Westchester Journal News "Community View" on Catholic leadership and the life issues

From the Saturday, January 3rd issue of the Journal News, the Gannett publicatino for Westchester, Putnam and Rockland.

We are excerpting the first half of the feature; hit the link for the whole excellent essay. And consider adding a personal comment in the comments section for the article in the online Journal News.

Catholic leadership must focus on real-world issues | lohud.com | The Journal News

The brief article under "Religion Briefing," contained in the Dec. 7 Journal News, requires some response from one who is a full-time Catholic. The item relates to a California priest, the Rev. Joseph Illo, who urges those Catholics who have voted for candidate Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights, to confess and repent before receiving Holy Communion. Such stance has drawn him into conflict with his bishop, the Rev. Joseph Blaire, bishop of the Stockton Diocese. To quote Shakespeare: "Aye, there's the rub," has taken on a significant communication problem for Catholics.

A Nov. 20 item in the New York Catholic Archdiocesan newspaper reported on warnings by the Conference of Catholic Bishops against the passage of the Freedom of Choice Act, which aims to codify Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Obviously, such warnings were rather late to have any effect on the passage of the recent presidential elections. Fault for lack of leadership rests on the heads of the higher echelons of the hierarchal elite. In short, the message is not getting through.

From personal observations, as a "non-cafeteria" Catholic, I witness the failure of various priests at the celebration of Mass who defer from current issues in their homilies. They prefer to stay with non-controversial issues such as: love thy neighbor; Moses receiving his special calling at the burning bush; clothe the naked; feed the hungry, etc., etc. Such teachings and beatitudes are acceptable to most right-thinking members of society.

However, issues that currently affect the spiritual welfare of Catholics such as abortion; stem-cell research; and experimentation and same-sex marriage are rarely, if ever, discussed. These are some of the things that should be stressed by Catholic clerics. Such tenets of the Church should guide the hands of parishioners in voting booths in a spirit of things to be voted against - not who should one vote for.