No
ifs, no buts, no maybes. To be Catholic
is to be pro-life. Nancy Pelosi, you are
NOT a Catholic!
Now, to be pro-life is to be anti-reproductive
health, as RH means abortion. So you
Catholics in the Philippines, including
priests, nuns and bishops, do think
about whether you are standing up for
authentic Catholic values. If you vote
for or support an avowed pro-RH candidate,
are you still pro-life? And if you are
not pro-life, are you then a Catholic?
Please
..... no ifs, no buts, no, maybes.
New Archbishop of Seattle: “To
be Catholic Means to be Pro-Life”
By
John-Henry Westen
WASHINGTON,
DC, September 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com)
– This morning Pope Benedict XVI
announced the appointment of Bishop
James Peter Sartain of Joliet in Illinois,
as metropolitan archbishop of Seattle
Washington, where nearly one-fifth of
the over five million residents are
Catholic. In January, Bishop Sartain
was one of the 45 U.S. Bishops in attendance
at the March for Life Vigil Mass in
Washington, DC.
Bishop
Sartain told
LSN at the time that
he was proud that over 225 youth from
his diocese had come to the D.C. March
for Life.
Asked
about the example Nancy Pelosi gives
of being in favor of abortion while
calling herself Catholic, Bishop Sartain
replied, “Any Catholic who is
going to understand our faith and live
by the faith seriously must be pro-life.”
The
Joliet Bishop explained, “It’s
at the very core of our understanding
of living a moral life because all life
comes from God. It’s a message
that we have a responsibility to continue
to get out.”
He
concluded, “To
be Catholic means to be pro-life.”
Born
in Memphis Tennessee in 1952 and ordained
to the priesthood in 1978, he became
a bishop at the age of 47, shepherding
the Church in Little Rock, Arkansas,
and Joliet Illinois prior to being called
to Seattle.
Bishop
Sartain inspired admiration in his diocese
by taking decisive action in the face
of scandal. When the pastor of the second
largest parish in the diocese of Joliet
was found to have engaged in homosexual
acts, Bishop Sartain removed
him from priestly duties.
Commenting
on the action at the time, Catholic
World News editor Phil Lawler told LSN
that, based on his reporting on the
scandal of homosexual priests in Catholic
dioceses, he believed the action taken
by Bishop Sartain was unique and “a
hopeful sign.”
“It’s
the first time I’ve ever heard
of this before,” said Lawler.
“There’ve been an awful
lot of cases in which we’ve been
told that a priest has engaged in consensual
sexual activity with another male, and
isn’t a problem. But it is a problem,
and it is good that it is being taken
seriously.”
Catholic
News Service notes that archbishop-elect
Sartain’s appointment marks the
first in a string of pending U.S. episcopal
appointments under the new leadership
of Canada’s Marc Ouellet, who
was recently appointed as head of the
Vatican’s Congregation of Bishops.
Ten U.S. bishops are currently serving
past retirement age of 75 and another
five dioceses are currently without
a bishop.
Bishop
Sartain’s pro-life stance was
backed by action. In addition to attending
the March for Life, the bishop has led
his flock in challenging abortion in
the diocese of Joliet. In 2007, when
a Planned Parenthood abortion mill was
to open locally he responded with a
request for the faithful to join him
in fasting and prayer. He encouraged
peaceful, prayerful demonstration, outreach
and political lobbying.
"For
to me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain." (Phil 1:21)