Time for Formal Excommunications?

I just Googled 'hhs mandate formal excommunications' and really smart Catholic guy Dr. Jeff Mirus was the top hit. The piece has a lot of good links in it near the top; here's an excerpt from his analysis:

The debate over whether pro-abortion Catholic political leaders should be refused communion or even formally excommunicated has been going on for years. The bishops have been divided in theory on this question and, in practice, no modern bishop has been willing to excommunicate in the war against Catholic participation in the culture of death. But the HHS mandate changes the debate in at least two ways.

First, the HHS mandate takes its Catholic proponents from encouraging grave moral evil to enforcing participation by other Catholics in that evil. In other words, the offense has shifted from personal involvement in evil to a direct assault on the Church. Moreover, there is more than one point of assault. There is one assault against the moral dignity of Catholics and another assault against the clear directives of the bishops who govern the Church.

Second, the bishops have chosen to make the HHS mandate a sort of tipping point. Why they have been so confused and ineffective in their response to the steady erosion of moral values by the American legal system over the past two generations is a matter for historical study. But for whatever combination of reasons now—one of which is certainly this crossing of the thin line between encouragement to participate in evil and actual force—the bishops have decided that they have been pushed as far as they are willing to be pushed, and they have decided to push back.

This seems to be true. The pastor of my parish mentioned the Obama administration by name in a meeting, not from the pulpit, but in a homily he went on for 20 minutes about how unconscionable this action is. And he is fairly moderate most of the time, perhaps to a fault.

Here's Dr. Mirus's conclusion:

Right now, I think we may say that the bishops have taken the glove off. I use the singular advisedly. But there is another glove to be removed. If we have really reached the tipping point, then many things ought to change. To be sure, Bishops ought to be enlisting the hosts of heaven in this conflict, giving it the spiritual focus it deserves. But as the Incarnation demonstrates, God prefers to work through nature rather than in place of nature. Both politically and spiritually, the most potent natural tool a bishop possesses is his disciplinary authority. Therefore discipline has to reach its tipping point, too. Only then can it slide rapidly into place.

Caterwaulings

Bill Donohue provides an amazing digest of negative remarks about the appointment of Archbishop Timothy Dolan as head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

NPR is worried that Archbishop Dolan is "overtly conservative," and Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times is fretting about his "confrontational approach." Dissident Catholics are upset as well: New Ways Ministry says the vote "sends an ominous message"; Call to Action also sees his election as "ominous"; Sr. Maureen Fiedler says "we now have our very own Catholic version of the 'Tea Party' movement"; DignityUSA concludes that Dolan's election means the hierarchy is "out of step" with Catholics. Similarly, the Human Rights Campaign, a gay secular group, says the vote means the hierarchy is "out of step." Not to be outdone, the website of the Tucson Citizen accused Dolan of evincing an "arrogant" attitude in winning (it is true that he was caught smiling).

SNAP, the professional victims' group, opines that Dolan's "winning personality obscures his terrible track record on abuse." Marian Ronan of Religion Dispatches says his election is "not a good sign," and her colleague, Sarah Posner, concludes—and this really is ominous—that "the bishops are targeting families with loved ones who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender." The Internet site Lez Get Real calls Dolan "the Vatican's spin-doctor," and the website of Time has a headline which reads, "More Bad News for Obama 2012: Catholics Elect Dolan." Edgeboston.com picked up the AP piece, but chose to give it a new headline: "Catholic Bishops' Vote to Mean Harder Church Stance Against Gay Families." And atheist Susan Jacoby is sweating over the fact that Dolan will be treated by the media "as if he is the voice of all American Catholics." She needs to get used to it.

I received an email from the pro-gay group "Catholics for Equality" which stated that the "Election of Archbishops Dolan and Kurtz Signals Increased Vatican Influence in US Politics". I don't know why I get their emails; maybe they bought my email address from the Daily Kos?

My first thought was something like "Yeah, because these people liked Cardinal George so much on their pet issues." I don't know if these gripes are worth a second thought.

But here's one anyway: a little bird told me the Episcopalians are having a membership drive.

Dolan's in

Story.



Gotta run.

Leila Lawler on the USCCB's Strange Attitude toward The Golden Compass

Good, humorous analysis. Is that redundant? Favorite excerpt:

Third, they only lamely attempt to rouse themselves to the demands of their job description (supposing they have one):

“To the extent, moreover, that Lyra and her allies are taking a stand on behalf of free will in opposition to the coercive force of the Magisterium, they are of course acting entirely in harmony with Catholic teaching.”

Way to throw in a useless statement, Harry and John! My friend Patricia suggests: "To the extent that Stalin loved his country, he was, of course, entirely in harmony with Catholic teaching." See?

My take: I do think the USCCB could have done a better job of "splitting the difference" between saying the film is harmless and siding with the wild-eyed, screaming boycott crowd, which is what it seems like to me they were attempting. But by standing to close too the "harmless" pole they are just invigorating the screamers.

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