Church Doctor Nancy Pelosi

From Meet the Press yesterday:

Brokaw: …“I if [Obama] were to come to you and say ‘help me out here, Madam Speaker, when does life begin,’ what would you tell him?

Pelosi: “I would say that as an ardent practicing Catholic this is an issue that I have studied for a long time, and what I know is over the centuries the doctors of the Church have not been able to make that definition. And St. Augustine said three months. We don’t know. The point is it that it shouldn’t have an impact on a woman’s right to chose.”

God save us from the "ardent practicing" Catholics.

Here is a chunk from an article written in 2007:

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Wednesday warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion.

It was the first time that the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him on a trip to Brazil, dealt in depth with a controversial topic that has come up in many countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Italy.

The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City.

"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.

"They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)".

Under Church law, someone who knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as "automatic excommunication" on themselves.

Read the rest here.

Here's the problem: Rome is all bark and no bite. A toothless tiger. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi & Company continue to lead badly catechized Catholics off a cliff, with impunity. Babies continue to be murdered. And with the all-abortion party leading in the polls, and a strong possibility of two Supreme Court Justices at stake...

This would be a very good time for Rome to DO something.

I propose a press conference where someone from On High announces that the following headed-for-the-big-party "Catholic" public officials have automatically excommunicated themselves:

Nancy Pelosi

John Kerry

Kathleen  Sebelius

Tim Kaine

Dennis Kucinich

Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden

Ted Kennedy

There are many more, but those would be a good start.  And just so the Republicans won't feel left out:

California Gov Arnold Schwarznegger (on about 12 counts in addition to abortion)

Rudy Guliani

Here's what Archbishop Burke said a very short while ago:

For example, if they support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives. A person who commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life,” he told the publication.

Burke said not denying communion makes a bad witness to other Catholics and the public.

“If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think?" he explained. "He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother’s womb."

The Vatican official said the intent of the communion denial is more about spiritual than political issues.

It s not with the intention of interfering in public life but rather in the spiritual state of the politician or public official who, if Catholic, should follow the divine law in the public sphere as well," he said.

“Therefore, it is simply ridiculous and wrong to try to silence a pastor, accusing him of interfering in politics so that he cannot do good to the soul of a member of his flock,” he said as a warning to media outlets and abortion advocates who criticize them.

Moreover, Burke added, “If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege." [emphasis mine]

Coming soon: Part Two, wherein I explain my Airport Gate Theory of Life.

Comments

[Philip Hawley, Jr.]

"The point is it that [when human life begins] shouldn't have an impact on a woman's right to chose."

With this statement, Pelosi cuts through the foggy logic that's so often used to defend abortion. She freely admits what has previously been denied by pro-choice advocates. Whether or not an abortion destroys human life is irrelevant. A woman's right to choose trumps all other considerations, including an infant's right to life.

Strangely, I take comfort in this sort of clarity. With Pelosi's statement, the battle lines are more clearly drawn.

[Frank F]

Pelosi is either ignorant of Church teaching, or lying. She should read "On Procured Abortion" or the excellent book by Judge Noonan called "The Morality of Abortion." Both lay out with clarity the long-standing teaching on the Church's unbroken teaching on the right to life of the unborn. From the first official Church teaching, the Didache, to Evangelium Vitae, this teaching is clear.

Pelosi commits the fallacy of appeal to ignorance. She claims that she doesn't know when life begins. She places her bets on the scientific hypothesis of St. Augustine's time regarding when life begins, however, the reason why Augustine do so is because he supported Church teaching.

Maybe the so-called Catholic Speaker of the House should have also quoted Aquinas, who, also speculated about "ensoulment", who said that abortion is a "grave offense against natural law."

Pelosi, and her fellow pseudo-Catholic liberal followers should spend more time facing reality than trying to lead more souls into grave error on this issue.

Church historians will be baffled that Pelosi and her like-minded liberals call themself progressive but then hedge their bets on 4th century scientific speculation.

It is 2008 and even the pro-abort liberals at NARAL and Planned Parenthood, parties to whom Pelosi and the liberals follow without question (as opposed to their rejection of the teachings of Christ's bride, the Church) admit that life in the womb is indeed a human being.

[Tuppence]

Please add Joe Biden to that list.

God protect us all.

[Catholic Mom]

Please take a look at Archbishop Chaput's absolutely brilliant response to Ms. Pelosi.It is under the headline Denver bishops clarify to local flock the Church’s longstanding teaching against abortion

[Karen]

I read it and it was great, but it's still JUST WORDS. And words that won't make their way to "Meet the Press" next week.

[Curmudgeon]

All bishops have is "just words." That is what they do. They teach.

And sorrow over invincible ignorance, as we all do.

I mean, I find her blithe misstatements as irritating as anyone does. (And have emails from yesterday to prove that.)

But what else are the bishops going to do? Take her out?

[Lia]

Karen -- in all honesty, what do you expect the Church to do with these people? These so-called ardent Catholics know exactly when life begins and that abortion is murder. They will have to face their Maker one day and they will pay the price then, as we know. We are all responsible for our own salvation. Denying people Communion or threatening them with such is not going to scare Biden, Pelosi, Giuliani, etc. into changing from pro-choice to pro-life. It's that simple. And believing that a press conference, press release, or private meetings with the Church hierarchy is going to change anyone is simply naive. I'm sorry to be that blunt, but that's how I see it.

[Clayton]

Chaput has offered more than words. He declined an invite to the DNC in order to pray in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic last night with Martin Luther King's niece.

[Karen]

What do I think they could do?

They could pick up the phone and call their pastors and tell them to deny them communion, as they have been VERY CLEARLY instructed.

They could announced to the misled laity that they are NOT "ardent practicing Catholics" and, in fact, have excommunicated themselves. Which is very different from writing a letter saying "what Nancy is saying is not right" as she continues to waltz down the communion line and rub our noses in it.

Those two things would be a very nice start. The more they huff and puff and refuse to blow the house down, the worse it gets.

[Karen]

Clayton: I read several articles that said he wasn't invited. Which thing is true?

[Clayton]

He wasn't invited to speak / lead prayer. He was invited to attend as an observer (i.e. not open his mouth).

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/19/denver-archbishop-not-among-democrats-invited-cler/

[Lia]

Sorry, Karen, I just don't think Pelosi & Co. give a hoot about excommunication. If they did, they wouldn't be touting their pro-choice stance on abortion. Do you really think they're worried about excommunication? I highly, highly doubt it. But again, their day will come...

[Clayton]

Pelosi seems willing to take her fight to the streets