I
pray that no one among our brethren
will vote for pro-abortion candidates
and thus align themselves with
the "Party of Death."
CFC-FFL is pro-life!
God
bless.
frank
Democrat
Party Risks Becoming the "Party
of Death": US Vatican Prelate
By
Hilary White
ROME,
September 30, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com)
- Archbishop Raymond Burke,
who is regarded as one of the
"heroes" of the cause
by pro-life advocates, has warned
the
US Democrat party
that it is
at risk of becoming the "party
of death" for its hardline
advocacy for abortion and euthanasia.
Burke
made his comment in the September
27th edition of Avvenire, the
newspaper of the Italian Catholic
bishops' conference. He was
asked for his reaction to the
choice to invite pro-abortion
singer Sheryl Crow to sing at
the Democratic National Convention
in Denver this summer.
"That
does not surprise me much,"
he said. "At this point
the Democratic Party risks transforming
itself definitely into a 'party
of death' because of its choices
on bioethical questions."
The
Democrats were, he added, "the
party that helped our immigrant
parents and grandparents better
integrate and prosper in American
society. But it is not the same
anymore."
Burke,
who was recently appointed by
Pope Benedict XIV to be the
head of the Apostolic Signatura,
the highest internal tribunal
in the Catholic Church, has
not only consistently opposed
the idea that a politician can
be both Catholic and pro-abortion,
but has done more than any other
US prelate to raise the issue
in the media.
He
was one of the few bishops of
the US Conference unequivocally
to support the instruction from
the former Cardinal Ratzinger
that such politicians "must"
be refused Holy Communion.
But
Archbishop Burke told Avvenire
that he was not the only one.
"Mine was not an isolated
position," the archbishop
said. "It was shared by
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
of Denver, by Bishop Peter J.
Jugis of Charlotte (N.C.) and
by others."
Nevertheless,
he admitted that the instances
of US bishops following the
Pope's lead are rare. "But
it is true that the bishops'
conference has not taken this
position, leaving each bishop
free to act as he believes best.
For my part, I always have maintained
that there must be a united
position in order to demonstrate
the unity of the church in facing
this serious question,"
he said.
As
the head of the highest ecclesiastical
court in the Church, which interprets
Canon law definitively, Burke
indicated there is no wiggle
room for Catholic politicians
on the issue. "It
is not licit to give Holy Communion
to one who is publicly and obstinately
a sinner," he said. "And
it is logical that one who publicly
and obstinately acts in favor
of procured abortion enters
into this category."
Traditionally
the US Democrats have been the
party of the US Catholic Church.
In a 2006 article appearing
in the Summer edition of Human
Life Review, George McKenna
chronicled the history of the
US bishops' dalliance with the
Democratic party, noting that
it started with the party's
support for the black Civil
Rights movement in the 1960s.
By the time the party had moved
forward into the leftist program
in the 1970s and 80s, first
by accepting and then zealously
promoting abortion, the US Catholic
Church was so entwined with
the fortunes of the party it
seemed next to impossible to
withdraw.
In
1980, when the Democrat convention
presented a "right to abortion"
as part of the party platform,
despite their previous strong
statements on the right to life
of the unborn, the US Bishops'
Conference made no response.
McKenna
writes, "The bishops were
literally dumbstruck. There
was no expression of 'outrage'
from them ... Abortion was thrust
right in the bishops' faces
and they said nothing - not
that year, not for the next
three years. And when they finally
did speak, abortion was no longer
their main topic."
Since
the 2004 presidential election,
however, the scandal of pro-abortion
"Catholic" politicians
defying or simply ignoring the
leadership of the Church has
come to a head. Archbishop Burke
was one of the few who stated
that then presidential Democrat
candidate John Kerry would not
be allowed to receive Communion
in his diocese of St. Louis.
Leading up to the visit of Pope
Benedict to the U.S. this year,
the bishops were again divided
and equivocated when pro-life
advocates begged them to refuse
Communion to pro-abortion "Catholic"
figures such as Senator Ted
Kennedy and House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi.
Recently,
however, more forceful statements
have been forthcoming from the
U.S. bishops, with an official
statement from the USCCB correcting
the pro-abortion stands of Senator
John Biden and Speaker Pelosi.
The
interview with Avvenire was
not the first time Archbishop
Burke has stated, in his new
position as head of the Apostolic
Signatura, that Catholic leadership
is obliged to refuse Communion
in such cases. In August, he
told the Italian magazine Radici
Cristiane, that public officials
who contravene divine and eternal
law such as "if they support
abortion, which entails the
taking of innocent and defenseless
human lives ... should be publicly
admonished in such a way as
to not receive Communion until
he or she has reformed his life."
Head
of Vatican's Highest Court:
Ministers Have "Obligation
to Deny" Communion to Pro-Abortion
Politicians
"For
to me life is Christ, and death
is gain." (Phil 1:21)