Monday, June 4, 2007
The above is the title of Deal W. Hudson’s The Window dated May 22, 2007 – “A Catholic Look at Society and Politics”. From thewindow@morleyinstitute.org, may I share the following from his e-mail?
“It all began May 9th on the plane flight from Rome to Brazil. Pope Benedict XVI was asked by the reporter what he thought of the warning of excommunication Mexican bishops gave to Catholic politicians who support legalize abortion.
“The Pope was emphatic: ‘Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Cannon law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ….They (the bishops) simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church.’…
“But it wasn’t Giuliani who scolded Pope Benedict XVI. America’s mayor went out of his way to say, ‘I do not get into debates with the Pope. That is not a good idea….”
“Some Catholic Democrats see things differently. On May 14, eighteen Catholic Democrats in the House issued a signed statement condemning the Pope for his comments. Excommunication, their statement reads, would ‘offend the very nature of the American experiment and do a great disservice to the centuries of good work the Church has done.’
“The leader of the ‘Catholic 18’ is Re. Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct) who was joined by well-known pro-aborts such as Kennedy (D-RI), and Linda Sanchez (D-Ca)….
“Of those eighteen who did sign, all but two, Reps. Tim Ryan (D-OH) and James Langevin (D-RI) have dismal voting records on Catholic issues where Church teaching is absolutely clear. For example:
1. Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act – passage (110th)
Marriage Amendment Act (109th) 3. Terri Schiavo: Federal court review (109th)
4, Child Intestate Abortion Notification Act (109th)
5. Abortion in military medical facilities (109th)
6. Coercive abortion/United Nations Population Fund (109th)
7. Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act: passage (109th)
8. Hunan Cloning Ban: passage (108th)
9. Partial-Birth Abortion Ban: passage (108th)
10. Unborn Victims of Violence Act (108th)
(Except for # 3, (absent or not voting) the following in Congress voted against the Catholic position on all 9 of the above, Linda Sanchez (D-Ca), Hilda Solis (D-Ca), Mike Thompson (D-Ca), Rosa DeLauro (D-Ca), John Larson (D-Ct), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Tim Bishop (D-NY), and James Moran (D-VA). Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Joe Baca (D-Ca), Anna Eshoo (D-Ca), voted against 8 of the Catholic positions. Bill Pascrelli (D-NJ) voted against 7.) GHK
“It’s very difficult to square this type of voting record with the following sentence taken from the group’s statement: ‘Advancing respect for life and the dignity of every human being is, as our Church has taught us, our own life’s mission.’”
The above is a very important document. The evidence is conclusive. Have we the right to call these politicians, Catholics-in-name-only? (CINOPs) This derivative should be as common in our public conversation as RINO, (Republicans-in-name-only.)
As Catholics should we not target these phonies for absolute defeat in 2008?
It is the duty of other Catholic Laity to study this matter and to speak out.
George H. Kubeck, http://wwwcinops.begone.blogspot.com/
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2 comments:
What about your Catholic candidates who have voted for---and continue to vote for---this war? Aren't you going to list them, too?
Good question, aaryn. There is an answer. Some things in morality are always evil - such as abortion which has always been condemned as a grave violation of God's law. Other things are sometimes evil and sometimes not. For instance, capital punishment has been morally allowed but today the thinking is against it. Some other things are left to a person's prudential judgment such as the nature of this war and our participation in it. If all participation or support of the war was immoral, the church would have forbidden Catholics to serve in the armed forces. On the contrary, many morally fine Catholics, including Catholic, priest chaplains, are serving with distinction in the "War in Terror".
In other words, people of good conscience, such as you and I, may honestly disagree about the morality of this war. But we may not disagree that abortion is always everywhere gravely wrong.
I hope this clarifies this distinction for you.
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