Washington D.C., Feb 1, 2021 / 01:30 pm (CNA).- The bishop of San Diego on Monday accused “some bishops” of making the issue of abortion a “litmus test” for Catholic politicians during the Biden presidency.
With the inauguration of Joe Biden as just the second Catholic president in United States history, “some bishops want to recast the presence and tone of the conference in the public order,” said Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego at an online event on Monday.
These bishops, he said, “argue that abortion is not merely a ‘preeminent’ issue in Catholic Social Teaching, but rather constitutes the de facto litmus test for determining whether a Catholic public official is a faithful Catholic, and for determining whether the overall policy stances of non-Catholic officials can be considered morally legitimate.”
He added that “if adopted, such a position will reduce the common good to a single issue.”
Bishop McElroy spoke at an online event of Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life; the event focused on how new President Biden, the U.S. bishops, and Pope Francis might work to promote the teachings of the Church in public policy.
Biden has publicly voted pro-abortion during his time in the U.S. Senate, officiated a same-sex wedding while vice president in 2016, and has supported taxpayer-funded abortion while a presidential candidate. On Jan. 22, the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, he stated his commitment to codifying Roe.
Biden has also received praise from the U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB) for executive actions on immigration, fair housing, and stopping federal contracts with private prisons.
At Monday’s event, Bishop McElroy acknowledged that while President Biden is committed to fighting racism and protecting immigrants and the environment, he has not acted to overturn legal abortion.
However, McElroy added, some bishops are advancing “an overall stance of confrontation” with the new president rather than the conference’s traditional strategy of “engagement, dialogue, and critique.”
In contrast to this confrontational approach, Pope Francis “has placed encounter, dialogue, honesty and collaboration at the heart of his approach to public conversation,” McElroy said, and is “unlikely to endorse” punitive actions such as withholding Communion from Biden because of his public abortion advocacy.
As in 2004, when Catholic Democrat John Kerry ran for president, the topic of denying Holy Communion to publicly pro-abortion politicians has once again surfaced with the election of Biden.
Under canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law, some bishops have previously withheld Holy Communion from publicly pro-abortion politicians because of their “obstinate” support for the grave evil of legal abortion, in the face of admonishment.
However, other bishops—including Bishop William Malooly of Wilmington and Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C.—have said recently or in the past that they would not withhold Holy Communion from a politician such as Biden.
As part of the USCCB’s “working group” on dealing with Biden, the group will be drafting a statement on “Eucharistic coherence” of Catholics who publicly oppose Church teaching on grave matters.
When asked by moderator Kim Daniels if teaching about “Eucharistic coherence” in the Biden presidency is a “good idea,” McElroy replied “No. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
The matter of Communion for Catholic politicians is a pastoral concern, he said, and should be addressed by Biden’s bishops in D.C. and in his home diocese of Wilmington, Delaware.
“The conference has no pastoral relationship with President Biden,” he said.
“I do not see how depriving the president or other political leaders the Eucharist, based on their public policy stance, can be interpreted in our society as anything other than a weaponization of the Eucharist and an effort not to convince people by argument, and by dialogue and reason, but rather, to pummel them into submission on the issue [of abortion],” he said.
Other bishops have mentioned the topic of Eucharistic coherence in recent days, framing it within the broader teaching of worthiness to receive Holy Communion.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, in an interview with EWTN Pro-Life Weekly last week, said that Communion can be withheld from someone “for the sake of their soul” but only after “private conversations to try to move the person in their conscience” have taken place.
Furthermore, he added, Catholics must recover the “bigger picture” of “worthiness to receive Communion,” and “to be in the state of grace.”
In his homily at the annual Vigil Mass for Life on Jan. 28, the USCCB’s pro-life chair also preached that Catholics should not receive Communion if they are contradicting “fundamental” Church teaching.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City said that “integrity requires that a Catholic not receive the Eucharist while acting in a manner incoherent with fundamental Catholic teaching.” He made that statement after explaining the Church’s teaching on reception of Communion as something neither “inhospitable” nor “exclusive.”
The topic of abortion as a “preeminent” concern of the conference also came up on Monday.
In a Jan. 21 statement on the day of Biden’s inauguration, the USCCB president Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles issued a statement that the bishops would pray for Biden. He emphasized that bishops “are not partisan players” but are pastors responsible for souls.
While noting areas of agreement between the conference and Biden on issues such as immigration, he said that “the continued injustice of abortion remains the ‘preeminent priority’” of the conference.
“‘Preeminent’ does not mean ‘only’,” Gomez said, but “abortion is a direct attack on life that also wounds the woman and undermines the family.”
At the U.S. bishops’ fall meeting in 2019, McElroy argued against calling abortion the “preeminent” concern of the conference, saying that to do so was “at least discordant with the Pope’s teaching, if not inconsistent.”
“It is not Catholic teaching that abortion is the preeminent issue that we face in the world of Catholic social teaching. It is not,” McElroy said.
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Poor fellow. May God have mercy on him. What should be the “preeminent issue…in the world of Catholic social teaching” if not the standing against the total selfish disregard for the life of the innocent? Heaven cries. And if a Catholic supports abortion, clearly he/she is not a faithful Catholic.
Bumper sticker – “Two people went into an abortion clinic. One walked out.”
Well said
“Amen I say to you, whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did it to me”. Jesus in his parable Mt 25.40
Can we implore all Catholics who employ artificial contraception to refrain from taking Communion and priests who are aware of such people to refuse them Communion? If not, why not? Hypocrisy and the Catholic Church seem to be bedfellows these days.
It would appear that “being kind” trumps common sense and church doctrine. Yes, Abortion should be a litmus test. Or, it should be for politicians who dont obey the doctrine but use their religion to pander and harvest votes. Because once people ( like aborted babies) are DEAD,there is no value in gaining brownie points for giving them liberal immigration laws, and free housing or worry about privately run prisons.( You dont go to prison if you are innocent, so why is this an issue at all??)A church that says “anything goes” as long as you are nice and refrain from hurting someone’s feelings, is not much of a church at all. The empty pews should be sending a signal to the Bishops.I guess they are either not paying attention or are too invested in being politically popular with the leftist media . There are things wrong with the Church, but standing up for their avowed principles too strongly is not one of them. Biden should be advised to stop using his supposed “Catholicism” as a political chip, and so should those who voted for him.
Amen, well said.
How very predictable! The world was wondering how long it would take for Bishop McElroy to grab the microphone. The Great Triumvirate: east-coast Gregory, the heartland Cupich, and now west-coast McElroy…
My God! A “litmus test”!!! This man surely does sound sophisticated! But, then, how about the more telling canary-in-a-coalmine test?
Before you know it, there might be a single litmus test holding that papabili, or maybe even cardinals and bishops (!), should at the very least not include members of the Mafia! How “punitive” can you get?!?!
But, in a sense, McElroy might still be onto something…is his question really whether there are ANY “preeminent” moral issues in the Catholic Social Teaching? If so, it might be that as a preface to a statement on “Eucharistic coherence,” we might first need a tutorial paragraph on the preeminence of basic Cognitive coherence over incoherence—as with the non-demonstrable first principle of non-contradiction.
But, then, such a cover letter likely would be detached from the start, again, just as the earlier luminary Mr. McCarrick ditched the cover note from Cardinal Ratzinger back in 2004, rather than simply speak truth to power on these very points of Eucharistic unity versus double-speak politics.
So, with each abortion, as with Shakespeare: “to be, or not to be, that is the question.”
Judas.
1) Judas.
2) Canary in mine.
3) Litmus test.
Bishop fails all but one.
It is a litmus test.
Same as agreement or disagreement with the Resurrection is a litmus test.
Or the Trinity.
Or the Real Presence.
Or the existence of God.
Or the legitimacy of same-sex marriage.
The fact is that there are stances one can take that definitively resolve whether someone is Catholic or not. If you want to call such stances “litmus tests” you may.
Does McElroy believe that personal beliefs don’t matter?
Fake bishop.
Absolutely, Josh.
Characterizing oneself as “Catholic” would tend to imply that one is in fact a Catholic, wouldn’t it? That one subscribes to certain beliefs, like, say, that children ought not be killed by their parents?
Apparently not to “Bishop” McElroy.
Unbelievable.
Josh, Brineyman
Well said.
We are taught murder is a mortal sin. Contraception is a mortal sin. Marriage is between a man and a woman.
Everything Biden and pro abortion candidates disagree with. They are contributing to millions of deaths here and throughout the world. Bishops like McElroy and cardinals like Bishop William Malooly of Wilmington and Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C. are part and party to what we read about the church being attacked from within. But the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church.
Saint Therese pray for us.
“He added that “if adopted, such a position will reduce the common good to a single issue.””
I’d say that “Do you think it’s okay to murder innocents?” is a pretty solid single issue on which to vote. Or does he think that King Herod was an okay guy who did a lot of good and we shouldn’t focus on something so trivial as the death of the Holy Innocents?
Boom.
Wouldn’t be nice if the Pope stepped in and gave us guidance. Too many politicians in the ranks of the cardinals and bishops.
Cowards!
“It is not Catholic teaching that abortion is the preeminent issue that we face in the world of Catholic social teaching. It is not.” To achieve your level of cold-blooded morally depraved stupidity Bishop is grounds not only for your resignation but ought to be grounds for your excommunication given how, your position in the world undermines Catholic witness to the point of aiding and abetting mass murder to an incalculable but undisputable degree.
It is impossible to be wrong about abortion and right about anything else, especially within a life of a would be commitment to faith, which has certainly become a decreased expectation thanks to those who disgrace the calling. Justice begins with a recognition of the sacred status of every human individual with inalienable, divinely endowed rights and dignity, without which, there is no discussion or apportionment of any sense of a human commonweal that holds any meaning at all. To not understand this, is to understand nothing at all.
McElroy commenting on pro-life issues is like Arius commenting on christology.
Good essential pith.
Another Gnostic heretic? Bishop McElroy holds “Eucharistic coherence” constricts freedom of conscience, advising the matter be left with the local ordinary Cardinal Gregory. Would McElroy issue the same admonition to Kim Daniels if the ordinary were Cardinal Cordileone? Bishop McElroy argues such coherence violates the Common Good, as if that Natural Law moral principle is permissive to sin, a kind of liberal pluralism. Although on a reverse litmus test question, he raises the essential issue of Catholicism and political expediency. Does refusal of communion to Pres Biden deny Biden his conscientious right to claim allegiance to Catholicism while respecting his duty as a politician to respect the beliefs of others in a pluralistic society? As Benedict XVI taught in a commentary to a CDF position against abortion that a Catholic pol can never support, abide to abortion due to the gravity of the offense. It comes down to abortion itself, which is not strictly a religious issue, rather a natural law and justice issue related to the right to life of the innocent human. Bishop McElroy perceives accommodation as the just course, whereas killing of an innocent doesn’t accommodate justice in a pluralistic society. Rather it radicalizes, setting the just in opposition to the unjust. This conflict is not irredeemable as proposed by Eric Voegelin as a form of secularized Gnosticism, rather it’s absolutely redeemable by consistent teaching, faithful practice, prayer, and the saving work of grace. The lacuna in Voegelin’s modern Gnosticism theory is precisely that he doesn’t offer a redemptive option. As far as I know it’s not found in his body of work. Catholicism instead offers the only real resolution to what’s becoming an intractable array of conflicts within our culture. Catholicism appeals to the heart of human nature, and is armed with the powerful transformative grace of Christ.
You are a saint Father. That you can remain so consistently calm, scholarly, and resourceful in your refutations of ecclesial dereliction is always inspiring, twice over, as it forces me to find try to find ways to be more charitable with my future comments.
I wonder if it became legal in America for people to set up “clinics” where you could take another human and kill them because…for whatever reason you wanted, if our Church would make that an important issue. Babies in the womb cannot be seen without special equipment so they are offered to the culture of death with the Church, from the top down, arguing whether to object fiercely.
In the end the real issue of empty pews and heads turning to ignore it is contraception…the pews are empty in non Covid times because…as one strong Catholic volunteer at a food pantry said…’They want us to stay pregnant all the time.’
The good bishop would give communion to Hitler because the murder of Jews should not be a primary criteria but just one teaching? Truly sad. The only more guilty is the bishop of Rome who did not remove him from his post and send him to a facility where he can meditate in isolation. Christ told us what the penalty should be for those who mislead the children. One wonders what this bishop believes is sufficient to justify denial of a sacrement.
Oh dear.
Substitute genocide , child sexual abuse , or any other non negotiable horror for this rationale and see what the reaction would be.
One could only make a statement like this if their horror of feticide had become softened and eroded away over time.
And where’s the outrage by Catholic bishops that these children have also been deprived Baptism?
One word – McCarrick.
Well, “some bishops” may be technically correct, but I think “more bishops” are being forced to line up on the other side by the Catholics left in the pews, as I’ve mentioned earlier. Those who get in line behind Bishop McElroy simply are not going to be taken seriously any more, perhaps not even by their own priests and laity.
Does he even concede that abortion is an issue of great gravity? Does he even suggest that Biden needs to be held to account for this as a Catholic? Or is it, for McElroy, all in for the democrat party and cultural progressivism? Does he bother to notice that killing someone is not the same as using an ethnic slur? This lightweight, this hireling shepherd is all about pleasing the very elements of our culture that have no use for and are determined to destroy the Church. In that, he is the greatest of fools.
I would like to ask the Bishop if he would regard slavery or killing unwanted illegal immigrants as litmus tests? And yet slaves are generally not deprived of life and illegal immigrants break the law, often in grievous ways, and thus have various measures of guilt. But the preborn children are totally innocent with respect to the country’s laws, dehumanized and in every case violently destroyed in the place assigned by nature for nurture.
We can pray that the scales will fall from our eyes so that we realize that the societal tolerance for the legality of this practice, even when it is opposed, is itself a grave social sin that stains the entire nation and Church.
Or so it seems to me.
Just shows even Stanford can graduate fools.
Is McElroy a Catholic bishop? By his actions, I’d always thought he was a Protestant.
As a matter of pastoral concern for the souls in his diocese, would somebody please deny Bishop McElroy the Eucharist?
When does McElroy reach 75?…we’re waiting….
Can anyone imagine a bishop in 1941 Germany would have said:
“It is not Catholic teaching that the holocaust is the preeminent issue that we face in the world of Catholic social teaching. It is not.”
Or if a bishop in 1975 Cambodia would have said.
“It is not Catholic teaching that the killing fields is the preeminent issue that we face in the world of Catholic social teaching. It is not.”
Or if a bishop in 1930s-50s Soviet Union would have said:
“It is not Catholic teaching that the Gulag is the preeminent issue that we face in the world of Catholic social teaching. It is not.”
Or if a bishop in 1915 Republic of Turkey would have said:
“It is not Catholic teaching that the Armenian Genocide is the preeminent issue that we face in the world of Catholic social teaching. It is not.”
Me neither.
Bishop McElroy, allow me to help you with the litmus test for all of humanity, and for how Catholics (including those holding political office) are to make decisions, including who they vote for (or even who they nominate into positions of authority). Then you can justify each one of these for us in light of the current president, his administration, his policies, his agenda, and certainly the executive orders he has signed his first weeks in office.
1. You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him ONLY shall you serve. (not serve strange gods, demons)
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. (not use the name of the Lord to endorse that which violates divine and natural law)
3. You shall remember the Sabbath Day to keep it HOLY. (not shutter the church doors preventing assembly a.k.a. Church)
4. You shall honor your FATHER and your MOTHER. (not father and father or mother and mother, or them and they, or transgender Jane and transgender Joe)
5. You shall not kill (this supports the sanctity of human life….would Jesus Christ perform or even approve of an abortion, taking the life of an innocent baby in the womb?)
6. You shall not commit adultery (this supports the sanctity of marriage, which, by the way, as Scripture makes clear, and as Jesus confirms, is between a man [biological male] and a woman [biological female]….it also means the body is to be respected and not violated through fornication, all forms of sexual immorality [read Romans 1])
7. You shall not steal (this means you respect private property, unfair taxation, giving jobs away to those who are not legal citizens, sending jobs overseas, etc…..this includes illegal votes….socialist and communist agendas and policies steal….and what about those Antifa and BLM riots where theft ran rampant?)
8. You shall not [lie] bear false witness against your neighbor (seems this is summed up in fake news and approving of censorship of opposing voices through use of the media and big tech corporations….this includes destroying another’s reputation through false accusations….Joe’s past is full of lies)
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife (this obliges us to be pure in thought and modest in appearance, the Blessed Virgin Mary being the example of purity)
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods (this commands us to desire the riches of heaven over the riches of this world, and to avoid envy of another’s success….socialist and communist agendas and policies promote this sin)
Take your time, Bishop. We’ll wait for a thorough Scriptural, Traditional, Magisterial response.
Herod the Great and the bishop have something in common – seems that the slaughter of innocents can be justified.
Then you don’t need bishops to interpret anything, just hand out the catechism at the end of the pews.
It”s about the difference between objective evil and subjective evil…..
Bishop McElroy when you one day stand before God will you be able to justify your words?
What exactly do you think your message sends to millions of Catholics who are trying to understanding your confusing words. Perhaps they just come from a confused mind. Pray for guidance for yourself and for the people you influence.
The above slur against Protestants is unconscionable. Episcopalians maybe.
Bishop McElroy,
Let’s keep it very simple.
What is the 5th Commandment?
THOU SHALT NOT KILL!
I rest my case!
May God have mercy on your soul.
Yes, opposition to abortion should be a litmus test for a Catholic politician. The bottom line is, McElroy just doesn’t take abortion seriously. Imagine if he said “Some bishops want to make opposition to slavery a litmus test for Catholic politicians.” PF declared Donald Trump “not a Christian” because he wanted to build a border wall. But he would never say such a thing about Joe Biden for supporting the slaughter of a million American children in the womb every year. The word “hypocrisy” comes to mind.
“Why should we make such a fuss about the gassing of the Jews when there are so many things we can work together on with the Nazis?”
Why are they bending over backwards to try to get Biden to “see the light,” and are afraid to speak out against him or take action? This comes with an enormous price tag: the loss of many innocent unborn children as well as half the faithful who are no doubt confused about what the Church actually teaches. Why try to save this one soul at the expense of so many?
How can other “rights” take priority when one overlooks the denial of their basic condition: existence? What injustice is weightier than the vicious destruction of the imago dei? Devilish sophistry!
Bishop McElroy,
The ULTIMATE (most Important) Common Good is……LIFE.
It is as clear as Jesus giving his human existence up for mankind.
A shepherd will give all to protect the herd. A true model like Christ.
I thought Bishops were to be shepherds. We pray that you come to understand this.
Sad. That the truth and an honest opinion isn’t recognized.
HERETIC, and he knows it
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: priests need to learn to protect children. Have they really learned nothing in all the recent lawsuits? What’s worse than pedophiles? Infanticide.
Homosexuality. Pedophilia. Infanticide. Socialism. Totalitarianism. The list of heinous crimes openly excused and/or promoted by our bishops is horrifying. The worst are brazenly corrupt. The best are mostly silent. I grant obedience to NONE of them. Oh, Lord, deliver Your Church from these Judases in our midst!
“I do not see how depriving political leaders the Eucharist, based on their public policy stance, can be interpreted in our society as anything other than a weaponization of the Eucharist and an effort not to convince people by argument, and by dialogue and reason, but rather, to pummel them into submission on the issue [of abortion],”. Is this from the USA 2021 or 1944 Germany? A lot of good did the concept of argument, dialogue and reason do for the 100 million dead as a result of complicit Catholic Germans during WW2. I think of all the unborn dead who cling to the cloak of our Holy Mother just to be loved by someone, (and like our Mother I cry for these unloved children) – these are humans with feelings, who think, want to live, have souls and want to be love, Bishop McElroy, not so much lumps of cancerous human flesh. I will continue to pray for all the leadership of our beloved church who are speaking the logic of Satan. Matt. 16:23 even St. Peter was the victim of misguided reason over the teachings of Jesus Christ – and was Rebuked! Yes, pummeled into submission.
Bishop McElroy “encounter, dialogue, honesty”, meaningless words when a Bishop speaks this way, it is my Litmus test for a Bishop. For 40 years I have known that when a Bishop speaks this way, he is a Wolfe of a Bishop, unfaithful to Christ who is the Truth, is an enemy of Christ’s Church and an enemy to the salvation of souls. It would be better for all such Bishops to be laicized for the good of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Who taught this guy theology? was my first question, followed soon by: Where is this guy’s common sense? How can he NOT realize that without life there is nothing else?
Does he have no respect for the marital act which allows couples to co-create with God?
Heaven help the lost sheep named McElroy. Jesus, have Mercy on his soul.
If we are concerned about anyone’s soul the Bishops should withhold the Eucharist to avoid that person bringing condemnation on themselves. This is not just a matter of working with a political leader. Also, the sex scandal solution was not to be because I am your bishop and you will obey me but openness and transparency. The us bishops should be willing to stop the scandal and schism by defining when abortion and same sex unions are acceptable and communion is allowed.
This article is truly encouraging in how it reminds all Catholics to show compassion and forgiveness to our fellow brothers and sisters who have publicly stated their intention to offend God by breaking one of the commandments. Whenever one of us falls, we all fall. It is therefore our duty to emphasise prayer rather than criticism. In Luke 15 we find a very familiar parable of the Prodigal son and how sin can withhold us from the presence of God. The Father outshines all, for neither does he condemn or ask the nature of sin, but welcomes the son because he has come back home. That is the crux of the matter. Prayers for conversion as practised by St Maria Gorretti is stronger than endless condemnation and withdrawal of receiving Holy Communion. During the current arrangements, most of us are all not receiving Holy Communion Sacramentally but Spiritually and that is good enough. Moreover, there is no hierarchy of sin. You only have to read Genesis to encounter the murder of Abel. Moses who was handed the 10 Commandments and later became one of the most humblest of men had a previous history of murder. The point I am trying to make is that God’s mercy is endless. We can pray for conversion rather than endless condemnation of our political leaders who are pro-choice. Let us pray and plead with Jesus Christ to help us fight for the salvation of souls, for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, of sin and grace and help retrieve the lost sheep. Also please read Zachariah 3:1 you find Joshua standing before God and on the right hand side is Satan the accuser stating his claims on the soul of Joshua. His Guardian Angel defends Joshua. This shows that all Commandments matter, equally and we are all God’s guilty children.
Exodus 32:33 Also reminds us that we can be removed from the book of Life (Malachi 3:17) but remember we are all given a chance to repent. God’s decision is irrevocable, Hee chose Pharoah who persecuted God’s chosen people. Who are we to keep questioning his decision? We ae all deserving of Heaven because we are all God’s children and Christ died for all of us. And above all, teach our children about God’s love and forgiveness. It
is God’s way to bring us back to Him.
Biden is a public figure, with a long voting track record, and much power to control the direction of an entire nation, as see by the record number of executive orders he’s recently signed. The bishops, especially in this age of the internet, are in a position to do much good for not only his soul, but the souls of all the faithful. It is their duty and their vocation to admonish the sinner, and instruct the ignorant. These two corporal works of mercy often go hand-in-hand. Had they made more of a dust-up over this before the election, there’s a good chance that many Catholics would’ve been better informed rather than blindly following the lock-step media’s relentless touting of Joe being “a devout Catholic.” Actions have consequences.
“Moreover, there is no hierarchy of sin.”
Are you denying that there is mortal sin and venial sin, and that they differ?
Forgiveness requires repentance, and admonishing sinners is one of the spiritual works of mercy. Remaining silent while someone publicly sins and denies Church teaching allows him to spread his errors and corrupt others; and meanwhile babies are dying.
“Whenever one of us falls, we all fall.”
Oh? Spiritual communism?
Pray for conversion, of course. But if someone were starving would you pray that they be fed but not bother to give him any food?
Please stop referring to Biden,Pelosi,and others of the same as Catholic.
They are not.
Here we have another member of the clergy preaching heresy.
The gates if hell are attempting to prevail against Christ’s Church
It will nothappen
Margareth,
Our Catholic faith and sacred scripture both teach that there degrees of sin and that a few even cry out to God.
I suspect the problem some Catholics have condemning feticide is more related to it’s politically protected status under the law than any principle of showing mercy to offenders.
If Mr. Biden and others promoted racial discrimination in the same way they champion fetal discrimination there would be no end of uproar and excommunications.
Yet another hierarchy viewpoint and pronouncements that add to the confusion by the Church in its dealing with the heresy of Catholic politicians in their persistent support for child killing abortion. While some Bishops have called for punitive action the “Church of Nice” seems too timid to make a firm stand on this shocking child slaughter. Bishop McElroy with his soft approach states, “these bishops…
• “argue that abortion is not merely a ‘preeminent’ issue in Catholic Social Teaching, but rather constitutes the de facto litmus test for determining whether a Catholic public official is a faithful Catholic.”
• also “He added that “if adopted, such a position will reduce the common good to a single issue.”
• “rather than the conference’s traditional strategy of “engagement, dialogue, and critique.”
• Pope Francis “has placed engagement, dialogue,, honesty and collaboration at the heart of his approach to public conversation,”
**Jesus did not take the soft approach in saying of a harmer of children,
“It would be better for him if a millstone was hung around his neck and he was cast into the sea.”
** The “single issue” hoary old contention is an empty reason to go soft on child killing.
** There has been abundant “engagement, dialogue”, “encounter dialogue” but the determined abortion child killing agenda persists. Positive action must be exercised,
otherwise the toleration continues to be a scandal for the Church.
• Obama Presidency…Joe Biden Vice President. Ignoring, the UNCRC, all scientific medical & DNA evidence, human rights, ignoring common sense, this 8 year administration became the most abortion child killing in American history.
• Joe Biden fully supported this child killing agenda. Close to six million American children were brutally killed, poisoned, ripped apart limb by limb while alive, head pieced & drained, vacuumed or torn out then disposed of as hospital garbage. Biden & abortion supporters are implicated in the killing.
• Biden, Presidential candidate ,along with Kamala Harris, campaigned on this abortion child killing policy
• Biden, President, is adamantly committed to this child killing and is swiftly dismantling all legislation from the previous administration that was pro life supportive of Children’s Rights and against their brutal child butchery.
• Excommunication: Surely this support of child killing, this persistent heresy, should be a ground for excommunication.
• IMPEACHMENT. Surely this support of child killing, this ongoing agenda of child killing crime should be a ground for IMPEACHMENT for Biden, and Catholic politicians supporters of the child killing agenda
I doubt feticide will become an issue for impeachment but it’s certainly an issue for excommunication.
My fellow pilgrim to answer your question , it is not about denial but it is about understanding the Scriptures. This comes from the gift of the Holy Spirit, Wisdom. You have to put aside your resentment and condemnation of others because this comes from the accuser, satan (Ephesians 4:26) The Holy Spirit only comes when you learn to be like Christ (Romans10:11). As for degrees of sin we read that all sin eventually leads to death. As Augustine’s book “Confessions ” is a good read on this topic. If you read the Bible check: Ecclesiasticus 7:8
“Do not commit a sin twice not even for one will you go unpunished.”
All sins are punishable and we should avoid any sin as children of God (Mark 14: 37-38). In (Romans 2: 3-4)
We read: “Do you imagine, whoever you are that when you judge those who do such things while you are doing the same yourself, do you think you will escape God’s condemnation? ”
Even sins of youth will come back to us: Read Genesis 20:3 and
(Zachariah 3:1)
And we will all need purification : (Luke 12: 47-48)This is crucial to our understanding of purgatory and forgiveness,Jesus explained to his disciples what awaits us, as sinners after we die.
McElroy added, some bishops are advancing “an overall stance of confrontation” with the new president rather than the conference’s traditional strategy of “engagement, dialogue, and critique.” How long does it take? 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years? These bishops EMPLOY STRATEGY to help people onto the road of salvation? Wow! That tells it all! These prelates think they are CEOs. No wonder their harvest is zilch.
““litmus test”? I have just prepared the McElroy, Gregory, Cupich, Tobin, B & B, Kerry, Pelosi slides. The microscope is focused and nary a hint of Catholic to be found. Maybe in another 50 years———————–
Wait, some bishops are developing a stance of confrontation with Biden? Does that mean more than one? Can we have their names so we can write to them and encourage them – and maybe send our tithes to their dioceses if they would be better spent there than in our own?
It not only is a legitimate “litmus test” for being a worthy politician. It is a valid criteria for whether or not a man or woman possesses humanity. Not surprising that Bishop McElroy would not understand this. It not only is a legitimate “litmus test” for being a worthy politician. It is a valid criteria for whether or not a man or woman possesses humanity. Not surprising that Bishop McElroy would not understand this.