The Archbishop is just doing the right thing.If there is ignorance, instruct the ignorant. If there is obstinacy, exact the canonical
penalty. To fail to do so results not only in ignorance and obstinacy, but negligence and
permissiveness: the fertile soil in which a degenerating culture can multiply its errors,
bear evil fruit, and die. Religious leaders are in a unique position to influence the nation
and the world for the better by calling their people to high moral standards. Failure to do
so ultimately results in disaster, for the moral demise of a nation always precedes the
ultimate demise of a nation.The version of separation
of church and state that is presently being foisted on an unsuspecting public is tantamount
to a suppression of the fundamental constitutional rights of a class of citizens. Since when
is Christian thought not permitted to influence a country that was founded on Christian
principles? We share in the good and the evil of those we place in office. The Catechism
of the Catholic Church teaches that, although “sin is a personal act, we have a
responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them†(CCC
#1868). We can be accomplices in the sins of others:
By participating directly and voluntarily in them;
By ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
By not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
Any candidate for political office, Catholic or otherwise, who is in favor of intrinsically
evil things (abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, etc), votes for them, or otherwise
funds or furthers their cause, cannot be supported in any way by a Catholic who wishes to
remain Catholic in fact, not just in name. Catholic office holders, whether presidents,
senators, congress men or women, or judges at any level must adhere to Catholic teaching
or run the risk of separating themselves from the Body of Christ. In such egregious and
chronic cases of gross moral evil such as instituting and perpetuating abortion and the
structures of sin that surround it, it is quite probable that such Catholic officials are
excommunicated in virtue of the acts themselves. A latae sententiae (automatic)
excommunication is likely triggered when they vote for laws, funding, and structures that
enable and perpetuate such obvious and egregious evil (Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canons
1364,1398; Canon 1329, par. #2). They are in turn forbidden from approaching the
sacraments as the result (Cf. Catechism of Catholic Church #1463).
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