Friday, April 4, 2003
Friday, April 4, 2003 |
| Some
pro-life Catholics taking a stand against others in the church
By DAVID EPPS The Roman Catholic Church is upset with some of its own at least some in the Catholic Church are upset. The Reverend Al Sharpton, a pro-abortion non-Catholic minister and a candidate for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, delivered the Sunday sermon Feb. 9 at St. Sabrina Catholic Church in Chicago. The American Life League (ALL), a Roman Catholic pro-life organization, expressed its outrage stating, "Canon law states that only a bishop, priest, or deacon may serve as homilist." The issue was not Sharpton per se but Sharpton's non-Catholicism and his pro-abortion views. The archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, admitted that an error was made but said, "Making a case of this invitation at this time would be a futile gesture and a waste of effort." ALL's Judie Brown said, "We want to make sure this situation is not repeated." ALL ran a full-page ad in the Washington Times that read, in part, "Special Alert to Cardinals, Bishops, and all Roman Catholic Clergy!! Al Sharpton is NOT a Catholic Priest!!" Copies of the ad were sent to every bishop in the U.S. with a letter asking them to "keep an eye on their parishes in case another pro-abortion politician is offered the pulpit." It wasn't the first time that ALL has published ads that are "in your face" and controversial. Earlier, ALL identified twelve pro-abortion United States Catholic Senators and, in an ad campaign, labeled them the "The Dirty Dozen." The ad read "Wanted for Fraudulently Claiming Catholic Faith - The Dirty Dozen." The ad ran photographs of Senators Ted Kennedy (MA), Tom Harkin (IA), John Kerry (MA), Tom Daschle (SD), Christopher Todd (CT), Jack Reed (RI), Patty Murray (WA), Mary Landrieu (LA), Patrick Leahy (VT), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Joseph Biden (DE), and Susan Collins (ME), With the exception of Collins, a Republican, all the rest are Democrats. The ALL ad stated, "You can't be both Catholic and pro-abortion," and charged the twelve with possessing heretical beliefs that "makes them unworthy to receive Holy Communion." Quoting Canon Law 915, the ALL ad said, "Those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Communion." ALL called upon "all bishops and priests to respectfully refuse Holy Communion to these and all public figures whose unrepentant support for the killing of babies in the womb defiles the Mass and the Body of Christ." Well, hooray for the American Life League. It is a fact that the most pro-life denomination in the Christian faith is the Roman Catholic Church. The pope has made it abundantly clear that the upholding of the sanctity of life is the position of the Catholic Church and, thereby, the position of all Catholics. Unlike some other denominations, Catholics are expected to support the official position of the Church, especially in important and significant matters. To do otherwise is to act like--well, act like Protestants. In other words, to be a "good Catholic" is to live and act in accordance with the official proclamations of the Church. As ALL points out in its ad, such a deviation makes one a "heretic." Even Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, in an October 2002 speech to the Rotary Club in Denver, lamented, "John F. Kennedy promised he'd keep his Catholic faith out of his public service. I think all Americans - not just Catholics - have been paying for that mistake for 40 years." So, will the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church hold the senators to the same standard as they would hold non-office holding Catholics? That remains to be seen but, if the American Life League has its way, the Senators who claim to be Catholic will either conform to the teachings of their Church or face the discipline of the Church. ALL labels the Senators who claim to be one thing and then act in a manner inconsistent with that claim as "heretics." If they were Protestants, the good senators would just be called "hypocrites." [David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church on Ga. Highway 34 between Peachtree City and Newnan. He may be contacted at FatherDavidEpps@aol.com or at www.CTKCEC.org.] |