Press Release: Vote Life, Canada! Appeals to Catholic Bishops to Deal with Pro-Abortion “Catholic” Priests and Politicians in Emergency Session

Vote Life, Canada! Appeals to Conference of Catholic Bishops to Schedule Emergency Session at Plenary Assembly to Deal with Canada’s Scourge of Pro-Abortion “Catholic” Priests and Politicians

Contact: Eric Alcock, President, Vote Life, Canada! 709-773-0700

Toronto, ON October 9/Christian Newswire— The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) meets next week for its annual Plenary Assembly and Vote Life, Canada! is pleading with them to call an emergency session to address the ongoing scandal and devastation caused in Canada by renegade Catholic priests and politicians.

“Just last week,” says Eric Alcock, President of Vote Life, Canada! “Catholics in Canada were scandalized by the television appearance of Father Raymond Gravel, Catholic priest/politician, who once again unabashedly expressed his support for both homosexuality and abortion.”

Alcock explained that although the Vatican forbids priests from political office, Gravel’s Bishop granted him permission and even though still a priest he has suffered no known discipline for his public endorsements of grave sinful behaviour.

“If so called Catholic priests may publicly flout the weightiest Church teachings with impunity what hope is there,” asks Alcock, “that pro-abortion politicians will take seriously the directives of their Catholic faith to uphold the common good of society? It is these very politicians whose pro-abortion leadership of Canada over the past 38 years has directly led to legalized child-killing and the deaths of over three million unborn children.”

Alcock considers this latest outrage to be “insufferable and Bishops ought to act immediately to rectify this epidemic of rebellion. The Plenary Assembly is a perfect opportunity to undertake an emergency corrective.”

Alcock strongly recommends the Canadian Bishops follow the lead of St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke who insists the consistent position of the church has been that both priests and bishops are morally obligated to deny Holy Communion to wayward Catholics, particularly politicians. Burke is one of the sharpest legal minds in the Catholic Church and a sitting member of the Vatican's highest judicial authority. Just this past week a national association of 600 priests & deacons publicly endorsed Burke’s campaign to have fellow US Bishops create new guidelines for Holy Communion at the upcoming annual conference.

“Burke’s insistence that such guidelines protect the sacredness of the Eucharist, safeguard the salvation of the individual’s soul as well as protect the Catholic faithful from scandal are echoed in the Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops issued by Vote Life, Canada! in June past,” noted Alcock.

“Only when the Bishops of Canada provide spiritual leadership of a genuinely Catholic caliber will this nation be ready to re-institute legal protections for the Unborn.” Alcock urged, “Let that leadership start next week.”

Association of 600 Priests and Deacons Support Archbishop Burke in His Denial of Holy Communion to Renegade Catholic Politicians

Catholic Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis Missouri has been a staunch defender of the Eucharist—otherwise known as Holy Communion. He has been the subject of numerous posts and news items on this blog. He recently “called his brother bishops to task for their silence on the problem of Catholic politicians who support abortion, euthanasia, cloning, embryo research, the homosexual political agenda or other legislation contrary to the natural moral law.”

In June past, in an “Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada,” Vote Life, Canada! called on the Catholic Bishops of Canada to take precisely the same approach as Archbishop Burke urged of his fellow American Bishops. In this urgently and strongly worded appeal we hoped to influence our Bishops to take immediate action and with the scandal of Father Raymond Gravel announced this past week the matter is once again confirmed as entirely out of hand.

Back in July, I blogged about a group which at the time I identified as “Archbishop Burke's Brigade,” but whose real identity is the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, a national association of 600 priests and deacons.

Today, they have come out in full support of Archbishop Burke’s campaign to have U.S. Catholic Bishops adopt this approach, which is quite simply a moral obligation of all priests and an orthodox reading of age old Church teaching. The following is their statement.

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Clergy Concurs on Burke's Communion Policy

The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (national association of 600 priests & deacons) publicly endorses the rationale of Archbishop Raymond Burke (St. Louis) to deny Holy Communion to politicians who obstinately and openly support abortion or euthanasia. We respectfully urge all his brother bishops to universally and decisively support this initiative at the upcoming General Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in November.

The Code of Canon Law (#915) explicitly states that those "who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion." Abortion and euthanasia "are crimes which no human law can make ratified," said Pope John Paul II. Giving consent to an evil act is de facto formal cooperation in evil. Equally culpable are persons who are 'personally opposed to abortion' yet provide necessary assistance for the evil to occur. This is clearly understood as material cooperation in evil.

Archbishop Burke equally addresses politicians on both sides of the aisle. Whether democrat, republican or independent; executive, legislative or judicial branches; all public officials who publicly support, promote or give assistance to others to commit evil are cooperators in that evil.

Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger) stated in a 2004 letter to American Bishops that "not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia." Therefore, "there may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about war and the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia." He went on to say that the minister of Holy Communion "must refuse to distribute it to a Catholic politician [who] consistently campaigns and votes for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws."

It is specious to say that denying Holy Communion causes scandal to the faithful. Recall the parable in Matthew 22 where the man is physically removed from the banquet for not wearing a wedding garment. Some might consider it unfair treatment yet the gospel shows there is no excuse. The man was 'speechless' and Catholic politicians have no excuse, either. If they openly support abortion and/or euthanasia, even if 'personally opposed', they are in fact publicly unworthy to receive Holy Communion due to their cooperation in evil. Greater scandal is given when bishops, priests, and deacons do not protect the sanctity and dignity of the Most Blessed Sacrament by allowing public persons notoriously known for their positions which directly violate the Divine and Moral Laws.

[Source]

CCCB Invites Muslim Representative For The First Time to Address Plenary Assembly

I’m sure there are good reasons to invite a Muslim representative for the first time to address Canada’s 80 or more Catholic Bishops.

A group of invited observers, including priests, members from Catholic organizations and other Christian churches, also participates in the meeting. Each year, one religious representative is invited to address the Bishops, and for the first time in its history, the 2007 Plenary Assembly will welcome a representative from the Muslim community, Imam Dr. Zijad Delic, Executive Director of the Canadian Islamic Congress.

There must be quite a varied agenda of items that need addressing by the Bishops of Canada. I’m sure that if they consider it to be important to hear from a Muslim they must also be anxious to discuss this outrage.

After all, the CCCB press release clearly states that the Bishops meet to address “major issues that confront Canadians and the Church at large.”

Celebrating its 65th year of existence in 2008, the CCCB is an organization created by the Bishops to allow them to collaborate on various pastoral responsibilities and to work together in addressing major issues that confront Canadians and the Church at large.

Perhaps they might even address the greatest sacrilege occurring in Canada under their watch and the solution for it.

God help the Bishops. Please pray for them continually.

Women Who Wore Shirts Saying “Yes to Abortion” Were Denied Communion Then Reacted Violently

Nicaragua is under extreme pressure from abortion activists to open the door to abortion, as the news below plainly testifies.

Earlier reports by LifeSiteNews.com bear this out:

the predominantly Catholic nation passed a total ban on abortion in all circumstances in 2006 and has endured mounting international pressure from the United Nations and pro-abortion nations resolved to make the government reject the pro-life will of its people.

The story below indicates efforts to infiltrate and neutralize Church teaching on the subject. Kudos to the priest for refusing them Holy Communion.

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Abortion supporters disrupt Mass at Cathedral of Managua, attempt to receive Communion

This past Sunday, feminists and pro-abortion supporters interrupted Mass at the Cathedral of Managua in Nicaragua and attempted to receive Holy Communion. When they were refused, according to church law, they reacted violently and forced the celebrant to end the Mass.

The decision by the celebrant, Father Bismark Conde, to deny them Communion bothered the women, some of whom are members of “Catholics for a Free Choice.” They remained in the church and demanded to receive the Eucharist.

According to the Nicaraguan daily “La Prensa,” the others in attendance at the Mass began to demand out loud that the women leave the church, while Father Conde attempted to maintain calm and prevent a confrontation. Many began to call the women “killers” and “baby killers,” shouting, “God will punish you for what you are doing.

“At that moment the police were not inside the church, because the police agents were on guard outside the cathedral, where another group of women were protesting in favor of therapeutic abortion,” the newspaper reported. Police eventually forced the women inside to leave the church.

Father Rolando Alvarez, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Managua, said the incident sent a “negative message to the people, especially to the country’s children,” as the feminists’ attitudes “only display harmful elements, when civil conduct is what should prevail in society.”

People are able to sense when something isn’t right, Father Alvarez noted. “The people are the ones who end up passing judgment on these types of situations. We do not need to condemn an act of this nature because the people know what is good and what is bad,” he said.

One of those in attendance at the Mass, Maria Emilia Paredes, told La Prensa that the women “were profaning the house of the Lord, a protest that should have taken place outside, because as Christians, as Catholics, we should be respectful. They do not yet know the Lord. If they did, they would not have done this. They provoked what happened from the moment they came in with the phrases on their t-shirts.”

Ofelia Palacios, who was also in attendance, said the women who came into the church wearing shirts that read “Yes to Abortion” were committing a sacrilege. “They want to be famous,” she said, “but they should protest somewhere else.”

Current Nicaraguan law punishes the disruption of religious services recognized by the state with five to forty-five days in prison.

If the disruption is accompanied by threats, violence, insults or displays of scorn, the punishment can be increased to forty-five to ninety days.

[Source]

Archbishop Raymond Burke, True Bishop Of Christ, Chastises Fellow Bishops For Sustaining Pseudo-Catholic Church Of America

Well, not quite.

Not in so many words.

But nevertheless, Archbishop Burke came out squarely in the same train of thought as that advanced by the Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada, recently issued by Vote Life, Canada!

There are various summaries online detailing what Archbishop [hopefully some day Pope!] Burke had to say. I especially liked the overall coverage by LifeSiteNews.com. Their concise yet comprehensive commentary was insightful.

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Archbishop Burke: Bishops Must Discipline Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians

Calls his brother bishops to task - “To remain silent is to permit serious confusion regarding a fundamental truth of the moral law"

ST. LOUIS, September 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Writing in the latest edition of the Canon Law journal, Periodica De Re Canonica, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, bishop of St. Louis, Missouri, has called his brother bishops to task for their silence on the problem of Catholic politicians who support abortion, euthanasia, cloning, embryo research, the homosexual political agenda or other legislation “contrary to the natural moral law.”

Burke’s lengthy article addresses the scandal during the 2004 presidential election campaign when Senator John Kerry insisted that he could be militantly pro-abortion, ignore “Vatican” teachings on the sanctity of human life and marriage, and remain a good Catholic and a good Catholic politician.

During the 2004 election campaign, the scandal became so acute that the US bishops met in Denver to decide how to handle those Catholics in public life who persisted in flouting Catholic teaching. The statement produced from this meeting addressed the issue of refusing Communion by saying only that “bishops can legitimately make different judgments on the most prudent course of pastoral action.”

Burke criticises this, saying the statement “failed to take account of the clear requirement to exclude from Holy Communion those who, after appropriate admonition, obstinately persist in supporting publicly legislation which is contrary to the natural moral law.”

In the piece, Burke particularly takes aim at his brother bishops who felt no pressing need to observe the Church’s canonical strictures, saying, “To remain silent is to permit serious confusion regarding a fundamental truth of the moral law. Confusion, of course, is one of the most insidious fruits of scandalous behavior...” Pro-life advocates have long identified the lack of leadership on the part of church leaders as the biggest obstacle to re-instituting legal protections for the unborn.

At the height of the scandal, while still bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin, Burke was the only bishop out of 195 US dioceses to issue a formal, or “canonical”, ban on pro-abortion and other dissenting politicians from receiving Communion. For this distinction, Burke has been compared with the 16th century English Bishop John Fisher who, alone among the English bishops, refused to ratify King Henry VIII’s claim to be the head of the Church of England and was executed at the Tower of London and later canonized.

The article further highlights the vast and growing divide in the Catholic Church between self-styled “progressives” who have, since the 1960’s, gained ascendancy in most Catholic institutions, and those who continue to hold and defend the Church’s teachings, especially those on the sanctity of life. The gulf was perhaps well illustrated by an announcement by then-archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who, as the Kerry scandal was growing, said that although he is personally opposed to pro-abortion politicians receiving communion, he would not be “comfortable” refusing them.

McCarrick was appointed to head a task force for the bishops “studying” the problem. It was later revealed that at the Denver meeting later that summer, McCarrick withheld a crucial portion of an instruction from then-Cardinal Ratzinger that pro-abortion politicians “must” be refused Communion.

Ratzinger, echoing the calls of faithful Catholics calling for an end to the scandal, cited the Catholic Church’s Canon Law number 915 that says, “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.”

Read the archbishop’s article:
http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/holycom/denial.htm

US Bishops Non-Decision in Denver on Pro-Abortion Politicians and Communion Widens Catholic Divide
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jul/04070504.html

[Source]

Stephanie Gray Does The Heavy Lifting For A Pro-Life Movement In Canada Unsure Of The Truth Of Abortion

When Calgary Bishop Frederick Henry issued his stunning letter in February past banning the CCBR because of its use of graphic images it passed quietly under the radar for some time. It seemed that the Bishop, his parishes and schools, and of course CCBR, were the only ones privy to the secret.

In fact when Vote Life, Canada! met with CCBR’s Stephanie and associates JoJo and Brendan in April month to introduce the Vote Life, Canada! project, surprisingly the subject never came up. Presumably the CCBR staff was trying to resolve the issue with the Bishop without the distracting fanfare of public announcements.

How shocking it was a few days later to read a report in the Catholic Register “Bishop withdraws support from pro-life group over aborted fetus display.” Immediately Vote Life, Canada! set about to write the Bishop and with a lengthy, carefully documented but impassioned plea, practically begged His Excellency to reconsider his momentous, and tragic, decision.

The Bishop’s reply? Deeply disappointing, somewhat insulting and a door firmly closed.

The silence from the pro-life community in Canada was quite deafening. A condemnation of the decision by some influential, high-profile pro-life leader or group in Canada seemed to be urgently required. It didn’t come.

It NEVER came.

Period.

Finally, about two long weeks later, in early May, LifeSiteNews reported on the Bishop’s letter. But report it was all they did. Although one could read in the story sympathy for CCBR’s circumstances, there was no sign of distress or outrage—not even the usual call to readers to urgently address concerns to the Bishop’s office.

As far as Vote Life, Canada! is aware, no other pro-life group publicly expressed any distress over the matter or called for any campaign of protest.

When Vote Life, Canada! issued its Open Letter to Bishop Henry on May 21, denouncing the Bishop’s decision to “suppress the GAP Display of Canadian Center for Bio-Ethical Reform,” the press release received wide distribution throughout North America, prompting two invitations for interviews by American pro-life pro-family radio stations.

Again, as far as Vote Life, Canada! is aware, after close scrutiny of the pro-life airwaves in Canada, no group chose to even report the press release, let alone the actual letter. Yet to simply report this news event would not have been in any way an endorsement of the criticisms in the letter so it seems especially peculiar that Canadian pro-life groups chose the path of totally ignoring the letter and its accompanying press release. Perhaps the answer lies with the letter’s strong emphasis on the Bishop’s failure to address the contraception issue in his diocese as the Achilles heel of his pro-life stance, blinding and immobilizing him in the fight against abortion. Perhaps the abortion-contraception link is as equally disarming to Canadian pro-life leaders as it is the pro-aborts.

Two subsequent press releases over the following month, aimed at focusing attention on the failure of Catholic Bishops to fulfil their duties and take the appropriate steps to defend the lives of unborn children, were issued by Vote Life, Canada! Both received no publicity whatsoever in Canadian pro-life news circles. The second press release, summarizing the Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada, expressed distress at the utter failure of Bishops to defeat the demon of legalized abortion in Canada which has claimed over 3 million unborn victims. Vote Life, Canada! pointed to the desecration of the Eucharist by obstinate, dissenting Catholics, particularly politicians, living in grave sin as the single greatest contributory factor to Canada’s moral descent and accused the Bishops of sustaining such abuse. This Open Letter has been posted on another website in the form of a petition, inviting signatures. Twenty tormented souls have had the courage to sign the document.

How do you force the hand of a Bishop? Ask anyone who has tried! It’s a formidable job, due mostly to the near-supreme power they possess in their diocese as spiritual head and spokesperson, but also due to the tremendous respect their office deserves. When a Bishop is neglectful or makes an outrageous judgment call, the fallout will be severe and inevitable.

If we care about our Christian faith and the spiritual good of our neighbour—including the common good of our society—charity demands that we find a way to rescue even our Bishop(s) when he’s wrong because we know the consequences for our society will be dire and the eternal consequences for many souls may be unspeakable!

Is it presumptuous to say one’s Bishop is wrong? Granted it is a very serious matter—but doesn’t it all depend on what’s at stake?

Have pro-life leaders in Canada been waiting for a letter from the Pope saying Bishop Henry was wrong? Is that an indication of how uncertain they are of the truth [and the evil] lying behind graphic images of aborted fetuses?

Bishop Henry has been wrong before. It’s on the record. Links could be provided but it’s really not necessary. He’s not perfect. He’s certainly not God. I believe he’d be the first one to agree.

Look at the Canadian Bishops’ record in Canada on abortion. Review the Open Letter. Forget their spiritual responsibilities for a moment—in 40 years they haven’t even got the Catholic voting bloc mobilized to ensure truly pro-life politicians get voted into office. For the love of God, they’re still giving platforms to the worst of the pro-abort Catholics. And regularly they’re giving over Jesus to his enemies every time the obstinate pro-abort Catholic politician presents himself for Holy Communion.

Apparently Vote Life, Canada’s claims in its Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada have been strongly backed up just recently by the LifeSite news report on Princeton Professor Robert George, who “warned that the scandal of pro-abortion Catholics, and its cover-up by bishops, threatens more damage to the Catholic Church than the abhorrent scandal of pedophile priests hiding behind their Roman collars to perpetrate crimes against children.”

When Joe Scheidler, the National Director of Pro-Life Action League in the US said that condemning graphic images because they are upsetting is playing into the hands of the media and pro-abortion movement, he was totally correct. He said it was a dangerous thing to do. Again he was right.

So far this week Bishop Henry is the poster boy for the pro-aborts and all the other naysayers. Whose fault is that? Well of course it’s the Bishop’s fault but no man is an island. Where was Canada’s pro-life leadership in holding the Bishop accountable and pressuring him [wisely yet relentlessly] to reverse his decision, thereby restoring the Bishop’s credibility as well as advancing the cause of the Unborn? Was it charitable to say and do nothing and allow the Bishop to back himself into an awkward pickle as he has done? Was it charity by pro-lifers or an excuse to cover up confusion, even cowardice?

Pro-life leaders in Canada send the message of being unsure themselves of the truth of abortion [and of the complicity of Bishops in the slaughter of the innocents]. No other conclusion seems plausible. Pro-lifers as a whole can’t bring themselves to denounce Bishop Henry’s decision against the CCBR’s use of graphic images. Yet the act of abortion is incalculably worse than the pictures. If we will so easily countenance the suppression of truth contained in a picture, how can we ever hope to win our battle with the evil itself?

Under such conditions, victory is not possible, because the truth is that apathy holds pro-lifers equally in its grip. Courage is in very short supply, leaving self-interests to rule the day. There is simply no heart to do battle for the Unborn. Why else would the price of speaking against a Bishop’s judgment seem too high when the lives of many innocent young children are at stake?

That leaves Stephanie Gray and associates [and the Show the Truth crusaders] in charge of the heavy lifting for now while virtually the rest of Canada's pro-life movement flounders in an identity crisis.

Canadian Pro-Abort MP Gerry Byrne Receives Holy Communion From Archbishop O'Brien

Gerry Byrne, a Catholic, is the Liberal MP for Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte riding in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. According to the Campaign Life Coalition candidate evaluations for the 2006 Federal Election, Byrne’s voting record indicates he is pro-abortion, voting also in favour of cloning and embryo experimentation (ESCR).

On Sunday past, July 15, 2007, according to a highly reliable eye witness, Archbishop Brendan O’Brien of the diocese of St. John’s, NL, served the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ to Gerry Byrne at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in St. John’s NL.

Archbishop O’Brien is one of Canada’s five newest Archbishops and was recently chosen as the new Archbishop of Kingston. Having been to Rome with the other four Archbishops to attend special ceremonies with the Pope, Archbishop O’Brien will be taking up his new appointment in Kingston possibly this week.

Vote Life, Canada! issued a press release last week calling on these new Archbishops to cease from their hypocrisy and to adhere faithfully to Church teaching for the sake of Canada’s Unborn. The release pointed out particularly,

In 2004 the Pope, then Cardinal Ratzinger, reaffirmed existing provisions of Church Canon Law and issued a directive indicating that Catholic politicians who obstinately persist in supporting pro-abortion laws MUST be denied Holy Communion. Yet there is no record of any Bishop in Canada ever acting on such guidelines, despite nearly four decades of Canadian rule by pro-abortion, pro-sodomy “Catholic” Prime Ministers.

In a related but more detailed statement on June 18, 2007, in its Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada, Vote Life, Canada! noted

the desecration of the Eucharist by obstinate, dissenting ‘Catholics’ living in grave sin and counts this widespread and large-scale practice as the single greatest contributing factor to Canada's moral descent and disrespect for human life.

The Open Letter is published on another Canadian website in the form of a petition which any Canadian may sign.

The Open Letter asks,

How is it possible to foster respect for human life when disrespect for God Himself, through the Body and Blood of Christ, is not only tolerated but modeled at every Mass?

When Archbishop O’Brien distributed Holy Communion to pro-abortion Gerry Byrne at Sunday Mass, the Archbishop was making a very powerful statement to all those present who knew the Catholic MP. As intermediary for Christ, he was confirming that a Catholic who supports the status quo on child-killing in Canada, thus scorning and defying Church teaching, may simultaneously be in communion with Jesus Christ and with His Church.

For all those witnessing the event with purely human eyes it would have been clear at the very least that the Archbishop himself, a high representative of Christ and His Church, was in communion, i.e. agreement, with the communicant, i.e. Gerry Byrne. During this Mass, in regard to Byrne's reception of the Eucharist, no other message, whether subtle or overt, could have taken precedence over that one.

To reiterate further the message sent to the Bishops of Canada in the Open Letter:

This sacrilege of handing over Jesus to His enemies, through Holy Communion, is no less a crime today than when it was first perpetrated by Pilate 2000 years ago. The Scriptures warn, "For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." Furthermore, the Christian "cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons." Communion with Christ and communion with devils cannot be had at once. Christians, who by association, sympathies, and actions participate in devilish strategies that destroy life, family and the Common Good, cannot participate in Holy Communion. Unless the Holy Scriptures can lie, the implications of this truth are clear and astounding: No such wholesale sacrilegious communion could take place unless so many Bishops had been communing with demons!

Shockingly then, just as "pro-choice" Pontius Pilate, who was "personally opposed," nevertheless delivered Jesus over to His enemies, so too many Bishops of Canada have dispensed the Body and Blood of Jesus to any and all persons in the communion line, even though independent sources cite that as many as 90% of "Catholics" reject the authority and certain crucial teachings of His Church. The truly faithful Catholics have been scandalized and demoralized for decades by this officially sanctioned sacrilege.

Open Letter To The Catholic Bishops Of Canada From Vote Life, Canada!

1) Introduction

June 18, 2007

If [...] you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he [the wicked man] shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death.
[Ezekiel 33:8]

To the Bishops, the Successors of the Apostles, in Canada,

2) The Silence of the Bishops

With great distress Vote Life, Canada! notes the ongoing virtual silence of the Bishops on the subject of legalized child-killing in Canada and petitions the Bishops to take all necessary steps to confront the demon of abortion in Canada which has claimed over three million unborn victims.

3) Desecration of the Eucharist Precludes Respect for Life

In evaluating the factors contributing to the tragedy of legalized child-killing in our nation, Vote Life, Canada! has taken special notice of the desecration of the Eucharist by obstinate, dissenting "Catholics" living in grave sin and counts this widespread and large-scale practice as the single greatest contributing factor to Canada's moral descent and disrespect for human life. Without acknowledging the neglect and/or indifference of too many Bishops in this tragic situation, it would be impossible indeed to account for such a phenomenon, because, in fact, the oversight of the Eucharist is entrusted entirely to the Successors of the Apostles. How is it possible to foster respect for human life when disrespect for God Himself, through the Body and Blood of Christ, is not only tolerated but modeled at every Mass?

This sacrilege of handing over Jesus to His enemies, through Holy Communion, is no less a crime today than when it was first perpetrated by Pilate 2000 years ago. The Scriptures warn, "For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." Furthermore, the Christian "cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons." Communion with Christ and communion with devils cannot be had at once. Christians, who by association, sympathies, and actions participate in devilish strategies that destroy life, family and the Common Good, cannot participate in Holy Communion. Unless the Holy Scriptures can lie, the implications of this truth are clear and astounding: No such wholesale sacrilegious communion could take place unless so many Bishops had been communing with demons!

Shockingly then, just as "pro-choice" Pontius Pilate, who was "personally opposed," nevertheless delivered Jesus over to His enemies, so too many Bishops of Canada have dispensed the Body and Blood of Jesus to any and all persons in the communion line, even though independent sources cite that as many as 90% of "Catholics" reject the authority and certain crucial teachings of His Church. The truly faithful Catholics have been scandalized and demoralized for decades by this officially sanctioned sacrilege.

4) A Pseudo-Catholic Culture Flourishes in Canada

The result of this abomination is a flourishing pseudo-Catholic culture — one based not upon the mystery of the Eucharist but upon the "magic" of the Eucharist. Thanks to the negligence, or perhaps simply the spiritual darkness, of too many Canadian Bishops, regardless of the moral conduct or spiritual disposition of vast numbers of renegade "Catholics", attendance at Mass and mere reception of Holy Communion is assumed to magically confer absolution for even the gravest sins and satisfy all of God's significant imperatives for the Catholic. This grave misrepresentation of the Catholic faith not only dishonors faithful Catholics but scandalizes the entire Christian community in Canada, many of whom are forced to conclude that Catholicism is but another cultish enemy of the true Christian faith.

The Bishops are well aware that, according to the Catechism, those "Catholics" who deny Church teaching on the intrinsic evils of contraception, abortion and sodomitic relations as well as the mortal sins of masturbation, co-habitation, fornication, pornography, adultery and divorce disqualify themselves from partaking in the Holy Eucharist. Without first giving evidence in Confession of genuine repentance and receiving absolution, they may not receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Despite such explicit teaching, not only inordinate numbers of average Catholics condemn themselves through sacrilegious Communion but significant numbers of openly dissenting priests, religious, theologians, and professors do so as well. These leaders are permitted to further corrupt the faithful by disparaging the Church's doctrine on priestly celibacy, women's ordination, same sex "marriage," and other non-negotiables of the faith, all without public rebuke by the Bishops. The heresy dissent from Rome's teaching by too many Bishops themselves in regard to Catholic sexual ethics, particularly contraception, with its consequent immoral living by millions of Catholics is bringing Canada to the brink of demographic and cultural collapse.

But shouldn't the Bishops be warning such obstinate unrepentant persons that neither baptism nor the Eucharist will save them? Again, according to the Catholic Catechism, to die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love is to be separated forever from Him in Hell. The Bishops know these things but their neglect or unbelief betrays them since they refuse to teach and to warn Catholics. Therefore many of them corrupt the faith and prove themselves not shepherds but wolves, risking the eternal salvation of more than 13 million Canadian Catholics. The result of their distorted, devilish thinking is a collapse in the integrity of the Canadian Catholic community as a whole and an entire generation of Catholics is ignorant of the true means of obtaining God's grace.

5) Pope Benedict Pointed to the Problem

Which habits have the Bishops determined to change in light of Pope Benedict's warning in October past? In no uncertain terms, the Pope tackled the failure of Bishops to address the moral problems of Canada, specifically pointing to homosexual "marriage" and abortion and to the extreme split between the Gospel and culture, strongly evidenced by the exclusion of God in the political realm. If the Bishops continue the unscriptural and heretical practice of granting Holy Communion to those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, and refuse to take due diligence in defending the Holy Eucharist from sacrilege by the ordinary Catholic, Canadian society will continue to go amuck "in the most disturbing of ways," in the Pope's words, through neglect of the truth and of discipline.

The Pope's comments politely and subtly point to a pervasive counterfeit culture which is supported by these sacrilegious communions and the immoral lifestyles of Catholics living in grave sin. Multitudes of such corrupted "Catholics" said to be "in good standing with their Church" impact every strata of Canadian society, including politics, and further degrade it with their anti-God and anti-life attitudes. Politicians, particularly pro-abortion, pro-sodomy "Catholic" Prime Ministers, draw special attention and indeed are capable of shocking degrees of scandal but it is the average uncatechized Catholic voter, in step with the spiritual blindness and befuddlement of too many Bishops, who empowers these "pro-choice" legislators and killers of the Unborn.

6) Bishops Have Failed to Mobilize the Catholic Voting Bloc

There is perhaps no greater example of the dereliction of duty of too many Bishops to halt the killing of Unborns in Canada than the failure to mobilize the Catholic voting bloc in Canada. Legal protection for unborn children necessitates a political, legislative solution, a fact evident to even the least politically savvy of Canadians. Roman Catholic Bishops in Canada exercise moral authority over a formidable voting bloc of nearly 10 million Catholics and yet after nearly forty years of "legalized" child killing in Canada there is no indication whatever that Catholics have been guided by the Bishops to effect this political change in Canada through even the simplest of voting strategies, one solidly founded on basic moral principles yet not centred in partisan politics.

Why must such an emphasis on mobilizing the Christians of Canada to vote effectively on behalf of securing legal rights for the Unborn originate with a campaign such as the Vote Life, Canada! project? Surely, if the Bishops had a will to stop the child killing in Canada, a focused and comprehensive Canada wide, diocesan wide, strategy to engage every Catholic to cast a vote for legal protection of the Unborn would have yielded long ago a complete halt to the killing. In the rare case where Bishops have been found to do anything in this regard it has amounted to a poorly organized, last minute, ineffective scramble. God have mercy on those Bishops for their failure in this most practical of all ways to end the holocaust of the Unborn. Their inaction for decades makes them substantially culpable in the deaths of millions of unborn children.

7) Political Consequences of the Counterfeit Catholic Culture

Out of Canada's counterfeit Catholic culture has emerged political devils such as "Catholic" Prime Ministers Trudeau, Chretien, and Paul Martin. Catholic Bishops were clearly in a compromised, weakened state when, in 1969, they permitted "Catholic" Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and "Catholic" Justice Minister John Turner to foist the "legalization" of the triad of contraception, abortion and sodomy upon Canada, along with the liberalization of divorce laws.

Up until last year, except for a five month break in 38 years, "Catholic" Prime Ministers have managed the affairs of Canada. Every one of them without exception has flouted Catholic teaching on sexuality through their pro-contraception, pro-abortion, pro-sodomy agendas. And every one of them considered themselves good Catholics and regularly presented themselves for Holy Communion. During that 38 year reign of social devastation and spiritual ruin too many Catholic Bishops failed to take steps to deal with this epic scandal. Despite the fierce defiance of Catholic teaching exhibited by the Prime Ministers there is no record of even one single occasion when a Catholic Prime Minister was denied Communion.

Canada's Bishops failed to deal with the grave scandal caused by Paul Martin, Canada's most recent pro-abortion, pro-sodomy "Catholic" Prime Minister, defeated in the 2006 election, who spearheaded same sex "marriage" in Canada and vehemently proclaimed his government's commitment to "a woman's right to choose" without restrictions. His Bishop, the Bishop of Canada's capital city, Ottawa, dismissed any possibility of discipline for Martin, claiming that the Prime Minister was a "faithful member of my cathedral parish." (This same Bishop attends the Ottawa March for Life and at the 2004 March delivered a homily condemning the killing of human embryos for their stem cells.)

Profound failures such as this by too many Bishops of Canada blur the line between that which is evil and that which is good and sustain the "extreme split between the Gospel and culture, strongly evidenced by the exclusion of God in the political realm" lamented by Pope Benedict. How can such a caricature of apostolic leadership be described as anything other than the "blind leading the blind?"

8) Bishops Urgently Need to Implement Guidelines Provided by Rome

Two sets of guidelines authored by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, if diligently and universally honoured by the Bishops of Canada, would decidedly impact the moral climate of Canada and immediately set Canada on a path to rescuing the Unborn. In a 2004 letter to the American bishops entitled appropriately Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion,then-Cardinal Ratzinger said that those "Catholics" who continue to obstinately reject Church teachings must be denied Communion. He cited canon 915 and other Church documents to support this position. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in 2003, published The Participation of Catholics in Political Life which was directed to Catholic Bishops, Catholic politicians and all lay members of the faithful called to participate in the political life of democratic societies. Principles contained in this guide urgently need application in Canada but are constantly ignored by too many Bishops.

9) Bishops Need to Call for a National Fast and Penance

An international celebration planned by the Bishops for 2008 in Quebec City with the theme "The Eucharist, gift of God for the life of the world" ought to instead be a call for a national fast whose primary purpose is repentance and conversion. God desires first of all obedience from His Bishops, certainly not festivals, celebration and song at such a time of crisis as we face. Ironically, God's gift of life is also the Unborn... who will pay with their lives for the ongoing desecration of the Eucharist.

Rather than using the Old Testament imagery of an Ark making its journey across the nation, the Eucharistic Congress ought to enjoin Catholics throughout Canada to instead put on sack cloth and ashes, seeking repentance and forgiveness for the disobedience of too many Bishops and the profanation of the Holy Eucharist.

10) Conclusion

Every day the Bishops delay, the souls of Catholics entrapped in the darkness of a false religious culture remain in great danger of eternal damnation and every day the Bishops delay, a further 300 unborn Canadians perish. Their silent scream continues to daily torment those whose Christian conscience remains unfettered by the deceptions of demons.

I hate, I despise your festivals -- and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings, and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
[Amos 5:21-24]

Signed,

Eric Alcock,

President, Vote Life, Canada!

Vote Life, Canada! Summons Catholic Bishops To Take First Step in Stopping Legalized Child Killing

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vote Life, Canada! Summons Catholic Bishops to Take First Step in Stopping Legalized Child Killing in Canada by Halting the Sacrilegious Abuse of Holy Communion by Catholics

Issued by:

Vote Life, Canada!
Suite 287, 7620 Elbow Drive SW,
Calgary, AB T2V1K2
Contact: Eric Alcock, President, Vote Life, Canada! 403-253-1577

Calgary, AB, June 18/Christian Newswire—In an Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada, Vote Life, Canada! expressed its distress at the utter failure of Bishops to defeat the demon of legalized abortion in Canada which has claimed over 3 million Unborn victims.

Eric Alcock, President of Vote Life, Canada! pointed to the desecration of the Eucharist by obstinate, dissenting Catholics living in grave sin as the single greatest contributory factor to Canada’s moral descent and accused the Bishops of sustaining such abuse. Alcock charges that “handing over Jesus to His enemies, through Holy Communion, is no less a crime today than when it was first perpetrated by Pilate 2000 years ago.”

The letter argues that under Canada’s Bishops a pseudo-Catholic culture flourishes—one based not upon the mystery of the Eucharist but upon the “magic” of the Eucharist. “In Canada,” says Alcock, “regardless of the moral conduct or spiritual disposition of vast numbers of renegade Catholics, attendance at Mass and mere reception of Holy Communion is assumed to magically confer absolution for even the gravest sins and satisfy all of God’s significant imperatives for the Catholic.”

But neither baptism nor the Eucharist will help the obstinate unrepentant Catholic whom hell awaits, according to the Catholic Catechism. The Bishops ought to know this and teach it but those who don’t corrupt the faith either willfully or by neglect and are wolves, risking the eternal salvation of more than 13 million Canadian Catholics.

Unsurprisingly, when such Catholics reach influential political positions they are shocked to hear someone question their “staunch” Catholic faith, even in the midst of serious defiance of Church teaching. Consider pro-abortion, pro-sodomy Catholic Prime Minister Paul Martin who spearheaded same sex marriage in Canada and vehemently proclaimed his government’s commitment to “a woman’s right to choose.” Although he generated shocking degrees of scandal, it is the average Catholic voter, impaired by the spiritual blindness and befuddlement of the Bishops, who empowers these “pro-choice” legislators and killers of the Unborn.

“An international celebration planned by the Bishops for 2008 in Quebec City and centred on God’s gift of the Eucharist ought to instead be a call for a national fast,” challenges Alcock. “Catholics throughout Canada ought to put on sack cloth and ashes, seeking repentance and forgiveness for the disobedience of the Bishops and the profanation of the Holy Eucharist.”

Every day the Bishops delay, a further 300 unborn Canadians perish.