Polish Catholic Bishops Set the Example for Guiding Catholics in Proper Voting Principles to Defend Life

In its Open Letter of June 18, 2007 Vote Life, Canada! called upon the [pseudo-]Catholic Bishops of Canada to engage Catholics in proper voting strategies in order to bring about protection of human life. The following is a quote from the pertinent section of the Open Letter:

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.

Some naysayers along the way protested that the Bishops could really do nothing about the decisions of voters and that it was unrealistic to expect Bishops to undertake such a project.

Yesterday LifeSiteNews reported on the approach being taken by Polish Bishops in the face of a national election. [The report appears below.]

The article provides a concrete example of the kind of action that truly “Catholic” Bishops will undertake in defense of human life. It is a vindication of the call from Vote Life, Canada! to Catholic Bishops of Canada.

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Polish Bishops Encourage Citizens to Support Only Pro-life, Pro-Family Groups in Election

Emphasize "moral convictions" and "nonnegotiable values"

WARSAW, October 16, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Penned at their annual Conference in Warsaw, the Catholic bishops of Poland have collectively issued a letter that was to be read at all parishes on Sunday, October 14. In the letter the bishops are urging Catholics to vote with "nonnegotiable values" in mind and to therefore support "only those political groups that favor protection of life from the moment of conception, that respect family rights and that demonstrate by their activities deep concern about Poland and respect for its tradition stemming from Christian roots."

The upcoming election will be held on October 21 and was called when the current ruling party, the Law and Justice Party, lost their parliamentary majority. Presently, both the president and the prime minister of Poland are ardently pro-life.

The letter reads, "We ask all lay faithful and clergy in our country and beyond its borders to pray for the homeland and participate in large numbers. But we also need to vote properly, which means in accordance with moral conviction. Believers should give their vote to people whose attitude and views are close, or at least not opposed, to the Catholic faith and Catholic values."

The pastoral letter cautioned Polish clergy to "respect the maturity of laypeople" in their guidance and condemned any party that claimed "to speak in the church's name or claim its support."

While the bishops refrained from promoting any specific party or individual they said that certain political parties were "closer to the Christian vision of the person and society" while others were "distant from church teaching or even opposed to it."

Differing polling agencies have resulted in starkly contrasting poll results with one agency reporting that the incumbent Law and Justice Party was favored to win and another contending that the liberal Civic Platform challenging party was set to win.

[Source]

More evidence of the Polish Bishops' influence on the morals of their society here.

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]

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.

Open Letter To Brothers & Sisters At Saddleback Church

Since Rick Warren, world famous author of “Purpose Driven Life” and mega-church pastor of Saddleback Church in California, sparked controversy through an invitation to pro-abortion Senator Barack Obama to speak at Saddleback’s AIDS conference, I have wanted to post my own detailed response on behalf of unborn children in Canada (as well as the US.)

Today I discovered an Open Letter addressed to Rick Warren from Gregg Cunningham, Director, The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform. Gregg says much of what I wanted to express, and more. It’s a lengthy letter but well worth the read.

There are important issues involved here, most notably the responsibility for high profile evangelical leaders, as representatives of Christ, to take an uncompromising stand in defense of unborn children. The evangelical community in the US and in Canada is generally very weak on pro-life activism although there are notable exceptions. What is especially alarming is the trend for evangelicals to highlight other causes such as modern day slavery and AIDS while consigning child-killing to the sidelines as a “political” issue.

If you are unclear about the dynamics of this controversy, it may help you to know that Rick Warren is revered as a national spiritual leader in America with a huge degree of influence in evangelical circles. Pastor Warren, along with a “new breed” of evangelical leaders such as Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church, seems to be defining a new paradigm with respect to social justice issues. They are more likely to speak out about more liberal causes like AIDS, Darfur, poverty and global warming than “controversial” social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

Vote Life, Canada! views the urgency of Gregg's letter to Rick Warren in the same light as its own recent Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops Of Canada.

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OPEN LETTER TO BROTHERS & SISTERS AT SADDLEBACK CHURCH

Pastor Rick Warren and the "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church ": Saddleback Delivers; Obama Chortles & Jesus Cringes

From: Gregg Cunningham, Director, The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform

(Author's note: A draft of this letter was submitted to Pastor Rick Warren through A. Larry Ross Communications, his public relations firm, with a request for corrections of perceived misstatements of fact. Despite confirmation of receipt of the draft, no reply was forthcoming. Since the intial draft of this letter, Senators Obama and Clinton declared candidacies for the Presidency.)

ChristianityToday.com has posted a Billy Graham biography with a focus on the great evangelist's early crusades. The story is oddly relevant to the controversy sparked by Pastor Rick Warren's AIDS conference invitation to pro-abortion Senator Barack Obama.

...[A]t a time when sit-ins and boycotts were stirring racial tensions in the South, Graham invited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to discuss the racial situation with him and his colleagues. Then, before a capacity crowd at ... [Madison Square] Garden, he invited the black leader to join him on the platform and to lead the congregation in prayer. In his introduction, he said, 'A great social revolution is going on in the United States today. Dr. King is one of its leaders, and we appreciate his taking time out of his busy schedule to come and share this service with us tonight.'

The words did not explicitly endorse King, and King's prayer called for nothing more revolutionary than a 'brotherhood that transcends color,' but the implication was unmistakable: Graham was letting both whites and blacks know that he was willing to be identified with the revolution and its foremost leader, and King was telling blacks that Graham was their ally ... his voice was important in declaring that a Christian racist was an oxymoron.

Not so long ago, the argument that a racist could never be a true follower of Jesus was controversial. Today we debate whether a genuine salvation experience would invariably preclude the advocacy of abortion rights.

Pastor Warren's embrace of Senator Obama was as calculated as Pastor Graham's inclusion of Dr. King. Both were designed to send a message. Pastor Graham sought a closer association with civil rights activism. Pastor Warren seeks a closer association with AIDS activism. Both decisions were obviously going to be controversial. Among the civil rights activists Pastor Graham could have embraced, Dr. King was the most contentious for reasons which had everything to do with civil rights. Among the AIDS activists Pastor Warren could have invited, Senator Obama was the most divisive for reasons which had nothing to do with AIDS. Dr. King was controversial because he fought a system which was killing black people. Senator Obama is controversial because he champions a system which is killing unborn children. Pastor Graham's gesture insulted racists. Pastor Warren's offended pro-life activists. Pastor Graham wanted to distance himself from racists. Pastor Warren has removed any lingering doubt that he is moving away from pro-life activists.

He claims to be pro-life but he defines the term narrowly. He is a pro-life pacifist (as opposed to "activist " as in AIDS activism) whose opposition to abortion is essentially conceptual. He is detached. He avoids resistance which demands the risk and sacrifice he invests in the fight against AIDS.

He's "against " abortion in the same way the priest and Levite might have opposed mugging in Christ's Parable of the Good Samaritan; a theoretical, disengaged condemnation. It is not the anguished opposition which compels aggressive intervention. Feeling pity for victims is, of course, very different from taking pity on them. At least that's what Pastor Warren says about AIDS.

New York Magazine, May 28, 2007, in a statement not submitted to A. Larry Ross for comment, columnist John Heilemann quotes Pastor Warren on pro-life activism:

Whereas Falwell bemoaned the emerging strain of Evangelical environmentalism as 'Satan's attempt to redirect the church's primary focus,' Warren declares, 'The environment is a moral issue.' And regarding his pro-life stance, Warren says, 'I'm just not rabid about it.'

Merriam Webster Online defines "rabid " as "going to extreme lengths in expressing or pursuing a feeling, interest, or opinion. " When Pastor Warren says he's "just not rabid " about abortion he is in essence saying he is not hot, not cold but kind of lukewarm about abortion. In Revelation 3:13-22, Jesus says, "I know your deeds .... So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. " Is God "lukewarm " over child sacrifice or is He rabid?

In Ezekiel 16:20-21, 35-36, 43, He says, among other things, that His own people "... have enraged me ... " with child sacrifice.

In Psalm 106:37-42, He says, among other things, that because of their child sacrifice "... Jehovah's anger burned against his people and he abhorred them. That is why he let the heathen nations crush them. "

In Jeremiah 7:24-26, 30-31, He says, among other things, "... and they burn to death their little sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods -- a deed so horrible I've never even thought of it .... "

In Jeremiah 19:3-5, 7-9, 11, God says, among other things, that because of child sacrifice, "... will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it can never be mended. "

It is pretty easy to take God's temperature here – and He is not lukewarm. He is hot. White-hot.

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Rest of Gregg’s Open Letter can be found here.

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.

Petition To The Catholic Bishops Of Canada Is Now Online

Vote Life, Canada! Urges Canadians to Sign Online Petition Based Upon Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada

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

Calgary, AB July 9/--Very recently, on June 18, 2007, Vote Life, Canada! issued their Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada. The Open Letter was subsequently published on the Inquisition.ca website in a slightly revised version and provision has been made for signatures to the letter. Stefan Jetchick, owner of the Inquisition.ca website, will add signatures upon request, refashioning the letter into a petition. Stefan is a professional translator and hosts his website in both English and French versions so it is especially apropos to our Canadian setting to have the petition hosted on his site.

All Canadians concerned about the killing of innocent Unborns will have an opportunity to register their voices online in this manner. Vote Life, Canada! urges readers and supporters to reread the letter and consider signing the petition, which expresses our distress at the utter failure of Canadian Bishops to take the necessary action to defeat the demon of legalized abortion in Canada which has claimed over three million unborn victims.

By adding your name you join with Vote Life, Canada! in summoning Catholic Bishops to take the first step in stopping legalized child killing in Canada by halting the sacrilegious abuse of Holy Communion by Catholics.

It is not necessary that an individual or group be Catholic in order to sign the petition. As Stefan Jetchick noted, "Spiritual pollution, dumped in Canada by some ‘Catholic’ Bishops, must worry all Canadians."

This is an extremely important, bold and weighty letter which serves as a pressing cry to the Bishops of Canada for help for Canada’s unborn children. Please make every effort to sum up the courage to add your name.

The petition can be found here.

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!

Open Letter to Calgary Bishop Frederick Henry From Vote Life, Canada! Re GAP Display By CCBR

Open Letter to Calgary Bishop Frederick Henry
from Vote Life, Canada!

May 21, 2007

RE: Recent Decision to Suppress GAP Display of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform


Your Excellency,

Sadly, previous efforts to appeal to His Excellency on the matters contained in this letter have been met with curt dismissals and in the last instance discourteous tones, and without the least effort to address any of the detailed concerns or the cases presented. It is a tragic moment when a Christian’s appeal to the Bishop on such a life and death issue goes unaddressed and even demeaned.

Your Excellency, day after day, year after year, the killing of the Unborn continues unabated in Canada. After nearly 40 years of legalized child killing in Canada, concerned Canadians seem to be left with no other alternative than to believe that little can be done and the evil must be accepted. However, Vote Life, Canada! insists that the lack of decisive action by Catholic Bishops, who are moral and spiritual leaders of society, is the chief contributing factor to the present holocaust of the Unborn.

Despite His Excellency’s reputation as a fierce defender of marriage, human rights and freedom of religion, something appears to be seriously amiss in His Excellency’s concept of defending Unborn life. Is His Excellency truly pro-life or is his pro-life stance only an illusion? After all, he is one of the few Bishops who has stated publicly in the past his willingness to deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians, warning them they were risking their eternal salvation. His Excellency has been noted also as saying there is no "wiggle room" when it comes to the abortion issue in the Roman Catholic Church.

What then can account for His Excellency’s shocking judgment in his recent decision involving the pro-life organization Canadian Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR)? Who can be blamed for thinking the Bishop is swallowing camels and straining out gnats?

Catholic teaching has always been extremely clear on the evil of abortion. But the seamless garment of Catholic teaching on life has always been equally clear on the intrinsic evil of contraception. His Excellency is well aware that whenever Popes and orthodox theologians have discussed these two evils they have always been linked and condemned as fruits of the same tree, the tree of personal autonomy and rebellion against God, specifically in sexual matters. Indeed, by this measure, only those Bishops who vigorously and resolutely advance Catholic sexuality and oppose the evil of contraception in their own dioceses, as well as publicly, earn the label of “pro-life,” regardless of how vocal they may be on the evil of abortion itself. Your Excellency, is it compatible with Catholic teaching to think that abortion can ever be repulsed in Canada or anywhere else as long as Bishops remain silent on the subject of contraception? In fact, silence among Bishops regarding contraception is symptomatic of an even deeper more sinister spiritual infection which jeopardizes the very foundations of Canadian society.

Modern day Protestants, having lost sight of the biblical and Reformers’ ethic of life pertaining to sexuality and contraception, may legitimately and in good conscience join wholeheartedly in the fight against abortion purely on grounds of protecting Unborn lives created in the image of God. However, the sooner they rediscover that priceless aspect of the Christian ethic, the sooner will Protestants be equipped to better confront the culture of death. His Excellency knows full well though that Catholics, and particularly Bishops, have not the freedom of the Protestants on the matter of contraception but are duty bound to proclaim to all men the fullness of the faith for God’s glory and for the sake of the common good.

A more in depth examination of His Excellency’s record indicates that he has very carefully avoided the controversial subject of contraception, both in his diocese and publicly. In his diocese, by all reasonable indicators, Catholics contracept and sterilize themselves at the same rate as other dioceses in Canada, which tragically is about the same rate as the general population.

The Catholics under His Excellency’s care apparently do not grasp the contradiction nor the objective sacrilege caused by reception of the Eucharist, a sign of perfect communion with the Church, and the practice of an inherently evil activity. Again, by all reasonable indicators, the Catholics of His Excellency’s diocese are not being admonished that it is a mortal sin to use contraception or sterilize themselves, certainly not in homilies, which touch rarely if ever on the subjects of contraception or abortion. Incongruity in the Catholic ethic of life helps to account for the bizarre fact that rarely if ever is there a prayer uttered for the Unborn during Mass intentions, nor is child killing ever mentioned in a long list of social injustice issues that enjoys special emphasis and prayer in many parishes of the diocese.

Yet publicly and through pastoral letters His Excellency has rightly warned of the evils of homosexuality, adultery, prostitution and pornography and has made the bold Catholic claim, again rightly, that the State must use its coercive power to proscribe these evils in the interests of the common good. Yet contraception, a root that helps to sustain these evil branches, finds no mention and is never likewise condemned. His Excellency did his job well when he noted that an evil act remains an evil act whether it is performed in public or in private yet why has he not similarly exposed contraception as a prime and private evil?

Lest there should be any doubt in anyone’s mind as to the official Catholic position on precisely this matter, consider that only a few days ago Pope Benedict XVI, speaking to Latin American Bishops in Brazil, linked and condemned in the same sentence abortion and contraception and laws that permit them. Such laws, he said, are opposed to marriage and “threatening the future of peoples.” If His Excellency is to echo the truth of the Catholic faith, and in so doing help to destroy the strongholds of legalized child killing and same sex “marriage” in Canada, the Pope’s mindset is an essential one with which to start.

His Excellency rightly took Catholic politicians to task for supporting same sex “marriage,” an inevitable outgrowth of a contracepting and a resultant pro-homosexual society, warning that this was a scandal and a morally grave error and linked the loss of their salvation to such actions. Yet does he take the same care to loudly and proportionately warn the majority of Catholics of the similar danger they face by practicing the morally grave error of contraception? Is there “wiggle room” with the evil of contraception?

His Excellency fearlessly rebuked Prime Minister Jean Chretien for his support of same sex “marriage,” stating he would likely enforce Canon Law 915 and refuse the Prime Minister Holy Communion. Considering that Canon 915 states that those “… obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion,” would His Excellency have similarly refused the Prime Minister if he were obstinately practicing contraception? Would he refuse parishioners of his diocese for that same obstinate sin? Yet, Your Excellency, is not a failure to do precisely that a failure to safeguard the Eucharist? The silence in this matter on the diocesan level continues to scandalize faithful Catholics.

In a rare move for Bishops, His Excellency wisely and bravely chose to deal with the destructive forces of gambling, an activity not inherently immoral or unjust by Catholic teaching, prevalent in the Calgary Catholic school board. His Excellency said at the time it was his job as a Bishop to ask his followers to confront a moral evil and, indeed, His Excellency rightly exerted his authority and forced the hand of the School Board to do just that. But what of the moral evil of contraception which Catholic teaching exposes as inherently and in every case evil?

His Excellency’s muteness concerning contraception is producing eternal consequences. The cost of such silence is not only the loss of souls but also the continued advance of the culture of death and sustained killing of Canada’s Unborn. If anybody could successfully defend these little ones with fearlessness and tenacity it would be His Excellency. God grant that it might yet be so. But first may God grant His Excellency repentance and may God help him to recover from the snare of the devil such that a sweeping and appropriate call to repentance and conversion of heart may be made throughout his diocese and to all of Canada, in similar fashion to His Excellency’s pronouncements on same sex marriage, gambling, and other matters crucial to the common good.

Vote Life, Canada! believes that too many Bishops, in their blatant disregard of or outright dissent from age old Catholic teaching on contraception and sexuality, have severely compromised their calling and succumbed to a grave and deadly spiritual weakness. It seems that His Excellency is also overtaken by this same weakness and that his perspective on what it means to be pro-life has been clouded. Having marginalized or ignored the root evil of contraception, His Excellency’s superficial treatment of pro-life incentives is akin to placing a band aid on a cancer. It also explains the recent and shocking betrayal of the pro-life movement and the scream of Canada’s Unborn when His Excellency sought to squelch the CCBR, an organization of extremely dedicated, well trained, and professional individuals. CCBR uses legitimate and peaceful means to educate Canadians and to expose the injustice of legalized child killing, although predictably many are offended by the sight of graphic images and much controversy is [purposely] generated.

Your Excellency, it is past time to stop making excuses for child killing in Canada and for Catholic Bishops to come clean on contraception, one of the root causes of the evil of abortion and a blinding impediment to true pro-life initiatives. Vote Life, Canada! is not suggesting that anti-contraceptive campaigns will, in and of themselves, put an end to abortion, but when Bishops speak loudly and clearly to the faithful in Canada on the intrinsic evil of contraception, only then can a groundwork be laid for a deeper understanding of our human sexuality and human life. From such an understanding will inevitably flow due respect and a restored legal protection in Canada for God’s precious gift of Unborn life.

Sincerely, and in solidarity with the least of Christ’s brethren,

Eric Alcock

President,

Vote Life, Canada!