Dear livius,
Archbishop Wuerl is a theological conservative, although he is politically an old-time blue collar, labor union Democrat.
Theologically, he is orthodox. However, he doesn't want to fall out with his good friends in the Democrat Party. I've read before that he considers the idea of disciplining politicians over the issue of abortion to be "politicizing" the faith, especially the Blessed Sacrament, should sanctions include exclusion from receiving the Blessed Sacrament.
He believes that lines of communication with politicians of all stripes should be kept open, and believes that cutting off pro-abort Catholic politicians from the Eucharist will only close those lines of communication.
I understand his position, but I disagree. One can maintain the lines of communication, but still insist that those who create public scandal, and give bad example to other Catholics, possibly leading other Catholics into damnable attitudes and behaviors, may not receive the Eucharist.
But Archbishop Wuerl, like Cardinal McCarrick before him, disagrees with this perspective.
sitetest
I think incredulous joe made a good point, and I realized that is what has been bothering me particularly about this whole thing with Pelosi. He said:
but I believe this thing with Pelosi is a bit of a different animal; while the likes of Kennedy, Kerry, Durbin and Mikulski shuck their faith on and off to serve themselves and their needs, Pelosi is actually trying to change the mindset of American Catholics as being a force for the pro-life cause. Pelosi offers a "Catholic alternative".
Teddy Kennedy doesn't even pretend to be a great Catholic, and doesn't really dwell on it much, but Pelosi does hold herself out as an example and implies that her version of Catholicism, with all the hard parts taken out, is just as good as Rome's. She'd make a fine Episcopalian, but she's not honest enough to do that, and instead is going to devote herself to confusing and misleading Catholics for political purposes.
I think Abp Wuerl has a particular duty to respond to her, even if he wants to give Kennedy et al. a pass.
I noticed that the talk he gave was to Communion and Liberation. My experience with them has been that while they are theologically conservative in some ways, they have retained that bizarre Italian attitude towards politics - left-wing, accomodationist, and not particularly pro-life - and don't seem to see any contradictions with some of their other positions.