Monday, September 1, 2008

More Pelosi: Fr. De Celles Preaches!

Today, National Review Online reprinted the homily of Fr. John De Celles, STL, associate pastor at Old St. Mary’s Church in Alexandria, Va for August 31, 2008 (22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time). Excerpts below (emphases in original).


"On Sunday, before the whole nation, she (Speaker Nancy Pelosi) claimed to be an “ardent, practicing Catholic.” Imagine if someone came in here and said “I’m a mafia hit man and I’m proud of it.” Or “I deal drugs to little children.” Or “I think black people are animals and it’s okay to make them slaves, or at least keep them out of my children’s school.”

Are these “ardent practicing Catholics”?

No, they are not.

And neither is a person who ardently supports and votes to fund killing 1 to 1.5 million unborn babies every single year. Especially if that person is in a position of great power trying to get others to follow her. Someone, for example, like a Catholic Speaker of the House, or a Catholic candidate for Vice President of the United States, or a Catholic senior Senator who is stands as the leading icon his political party. Like the proud and unrepentant murderer or drug dealer, they are not ardent Catholics. They are, in very plain terms, very bad Catholics.

But the reason I say all this is not because I want to embarrass them or even correct them — they’re not even here. It’s because of you. Because back in the 1850’s when Catholic bishops, priests, and politicians were either silent or on the wrong side of the slavery debate, they risked not only their souls, but the souls of every other Catholic they influenced. I cannot do that, and I won’t do that."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fr. John,

Thank you for reminding us of the words we pray in the Confiteor:

I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin,all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

May we always be wise enough to know when to speak and do and when not to.

Anonymous said...

My local pastor in San Jose openly addressed the Pelosi scandal in the pulpit this weekend-- good for him!

San Jose Catholic