Pelosi: Catholic Archdioceses Were Not ‘Speaking’ for Catholic Church When They Sued Administration

(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) said on Thursday that the 43 Catholic institutions—including the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the Archdiocese of New York--that are suing the Obama administration over its regulation mandating that all health-care plans must cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortifacients are not speaking for the Catholic Church.

When the lawsuits were filed in a coordinated action on May 21, Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis spoke at a press conference, giving a quite different impression. "The mandate set to take effect in August of this year requires us to violate our teaching on sterilization, contraception, and abortion-inducing drugs," Archbishop Carlson said in explaining the lawsuits that were filed simultaneously in 12 different federal court districts across the country by Catholic archdiocoeses, dioceses, universities, schools and charitable organizations. "The Catholic Church, led by the U.S.C.C.B. [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops], has pursued every imaginable avenue to correct this problem without litigation," said the archbishop. "But in a few short months, the federal government will force Catholic institutions to choose between violating the law and violating our moral convictions. Right now, the future is unclear, and any scenario that forces us to violate our moral convictions is unacceptable."

CNSNews.com asked Pelosi, who is Catholic, whether she supported her church in the lawsuits it has filed, which argue that the administration’s regulation violates the freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment.

I am not a Catholic. But I do not know any Catholics who think that Mrs. Pelosi speaks for the Church. Yet it appears that every day she issues another pronouncement that suggests that she must believe that she does.

Will someone please help me out? Has there ever been any aspect of Catholic Theology, which would authorize this airhead to issues pronouncements, claiming to speak for the Roman Catholic Church? Can anyone suggest any basis, theoretical or not, which even implies that someone who daily issues the sort of statements that are appearing, attributed to Mrs. Pelosi, is even in possession of normal & rational mental faculties?

And while on the subject, is there no one--even in her own party in Washington--who sees how looney this is?

William Flax

I am so inclined to agree with you. It doesn’t seem enough for me to know that she is already quite self-excommunicated and has been denied Holy Communion.

I want to see the official pronouncement handed down, for all to hear, to stop the flow of scandal that flourishes so long as she continues to get to call herself Catholic.

It is very hurtful and it is personally scandalizing for lay faithful to be labeled unfavorably by one woman’s false witness that is so damaging to the Church as a whole, and especially to weak Catholics who are still new in their faith, and also to those ignorant of the real Church teachings. Just a shame all the way around.

In fact, it is a reflection on the Bishops themselves who eventually appear to teach what they tolerate. They have tolerated Pelosi to such an extreme, with relatively no push back, that naturally one can wonder what their silence and tolerance is saying. They may agree with her, is what that says. Shame.

There could be some sport at the expense of Pelosi and other fallen Catholics at public events, as protesters could hold a rite of “vitandus excommunication” (which technically has not be Canon law since 1983), and then perform a “Bell, Book and Candle” (which has not been Canon for a long time) ritual reenactment:

‘This ceremony involved a bishop, with 12 priests, reciting an oath on the altar:’

“We separate him, together with his accomplices and abettors, from the precious body and blood of the Lord and from the society of all Christians; we exclude him from our Holy Mother, the Church in Heaven, and on earth; we declare him excommunicate and anathema; we judge him damned, with the Devil and his angels and all the reprobate, to eternal fire until he shall recover himself from the toils of the devil and return to amendment and to penitence.

“After reciting this the priests would respond “So be it!” The bishop would ring a bell to evoke a death toll, close a holy book to symbolize the ex-communicant’s separation from the church, and snuff out a candle or candles, knocking them to the floor to represent the target’s soul being extinguished and removed from the light of God.”

Of course this would just be street theater, but it would still have a potent impact on these individuals and those Catholics who embrace them. It points to them personally as a statement of religious failure, that they have fallen from grace despite their denials, and it is clear that while the church itself no longer does this in a formal way, that the end result is the same.

And of course, the media would eat it up and it would make some very interesting headlines. Headlines the targeted individual would not like one bit.

Thank you for your service. God bless your mission and your spirit. You are doing martyrs work in the field of chaos, in the USA.

I thank you for your comfort, that of knowing dedicated ministers can be scandalized also. The men of God among so many deacons and the newer, younger priesthood seems to reflect our best earthly hope for the US Catholics.

The poor, old lions are to be pitied for it seems in many, their lackluster performance of duty is no longer of the Spirit but even now of faithlessness. Poor things, to be prayed for, even with my fists clinched.

I trust you are a Catholic deacon?

Oh, but Nancy, they do represent the Catholic Church -- the people.....hey, aren't you supposed to represent us? LOL!

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As ‘street theater’, it doesn’t even need to be done by Catholics. Just put up a poster proclaiming the “’excommunication’ of Nancy Pelosi”, for example. Then perform the ritual, after a fashion, and leave without answering questions or talking to anyone.

As long as it is done in a public place, say outside an auditorium where she is speaking, it is legal. If they wanted to spice it up a it, someone could distribute flyers that say, in English and Latin, what her ‘offenses’ are, and that she is ‘anethema’ and to be shunned by Catholics, that they do not recognize her, nor listen to her words, nor support her or provide for her in any way.

This could be done all over the US against any number of faux Catholic politicians, and when they went to complain to the local clergy about it, they would have no idea what they were talking about.

I would recommend that those who did it wear cowls that conceal their faces, which would really lend an ominous air to the proceedings.

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