I don’t know how many times I have to repeat it: publicly denying Communion to a pro-abort is
EXACTLY
WHAT
THEY
WANT
DOLAN
TO
DO
Because then they will be the martyrs and Dolan the Grand Inquisitor.
The bishops lost the ability to impose sanction when they refused to do so back when public opinion would have taken them seriously.
Now they are stuck. If they publicly confront the Pelosis, Pelosis turns it back against them. If they don’t publicly confront the Pelosis get away with murder.
Yeah, sooner or later they are going to have to excommunicate the Pelosis and take the heat.
But all of you folks out their screaming for the bishops to take this step
WHAT WILL YOU DO TO COVER THEIR BACKS WHEN THEY FINALLY DO IT?
Do you realize what will happen when they do it? Will you do something to change the public backlash? What exactly will you do?
Armchair bishop-scolding is cheap. What exactly are we going to do to help make this work when the bishops finally do it?
Do you realize that the horses are out of the barn, that the Pelosis know they are now beyond the reach of the bishops? That the Pelosis don’t give a damn about any old bishop’s disciplining of them? That the Pelosis are giving the bishops the finger?
Armchair-scold the bishops if you must but for every time you denounce a bishop for not taking the steps you want them to take, take a half-dozen shots at the Pelosis. If you live in a district represented by one of these monsters, before bashing your bishop, bash the pro-abort pols in your district a dozen times. Then you can self-righteously preach at your bishop.
Yes, it’s the bishops’ fault they are in this pickle.
But they are in this pickle. And they need lay Catholics to help them out of it.
I have to disagree with you here. The reason canon law 915 needs to be enforced is because abortion is a sin, a scandal and an outrage. Bishop Burke did the same thing, and look at the number of vocations he got in his diocese.
Consequentialist calculations have no place in this discussion. Canon 915 is not a penal canon, and denial of Communion is NOT a penalty or a “sanction.” Dolan is wrong to call it a “sanction.”
Telling a person that he is not allowed to commit adultery or murder is not imposing a “sanction” on him. In precisely the same way, telling a notorious sinner that he may not receive Communion is not a “sanction.” It is merely informing him that reception of Communion is, for him, a grave sin.