ZERO: Success of Bishops with Pro-abort Catholics

[Cal_Catholic]

*[Cal Catholic Editor’s Note: the following editorial, written by Father Roger Landry, appeared in the September 11 edition of The Anchor from the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts.]

Last week, our editorial argued that one of the most important lessons pastors of the Church in the United States need to draw from the history of interactions with Senator Ted Kennedy on the sanctity of human life is that a strategy of conscience-education-alone with “personally opposed, publicly pro-choice” Catholic politicians hasn’t worked. The attempt to engage, teach and help persuade such politicians to conversion didn’t succeed with Senator Kennedy and it hasn’t succeeded yet with other pro-choice Catholic legislators.

To say that it hasn’t succeeded, however, is really not strong enough. It’s possible, after all, to fail a test with a grade of 59; in such a case a student would be able to take some solace that, while there are some areas in need of improvement, he was close to minimal success. If a student fails a test with close to a zero, on the other hand, he obviously needs to make some radical changes if he ever hopes to succeed. And that is closer to the candid assessment that leaders of the Church need to make relative to the education-alone strategy during the past few decades.

Let us take an honest look at the numbers. When we survey the long list of pro-choice Catholic politicians from both parties — Kennedy, Kerry, Giuliani, Schwarzenegger, Daschle, Dodd, Durban, Leahy, Mikulski, Pelosi, Delahunt, Capuano, Markey, McGovern, Meehan, Granholm, Sebelius, Pataki, Richardson, Cellucci, Cuomo, and Biden to name just a handful — is it possible to say that the strategy has worked with any of them? Over the last three and a half decades, can we point to even one success story?

Full article…

 

[rprench]

The last paragraph in this article says it all. If you have tried all other means to communicate to these politicians then it is time for discipline. They feel that they can get away with this and in a way they have. I have talked to politicians in the past and the response on this issue is “what is the church going to do about it.” They think that the church leaders are powerless and will do nothing, and in all of these cases they are correct.

 

[JimG]

“Jesus spoke of a different way in the Gospel (Mt 18:15-18). It involves not merely general educational statements that we hope offenders will apply to themselves in conscience, but the type of one-on-one instruction traditionally called fraternal correction. If that fails, and fails repeatedly, Jesus enjoined us to regard the offender as someone who no longer belongs to the community, who is no longer a member in good standing.”

The strategy of trying to appease Catholic pro-choicers has indeed failed, and failed miserably. It gets a grade of zero. Indeed, many Caholic pro-choice politicians have already placed themselves outside the Church. It’s time to recognize that fact.

 

[ljubim]

They say, personally opposed, publically pro-choice…

I think this is a political ploy to get you to talk to them. Because anybody who really understands abortion would be against it. I said to one of my friends recently who is pro-abortion, there is no debating it, it is a child and abortion is murder! But of course this goes nowhere

They should be excommunicated. There’s a speech given by Peter Kreeft called, How to win the Culture War, and he talks about how the church must become small and persecuted again, so that it can be proven. There is no room in the church for people who don’t follow it! Even if thousands of excommunications are necessary, it is better to be good on our word rather than softly humor them.