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| John DiGioia - Georgetwon University President |
As the
National Catholic Register reports, the president of Georgetown University has sought to defend the invitation to Kathleen Sebelius to speak at a graduation event. But the Archdiocese of Washington has issued the following reaction:
"The
Archdiocese of Washington reserved public comment to permit Georgetown
University and its sponsor, the Society of Jesus, the opportunity to
address the controversy. While the explanation of how this unfortunate
decision was made is appreciated, it does not address the real issue for
concern – the selection of a featured speaker whose actions as a public
official present the most direct challenge to religious liberty in
recent history and the apparent lack of unity with and disregard for the
bishops and so many others across the nation who are committed to the
defense of freedom of religion."
What we really need is for the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington and other bishops to publicly declare that Catholic politicians who publicly dissent from Church teaching and promote policies that are contrary to the Church's teachings on faith and morals are not to be admitted to Holy Communion in their dioceses. They may do this invoking Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law:
Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been
imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin,
are not to be admitted to holy communion.
They should further name those politicians who obviously fall into that category. Since they are all at least some of the time present in the archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal Wuerl would appear to have the potential for great leadership in this matter. People such as Sebelius, Pelosi, Biden... all Catholics close to the President and fully supportive of his attacks on religious liberty, the sanctify of life, the instituation of marriage...
Unfortunately Father, I don’t have much confidence that Cardinal Wuerl will take the lead in this. In the past the position has been that it is the particular person’s Ordinary who should initiate steps. Cardinal Dolan - much as I admire him in many respects - didn’t take the lead with the New York Governor and other prominent ‘Catholic’ representatives in his jurisdiction either. Even Bishop Morlino of Madison, WI - an admirable man - when asked about VP Biden, demurred, as he had not “spoken personally with the VP…”
ReplyDeleteOne does not need to ‘speak personally’ with every publicly dissident Catholic to condemn their errors in no uncertain terms. For too long the American episcopacy has had a too-cozy relationship with politicians – particularly Democrats. They don’t want to be ‘confrontational’ and give the lukewarm excuse that there needs to be more ‘dialogue’…
Basically it comes down to bishops abdicating their responsibilities as teachers and enforcers of doctrine and discipline, in an effort to appear open and ‘nice guys’. As the famed Vince Lombardi noted in another context: “Nice guys finish last…”