giving yourselves to the world, by adopting humanism and modernism as your guide.
     "It is a simple lesson of faith that you must give to the children and to all in your care. As pastor you shall stand before Me and shall you say to Me that your teaching has been pure in My sight? Amen I say unto you, I shall cast you from Me and send you into the abyss. As you sow, so shall you reap." - Jesus, December 31, 1975
 

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D146 - Honor the Eucharist, Part 1  PDF Logo PDF
D147
- Honor the Eucharist, Part 2 
PDF Logo PDF
D186 - Excommunication   PDF Logo PDF
 

Articles...

Archbishop Burke: Bishops must discipline pro-abortion Catholic politicians
https://www.tldm.org/News11/ArchbishopBurkeDisciplineProAbortCatholicPoliticians.htm

Pope Benedict supports excommunication for pro-abortion politicians: "Incompatible with receiving Communion"
https://www.tldm.org/News10/PopeExcommunicateDenyCommunionToProAbortCatholicPoliticians.htm

Pope Benedict XVI says that refusing Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians is a "doctrine of the Church"
https://www.tldm.org/News7/Ratzinger3.htm

Honduran Cardinal: "A politician who publicly supports abortion, he excommunicates himself"
https://www.tldm.org/News10/HonduranCardinalCommunionMustBeDenied.htm

Pope Benedict warns pro-abortion politicians against receiving Communion unworthily
https://www.tldm.org/News10/PopeUnworthyCommunion.htm

Catholics must be free of grave sin to receive Holy Communion
https://www.tldm.org/News6/ReceptionofCommunion.htm

Archbishop Burke: more profoundly sorrowful would be a bishop who failed "to safeguard the worthy reception of  Communion"
https://www.tldm.org/news6/Burke2.htm

Sacrilegious Communion and the U.S. bishops
https://www.tldm.org/News6/sacrilege.htm

Austrian Bishop Lugner says mall owner excommunicated for providing space for abortion clinic
https://www.tldm.org/News10/AbortionBishop%20Lugner.htm

Bishop Henry says he would refuse Prime Minister Holy Communion, would consider excommunication
https://www.tldm.org/News7/AbortionBishopHenry.htm

Links...

Bishops and bald eagles, Judie Brown, March 2, 2007
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/brown/070302

Cardinal Ratzinger said, "The minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it." He did not say 'could,' or 'may,' but that he "must,"  Barbara Kralis, July 6, 2004
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040706

Prohibition is worthless without enforcement, Barbara Kralis, June 24, 2004
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040624

Is not murder just as evil as lust in the eyes of God? Barbara Kralis, June 8, 2004
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040607

Ten questions regarding the denial of the Eucharist, Barbara Kralis, May 24, 2004
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/040524

 

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