Aztecs Invade New York (and other places)! Is it Time to EX a Few?

Tran (in polka dots): "Hurry up! Kill the baby before the
mom delivers. Witch doctor Northam (with knife): "Not
to worry, we'll just keep the kid "comfortable" until it dies.
Our new Dem campaign slogan - Infanticide: a Woman's
Right! Imagine all the donations from Planned
Parenthood! Warms an Aztec's heart to think about it. 

Honestly, I'd like to see Andrew Cuomo excommunicated! What a scandal he is to the Church! And how in danger he is of damnation and hell fire! He has lots of company. Thirty-one states permit full-term abortions. How many Catholic politicians enabled the atrocities in those states?

So what about canon law and its penalties against these diabolical actions? I respect the rule of law and the Church is governed by laws. I'm not a canon lawyer and my head is spinning over all the back and forth about excommunication and whether or not it can be used against these demonic politicians like Cuomo and his Democrat cronies.

Through it all, I can't help thinking of Roper's conversation with Thomas More about the law in A Man for All Seasons. When Roper says he'd cut down all the laws in England to get to the devil, More responds by asking him, "After all the laws are flat and the devil turns round on you, where would you hide then in the winds that would blow?" So can canon laws on excommunication be used here? Several bishops have urged excommunication, but I don't know if they are experts in canon law. But if canon law doesn't allow it, isn't it time to amend canon law? If human sacrifice isn't a reason for excommunication, what, pray tell, is?

At any rate, I've been following the discussion about whether canon law actually allows Cuomo's excommunication. (It's already clear there are other canonical penalties and he has, in fact, according to reports, been told not to approach for Communion under canon 915 -- and appears to be honoring that.) But, really, does Cuomo care? Cardinal Dolan doesn't think so and uses that as an excuse to take no action. (Surprise!) But is Cuomo's contempt for the Church a reason to do nothing?

HELL NO! (And I mean that literally.)

Whatever Cuomo's disposition, Catholics are watching.  How many believe no action against him means what he did is no big deal? Actions do, in fact, speak louder than words!

Remember when Pope Francis honored Italian abortionist Emma Bonino and abortion activist Liliane Ploumen? Ploumen chortled that it was "confirmation" of her abortion work. What does that do to the faith of the flock? Some argued that Bonino was being honored for her action on immigration citing Francis' words against abortion as proof that everyone who criticized the award got it wrong. Papa Francis wasn't honoring her for abortion. Goodness! What a thought! He was recognizing her love and respect for immigrants.

Sorry, but that's like praising. Mussolini for getting the trains to run on time or Hitler because he restored pride to the German people.

REALLY?

A number of canon lawyers including Ed Peters, Edward Condon, and Msgr. Charles Pope, have been arguing about excommunicating Cuomo since he signed New York's abortion atrocity and the demonic celebration of human sacrifice that followed. (The Aztecs apparently took up residence in New York after their defeat by Cortez.) The consensus of the lawyers seems more against excommunication. Meanwhile, more states continue running up the steps of the Aztec pyramids to do their victory dance for death. Democrats in my own state of Virginia introduced  a copycat bill last week in the House of Delegates (HB 2491) that would eliminate all restrictions on abortion including those that protect mothers from butchers like Kermit Gosnell. Of course, the latest thing is allowing non-doctors to do the killing, a decision sure to raise the death toll to include many women along with their babies.

Will this be the new abortion mill?

While Roe and Doe allowed third trimester abortions, Cuomo takes the killing a step further. It's no longer a decision "between a woman and her doctor" because you don't have to be a doctor at all. Hey, barbers used to do surgery; maybe you can get an abortion at your local barber shop or hairdresser's salon. And as a further slap in the face, Cuomo signed the bill on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. In your face, March for Life!

One thing the canon lawyers all seem to agree on is that there must be canonical penalties levied against Cuomo for his egregious support for what is essentially human sacrifice. Condon supports excommunication for heresy which Peters addresses skeptically in his article. Excommunication, however, is not the only penalty available. Peters ends his article with a summary I found helpful:

1. Andrew Cuomo apparently refrains from holy Communion. If he were to approach, he should be denied the sacrament, per Canon 915, based on, among other things, his living arrangements (discussed at length in 2011) and his rabid support for this ghoulish abortion law. The bishops of New York may wish to reiterate that ban publicly, but on the facts now obtaining, they are not required to do so. 

2. A prosecution of Cuomo based on heresy would face numerous canonical obstacles (though perhaps fewer than were the obstacles presented in a similar case I treated back in 2004 regarding John Kerry). If such a prosecution were tried and failed (or even if it succeeded but under conditions that made it appear to have been ‘rigged’) the damage to the Church’s efforts to enforce her own discipline would be considerable. That said, though, most of the reasons I have heard for not trying to excommunicate Cuomo (he would not heed the ruling, it would make him a martyr, he would use it as PR against the Church) are speculative and irrelevant. In my view, the only reason not to excommunicate Cuomo is that no canon law seems to authorize an excommunication against him on the facts as they stand today.

3. Cuomo could be prosecuted, right now, for violating Canon 1369 (using public shows or speeches to seriously damage good morals) and a “just penalty” (probably not excommunication at first, but that’s just my view) could be imposed. If Cuomo spurned that sanction, it could be augmented, up to and including excommunication. 

4. Under canon law as it stands, the best approach for bishops facing these foul acts by Catholic politicos seems to be, besides invoking Canon 915, the preemptive issuance of a particular penal precept enforced by canonical sanctions including, at least by way of augmentation, excommunication. To my knowledge none has been tried in these cases, but nothing else seems to be working.

5. As for possible local legislation being drafted by bishops to address such cases, I am all ears, but as a rule, law is not written to address only one person, while framing law so as to address multiple persons is not as easy as many seem to believe. Still, I am open to suggestions. In the meantime, penal precepts against Cuomo-like acts are the canonically better way to go, I think.

Actions speak louder than words, Cardinal! Your strong words don't go far enough!

One would like to think that Cardinal Dolan and the other New York bishops would actually take seriously the obligation to address this situation with significant canonical penalties -- for the sake of Cuomo's soul if for no other reason! But Dolan gets "restless" even talking about Canon 915.  Can anyone imagine that he will do anything at all besides rattling his gums until things blow over? Will it be back to normal then hobnobbing with Cuomo and his allies at the Met gala, the Al Smith dinner, and the St. Patrick's Day parade? Sadly, I think the past is prologue to the future and shows that's the likeliest scenario.

What's the use, Dolan asks, since Cuomo won't care? Hello, Cardinal, did you ever hear of scandal? Don't you have an obligation to educate other Catholics about how serious this is? What is the responsibility of parents who have an older child scandalizing his younger siblings? A shrug and, "He won't listen anyway?"

I'm sick of our spiritual FATHERS acting like whining, hand-wringing little girls.

Will the New York bishops do anything significant? Their operating principles (and those of most of the U.S. bishops) seem to involve no principles at all. Very few bishops (see picture below for a few of the good guys) have said or done anything about Cuomo's actions. Ironically, the bishops who were Johnny-on-the-spot to condemn the Covington High School boys over the faux Indian massacre at the Lincoln Memorial, have said nothing/nada about Cuomo as far as I can determine.

Only a few courageous bishops have strongly urged canonical action against Cuomo.

Well, the laity can speak and we can withhold our money from the weaklands  oops, weaklings in miters. The Lenten campaigns are coming up. How about a note in the envelope saying, "I'll contribute when the USCCB joins together to urge a change in canon law to call formally for the excommunication of politicians and other public leaders who scandalize the flock by promoting abortion" and when they invoke canon 915 against all the pro-abortion Catholic legislators. The only thing many bishops seem to care about is money. (Oh and those illegally invading our country and the hand-wringing over global warming climate change. But, of course, services to immigrants brings in lots and lots of money to chancery coffers and supporting climate change means praise and accolades.)

Let's call on Our Lady under her titles of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of America to intercede for our poor Church in the United States. Let us also plead for St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church, to intercede for the many unmanly bishops who run like cowards from the high and mighty of the world.

Lord Jesus, Master of the Universe, have mercy on us.