[NYer]

“Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it – whether they’re famous or not – fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith,” the statement adds.

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[reegs]

If Ms. Pelosi is has truly studied this issue as an “ardent” Catholic, then her response can only be seen as deception, an attempt to convince Catholics in name-only that there is wiggle room in the abortion debate. I pray that she reconsiders her view.

[xkaydet65]

I am shocked that the Bishop did not add to his statement the fact that by her statement purporting to present the Church’s teachings, Pelosi has endangered the souls of those Catholics who might follow her lead. This is prima facie cause for excommunication.

[AnalogReigns]

I fully agree with the Bishop Chaput’s stand here—and the Roman Church’s position on life in general. Particularly with the scientific knowledge we have today, no Christian can claim the name and not be fully pro-life.

Though not a part of the Church of Rome, and well aware of the “latia sentia” practice (of silent, private, implied excommunication), for the life of me, I don’t know why the Roman Church does not have formal public excommunication procedures for public figures such as Polosi—a big part of whose political appeal is no doubt that they claim to be Roman Catholic.

There should be no doubt at all to EVERYONE that she is NOT an “an ardent, practicing Catholic” and PUBLIC excommunication alone would make that clear.

Putting a few of these folks “under the ban” would do a lot to tell average Roman Catholic laity—and the world at large—that no, these folk are not Roman Catholic, and yes, they are apostate.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

God bless Archbishop Chaput for smacking this right back at her-fast!

[Salvation]

The Uninvited Guest

The Democrats' uninvited guest Posted Aug. 19, 2008 11:53 AM || by Phil Lawler || category Commentary

When the leaders of the Democratic Party gather in Denver for their nominating convention, they'll hear from a number of prominent religious leaders. They'll hear from several prominent Catholics, too. But they won't hear from the Archbishop of Denver, points out Julia Duin of theWashington Times.

Archbishop Charles Chaput would be a very, very interesting convention speaker. He's intelligent, witty, modest, and thoughtful. He has taken a special interest in the relationship between religion and politics, as demonstrated by his new book, Render Unto Caesar.

But if you were a Democratic leader… if you were a supporter of Senator Obama… would you want to hand Archbishop Chaput the microphone? Nope. His message would not be congenial to the "pro-choice" crowd.

Ray Flynn, former Boston mayor and later US ambassador to the Vatican, tells the Washington Times that the failure to include Archbishop Chaput is "a serious oversight" on the part of Democratic Party leaders. Serious, yes. Oversight, no.