Where is the Catholic Church?

This past weekend we were at church and the parish priest made reference to Respect Life Month which begins with Respect Life Sunday on October 4, 2020. As in past years there will be activities, sermons, and calls for action. And as in past years while it will rekindle our focus, it remains a rather muted response to a culture of death that began with the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade – a decision that had absolutely no basis in constitutional law and was made up solely to appease the liberal drift of the nation’s political elites in Washington, D.C. who favored abortion. When a court starts talking about “penumbras” you just know they’re making it all up. For those of you forced to endure a teachers union led education in the Portland Public Schools, “penumbra” is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as:

”a space of partial illumination(as in an eclipse) between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light”

Got it? It is something that doesn’t really exist but is made to appear as if it exists. It is a shadow created by the absence of light.

The 2020 Democrat presidential nominating process had, at one time or another, over two dozen candidates – all of whom pledged support for taxpayer funded abortions at any time up to and including the point of birth. This is where it gets ugly. A partial birth abortion is performed at the point of birth. It is a murderous procedure that all of them defended. It is performed by inducing the crowning of the baby’s head in the birth canal and then puncturing its head and removing the brain by suction thus collapsing the skull and thereafter removing the corpse of the baby intact from the mother. Stop here and think about that procedure, the pain of the child, the wanton destruction of life, and the huge profits made by those performing such a medieval torture – and the fact that every Democrat candidate supported the procedure and supported the taxpayer funding of such a procedure. Every Democrat. Not one objected.

More importantly at least five of those Democrats claimed to be practicing Catholics: Former Vice-president Joe Biden (currently the Democrat nominee), Julian Castro, John Delaney, Kirstin Gillibrand and Robert O’Rourke. Add to those numbers Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) – Senate Minority Whip, and Marie Cantwell (D-WA). There are a host of Democrat members of the House professing to be Catholics and I only mention by name those above because they are among the most visible and strident supporters of taxpayer funded abortions on demand. Ms. Pelosi has even gone so far as to claim, in one of the most convoluted explanations in history, that the Catholic Church actually supports abortions.

And yet there they are. Mr. Biden attending Mass, Ms. Pelosi piously draped in one of her thousand dollar mantillas with her ever-ready rosary, Kirstin Gillibrand like a deer in the headlights and Robert O’Rourke on his skateboard, clueless as usual about everything. And there is the hierarchy of the Catholic Church strangely silent as these apostates wave their Catholicism while publicly denouncing the Church’s stand on abortion. An unbroken succession of Popes beginning shortly after Roe v. Wade have uniformly condemned abortion as the taking of a human life. The most dire statement came from Pope Paul II:

“4. Unfortunately, this disturbing state of affairs, far from decreasing, is expanding: with the new prospects opened up by scientific and technological progress there arise new forms of attacks on the dignity of the human being. At the same time a new cultural climate is developing and taking hold, which gives crimes against life a new and-if possible-even more sinister character, giving rise to further grave concern: broad sectors of public opinion justify certain crimes against life in the name of the rights of individual freedom, and on this basis they claim not only exemption from punishment but even authorization by the State, so that these things can be done with total freedom and indeed with the free assistance of health-care systems.

“All this is causing a profound change in the way in which life and relationships between people are considered. The fact that legislation in many countries, perhaps even departing from basic principles of their Constitutions, has determined not to punish these practices against life, and even to make them altogether legal, is both a disturbing symptom and a significant cause of grave moral decline. Choices once unanimously considered criminal and rejected by the common moral sense are gradually becoming socially acceptable. Even certain sectors of the medical profession, which by its calling is directed to the defence and care of human life, are increasingly willing to carry out these acts against the person. In this way the very nature of the medical profession is distorted and contradicted, and the dignity of those who practise it is degraded. In such a cultural and legislative situation, the serious demographic, social and family problems which weigh upon many of the world’s peoples and which require responsible and effective attention from national and international bodies, are left open to false and deceptive solutions, opposed to the truth and the good of persons and nations.

“The end result of this is tragic: not only is the fact of the destruction of so many human lives still to be born or in their final stage extremely grave and disturbing, but no less grave and disturbing is the fact that conscience itself, darkened as it were by such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of human life.”

Succeeding Popes have denounced the new “culture of death” with the latest being current Pope Francis who stated:

“. . . one cannot receive Holy Communion and at the same time act with deeds or words against the commandments, particularly when abortion, euthanasia and other grave crimes against life and family are encouraged.”

And yet they continue. Mr. Biden has even bragged that the Pope has given him Communion despite Biden’s support of abortion on demand. (Of course that may simply be another one of Mr. Biden’s flights of fantasy like his academic performance and his courage under fire in Konar province.)

Consider the mixed message received by the Catholic faithful. On the one hand are the pronouncements of a succession of Popes and backed by words from many of the nation’s bishops, archbishops and cardinals, the formation of groups dedicated to the end of abortions like Priests for Life, and support for Right to Life, the nation’s premier anti-abortion civilian organization. On the other hand there is a succession of Catholic politicians running from former Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) to Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Biden, claiming Catholicism as a campaign positive while demanding taxpayer funded abortion on the demand without any seeming consequences from the Church they have cuckholded repeatedly.

Only the hierarchy of the Church can excommunicate an apostate. However, every priest, monsignor, bishop, archbishop, cardinal and pope possesses the authority to deny such people the sacraments. Most of the clergy are reluctant to do so because any sinner has the right to confession, absolution, and forgiveness. However, repeated, public support (including one vote after another) for taxpayer funded abortion on demand is proof positive of a malignant heart. If you are to publicly, repeatedly and flagrantly flaunt the teachings of the Church, shouldn’t the response of the Church be as public? When is it that we will see the Pope or any of the American bishops, archbishops or cardinals publicly denounce these apostates and publicly declare that they are not eligible to receive the sacraments until they denounce their previous support for abortion.

And the most important questions to be asked in the face of inaction by the clergy: Is it more important to be a liberal than it is to be faithful to the Church? Has the Church become like major corporations who believe that by providing support to liberals they will somehow escaped liberals’ punitive acts. It has never worked. Liberals are like the scorpion and the frog – it is their nature to accept favor and then punish in return.

The Church’s hierarchy may want to take note of a recent speech by Sister Diedre Byrne, M.D., a nun in the Community of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary:

“Humility is at the foundation of our order, which makes it very difficult to talk about myself. But I can speak about my experience working for those fleeing war-torn and impoverished countries all around the world. Those refugees all share a common experience. They have all been marginalized, viewed as insignificant, powerless and voiceless.

“And while we tend to think of the marginalized as living beyond our borders, the truth is the largest marginalized group in the world can be found here in the United States. They are the unborn.

“As Christians, we first met Jesus as a stirring embryo in the womb of an unwed mother and saw him born nine months later in the poverty of the cave. It is no coincidence that Jesus stood up for what was just and was ultimately crucified because what he said was not politically correct or fashionable. As followers of Christ, we are called to stand up for life against the politically correct or fashionable of today.

“We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb. Keep in mind, the laws we create define how we see our humanity. We must ask ourselves: What we are saying when we go into a womb and snuff out an innocent, powerless, voiceless life?”

So, to Pope Francis and the clergy: Will you stand up for the unborn? Will you take action within your liturgical powers? Will you publicly denounce the public apostates and deny them the sacraments until they denounce their support of abortion?