No Communion for Obstinate Public Sinners!

MP Chris Coughlin banned from Communion

A Single Denial to Give Communion That Echoed Around the World

It's canon law -- 915 to be exact. And yet it is almost never enacted against politicians who champion abortion, euthanasia, and other intrinsic moral evils often while announcing their Catholic faith and describing themselves as "devout". Talk about scandal!

Archbishop Cordileone banned Nancy Pelosi from communion in 2022. [Letter to Pelosi] His action was undermined by Pope Francis who bragged that he never denies communion to anyone. (Presumably he would have given communion to a mafia don after he shot an enemy during Mass.) Nancy received communion at the Vatican after the ban. Was anyone surprised?

Guest Post: The grim realities behind barring Nancy Pelosi from Communion Part I

By Robert G. Marshall

Editor's comment; God bless Bob Marshall. I've known him for about fifty years and he is a staunch and faithful advocate of the little ones in the womb and their parents. Abortion doesn't just kill a baby. It kills the love between the man and the woman who conceived the infant together. It kills their souls as well. We must pray that those who commit abortion and those who advocate it, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who rivals Lady Macbeth in her cold, murderous heart, repent and return to the Lord of Life. Nancy hasn't much longer on planet earth, and it is long past time for her to examine her conscience. How many have lost their souls influenced by her scandals? 

As I've said before, Nancy and I have four things in common. First of all, we are both Catholic and attended Catholic schools all the way through college. We share a birthday (she is seven years older). We share an alma mater, Trinity College (now a university) in Washington, D.C. And we both have five children. I pray for Nancy and have sent her letters and Mass cards which are not acknowledged which never surprises me. 

What a powerful witness for truth could she be if she publicly acknowledged her sins against life (like Bernard Nathanson did) and became a pro-life warrior. Where there's life, there's hope. Please pray for Nancy today. My comments are in red.

Some Good News for Tuesday Morning! Bad News for Joe Biden; Good News for Nick Sandmann!

But I'm a devout Catholic!

A Catholic priest in Florence, SC, Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church,  refused Joe Biden Communion at Mass on Sunday.

Joe Biden Denied Communion over Abortion Views (Washington Times)

As the pope often reminds us, the Church is a field hospital for sinners.

What doctor gives a patient a medicine he knows will make his condition much worse and might even kill him? To receive Communion in the state of mortal sin is a sacrilege which St. Paul warned against. No one may consume the Body and Blood of Christ while he thumbs his nose at Christ's laws without endangering his soul. Under canon 915 a person who commits manifest grave sins (like politicians who publicly endorse abortion) may not be given Holy Communion. A priest who does so, commits a serious sacrilege himself. Joe Biden clearly falls in that category. Not only is he radically pro-abortion but he officiated at the "marriage" of a same sex couple. He can call himself a Catholic, even a devout Catholic, but that just illustrates that he's a liar extraordinaire. He's publicly advocated this abomination since 2012!

What Do We Want to Know, Cardinal Wuerl? The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth!

Don't miss my show at the comedy club tonight!

Cardinal Wuerl could be a stand up comic, albeit a closeted one. The title of his soon Not-to-be-published book, What Do You Want to Know? A Pastor's Response to the Most Challenging Questions about the Catholic Faith, sounds like a joke in view of the Grand Jury report. Was the cardinal laughing up his sleeve when he titled it?

The fact is, Cardinal Wuerl has been a cover-up meister for years doing all he could to keep the coverup lid on evil and the duct tape over the mouths of his brother bishops who might be tempted to speak up and boldly condemn intrinsic evils. How embarrassing!

Did you know that in 2005, just a few short years after Dallas, Wuerl planned to introduce a Mechanism of Review via the USCCB. It wasn't, of course, a review of the bishops and their on-going efforts to hide their involvement in the sex abuse crisis.

Sunday Meditation: Thank God for "Rigid" Priests who Love God and Care about Souls

I agree with Hillary: "deep-seated cultural codes, religious
 beliefs and structural biases [must] be changed" No exceptions!

Catholic priest bans Hillary Clinton's VP bet Tim Kaine from taking Holy Communion in his church

How many priests really care about the souls in the Communion line? Think about it. St. Paul is very clear that those who take the Body of the Lord unworthily, take it unto their condemnation. Wow! Pope St. John Paul II and many others have observed the many who line up for Communion and the few who line up outside the confessional. Is it that we are so sinless? Hardly! But our culture has lost its sense of sin. And our scandalous Catholic politicians illustrate that in spades with their public enthusiasm and endorsement of the most heinous atrocities against life and the family. 

Another Good Bishop Supports Canon 915

Thank you, Bishop Paprocki, for supporting Canon 915 and the parish priest who implemented it against Sen. Dick Durbin. It's an act of charity to keep a person from compounding one mortal sin with regular mortal sins of sacrilege. Pray for Sen. Durbin's conversion. "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul in the process?" Politics is just not worth it!

Illinois bishop upholds priest’s decision to deny Communion to pro-abort Sen. Dick Durbin

Bravo, Archbishop Cordileone! On the Other Hand, Who is He to Judge?

Hey people, our intellect is called the "seat of judgment." We are called to judge our own actions and the actions of others. Why? Because you can only learn to make right judgments by practicing right judgment. Duh! Parents MUST judge the actions of their children to teach them the "right way to go." The Ten Commandments is a list of judgments. So are Jesus' statements expanding the Ten Commandments when He said things like, "But I say to you, when a man looks at a woman with lust, he has already committed adultery in His heart." Yes, not only does Jesus judge actions, but the thoughts that precede them.

We may not judge the state of a person's soul. "Hey, Joe Blow is going to hell for shacking up with Fanny." But we can certainly say that Joe Blow's behavior is a serious scandal, and if we are friends with Joe and care about him, a little friendly admonishment is in order.

As a matter of fact, I was talking to a man while waiting for physical therapy the other day. He has a son by a failed marriage and a daughter by a girlfriend. He's got another girlfriend now, but hopefully is chaste. He told me he goes to Church. He misses his daughter and doesn't get to see her enough. We had a short conversation and I said he sounds like he's trying to be a good dad, and he really needs to decide to do things God's way from now on for the sake of his kids. I've got him and the children (and his former girlfriend and former wife and his daughter's half brother) on my prayer list now. So many people out there need a little judgment on their actions as a wake-up call. I hope you'll join me in praying for this very broken, very disordered "family" group. Think of all the confusion for those three poor children!

A big thank you to Archbishop Cordileone and may his next act be to inform his priests that those "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion." (Canon 915)

My Friend, Fr. Tom's Interesting Observations on Yesterday's Election Results

Mary Ann -

Yesterday's vote in Virginia was strangely reminiscent of the vote that took place at the preatorium of Pilate in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. 

• The expediency of complacency was chosen, and the integrity of truth was rejected. 
• The one who praises the anti-virginity and anti-maternity agenda of Sandra Fluke was preferred to the one who honors Mary as both virgin and mother. 
• The one who wants to downgrade sanitation standards at abortion clinics was preferred to the one that sought to ensure that a mother does not die or get surgically butchered, even when she has authorized the killing of her pre-born child. 
• The one who wants to limit parents' right to choose a good education for their children was chosen over the one who believes that education is more than just career training. 
• And the one who wants to expand the "family life" curricula of our schools so as to promote in our children attitudes and behaviors conducive to sexual experimentation and exploitation is preferred over the one who upholds the virtues of modesty, chastity and marital fidelity. 

Compounding this tragedy is the fact that the de facto application of current Church discipline regarding Holy Communion seems to indicate that it is permissible to go so far as to abuse our Eucharistic Lord, in such
a way as to indicate that He is ratifying this agenda by offering His very Self as a living sacramental ratification of the one pro-actively promoting the desecration and destruction of human life, of family life and of human sexuality.

 
May God grant all of us life-saving repentance!

In Christ,

Fr. Tom Collins

I agree, Father. Now isn't it time to ban these manifest public sinners masquerading as Catholics from approaching the altar to crucify our Lord once again? Certainly, Terry McAuliffe should be corrected by our two Virginia bishops. But I'm not holding my breath.

Why Aren't We Seeing These Quotes by Pope Francis?

Can we make this go viral? Tweet it, blog it, pin it, Facebook it. Let's not let the mainstream media define the pope. I'm unsettled by the interviews, but this statement is crystal clear!

From Deacon Nick Donnelly at Protect the Pope

Pope Francis

In 2007 Cardinal Bergoglio presented pro-life guidelines on behalf of the Argentinian bishops that stated:

“We hope that legislators, heads of government, and health professionals, conscious of the dignity of human life and of the rootedness of the family in our peoples, will defend and protect it from the abominable crimes of abortion and euthanasia; that is their responsibility … We should commit ourselves to ‘eucharistic coherence’, that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive Holy Communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.”

 Writing to the Argentinian bishops in March 2013 Pope Francis re-iterated the importance  of these pro-life guidelines saying, ‘These are the guidelines we need for this time in  history.”

Cardinal Burke Says Nancy Must be Denied Communion!

Cardinal Raymond Burke is the senior prelate from the United States. He is the head of the highest Vatican court and a Canon lawyer. When he speaks, his words come from the center of the Church:

This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin — cooperating with the crime of procured abortion — and still professes to be a devout Catholic....I fear for Congresswoman Pelosi if she does not come to understand how gravely in error she is. I invite her to reflect upon the example of St. Thomas More who acted rightly in a similar situation even at the cost of his life. (Read more...)

Wow! There's a man who's not afraid to speak truth to power. Nancy doesn't seem to realize that she will face a higher power one day than the president she seems to worship. In her arrogance, she apparently thinks there is no reckoning. Does she really believe she is a "devout Catholic?" If so, Cardinal Burke's admonition is a wake-up call. There is a higher power to whom Nancy will one day answer. Pray for her that she "wakes up."

I fear, however, that Nancy is unreachable at present. As a friend of mine once said, "You can wake up a sleeping person; you can't wake up a person pretending to be asleep."

Mass in Front Royal on St. Cyril's Feast Day

I attended Mass at St. John the Baptist in Front Royal this morning which is always an edifying experience. As I walked into the church, the congregation, led by the pastor, Fr. Jerome Fasano, was praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. As Father processed in from the sacristy we prayed the Angelus. Mass, as is the norm at St. John's, was said ad orientem (Novus Ordo) with the Greek Kyrie and some of the responses in Latin. Oh, and of course the bells and the reverent silence (except for the chirping of the baby birds in the congregation) and the many veiled women all contributed to an atmosphere of of awe and holiness. So many people attend morning Mass that distribution of Communion (at the altar rail where congregants can kneel or stand) takes about ten minutes. How I love attending daily Mass there!

Being St. Cyril's feast day, Father's homily focused on the Council of Ephesus which declared Mary the Mother of God (Theotokos). Early Church councils always addressed heresies and the Council of Ephesus was no exception. The Bishop Nestorius of Constantinople, a major see in the Church, was teaching that Jesus was two persons, one divine and one human. Mary, he said, was mother only of the human Jesus, not the divine. Of course, this heresy flew in the face of both Church doctrine and common sense, making Jesus the ultimate schizophrenic with His body separate from his spirit. St. Cyril, a doctor of the Church, opposed Nestorius and it is to him we owe the second half of the Hail Mary which declares her "Holy Mary, Mother of God."

Pope Francis Says No Communion for Pro-Abort Politicians!

Are the U.S. bishops listening?

Canon Lawyer Urges Archbishop Cordileone to Withhold Communion

Nancy Pelosi receiving Communion in Rome at the pope's installation where she is no cause celebre is understandable. She Is, after all, as Dr. Ed Peter's says America's problem, not Rome's. But isn't it time that someone cares enough about this obstinate public sinner to warn her -- for the sake of her own soul? Dr. Peters thinks so:

For her sake, therefore, and for those confused by the chronic scandal she gives, Pelosi needs to be formally warned against taking holy Communion for so long as she promotes, as consistent with our Catholic faith, a variety of gravely immoral policies (per cc. 916, 1339); ministers, meanwhile, in her environs need to be directed to withhold Communion from her till advised otherwise by the competent ecclesiastical authority (per c. 915). [i.e., that means Archbishop Cordileone in California and Cardinal Donald Wuerl in Washington, D.C.]

Read more here.

Now, won't it be interesting

The Scandal Continues: Biden and Pelosi Committed Sacrilege at Papal Mass

Well, the White House has confirmed it: Pelosi and Biden went to Communion sacrilegiously at the papal installation Mass. (Huffington Post article.) What I found especially hypocritical, however, was Cardinal Wuerl's statement:

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, part of the conclave that elected Francis, has said he would offer Pelosi communion despite her views on abortion because he didn't believe communion should be used as a weapon. "We never -– the Church just didn't use Communion this way. It wasn't a part of the way we do things, and it wasn't a way we convinced Catholic politicians to appropriate the faith and live it and apply it; the challenge has always been to convince people," Wuerl said in a 2010 interview. His position would logically extend to Biden. The vice president's bishop, Francis Malooly of Wilmington, Del., has also said he would not deny communion to Biden.

Denying Communion to a public heretic (a person who denies at least one doctrine of the Church)

Praise to Bishop Kagan of Bismarck for Defending Life

Catholics have a serious obligation to deny their vote to those who support intrinsic evils. Bishop David Kagan is getting lambasted for telling them so. And Michael Voris is pointing out the crazy reality in the Church today where Catholics in the public square stump for child-killing while pro-life Protestants defend the truth. Time to impose Canon 915 on the Catholic renegades and deny them Communion.

Please, after watching the video visit the Bismarck diocese's Facebook page and leave a thank you. We need to praise our bishops when they act like shepherds!

Ed Peters vs. George Neumayr vs. Cardinal Wuerl

Canon lawyer Ed Peters thinks George Neumayr is making a bad situation worse with regard to his criticism of Cardinal Wuerl over the prelate's handling of Fr. Marcel Guarnizo refusing Communion to lesbian activist Barbara Johnson at her mother's funeral. As one who agrees with George Neumayr, I think it's accurate to say that the cardinal himself made a bad situation worse when he apologized to the lesbian through his auxiliary bishop and then punished Fr. Guarnizo. Talk about scandal -- helping to advance the gay agenda! 

Ed Peters says the conversation has gone on long enough, that everything that could possibly be said has been said (according to his point of view at any rate). He has consistently insisted that his interpretation of Canon 915, etc. is the correct one and that the laity who disagree just don't get it. 

Well, he's right about that from my point of view and many other faithful laity who believed Fr. Guarnizo was correct and Ed Peters was wrong. Call it the "sensus fidelium" if you like. At least one canon lawyer, an anonymous priest, disagrees with Peters and supporst what faithful laity believed all along. He entered the fray to defend Fr. Guarnizo and publicly dissent with his colleague's interpretation of the subject canon laws. One can argue that anonymous opinions carry less weight than public opinions, but in view of what powerful prelates can do to their disrespected underlings whose rights are often violated, anonymity is probably a prudent course of action for a priest. And if this priest serves in the Archdiocese of Washington or another diocese with a bishop who operates llike Cardinal Wuerl, his action is more than understandable. After all, Fr. Guarnizo was denied due process. Why would Cardinal Wuerl hesitate to do the same to any priest who disagreed with him?

Priest Canon Lawyer Defends Fr. Guarnizo, Takes Issue with Ed Peters

Many laity have questioned the conclusions of canonist Ed Peters about Fr. Marcel Guarnizo's decision to deny Communion to lesbian Barbara Johnson at her mother's funeral. A new opinion is now online published by an anonymous priest who is also a canon lawyer. Read his opinion here. I want to publicly thank this priest for expressing such a clear defense of Fr. Guarnizo's actions. Those of us laity who are not canon lawyers had the "gut feeling" that denying Johnson was correct. Father's reasoned step-by-step explanation illustrates why. Two thumbs up, Father!

Some Common Sense from an Uncommon Priest

My friend, Fr. Tom Collins, always has a direct and no-nonsense way of looking at things. His article below makes it obvious, I think, how much damage has been done by the failure of our shepherds to speak clearly and unequivocally about the evils drowning our culture. It's long past time for the bishops to implement Canon Law 915 and deny Communion to pro-abortion and pro-contraceptive politicians who scandalize (up to now) without consequence. The rock of persecution has started its dangerous roll down the mountain and we better act now because the avalanche is coming.


The Auschwitz Option

It seems that with the latest HHS directives, which were issued with the authority given to it by the Obama "Health Care Act",are requiring Catholic institutions to provide free contraceptive, abortifacient and sterilization services Such a directive directly violates the Church's teaching on the sacredness of all human life. Sadly, we have been so seriously degraded by years of dialogue with the Culture of Death that we are now at a point of pulling back on our unequivocal support for the sanctity of all human life. Instead, we seem ready to concede that it is OK for secular hospitals to provide these services, just so long as we are dispensed" by our most benevolent government from the requirement to violate our own consciences. This is analogous to German Catholics in 1943 conceding the "right" of the Reich to operate Auschwitz, provided that Catholics not be required to run the trains that brought new "residents" to that camp. Or it may be likened to high priests in Jn 18:28, who wanted to be exempted from going into the praetorium lest they defile themselves.

The issue is further complicated by Church leaders continuing to give a "free pass" to those "Catholics" who seek to abuse the Eucharistic Christ by receiving Holy Communion as a tacit endorsement of their pro-actively pro-abortion efforts. If the incarnate teaching of the Church (i.e., actual Church praxis, in contrast to the formal doctrinal teaching of the Magisterium) continues to give legitimacy to the idea that
Jesus Himself, as the Holy Eucharist, is giving an approving "thumbs up" to the barbaric practice of promoting the butchery of millions of of innocent children, how can we deceive ourselves into thinking that the Church is giving credible witness to the sacredness of all human life? Lip service to the Gospel ("This people honors Me with their lips . . .") is not adequate. Decisive convictions require decisive actions, not the perpetuation of dialogue with the demons of depravity and death.

As long as Church leaders give a "free pass" to such ongoing desecration of the Blessed Sacrament (and tell their priests and deacons to follow in the tradition of Judas by handing over the Eucharistic Christ for desecration in the hands of those committed to killing the innocent), our witness to life will be continue to be an object of scorn and ridicule.

What Ever Happened to Bishop Joseph Martino?

Do you ever wonder what happened to Bishop Joseph Martino, the bishop of Scranton, who retired suddenly for "insomnia and fatigue" (although, pro-lifers believe he was forced out)? He's the bishop who appeared at a meeting of liberal Catholics promoting the USCCB letter on "faithful citizenship" with an interpretation that voting for pro-abortion politicians was okay. The bishop made it clear the only letter that carried weight in his diocese was his own pastoral letter.  Les Femmes supported the bishop in his strong pro-life advocacy which included upholding canon law 915 and forbidding pro-abortion politicians from speaking in his diocese from Catholic podiums. We still mourn his disappearance from the Catholic scene while scandalous bishops like Roger Mahony and Matthew Clark continue on the scene.

I received an email today from Bishop Martino today via the Cardinal Newman Society supporting their work. Here it is and I'm glad to see the bishop resurfacing. May God bless him and make him a strong voice for the truth in his too early retirment.

_______________________________

Most Rev. Joseph Martino
Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Scranton
December 7, 2010
Second Week of Advent

My dear friend in Christ,
I write to you today with great pastoral concern for the young people in Catholic education, and on behalf of my friends at The Cardinal Newman Society.
Did you know that nearly 1-in-8 Catholics will leave the Faith while attending a Catholic college?
On many of our Catholic campuses, there is a crisis that imperils the souls of tens of thousands of the Church's sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews.

This Advent season, I am asking you to join The Cardinal Newman Society, which has tirelessly worked to end this crisis for more than 17 years.
Today's Gospel reads: "If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them should go astray: doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go to seek that which is gone astray?... [I]t is not the will of your Father, who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
My friend, Scripture here reminds us of why we must be vigilant in protecting the faith of every son and daughter.

We also must fight for a return to the flock of those colleges that are, perhaps unwittingly, teaching false theology and condoning promiscuous student life.

Canon Lawyer Urges Implementation of Canon 915 Against Nancy Pelosi

Ed Peters, the canon lawyer who blogs at In the Light of the Law posted an article on the Feast of the Annunciation urging implementation of Canon 915 against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. For those unfamiliar with Canon 915 it calls for withholding Communion from obstinate public sinners. Calls for, however, as Peters points out is too mild to describe the canon. In fact, he writes that Canon 915 "requires ministers to withhold holy Communion in such cases, this, upon pain of dereliction of their sacred office (1983 CIC 128, 1389)."


Among the bishops are many canon lawyers. Can we hope that some of them will listen to a fellow canonist and urge Nancy's home archbishop, George Niederauer of San Francisco, and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. to bar her from Communion? She commits a grave public scandal every time she opens her mouth and it is high time that the sacrilege of her consuming the Body and Blood of Christ be stopped.
 
Some will say it will just give her sympathy vote and make her a martyr. Frankly, that's the world talking. The question is whether, in receiving Communion, she crucifies Christ, scandalizes others and leads them into sin, and jeopardizes her own soul. Those are the issues that really matter.
 
Read the complete blog post here....