More thoughts on ALL's proposal for action against Catholic support of Planned Parenthood
LifeSiteNews reporter Patrick Craine interviewed me over a couple of days regarding the recent proposal by American Life League to seek the excommunication of Catholic legislators who support Planned Parenthood. His article dated April 12 accurately conveys my statements on ALL’s idea.
A couple more thoughts occur to me, specifically in regard to the parallels that ALL suggests between Freemasons, Nazis, and Communists over time, and Planned Parenthood today.
All four of these groups are basically evil and act inimically to the Catholic faith; but only three of them sport “membership” in the sense envisioned by Canon 1374 (olim 1917 CIC 2335)*. It would be a stretch, therefore, to argue a violation of Canon 1374 on the basis of a legislator’s vote to fund PP. An impermissible stretch, I think, per Canon 18 and Reg. Iur. 49.
Now, employment by PP, let alone directorship of some level of PP, by a Catholic is a different matter both in terms of Canon 1374 outright and as the object of potential future penal legislation. But otherwise the parallels between Masons, Nazis, and Communists work for Planned Parenthood only, I think, in terms of showing that, from time to time, the Church must deal with, and has dealt with, specific threats to the faith and morals of her people. ALL’s main point, I take it, is that a Catholic's public support of Planned Parenthood is a grave problem, one that deserves a serious response, even one resulting in excommunication in accord with law. ALL is offering to make that case on the merits, and it recognizes that the final decision rests with the hierarchy.
In the meantime, ALL’s video provides ample food for thought in regard to, as I said in my LifeSiteNews interview, the possible application of Canon 1369 against some legislative supporters of PP, and as evidence toward finding that support for PP by Catholics is inconsistent with their still approaching for or being given holy Communion under Canon 915. + + +
*In the case of Communists, at least, in 1949 the then Holy Office (now CDF) found party membership by Catholics to be an act of apostasy, no less. See Canon Law Digest III: 658-659
A couple more thoughts occur to me, specifically in regard to the parallels that ALL suggests between Freemasons, Nazis, and Communists over time, and Planned Parenthood today.
All four of these groups are basically evil and act inimically to the Catholic faith; but only three of them sport “membership” in the sense envisioned by Canon 1374 (olim 1917 CIC 2335)*. It would be a stretch, therefore, to argue a violation of Canon 1374 on the basis of a legislator’s vote to fund PP. An impermissible stretch, I think, per Canon 18 and Reg. Iur. 49.
Now, employment by PP, let alone directorship of some level of PP, by a Catholic is a different matter both in terms of Canon 1374 outright and as the object of potential future penal legislation. But otherwise the parallels between Masons, Nazis, and Communists work for Planned Parenthood only, I think, in terms of showing that, from time to time, the Church must deal with, and has dealt with, specific threats to the faith and morals of her people. ALL’s main point, I take it, is that a Catholic's public support of Planned Parenthood is a grave problem, one that deserves a serious response, even one resulting in excommunication in accord with law. ALL is offering to make that case on the merits, and it recognizes that the final decision rests with the hierarchy.
In the meantime, ALL’s video provides ample food for thought in regard to, as I said in my LifeSiteNews interview, the possible application of Canon 1369 against some legislative supporters of PP, and as evidence toward finding that support for PP by Catholics is inconsistent with their still approaching for or being given holy Communion under Canon 915. + + +
*In the case of Communists, at least, in 1949 the then Holy Office (now CDF) found party membership by Catholics to be an act of apostasy, no less. See Canon Law Digest III: 658-659
posted by Dr. Edward Peters at
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