Why should Catholics oppose Senator Joe Biden

So often people want the blessing of God (and their Church) but they aren't willing to live in a way that God says he can bless. So people become religious-in-name-only. It is the duty and calling of priests and ministers all over this nation to hold the people of God accountable to the ways of God. The Word is God is clear that he will hold spiritual leaders accountable if we don't sound the alarm with regard to the shedding of innocent blood.

We cannot continue to bless what God says he can't bless. We cannot look the other way. Our people expect us (the Church) to marry and bury them, but they also expect us to have integrity don't they? Yet, our integrity is compromised when we bless what we know God says he won't bless. Are we to be expected to only teach the parts of the Bible they want to hear, the parts about feeding the poor and turning the other cheek? Yet, we've made vows to God to teach the Whole Counsel of God. If people want the blessing of God on their marriage, if they want to partake of his presence via Communion, if they want to be counted among his people as members of the Body of Christ, they cannot reject his ways.

Every person of faith in South Dakota needs to do some serious soul searching here… do I want God's blessing on my life or, do I want to continue to support legal abortion? It's one or the other, and this is America's Choice. Look hard at that last word.

There is no ambiguity about the immorality of abortion in light of Church Tradition, Scripture and Theological Reasoning. Yet, in South Dakota right now we have activists on the side of the killing of unborn human life popping in and out of our churches (Protestant and Catholic) as if they are in good standing with God and His Word.

As one ordained into the ministry of Word and Sacrament, accountable to God, I won't have to stand before God one day and try to explain to him why I bestowed his blessing on those who advocated the slaughter of innocence. That amounts to blessing Herod. I'm not alone, check this link out… Catholics are rising up to oppose Senator Joe Biden. Herod, Biden, Johnson, Herseth. People who care little for the things of God will undoubtedly vilify me for those last four names in the same sentence, but all four are governmental public officials who are enemies of innocent human life. Can the Church keep smiling and say nothing?

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput nails it in the recent issue of First Things (8/19/08);

Obviously, we have other important issues facing us this fall: the economy, the war in Iraq, immigration justice. But we can’t build a healthy society while ignoring the routine and very profitable legalized homicide that goes on every day against America’s unborn children. The right to life is foundational. Every other right depends on it. Efforts to reduce abortions, or to create alternatives to abortion, or to foster an environment where more women will choose to keep their unborn child, can have great merit—but not if they serve to cover over or distract from the brutality and fundamental injustice of abortion itself. We should remember that one of the crucial things that set early Christians apart from the pagan culture around them was their rejection of abortion and infanticide. Yet for thirty-five years I’ve watched prominent “pro-choice” Catholics justify themselves with the kind of moral and verbal gymnastics that should qualify as an Olympic event. All they’ve really done is capitulate to Roe v. Wade. 

Archbishop Raymond Burke was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to the office of Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura (the highest tribunal of the Vatican). In 2007 he published an article in the prestigious canon law journal Periodica de re Canonica, entitled: The Discipline Regarding the Denial of Holy Communion to Those Obstinately Persevering in Manifest Grave Sin.

Catholic News Agency (8/17/08) reports a recent interview where Archbishop Burke reiterated what was published in that 2007 article;

…public officials who, with knowledge and consent, uphold actions that are against the Divine and Eternal moral law. 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… 

What we are seeing right now in South Dakota is the coming together of a strong coalition of churches, Catholic and Protestant, who are more than religious-in-name-only. We are mobilizing our people to support Initiated Measure 11 with our prayers, pulpits, offerings, and volunteers. We are not motoring on like it's any other year in South Dakota. Here's why, we know that God is watching this closely and his blessing rests on those share his heart for women and children, born and unborn. If you want more information on this coalition, contact VoteYesForLife.com.

I encourage pastors and priests to stand strong on this issue. Don't fear a few leaving. Many more will come and thank you for strong moral leadership. Even more important, God's favor will rest on your faithfulness. My testimony is that our church is blessed and we believe it's because we've sought to be a blessing to women and children, born and unborn.