Excommunicate Them

The looming showdown with proabortion "Catholic" politicians:

And here is where the rubber meets the road for Catholics like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and their followers, to whom they are giving examples of grave moral error, or scandal, as it is known in the Church. And it seems that these scandalous men and women might finally drive good priests and bishops to publicly deny them the Holy Eucharist. Now, many good Catholics have been praying for just such a confrontation; but that's not what the bishops want. They truly desire -- in fact, it is their duty -- to return lost sheep to the fold, if they can.

Yet, at the same time, the Church sees the withholding of Communion to correct grave error as an act of charity. As former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke points out: "If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege."

In another example of fraternal correction, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver delivered this stinging rebuke to Pelosi for her claim that her position on abortion was the result of a long study of Church history:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a gifted public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills. Regrettably, knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them.... 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.

Yet sadly, these and other admonitions seem to carry no weight with those who persist in identifying themselves with an organization whose membership is voluntary but whose precepts are obligatory. And so we are left with Catholics who flagrantly flaunt Church teaching and encourage others to do so, but fall all over themselves to genuflect before the Pope and kiss his ring.

It is interesting to note that in the last election, Methodist George W. Bush garnered more Catholic votes than did erstwhile altar boy John Kerry; a message that was no doubt lost on the Obama team who selected Joe Biden to deliver the goods this time around. It seems these voters had no problem reconciling Christian morality with the good of the country; and that their allegiance to their faith could and would never prevent that.

I don't know why anyone would be surprised that the threat of excommunication would deter those committed for political power to the slaughter of unborn children. Such people have very little conscience upon which to play, much less respect for God and Church.

One cannot serve God and Mammon both. Isn't it obvious which Pelosi, Biden, Kerry, Kennedy and the rest serve at this late date?