48 House Catholics send warning to Bishops
Letter says stance on Communion will revive anti-Catholic bigotry
By Alan Cooperman

Updated: 5:44 a.m. ET May 20, 2004Forty-eight Roman Catholic members of Congress have warned in a letter to Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington that U.S. bishops will revive anti-Catholic bigotry and severely harm the church if they deny Communion to politicians who support abortion rights.

The letter's signers, all Democrats, include at least three House members with strong antiabortion voting records.

"For many years Catholics were denied public office by voters who feared that they would take direction from the Pope," they wrote. ". . . While that type of paranoid anti-Catholicism seems to be a thing of the past, attempts by Church leaders today to influence votes by the threat of withholding a sacrament will revive latent anti-Catholic prejudice, which so many of us have worked so hard to overcome."

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), May 20, 2004

Answers

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-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), May 20, 2004.

I can't imagine non-Catholics even caring what the Church does in regards to Communion. ...

All the Communion issue does is simply point out that certain politicians are dishonest, which most intelligent people should know anyway.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), May 20, 2004.

An example of America thinking it is bigger than the Church.

-- Hugh (hugh@inpsired.com), May 20, 2004.

I agree with GT.

Catholics should vote their conscience.

It's a matter of honesty. A politician, no matter who he is, should not use his religion to get office, then not use it to stay in office.

Vote for honest politicians.

If they are honest, they will vote their ethical, moral convictions.

If they don't, they'll stick out like a sore thumb.

Then you get rid of the idiots.

God bless,

-- john placette (jplacette@catholic.org), May 20, 2004.

48 House Catholics Send Warning to Pius XII (parody)

Letter says stance on Communion will revive anti-Catholic bigotry

Updated: 5:44 a.m. ET May 20, 1943

Forty-eight Roman Catholic politicians have warned in a letter to Pope Pius XII that the Catholic Church will revive anti-Catholic bigotry and severely harm the church if they deny Communion to politicians who support the extermination of Jews.

The letter's signers, all Nazis, include at least three politicians with strong anti-extermination voting records.

"For many years Catholics were denied public office by voters who feared that they would take direction from the Pope," they wrote. ". . . While that type of paranoid anti-Catholicism seems to be a thing of the past, attempts by Church leaders today to influence votes by the threat of withholding a sacrament will revive latent anti-Catholic prejudice, which so many of us have worked so hard to overcome."

The three-page letter, dated May 10, was sent to Pius XII because he is considering whether, and how, the church should take action against Catholic politicians whose public positions are at odds with Catholic doctrine.

Political furor

A handful of the nation's Catholic bishops have caused a political furor this year by threatening to withhold the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the body and blood of Christ, from Catholic officials who support the extermination of Jews.

In their letter, the Nazi House members said they "firmly believe that it would be wrong for a bishop to deny the sacrament of Holy Communion to an individual on the basis of a voting record. We believe that such an action would be counter-productive and would bring great harm to the church."

Noting that the German Courts have ruled that Jews do not have the same rights as ethnic Germans, they said that members of Congress "who vote for legislation consistent with that mandate are not acting contrary to our positions as faithful members of the Catholic Church. We also do not believe that it is the obligation of legislators to prohibit all conduct which we may, as a matter of personal morality, believe is wrong."

'Undermining the church'

The letter questioned how the bishops could limit the denial of Communion to Jews in concentration camps, noting that Pope Pius XII and many German bishops have condemned communism. "All of us firmly believe that we can be good Congresspersons and Catholics and we respectfully submit that, while sometimes difficult, each of us has the responsibility and the right to balance public morality with private morality without pressure from certain bishops," the letter said.

One of the signers with a solidly pro-Jewish voting record, Rep. Hans Vogel (Bavaria), said in an interview that bishops "are making these statements thinking they're undermining the candidacy of Adolf Hitler, when what they're really undermining is the Catholic church."

Vogel added that he has been surprised by the partisanship of some bishops.

"I've had some threaten not to give Communion to me, even though they don't know my position, just because I'm a Nazi," he said. "I've had cardinals refuse to shake my hand because I'm a Nazi, and then somebody whispers to them that, 'No, no, he's a good guy.' "

Another anti-genocidal legislator, Rep. Heinrich R. Ulrichs (Berlin), said that "while I agree with [the bishops] on the Jewish issue, I don't agree with them on denying Communion to those who in good conscience have come to a different position. . . . These are complicated, emotional issues that each of us has wrestled with, and it's not helpful for the church to be punitive or to approach these issues in this heavy-handed way."

by "CatherineSiena" at FreeRepublic.com

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), May 21, 2004.

Dear Brian;

Aside from the repugnance of equating either political party in the United States with the NAZI party and either candidate with Adolph Hitler, the parody you printed does create a level of political skepticism for non-Catholics, regardless of your position on abortion.

First, there doesn’t seem to be as much (or any) signficant Catholic press about the Republican (Catholic) governors of California and New York regarding their pro-choice positions – or about other pro-choice Catholics in the current Republican administration.

Second, I believe it is correct that the Vatican never made a blanket denial for communion to Catholics who were members of the NAZI party and supported its actions in Germany or the fascist party in Italy simply due to association with or support for the party.

I will be happy to be corrected on either point.

-- Robert Fretz (pastorfretz@oldstonechurchonline.org), May 21, 2004.

Robert,

This was a parody of the letter sent by the 48 Catholic politicians, not to compare democrats to Nazis or Kerry to Hitler. Every one of the signers is a democrat. These 48 people are not Nazis. But that's not to say that they don't recognize another kind of holocaust taking place.

It seems as though you've been reading Joe Conason. I didn't even know who was pro-choice in the Bush administration until I read his recent article. He lists two: Paul Cellucci, ambassador to Canada, and Tom Ridge, Homeland Security . I don't know if they have never been chastised by their bishops but I suspect they have before. Maybe there hasn't been as much Catholic media coverage of Schwarzenegger or Pataki lately, (nor Jennifer Granholm, nor Bill Richardson...) Most of it has been about John Kerry, because he is running for the highest office in our country, and would perhaps have more influence on abortion policy than any one of our 280 million citizens and he is unabashedly, unequivocally in favor of abortion rights. If a bishop is refraining from condemning a politician merely because he or she happens to be of one party or another, that is wrong. I don't believe that is happening with regards to Republicans. Maybe it is in regards to Democrats (recent statements by Cardinals McCarrick and Mahoney). I do know that the bishop of Sacramento, William Weigand warned all catholic politicians that to present themselves for communion while supporting abortion was to put their soul in jeopardy. This statement was made about 6 months or a year before Schwarzenegger was elected, but certainly still applies to him.

Regarding denial of communion to Nazi's. I don't know to what extent this took place if at all. I do know that many Catholic priests and religious were sent to the camps and died for opposing Nazi policies. Here is a sermon from a German Bishop Galen in 1941 here

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), May 22, 2004.

brian is right, in this case.

its not about republican or democrat... its about anti and pro abortion. its about the extermination of babies, of human lives.

also, im not sure that AH-nold is catholic, can anyone confirm?

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), May 22, 2004.

Yes, I'm almost certain that AH-nold is Catholic. Hasta la vista Baby.

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), May 22, 2004.

Yes, I'm almost certain that AH-nold is Catholic.

Since he is pro-abortion (and also not against some other things that are condemned as mortal sins), Gov. Schwarzenegger is, at best, a CINO (Catholic in Name Only). He ought not approach to receive Holy Communion.

Henry IX

-- (Defender@fThe.Faith), May 31, 2004.

HLI President's Statement on Scandal in the Catholic Church

FRONT ROYAL, VA—Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president, Human Life International, rebukes the 48 "Catholic" U.S. congressmen who claim being denied communion because of their pro-abortion stance will "revive anti-Catholic bigotry":

"The Lord Jesus had a term for those who professed to believe in sacred principles and then contradicted those principles by their public positions and actions: hypocrites. Every wretched sinner, public or private, who turned away from sin, always received the fullness of His mercy, but He could not and would not countenance the pharisaical posturing of those legalists who knew the meaning of the law and flouted it anyway. If terms like 'whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones' and 'brood of vipers' say anything, they express the Lord's perfect contempt for such hypocrisy and those who think they know more than God.

"The recent statement by 48 hypocrites of the U.S. Congress criticizing the U.S. Catholic bishops for actually being Catholic deserves our withering contempt. In fact, they merit an all-out prophetic rebuke. Are the lost sheep to lecture the shepherds on how to pasture a flock? Are we to presume that they speak with infallible authority on this issue? Worse yet, in their statement, the pharisaical 48 have stepped over the line of public decency and insinuated that the bishops are casting out demons with the help of Beelzebub. Hypocrisy is no doubt alive and well in modern America, but those who persevere in it do so to the peril of their immortal souls.

"I have one very simple suggestion for all 'Catholic' Pharisees who want to be in the Church but not of the Church: spare us all your scandal mongering and get the hell out."

http://www.hli.org/pres_statement_bishops.html

Couldn't have said it better myself, Padre, Thank You!!!

To read the Congressmen's letter, See the list of signers (and their contact info) and leave comments,http://britius.stblogs.org/archives/015378.html

-- Panis Angelicas (PaxChristi@hotmail.com), May 31, 2004.