Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Pelosi: More Bishops Teach!

From the Statement of Bishop David Zubik, of Pittsburgh, PA:

"Jesus proclaimed the sacredness of human life throughout his teaching and ministry. In a Roman world where abortion was commonplace, the Church proclaimed its intrinsic moral evil. The Didache, perhaps the earliest known Christian manual of moral teaching dating from the first century, rejected abortion. Early Church councils considered it one of the most serious crimes.

That teaching has remained constant and unaltered for two millennia."

And selections from a statement by Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs: (PDF)

"All other rights are useless if one is denied the right to live. Our founding fathers recognized this when they enumerated life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as unalienable human rights. They also recognized that these three rights are not equal in importance. Pursuing happiness means little if one is a slave. And freedom means nothing to someone who has been denied the right to life....

There can be no compromise on this issue. "Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2272). "Those who are excommunicated . . . and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion." (Code of Canon Law 915).

Those Catholics who take a public stance in opposition to this most fundamental moral teaching of the Church place themselves outside full communion with the Church, and they should not present themselves for the reception of Holy Communion."

h/t American Papist.

No comments: