EWTN.com - public excommunications

EWTN.com - public excommunications: "public excommunications


Hi Judy,

I think my head will blow off if I hear another 'pro-life catholic' politician or academic twist him/herself into a pretzel with ridiculous arguments purporting how Obama will reduce abortions. These people give public scandal to the Church. In addition, they set a poor example for other Catholics who may use them as justification for voting for Obama.

Public scandals call for public remedies. Why don't Bishops in this country publicly excommunicate these people so that they can no longer go around referring to themselves as 'Catholic'? For example, why not publicly threaten all Catholic politicians who vote for the forthcoming Freedom of Choice Act (assuming Obama gets in) with instant and public excommunication? I believe Bishops in other countries (notably in South America) have either taken or threatened to take similar actions.

Also, I am fed up with my tax money going to fund abortion. This will become exacerbated in the extreme with an Obama administration. I'd like the Church to be more vocal on this as well since Catholics are being forced to fund objectively evil activities which are outside the scope of prudential judgement.

God bless, Tom
Answer by Judie Brown on 10/24/2008:



Your comments reflect the anxiety and discomfort of many Catholics in America today. We do live in the middle of the most hedonistic, Godless nation in history, at least in my humble opinion.

So what to do? Well, to begin, we need to use every opportunity we can to raise awareness about what the act of abortion actually is and why the act should be defined in law as a crime. We need to start acting like Catholics who are not afraid to be stoned by the media, if that should come to pass.

My view of most of the Bishops is that they are fearful of public attitudes, negative media and so forth. They have lost their zeal to follow Christ and defend His truth regardless of how many people leave the Church, regardless of the bad press they might get, regardless of the decrease in collections. The point is ... abortion is murder and they should be publicly excoriating, denying the body of Christ and making it perfectly clear that these individuals are not in union with the Church ... period!

Let us pray for patience and that each feeling of anxiety or anger that we have will be channeled into something good for Christ who is, after all, the inspiration for all that is good since He is perfect Good, perfect Love and perfect Justice.

Judie Brown"