Three Catholic Bishops Refuse to Take Action on Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians

American Life League: Three Catholic Bishops Refuse to Take Action on Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians -- Why?; Bishops of Albany, N.Y., Lansing, Mich., and Burlington, Vt. Will Not Protect Holy Communion from Pro-Abortion Politicians

Contact: Joseph R. Giganti of the American Life League's Crusade for Defense of Our Catholic Church, 703-928-9695 or jgiganti@all.org, Web site: http://www.all.org

WASHINGTON, May 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- American Life League's Crusade for Defense of Our Catholic Church is disappointed over recent statements by three high-ranking Catholic clerics. Bishops Howard Hubbard of Albany, N.Y.; Carl Mengeling of Lansing, Mich.; and Kenneth Angell of Burlington, Vt., have all been quoted in the media as saying they would not prevent pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians from receiving Holy Communion.

"Pope John Paul II (note 1) and key Vatican officials have made it abundantly clear that support of abortion by a 'Catholic' public official is a 'manifest grave sin' and therefore those public officials should not be allowed to receive Holy Communion," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. "These bishops are the shepherds of the Church. Their failure to take definitive steps in defense of the Holy Eucharist leaves the Catholic faithful not only questioning their apparent unwillingness to act, but also wondering if these bishops are complying with Church law."

American Life League has launched an ad campaign calling upon the bishops of the Catholic Church to use the authority of their office, as well as Cannon Law 915, to protect Holy Communion from sacrilege by informing all who distribute the sacrament that it is not to be given to known pro-abortion "Catholics." The first ad addressed a statement from Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, D.C., who said he was not "comfortable" withholding Communion from pro-abortion Catholics. "You cannot be Catholic and pro-abortion; this is an indisputable truth of the Church's teachings," said Brown. "The failure of some bishops to teach this fact perpetuates the lie that one can be personally pro-life, while being publicly pro-abortion."

"Archbishop Raymond Burke set the standard while bishop of LaCrosse, Wis., when he canonically barred certain Catholic politicians from receiving Holy Communion until they publicly recanted their pro-abortion positions and repented," said Brown. "We pray that all of our bishops will use Archbishop Burke's actions as the template for ending this scandal. We also hope that more bishops will follow the example of Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, N.D., who so compellingly stated that as successors of the Apostles, the bishops have an obligation to speak out against this outrage.

American Life League is the nation's largest pro-life educational organization with more than 300,000 supporting families.

Arch Bishop Burke was on EWTN with Raymond Aroyo. It was a re-run of Saturday's show. Fr. Burke was asked some good questions by Aroyo and the TV viewers.

Burkes overall discussion was straight forward. The Bishops are supposed to take 6 months to make a decision on Kerry and others. Burke did not agree and said it could be done quicker.

I got the feeling that there is a big chasm among the Bishops.

Burke did agree that it is the responsibility of the Bishops to act or the laity will lose all confidence in the Bishops.

2 posted on 05/11/2004 6:04:20 PM PDT by franky (Pray for the souls of the faithful departed. Pray for our own souls to receive the grace of a happy)

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