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Response to Pro-Abort “Gang of 18” &#0151 Leave Church or Quit Politics

Written by

Peter J. Smith

in

Two pro-life Catholic leaders came out swinging against the 18 pro-abortion Catholic congressmen who rebuked Pope Benedict XVI last week for suggesting bishops could discipline politicians for advancing abortion, saying the group would do faithful Catholics a favor by leaving the Church or resigning from office.

Led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), they had accused the Pope of offending "the very nature of the American experiment" for his statements "warning Catholic elected officials that they risk excommunication and would not receive communion for their pro-choice views."

"Religious sanction in the political arena directly conflicts with our fundamental beliefs about the role and responsibility of democratic representatives in a pluralistic America," the Congressmen stated. "It also clashes with freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution."

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, President of Human Life International, called the pro-abortion "gang of 18" both "ignorant of their faith" and in need of "a civics lesson."

"It is an embarrassment that a Catholic, much less a member of Congress should make such an absurd statement, said Fr. Euteneuer. "Even if this statement were true, the Holy Father answers to a Higher Power than Rep. DeLauro and the Gang of 18."

"The truth is," Euteneuer continued, "nothing threatens the American experiment more than the legal but unjust killing of human beings by abortion which stands in stark contrast to the very first right enumerated by our Declaration of Independence: The Right to Life. The humanity of the unborn child is no longer even debated. It is a scientific fact. Abortion is murder, and murder is against the law."

The "Gang of 18" also had reaffirmed its February "Historic Statement of Principles," which attempted to reconcile the Church's defense of the sanctity of life with a pro-abortion position. They said they remain committed to reducing the "need" for abortion with legislation like "The Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act" while keeping the practice entirely legal.

Fr. Frank Pavone, the National Director of Priests for Life, criticized the Congressmen for stating that supporting abortion in any fashion could be consonant with their Catholic faith.

"Faithful Catholics, as well as those in the pro-life movement from every denomination, have had enough of this double-talk," stated Fr. Pavone. "It is not possible to advance ‘respect for life and for the dignity of every human being' while tolerating the dismemberment and decapitation of the human beings still in their mothers' wombs."

Fr. Pavone called upon the legislators to resign and end the public contradiction to their faith, while Fr. Euteneuer invited the pro-abortion Congressmen to leave the Church if they object so much to its teachings.

"This is what the Catholic Church teaches and what Catholics believe," said Euteneuer. "If the Gang of 18 believes otherwise, honesty and integrity requires they find another church that tells them what they want to hear. If they have that much of a problem being Catholic, no one is forcing them to stay. We certainly don't need their hypocrisy."

The statement was signed by Representatives Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), Joe Baca (CA-43), Tim Bishop (NY-1), Joe Courtney (CT-2), Anna Eshoo (CA-14), Maurice Hinchey, (NY-22), Patrick Kennedy (RI-1), James Langevin (RI-2), John Larson (CT-1), Carolyn McCarthy (NY-4), Betty McCollum (MN-4), Jim Moran (VA-8), Bill Pascrell (NJ-8), Tim Ryan (OH-17), Linda Sanchez (CA-39), José Serrano (NY -16), Hilda Solis (CA-32), and Mike Thompson (CA-1).

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  1. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    To see that five of the 18 are from CA is no surprise. Having just returned from Southern CA last week, I had a conversation with a sibling who worked in the public school system for decades in County level  administration in one of the largest counties, and also as principle in the elementary schools. We had a discussion about sex ed in the fifth grade.  

    My daughter is on an elementary school board; she is seeking to revamp their sex ed curriculum, making abstinence and marriage  the primary focus in the class.  I remarked to my sib that my daughter chose to opt-out her son from the program because SEICUS, aka as Kinsey’s Kinky Kollection of Kooks Kindly Kavorting as Korrect Knowledge in the skin of Planned Parenthood, was doing a presentation to the 11 year olds. The plan was to teach about all the pertinent parts, tell of all the pleasure, and none of the consequences or responsibilities, except HIV.  

    My sib remarked that in all the years of involvement in the Southern CA school system, she knew of no one who opted their child out of the class.  She was amazed that I would even be concerned with what the little ones were being exposed to or who was doing the teaching.  

    I love going and visiting CA, but an ill-wind blows there. And it is in the Church as much or even more than in the secular. 

    Lord have mercy on our souls as we struggle to make right what is so perverted.

    "Do not try to please everybody. Try to please God , the angels, and the saints. These are your public. If you are afraid of other people's opinion, you should not have become Christian." St John Vianney

  2. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    We have a big problem here. Sadly, there are many parts of the USA represented in the group. And I believe these eighteen do in fact represent many, many US Catholics. That's a lot bigger than the gang of eighteen. 

    But one can not be in communion with the Church and not be in communion with the Church.

    Astonishingly, men and women who look and seem like otherwise intelligent people do not understand this.  They refuse to see that by choosing to be out of communion with the Church, they excommunicate themselves from the Church. Rejecting the authoritative teaching of the Church is rejection of the Church. Failing to understand the self-evidence of this, they protest their excommunication and insist they are in the Church.

    How did we get such a problem? How did smart, successful Catholic children and young adults become these people?

    Nancy Pelosi went to high school with my mother, who is very faithful and just as confused as anyone about how such people came up within the Church.

    Something is wrong.  Something big. And we need to fix it.

    But many of us Catholics who are pointing in outrage at this have a log in our own eye. 

    Our Lord told us about sowing and reaping.

    Here’s some of the sowing.

    ·         98% of US Catholics reject the Church's authoritative teaching when it comes to using artificial birth control. 

    ·         Few US Catholics protested the legalization of In Vitro Fertilization in 1985. 

    ·         Not much US Catholic outrage over no-fault divorce laws in nearly all the states.

    Here's some of the reaping:

    ·         One million+ abortions each year

    ·         Same-sex "marriage"

    ·         Embryonic stem cell research

    ·         75% pre-marital co-habitation rate

    ·         50% divorce rate

  3. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Again, I'm over the time-limit, here (i.e., it's already Saturday), but let me state something that may not be evident to "cradle" Catholics: you've always been Catholic.  You see being Catholic as part of your identity, like being American, like being a Democrat, like paying your taxes.  Your grandparents had this same identity; your parents had this same identity, and now here you are, and raising your kids to believe in the "family identity".

    Those of us who have chosen to be Catholic understand something you don't:  Catholicism is not an identity in the sense that Judaism is an identity.  If you were born of Jewish parents, you are Jewish whether you "practice" or not.  Being born of Catholic parents doesn't make you Catholic any more than living in a garage makes you a car!  It gives you an opportunity to become a Catholic–by the way you think, and live, and work, and love.  Protestants understand that one can be "born" a Baptist, and choose to become a Methodist or a Lutheran or an Episcopalian and it doesn't alter their committment to Christianity.  A Protestant chooses to affiliate him/herself with a denomination that expresses his/her beliefs. 

    Maybe us converts need to get our boxes of crayons out and go to Washington and have a "session" with the Gang of 18.  What do you think?

  4. Guest Avatar
    Guest

     Cooky642:"Maybe us converts need to get our boxes of crayons out and go to Washington and have a "session" with the Gang of 18.  What do you think?" 

     

    That would be marvelous!

     

    My identity as a Catholic, albeit cradle, comes not from Catholic parents, for which I am enormously grateful for their inheritance in passing on the Faith, but from the indelible mark the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation have put on my soul. I depend on the Grace of these Sacraments to not only give me identity but to give me the impetus to be Catholic in body, mind and spirit. This is slightly different than party affiliation or nationalism. That is subject to change, but unless I completely deny my faith, my Catholicism is a gift from God, not my parents.

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