The Bishops meeting in Denver did not surprise us by saying Catholic pro-abortion politicians should not receive Holy Communion, but neither did the Bishops impose an order that such Catholics must not receive the Eucharist. They left it up to each individual Bishops to discipline or not.
Bishops Are Getting There . . .
A few Bishops have decided “no Communion” to pro-abortion Catholic politicians, but precious few. The Bishops did solve one sticky problem by ruling that Catholic institutions should curtail all honorary degrees to and commencement addresses given by pro-abortion Catholics. This can save pro-lifers a lot of protests. So they showed a little courage, which is about what was expected.
Episcopal leaders, such as Cardinal Francis George, have shown strength such as when he sent a memo to 375 Chicago priests denying Holy Communion to gays who wore a rainbow sash to Communion, while Los Angeles’ Cardinal Roger Mahoney exhibited weakness when he informed Rainbow sash-wearer they were welcome to receive Communion. Cardinal George said the Church couldn’t change its moral teaching on gay sex. The Rainbow sash-wearers chastised Cardinal George and thanked Cardinal Mahoney.
Concerning a no-Communion to pro-abortion Catholic Politicians policy, we agree with the full page ad Judie Brown is running in newspapers:
This Sunday, as many as 500 pro-abortion Catholic politicians will be allowed to receive the Holy Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, because nearly all Catholic bishops have chosen not to enforce Church law. Under Canon Law 915 America’s Catholic bishops, priests, deacons and Eucharistic ministers have an obligation to end this public sacrilege being perpetrated by so-called Catholic, pro-abortion public figures, against the body and blood of Christ.
Judie asks us to pray that each bishop will recognize his responsibility to protect the sacrament from sacrilege. Our staff made a novena that the bishops would do the right thing at their Denver meeting. We hope that eventually they will do the right thing by denying Communion to pro-abort Catholic politicians.
But we expect them to come around to it slowly. And some never will.
New Phenomenon of Gay Divorce
What a nutty world we live in. After all the homosexual clamor over legal marriage, now that they are granting it , we’re facing the problem of homosexual divorce, with problems of visitation rights, division of property, all the complexities of any divorce. As the song goes, “when will they ever learn?”
Incidentally, since the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy went into effect in 1994, nearly 10,000 military personnel have been discharged for being homosexual, according to an AP story Monday, with 700 discharged in 2003 alone.
In Other News . . .
In an address to the Southern Baptist convention last week President George W. Bush reiterated his commitment to working to build a culture of life in America, saying his administration continues to support crisis pregnancy centers, adoption incentives, parental notification laws and the doubling of funding for abstinence programs. He will also work with Congress to pass a comprehensive ban on human cloning. “Life is a creation by God,” Bush said, “not a commodity to be exploited by man.”
The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that a viable fetus is a person under state homicide law, so killing a baby in the womb carries a manslaughter charge, but only after viability. The “viability” clause upset Justice Donald Wintersheimer, who said life begins at conception, and all unborn children are human beings and are persons.
The Michigan legislature has voted once again to outlaw partial birth abortion, thus overriding a veto by pro-abortion Catholic Governor Jennifer Granholm.
