It appears that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Joe Biden’s selection as Veep have succeeded in accomplishing something American Catholics have been waiting for years.The awakening of a sleeping giant.
Pelosi’s statements on abortion and when life begins, presented as fact from a “devout Catholic”, and Biden’s reception of communion when publicly advocating a position that is in opposition to the Church's teaching have awakened the Bishops from their silent slumber.
Yesterday, the roars of the Arch-lions of New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Denver strongly rebuked Pelosi while reaffirming the correct teachings of the Catholic Church. And of course, Senator Biden was taken to task earlier this week over his reception of communion.
With His Eminence Cardinal Rigali issuing the first pastoral reminders to the Catholic flock through the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops website, the political scenario again brings Catholic voters back to an awareness of the sanctity of human life in Church teachings.
At the same time, yesterdays declarations against pro-choice candidates reaffirm the importance of the Catholic moral teaching for Catholic who will be voters in this fall’s presidential election.
The American Bishops have appropriately responded to the ever deepening chasm that separates the real appreciation of the true Catholic moral life as proclaimed by the Magisterium and the distorted and often secular humanism influenced understanding of morality that continues to spread in more liberal factions of the Catholic Church.
The declaration of the American Bishops last year, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship marks the beginning of the American Bishops finding their political voice prior to the election season.
Now with the presumptive Democratic candidates firmly entrenched in a pro-choice direction, the Bishops need to more strongly proclaim the orthodox and traditional teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church and roar, pro-life, as the unifying Catholic anthem.
Most Catholics do not realize the true political clout they bring to the ballot box in November. Catholics as a majority are the largest single block of voters by religious denomination in the United States.
The American Catholic Bishops need to close ranks and unite not only their faithful followers, but also reintegrate all of the Catholic populace that is morally passive or politically uncommitted to a pro-life platform.
The impetus towards a pro-life President and political control of the Congress is attainable if the Catholic hierarchy continues to preach loudly and with absolute moral determination the Catholic commitment to the eventual overturn of Roe versus Wade and other legislation and decisions that diminish the sacredness of all human life.
It is also the right time for the Catholic hierarchy to reinforce and reeducate the many misguided Catholics that have mistakenly been led into an anti-Catholic and anti-Gospel sense of ethical, moral and political immorality in regards to correct Catholic teachings.
The opportunity for Catholic moral and ethical reawakening among our own faithful is critical to the future of the Catholic Church as it continues to proclaim Catholic moral and social teachings to a worldwide audience as well. The call for a new evangelization, orchestrated by Benedict XVI is the perfect opportunity not only for Catholics to proclaim the message of Christ to the globe, but also to each other peace and Gospel charity.
Faithful citizenship to any form of government does not allow Catholics to abandon their faithful citizenship in the People of God, nor in the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.
As the American Bishops awaken from their silent slumber, we need to pray earnestly that the strong message they will continue to proclaim will be one that unites our roles as both American Citizens and global Catholics into one that proclaims the correct ideals of our democratic republic and our Catholic message of the preservation of life from the moment of conception until the moment of natural physical death.
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Sotto Voce
(Source: CNA)