Archbishop Naumann hopes Obama realizes Sebelius is a bad Catholic advisor

Catholic News Agency ^ | August 14, 2008 | Staff

[ncfool]

Quebec City, Aug 14, 2008 / 09:48 am (CNA).- With the U.S. presidential race heating up and both John McCain and Barack Obama close to announcing their vice presidential nominees, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City says he hopes his warning of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for her support of abortion, has “alerted” Obama that she is not a good advisor on the Catholic Church.

While he was in Quebec City, Canada for the Knights of Columbus’ annual conference, Archbishop Naumann took time to explain to CNA the intricacies of his decision to ask the Kansas governor to refrain from receiving Communion.

Writing in the May 9 issue of The Leaven, the Archdiocese of Kansas City’s newspaper, Archbishop Naumann said that because of the governor’s support for legalized abortion, he had asked her to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until she makes a worthy confession and publicly repudiates her stand on abortion. He later clarified that his request to her was not directed toward one particular action, but rather, it concerned her “30-year history of advocating and acting in support of legalized abortion.”

When you stand before God…

“There are many goods you are trying to weigh. Where you have someone in public life who is not living in their public responsibilities consistent with the Catholic faith, I think you are concerned about that individual,” he began.

“One of the things that I said when I met with the governor at one point, is that some day she’s going to have to stand before God and account for her public service. And I hope that she’s going to have something better to say than what she does to this point on the protection of the innocent unborn. But I said if you go to God and you say, ‘Well, I didn’t understand how important this was’ or ‘I didn’t understand that this was such a crucial issue’ then as your bishop I’m the one responsible because I didn’t do enough to try and make sure of that. I told her I wasn’t comfortable with that and so I wanted to make sure that she understood what a serious matter this was.”

The concern for the archbishop is multi-layered, ranging from the individual involved to the rest of his flock. “I think you have concern for that individual and in wanting to try to bring about enlightenment and conversion. You also have a concern for the rest of your people. That’s the problem with the individual that’s in a public position. When they act contradictory to their faith, then it can create within the Church what the Church means by scandal, which means leading others into error.”

According to Archbishop Naumann, he received letters from people who were requesting that she be excommunicated immediately even before he asked Gov. Sebelius not to receive Communion. Yet, Naumann says he isn’t really concerned about these people because they know Sebelius’ actions aren’t in keeping with the Catholic faith.

“It’s all the people that aren’t writing,” who worry the archbishop. “Frankly after the pastoral action I did take with the governor,” the Kansas City archbishop related, “there were several [people] who communicated with me that, ‘we didn’t realize how extreme she was’.”

“I also am concerned about young Catholics that are thinking about public service and public life,” he said. The archbishop’s message to the younger generation of Catholic is that, “they can’t go the road of these so-called pro-choice Catholic politicians and really be faithful to your faith.”

The archbishop’s dialogue with Sebelius

Lest anyone think that Archbishop Naumann’s public correction of Gov. Sebelius was an impulsive decision, he made clear that he was in conversation with her for “a couple years” and that the discussions took place at “various levels.”

As he explained to CNA, “To my mind, you have to pursue it in that way; you have to attempt to meet with the individual, instruct the individual, make sure that you’ve given them every chance to consider their position before you take extreme action.”

When he was asked if Kathleen Sebelius has honored his request, the Catholic leader of Kansas City said that she has. “To my knowledge, she hasn’t gone to Communion since this second request to her so in that sense from an indirect way she’s honoring the request.”

However, the governor has not kept the lines of communication open with Archbishop Naumann since his request in May. According to Naumann, “she has not communicated with me at this point at all and she’s told other people in the media that she’s going to respond to me personally, but that hasn’t happened at this time.”

A bad counselor for Obama

“What I found out after I took the pastoral action with Governor Sebelius is that Senator Obama had her on his advisory committee for Catholics,” recalled the archbishop.

“I wasn’t aware of that [beforehand],” he said, “but I hope that it alerted Senator Obama that this is not probably somebody that can really counsel you in terms of the mind and the heart of the Church on this very critical and important area.”

“So I think it would be a bad judgment on Senator Obama’s part to select someone who was in conflict with the Church.”

Turning his attention to Catholic voters and the upcoming election, Archbishop Naumann advised them to bring their values in to the voting booth. If Catholics do this, “we can have a serious impact on the positions that the individuals and parties are taking,” he said.

“There’s a lot at stake in the elections,” observed Naumann.

“I think that the political parties read the results of the election and then put an interpretation on it. After this election, they’re either going to think ‘we need to be more aware of these values about the sanctity of human life; the importance of marriage and its traditional understanding being upheld’ or they’re going to think ‘these are things we can either ignore or the tide is with us to go against what has really been the tradition of Western civilization’.”

[ncfool]

Archbishop Naumann has called her out on her position many times and has officially stated that she should be refused Holy Communion.

She has hosted at her Topeka home the Abortion Doctor from Kansas and accepted funds from him. So if Kathleen Sebelius is his choice this should be a fun time of seeing how they clean up her image.

[Cold Heat]

He's waisting his time trying to convince a person who refused to even make a determination of right or wrong.

Moral arguments are meaningless to amoral people.

[ncfool]

http://www.theleaven.com/V29N37ColumnistNaumann.htm

Governor’s Veto Prompts Pastoral Action

On the day of my return (Monday, April 21) from the exhilarating experience of participating in Pope Benedict’s pastoral visit to the United States, I learned that Governor Kathleen Sebelius had vetoed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act (HS SB 389), which had been passed by significant majorities in both chambers of the Kansas Legislature. Last week, an attempt to override the governor’s veto failed in the Senate by two votes.

Governor Sebelius in her veto message claimed: “For years, the people of Kansas have asked their elected officials to move beyond legislative debates on issues like abortion.” From her veto message, I received the impression the governor considered it a waste of the Legislature’s time to pass a statute that attempts to protect some women by making certain they have the opportunity to be well-informed: 1) about the development of their unborn child; and 2) about abortion alternatives available to them. Evidently, the governor does not approve of legislators devoting energy to protecting children and women by making it possible to enforce existing Kansas laws regulating late-term abortions.

The governor’s veto message demonstrated a lack of respect to the members of the Kansas General Assembly who had carefully crafted and resoundingly passed the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act, as well as to the many Kansans who find it more than an embarrassment, in no small part due to several previous vetoes by Governor Sebelius of earlier legislative efforts to regulate abortion clinics, that Kansas has become infamous for being the late-term abortion center for the Midwest.

What makes the governor’s rhetoric and actions even more troubling has been her acceptance of campaign contributions from Wichita’s Dr. George Tiller, perhaps the most notorious late-term abortionist in the nation. In addition to Dr. Tiller’s direct donations to her campaign, the governor has benefited from the Political Action Committees funded by Dr. Tiller to support pro-abortion candidates in Kansas.

In her veto message, the governor took credit for lower abortion rates in Kansas, citing her support for “adoption incentives, extended health services for pregnant women, providing sex education and offering a variety of support services for families.” Indeed, the governor and her administration should be commended for supporting adoption incentives and health services for pregnant women. However, the governor overreaches by assuming credit for declining abortion rates in Kansas. Actually, lower abortion rates are part of a national trend. Our neighboring state of Missouri has actually had a steeper and longer decline in its abortion rate.

Governor Sebelius’ inclusion of public school sex education programs as a factor in the abortion rate decline is absurd. Actually, valueless sex education programs in public schools have been around for years, coinciding with increased sexual activity among adolescents, as well as increases in teen pregnancy and abortion. On the other hand, the governor does not acknowledge the significant impact of mass media education programs, such as those sponsored by the Vitae Caring Foundation, or the remarkable practical assistance provided by Crisis Pregnancy Centers which are funded through the generosity of pro-life Kansans. What makes the governor’s actions and advocacy for legalized abortion, throughout her public career, even more painful for me is that she is Catholic. Sadly, Governor Sebelius is not unique in being a Catholic politician supporting legalized abortion.

Since becoming archbishop, I have met with Governor Sebelius several times over many months to discuss with her the grave spiritual and moral consequences of her public actions by which she has cooperated in the procurement of abortions performed in Kansas. My concern has been, as a pastor, both for the spiritual well-being of the governor but also for those who have been misled (scandalized) by her very public support for legalized abortion.

It has been my hope that through this dialogue the governor would come to understand her obligation: 1) to take the difficult political step, but necessary moral step, of repudiating her past actions in support of legalized abortion; and 2) in the future would use her exceptional leadership abilities to develop public policies extending the maximum legal protection possible to the unborn children of Kansas.

Having made every effort to inform and to persuade Governor Sebelius and after consultation with Bishop Ron Gilmore (Dodge City), Bishop Paul Coakley (Salina) and Bishop Michael Jackels (Wichita), I wrote the governor last August requesting that she refrain from presenting herself for reception of the Eucharist until she had acknowledged the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life which would include a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion.

Recently, it came to my attention that the governor had received holy Communion at one of our parishes. I have written to her again, asking her to respect my previous request and not require from me any additional pastoral actions.

The governor has spoken to me on more than one occasion about her obligation to uphold state and federal laws and court decisions. I have asked her to show a similar sense of obligation to honor divine law and the laws, teaching and legitimate authority within the church.

I have not made lightly this request of Governor Sebelius, but only after much prayer and reflection. The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well as many other high profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: “The church’s teaching on abortion is optional!”

I reissue my request of the faithful of the archdiocese to pray for Governor Sebelius. I hope that my request of the governor, not to present herself for holy Communion, will provoke her to reconsider the serious spiritual and moral consequences of her past and present actions. At the same time, I pray this pastoral action on my part will help alert other Catholics to the moral gravity of participating in and/or cooperating with the performance of abortions.

[ncfool]

www.theleaven.com/V29N37ColumnistNaumann.htm

[MEGoody]

I seriously doubt that Obama would care if Kathleen Sebellius is a ‘bad Catholic advisor’.

[ozzymandus]

Huh. I didn’t even know Sebelius was supposedly Catholic. She (and the rest of the KS RATS) are totally owned by Tiller the late-term killer. She’s taken a lot of money from him.

[incredulous joe]

True, but I like his technique for the matter of instructing other Catholics; he takes on some of the responsibility for this if she is unclear about the Church’s teaching on the matter.

Essentially, he has clarified and is “off the hook” for her actions.

This probably won’t carry a great deal of water for Sebelius, but maybe it will have an impact on other Catholics and Christians ~ before the day when they “stand before God”.

In our hearts we should pray for her to convert, even in our rational minds we know that she will probably cling to the desperate path that she has already taken.

[purpleraine]

You may be right, but I’m glad to see someone in church heirarchy with a pair.

[Non-Sequitur]

So if Kathleen Sebelius is his choice this should be a fun time of seeing how they clean up her image.

These are Democrats, she supports abortion. Her image doesn't need cleaning up.

[ZULU]

Ms. Sebellius, I suppose, is entitled to her own opinion. However, if she doesn’t support the teachings of her church, she should do the right thing and leave it. She is not a Catholic. Catholics follow the teachings of their church. Not only does not follow those teachings personally, she is ALSO a strong opponent of them. This is logically inconsistent.

But then trying to talk logic with people who don’t believe that human life begins at the moment of conception is a waste of time. People who ignore simple biological facts because they are not politically expedient are morally compromised.

Abortion and the twisted and sick way the liberal left has convinced many otherwise decent American women that it is a “right” of their to terminate the life within them is one of the greatest sins of our age. But when you ALSO tell people that sex is merely a form of “entertainment” you have to find a way to dispose of the unwanted results. And abortion is just that - disposing of an “inconvenient” life.

[afortiori]

Sebelius... Isn’t that from the choral chant in the movie soundtrack to the Omen? /sarc

The refrain to the chant is, “Sanguis bibimus, corpus edimus, tolle corpus Satani” (Latin, “We drink the blood, we eat the flesh, raise the body of Satan”), interspersed with cries of “Ave Satani!” and “Versus Christus” (Latin, “Hail, Satan!” and “Hail, Antichrist!”).

[Cold Heat]

I'm not a religious person but watch it sometimes. The American Catholic's have been so fragmented on sexual and abortion issues, that they tend not to listen to Catholic authorities no matter who.

The problem as I see it, is that the politics are outweighing the morality on this issue because Democrats have tied themselves to it at the hip.

I could not tell you what will happen, but I don't think it looks very good. Not for any religion.

Yet it is interesting to me that abortion rates have been declining in the face of it all. That is interesting and may indicate that public stances, and private actions may be disconnected.

[Maelstorm]

I've never understood the animal defined as the "pro-choice" catholic but then again I've never understood Unitarian Universalists who promote a most radical theology departing so far from the theology of Christianity that one wonders why they even bother masquerading as if they are Christian other than as a political recruiting center for the far left. The recent shooting in TN had a lot to with this. They are not just tolerant of Homosexuality but have gay youth programs. They integrate protesting executions and the war into their theology. They are dangerous because this group especially runs members for school boards that look like harmless little old ladies who are really radical liberals. They are not innocent no more than people who wear their Catholicism on their sleeves and don't believe a word of it. I have a friend who goes to the church at Rockville MD whose pastor incidentally was originally from the same church in TN that was shot up. It was a sad day but I fear a schism is coming that is much worse. Here is an example (Notice the peace sign on the flag at the church?):

[ZULU]

THIS is why Islam is making inroads in the west.

People need a religion to believe in which offers salvation and clear definitions of what is right and wrong.

Too many mainstream Protestant Churches and too many individual American Catholic Priests have strayed into the realm of political action and feel-good Christianity. God may love us all, but He certainly DOESN’T love the evil we do.

As long as the Christian churches continue on the path of political activism and moral relativism, they will lose more and more adherents and many of these will wind up in the serpentine snares of Islam.

[353FMG]

“THIS is why Islam is making inroads in the west.

People need a religion to believe in which offers salvation and clear definitions of what is right and wrong.”

---

And Islam is this religion?

[xsmommy]

Archbishop Naumann could give some advice and counsel to Doug Kmiec on this score as well.

[TNCMAXQ]

She’s just a disgrace, and if she is nominated it might be a good thing because she and BHO will ignite the pro life movement.

The “moderate” Sebelius is opposed to the death penalty, despite some of the most horrible crimes being committed in her state. How she can support life for the ‘Wichita Horror’ rapist/murderers of Dec 2000 while saying babies should die is beyond me. The GOP ought to hit her on this.

[Maelstorm]

Yes that is correct. The one people who I know that converted to Islam converted because she saw Muslims as more devote. There is a great schism coming in this country especially if the prevalent dominance of moral relativism in public and political life reaches full ascendancy. People will just go nuts.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/28/woman-accused-shooter-hated-anyone-different-him/

[Non-Sequitur]

She says he opposes the death penalty due to her Catholic teachings. Go figure.

[ZULU]

Aside from the nutty killings and bombing commited by radical Islamofascists, Islam presents a benign face towards new converts. It opposes homosexuality and other sexual perversions, it offers a cleary defined code of what is morall acceptable and what is not, and it makes no pretence of attempting to compromise its values.

YOU and I are aware of its many intrinsic failings - the intolernace, cruelty, inequality, violence, atavism, etc. which are ALSO spawned by the Koran. But THAT is probably presented in a positive light to new recruits when they compare their moral “values” with those of the degenerate nominal Christians who have allowed their morality to be eroded by a secural “humanist” state.

The proof is in the pudding. More non-Muslims convert to Islam in non-Islamic countries than Muslim immigrants convert to Christianity.

And I blame this, in part, on the lack of clear, definitive moral leadership on the part of Christian churches which feed their congregants a pablum of moral relativism.

Years ago, Christian churches spoke out against homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, etc. They supported patriotism and law and order. Today that is reversed.