There's more and notice how Davis has arrogantly rebuffed his Shepherd!!!
A price to pay, church has said
Ads to blast officials, like Gov. Davis, who back abortion rights.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/5994653p-6951687c.html
By Jennifer Garza -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Sunday, January 26, 2003
Bishop William K. Weigand last week gave Gov. Gray Davis a choice: Followthe teachings of the Roman Catholic Church or face religious consequences.
By doing so, the Sacramento-area bishop stepped to the forefront of an emerging national campaign to hold Catholic politicians accountable for their stance on abortion.
At a mass Wednesday commemorating the anniversary of Roe v. Wade -- the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States -- Weigand called on the governor to "have the integrity" to stop receiving communion until he changes his position favoring abortion rights.
It's a challenge other Catholic politicians soon will face.
Over the next few months, the American Life League (www.all.org) one of the country's largest anti-abortion organizations, will target other Catholic politicians and make a similar ultimatum.
"A lot of Catholics have had it with these politicians," said Joe Giganti, director of media relations for the Virginia-based American Life League.
"They want to be Catholics on their own terms. They do not have the right or ability to do that. ... They are bringing scandal to the church."
In a campaign that Giganti says is the first of its kind in America, the group will sponsor ads in newspapers giving the names of Catholic politicians who favor abortion rights and their bishops. The group is calling on the bishops to deny these politicians communion until they change
their ways.
The first ad -- labeled the "Deadly Dozen" -- will focus on high-profile U.S. senators, including Ted Kennedy, Tom Daschle, John Kerry and Barbara Mikulski. The second phase of the campaign will target governors, and Davis will be at the top of that list, Giganti said.
Giganti's group had not contacted Weigand before his rebuke to Davis, but Giganti said "we were thrilled" with the bishop's remarks.
"We are very proud and very happy with what he's done. This is what we are asking bishops to do, to stand up for what is right," Giganti said. "By saying what he did, he became a leader on this issue ... a lot of people are watching to see what happens next."
Others, however, were not thrilled with the bishop's remarks.
"I think the church is trying to distract from its own problems," said Bob Mulholland, a senior adviser to the state Democratic Party. Mulholland, a Catholic, said Weigand and other church leaders should not start
reprimanding anyone publicly.
"The church has lost credibility with me," he said.
Weigand is leader of the 500,000 Catholics in a diocese that stretches from Solano County to the Oregon border. His remarks drew both praise and criticism from area Catholics.
"The bishop is doing what is right. We are very lucky to have him," said Mary Felton of Cameron Park, one of many who e-mailed The Bee applauding Weigand.
"I think the bishop should stop making moral judgments about other people and look at (the church's) own problems," wrote Sam Harrington of Sacramento, referring to the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the church the past year.
Some people felt the issue of communion is too personal to raise in public.
"This is something that should have been done between the bishop and the governor," said Mary Larkin of Clarksburg.
Communion is one of the most sacred rites in the Catholic faith. Catholic doctrine holds that the bread and wine received during the sacrament literally are changed into the body and the blood of Christ during the Mass.
Only those who are "free of sin" or at peace with God and themselves are to receive communion. In practice, parishioners generally are allowed to follow their own conscience in deciding whether to receive the sacrament.
"Cutting someone off from the sacraments is pretty drastic," said Ted Jalen, chair of the political science department at the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas, who has written extensively on religion and the politics of abortion.
"What you are essentially saying is that you are no longer a full-fledged member of the church."
Giganti's group is calling on bishops to deny the sacrament to Catholics who favor abortion rights. Weigand, however, did not go that far. He said he would not deny communion to Davis but instead wants the governor to abstain from receiving communion "of his own volition."
In an interview, Weigand said two incidents prompted him to challenge the governor during last week's Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in downtown Sacramento.
The first was a run-in between Davis and Monsignor Edward Kavanagh, who oversees St. Patrick's orphanage in Sacramento. Shortly before Christmas, Kavanagh refused to let the governor distribute gifts to the children of St.
Patrick's unless he changed his views on abortion. Davis refused and the gifts later were given to the children at the Capitol. Weigand said he wanted to publicly show his support for Kavanagh.
A 19-page document from the Vatican, released Jan. 16, also influenced the bishop's decision to rebuke the governor. In the "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith," the pope stated that Catholic politicians must uphold church teachings on bioethics and other issues guided by moral law,
such as euthanasia and abortion.
Weigand said one of the most important reasons he spoke out is that he wanted to address recent questions from parishioners about the Davis-Kavanagh incident. As the shepherd of the diocese, Weigand said, he needed to deal with these concerns.
"People wanted to know how the governor could remain a Catholic in good standing and still have those policies," said Weigand. "I said he can't be."
Weigand also said he has tried repeatedly over the past four years to talk to the governor about his abortion-rights policies but has been rebuffed. "I just want to sit down and talk with him and explain the teachings of the
church."
Longtime church watchers say Weigand's remarks to Davis are in accordance with church law but wonder how effective a national campaign challenging Catholic politicians will be.
"Bishops can tell people they're not living up to the requirements of their faith," said James Walter, director of the Bio-Ethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "But I think they stand a chance of a
backlash. ... People may think they crossed the line between separation of church and state."
This is what happened in 1989 after a San Diego bishop banned an assemblywoman from taking communion because she favored abortion rights.
Many disagreed with the bishop's action, and Democrat Lucy Killea went on to win an upset victory that has been credited to that reaction.
There may also be a difference of opinion about the governor within the Catholic Church. Davis and his wife regularly attend Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills. Good Shepherd pastor Colm O'Ryan did not return calls from
The Bee requesting an interview, nor did his bishop, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony.
However, in an interview with San Francisco's Faith, a Catholic publication, O'Ryan said he was not bothered by Davis' abortion rights stance.
"Oh, no," he was quoted as saying in Faith's February 2003 edition. "He's a very private person. He's a very faithful Catholic. He and his wife come to Mass very faithfully when they are in town."
O'Ryan said that his own stance toward the governor was "judge not and you shall not be judged."
[Please note the following reasons why public excummunication is necessary and good:
Excommunication of 7 Women for Mock Ordination Is Confirmed
Move Necessary to Protect Doctrine and Guide Consciences, Says Vatican
zenit.org ZE03012703
Moreover, the Holy See considers that the "refusal to comply with the penal precept established by the Church" is "further aggravated by the fact that some of the above-mentioned women have been gathering round them members of the faithful, in open and divisive disobedience to the Roman Pontiff and diocesan bishops."
It adds: "In view of the gravity of this contumacy (cf. can. 1347 CIC), the penalty imposed is not only just, but also necessary, in order to protect true doctrine, to safeguard the communion and unity of the Church, and to guide consciences of the faithful." ]
you can write/call Father Colm O'Ryan, Davis' misguided pastor, and Cardinal Mahoney at:
Good Shepherd Catholic Church
Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region, Deanery 13
505 North Bedford Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210-3298
Voice phone: (310) 285-5425
Fax phone: (310) 285-5433
Website: NoParishURL.htm
Sorry, this Parish does not yet have a URL assigned to it.
Please check back another time.
Mailing address and telephone number
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241
213 637 7000
info@la-archdiocese.org
Over the next few months, the American Life League (www.all.org) one of the country's largest anti-abortion organizations, will target other Catholic politicians and make a similar ultimatum. "A lot of Catholics have had it with these politicians," said Joe Giganti, director of media relations for the Virginia-based American Life League.
In a campaign that Giganti says is the first of its kind in America, the group will sponsor ads in newspapers giving the names of Catholic politicians who favor abortion rights and their bishops. The group is calling on the bishops to deny these politicians communion until they change their ways.
The first ad -- labeled the "Deadly Dozen" -- will focus on high-profile U.S. senators, including Ted Kennedy, Tom Daschle, John Kerry and Barbara Mikulski. The second phase of the campaign will target governors, and Davis will be at the top of that list, Giganti said.
I'm proud to say that Tim Chichester, President of the Catholic Family Association of America, was one of the primary voices in encourging the American Life League to pursue this, and the Dirty dozen was taken at least in part from our Excommunication Petition work.
Judy Brown of the American Life League was one of the first high profile signatories to our petition and has worked closely with us on it.
We at the Catholic Family Association of America are working on getting a private audience with the Pope to present
1)the excommunication petition, to Excommunicate Culture of Death "Catholics" and
2) a plea to change canon law so that politicians who vote to expand/fund abortions or support the homosexual agenda are automatically excommunicated.
If you have not yet signed the excommunication petition, its not too late!
And please keep our efforts in your prayers, especially that our private audience with the Pope is secured and schedulued soon, to coincide with recent Vatican directives mentioned in the article above.
--Dr. Brian Kopp (Polycarp),
Vice President,
Catholic Family Association of America
Here is our request:
A Canonical Petition to Interdict or Excommunicate Culture of Death "Catholics"
TO:
Pope John Paul II,
Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church
Special Note: Part I of the petition requests changes in Canon 1398 to afford more protection for innocent life. Part II is a request for the 'medicinal' interdiction from the sacraments, pending repentance of grave public sin, and calls for excommunication of only those who stubbornly persist in supporting the Culture of Death. You incur no civil or financial liability in signing this petition.
FROM:
PETITIONERS
Mr. Stephen G. Brady, President, Roman Catholic Faithful
Dr. Craig Bozzacco, D.D.S., President, Dentists for Life
Mr. Michael Cain, Editor, The Daily Catholic
Mr. Vinny Ciappetta, President, National Cops for Life
Mr. Christopher A. Ferrara,
President, American Catholic Lawyers Association
Dr. Brian J. Kopp, Columnist,
Vice President, Catholic Family Association of America
Dr. Claude E. Newbury, President, Pro-Life South Africa; Founding Member, Intrnl. Right to Life
Regional Representative for Human Life Int.
Rev. Fr. John Trigilio, PhD, Editor, SAPIENTIA> Magazine; Co-host EWTN's Web of Faith,
President, Confraternity of Catholic Clergy
Mrs. Judie Brown, President, American Life League, Inc.
Mr. Richard L. Bucci, President, Catholic Radio, NY
Mr. Timothy A. Chichester,
President, Catholic Family Association of America, Inc.
Mr. William Cotter, President, Operation Rescue-Boston
Dr. Chris Kahlenborn, Author, "Breast Cancer: It's Link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill"
Mr. Phillip F. Lawler, Editor, Catholic World News
Charles P. Prezzia MD, MPH,
President, Catholic Medical Association
Mr. Joseph Scheidler, Director, Pro-Life Action League
Donna Steichen, Author of "Ungodly Rage"
Monica M. Miller, Ph.D., Author
(Remainder to be filled upon closing of the signatory phase)
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs request the following relief:
A. That Pope John Paul II, Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church take jurisdiction of this petition.
B. That Canon 1398 be changed to read: "A person who deliberately enables an abortion or euthanization incurs a latae sententiae excommunication. An elected or appointed official who votes for legislation enabling abortion or euthanasia or who publicly propagandizes for or promotes abortion or euthanasia incurs a latae sententiae excommunication."
C. That he issue to the bishops specific directives concerning the implementation and enforcement of interdiction and excommunication for public promoters of abortion, euthanasia and other forms of direct attack upon life.
D. That he publicly order Defendants to:
1. Refrain from any act or statement which enables, supports or condones abortion, euthanasia and other
forms of direct attack upon life.
2. Publicly repent and retract their errors and promise no further acts and/or statements
which enable, support or condone abortion, euthanasia and other forms of direct attack upon life.
3. Refrain from reception of the sacrament of Eucharist until the above orders have been followed.
E. That he publicly declare that Defendants' acts and/or statements as alleged are:
1. Contrary to and inimical to the faith of the Catholic Church ;
2. A scandal to the Mystical Body of Christ, the faithful of the Catholic Church ; and
3. A sacrilege to the Real Body and Blood of Jesus Christ when Defendants receive
the sacrament of the Eucharist.
F. In the event that any Defendant fails to follow any of the above orders to publicly
excommunicate him or her from the Catholic Church .
Dated at (to be implemented upon closing of the signatory phase)