Reading Assignments and Homework

Delaware Bishop Urges Faithful to Pray for Conversion of Two Pro-'Choice' Catholic Politicians in Diocese

Bishop says, "for too long we have been silent " and "We are complicit in this"

WILMINGTON, September 30, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) -  The Catholic bishop whose diocese includes two of most vocal pro-abortion Catholics in Congress-including a possible 2008 presidential candidate-is enlisting 220,000 Catholics for a month of prayer for the conversion of all politicians to a respect for life.

"I think for too long we have been silent and our people have taken that silence as part of an acquiescence of the status quo," Wilmington (DE) Bishop Michael Saltarelli told IgnatiusInsight.com in an exclusive interview. "We are complicit in this. So we have to step forward and say no, this is not right-it is wrong, it is sinful."

"They somehow have bought the package-You can be personally opposed," the bishop of Delaware and Eastern Shore Maryland said. "It's such an excuse, to me-it's a cop out."

Delaware is represented by Sen. Joseph Biden, a Democrat who describes himself as a "practicing Catholic", and Rep. Michael Castle, a Catholic Republican. Biden is considering a run for the presidency in 2008.

Read the rest here. There is more on Bishop Salterlli here and here.

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Praying for Senator Biden's conversion is, of course, a good thing to do. But it's kind of like telling people to for God to put out a grease fire when you're standing three feet away from the fire extinguisher.  Try this: deny communion to pro-abortion public officials.

The Pope recently accepted Bishop Saltarelli's resignation, and Delaware is in the process of installing a new bishop.

Here is more on Bishop Malooly.

Here is my homework proposal: write to the new bishop of Delaware and reference Archbishop Burke's recent proclamation that ministers of the Eucharist have an obligation to deny communion to pro-abortion public officials. Joe Biden might soon be the Vice President of the United States. At the very least, he will be in the national spotlight in a very intense way in the next few months. Obama is making a big deal out of Biden's Catholicism, and the already badly catechized American Catholics will be taught a very bad lesson if the spotlight follows Biden down the communion aisle. In the words of Archbishop Burke:

"We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist," the archbishop continued.  "Secondly, there could be another form of scandal, consisting of leading people to think that the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious - if the church allows him or her to receive Communion."

"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 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," he warned.

Here is the contact information for the chancery office:

Diocese of Wilmington
P.O. Box 2030
Wilmington, DE 19899-2030
302-573-3100
Fax: 302-573-6836

And while you're at it, you might want to write to Bishop Tilt-a-Wuerl, too. Here is his contact information:

Archbishop of Washington: Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl, 301-853-4500

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 29260
Washington, DC 20017-0260
301-853-4500

Street Address: 5001 Eastern Avenue
Hyattsville, MD 20782-3447
301-853-4500

For the overachievers, the other not-so-Catholic politicians can be found here.