The days of reflection and prayer leading to glorious Easter Sunday provide us with an opportunity to envision what betrayal of truth must mean to the suffering Christ. It is no coincidence that the ill-fated votes in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, regarding stripping Planned Parenthood of its funding, exposed Catholic politicians' diabolical abuse of Christ and His truth within days of Holy Week.
Even though the House originally voted to stand firm and cut Planned Parenthood funding, 62 Catholic members of the House voted against that defunding! Sixty-two men and women who claim to be Catholic voted in favor of continuing to provide government funding for the world's number one promoter of abortion and contraception - "services" that are anathema to Catholic doctrine.
In the wake of this travesty, American Life League called for the immediate excommunication of these modern-day Judases, explaining the reasons why in a 4-minute ALL Report. In exposing the truth about what these 62 individuals have done to Christ and why they should be excommunicated, we reminded one and all that there is such a thing as evil and it must be overcome.
It is our view that the actions of these so-called Catholic politicians expose their whole-hearted support for an organization that is, to put it in plain English, as evil and malicious as any enemy of the Church since the beginning of her history more than two thousand years ago.
When asked about the American Life League call for excommunication, canon lawyer Dr. Edward Peters said, "ALL identifies a serious pastoral problem, namely, Catholic legislative support for a thoroughly evil organization, Planned Parenthood, and they suggest a measure that the Church can take in response to such legislators, namely, excommunication. … ALL is quite within their rights to make that case."
Further, within two days Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, joined American Life League, saying that though these Catholics who support Planned Parenthood are not "formally excommunicated" they should be denied Holy Communion because they have placed themselves "outside the pale of Catholic doctrine."
And this is indeed the problem, the tragedy and the reality we face as Catholic pro-life Americans today. We witness American Catholics in positions of political power, waving their Catholic colors publicly so that folks will admire their "faith" while using their influence and their vote to advance evil and wicked agendas on the ignorant and the uninformed. It is a scandal the likes of which I have never seen in my time on this earth. The pain such actions are causing Christ can only be imagined.
Catholics believe that Christ suffered and died for our sins and that He did this to provide us with the opportunity to repent of those sins, seek His forgiveness and worthily receive his body, blood, soul and divinity in the sacrament of Holy Communion. We believe He is truly present in that sacrament and truly with us at all times.
So when Catholics in positions of public authority act belligerently against Christ, they are literally participating in his passion and death. They are no different than the soldiers who whipped Christ, pressed a crown of thorns deep into his skull, tore his clothing from his bloodied body, nailed him to a cross and killed him. To strike at the Church by supporting the wickedness that is Planned Parenthood is to strike at Christ. This is precisely what these 62 alleged Catholic members of Congress have done. These individuals, along with 17 Catholic Senators who also voted in favor of Planned Parenthood funding, are guilty of serious offenses.
The further sorrow is that doing nothing about it - which is what the majority of Catholic bishops have been doing - is an additional scandal that compounds the problem.
At this holy time of year we pause to reflect on the gravity of these offenses against Christ and we pray for those who have acted so ruthlessly as we recall these words:
Christ on the Cross is the salvation of the human race, the remedy for all our ills. He went voluntarily to Calvary, so that whosoever believes may have eternal life, so that he might draw all men to himself . . . So we pray, "Stay with us, Lord, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." (Luke 24:29) Stay with us, Lord, because when you are not with us, night falls around us. Everything is darkness when you are not there.