List of bishops who responded to Speaker Pelosi

I said that bloggers must unite in a cause.   The cause is keeping the Communion – pro-abortion Catholic politician issue in the public eye.

Diane of Te Deum Laudamus is doing a great service by aggregating the response made by US bishops to Speak Pelosi’s incredible remarks on Meet the Press.

The list of bishops issuing personal statements is growing. I found more and will update this list, as I get them. Check for updates! St. Augustine would be proud (and his feast day is tomorrow). Most of these links are direct to the respective diocese.

Please! Pray for our Bishops! May God give them the courage to do all that they must to prevent others from being led into scandal.

I highly recommend that you check in at the following blogs daily for updates. I can’t keep up with the many posts they are making.

UPDATED: Some other great writeups on the topic of politicians and Catholicism:

Also, if you want to find lots of excerpts of Fathers of the Church on the issue of life and abortion, check out this post on the blog Cathlidoxy.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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30 Comments

  1. Diane says:

    Thanks Dan – if anyone else finds any, please drop them here if it\’s ok with Fr. Z and I\’ll amend my list. Many dioceses are choosing to republish what the USCCB put out, but oddly, some haven\’t even done that much.

  2. Kradcliffe says:

    Fr. Z: I am just loving how you’re staying on top of this!

  3. Deusdonat says:

    Diane – I mentioned yesterday that a source at the SF archdiocese said Archbishop Niederauer would be giving a statement as well. Nothing yet though.

  4. Angelo says:

    Father, you should start a list for those of us who report come Monday, that their priests echoed these Catholic bishops from their own parish pulpits this coming Sunday. I have already received a headups from my own good priest that he will be doing exactly that at all the Masses.

  5. Father Totton says:

    This (Pelosi’s blatant gaffe) may be just the thing necessary to motivate the Church’s anointed teachers to begin speaking more boldly on the question of the “personally opposed but…” Even perhaps to vindicate H.E. Abp. Burke in his insistence on observing Canon 915. It certainly gives evidence of what ambiguity in teaching has led to over the past forty years.

  6. Brian says:

    Fr. Z,
    I agree that Cardinal Egan provided the strongest statement.

    For those who claim to be Catholic and publically disregard and distort the Church’s unambiguous message, however, these are the words that are needed:

    “There can be no compromise on this issue. “Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2272). “Those who are excommunicated . . . and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.” (Code of Canon Law 915).

    “Those Catholics who take a public stance in opposition to this most fundamental moral teaching of the Church place themselves outside full communion with the Church, and they should not present themselves for the reception of Holy Communion.”

    Most Reverend Michael J. Sheridan
    Bishop of Colorado Springs

  7. Kazimer says:

    Thank you for the updates Fr. Z.

    I have forwarded a link to this entry via email to The Diocese of Lansing – Lansing, MI requesting Bishop Boyea join his fellow Bishops in addressing Nancy Pelosi’s Meet The Press Remarks.

    I suggest readers of Fr. Z’s blog contact their respective Dioceses to express a similar request.

    Catholic Bishops and leaders must voice a united statement with regards to Catholic politicians who support abortion in general and Nancy Pelosi in particular.

  8. Joe says:

    Just a side note, Rigali is a Cardinal – not only an Archbishop.

  9. Chris says:

    One quick correction–Aquila is Bishop of Fargo, ND (not SD).

  10. Thanks for the corrections – I’ll update them in my original post, which now includes Dallas, TX

  11. Brian says:

    Thank you Fr. Z and thank you Diane of Te Deum Laudamus for posting these inspiring responses from our Bishops.

    According to the Catholic News Agency article, Bishop Aquila, of Fargo North Dakota, addressed the issue of Catholics who support “so-called abortion rights.”

    “These Catholics, he said, “support a false right, promote a culture of death, and are guided by the ‘father of lies’ rather than by the light and truth of Jesus Christ.”

    Aquila also stressed that Catholics who support these “rights” have “placed himself or herself outside of visible unity with the Church and thus should refrain from receiving Holy Communion” out of respect for the teaching of Jesus Christ and the Church.”

    Thank you Bishop Aquila.

  12. TAAD says:

    Do you think the Speaker of the House would be brave enough to debate the
    Holy Father, an expert on St. Augustine, on exactly what he taught?

  13. Brian says:

    According to Archbishop Charles Chaput in his interview with Neil Cavuto:

    “The rules that apply to me and to you and to anyone who is a Catholic, apply to our public officials and apply to Senator Biden as they would to any of us and if people are not in communion with the Church on the foundational issues of faith and morals, and abortion is one of those foundational issues, then we are not supposed to receive Communion . . . if one is not in communion with what the Church teaches, to present oneself for Communion is not being honest.”

    Although His Excellency was too gracious and wise to speak publicly during the Fox New interview about whether or not Senator Biden should be refused Communion, he did agree that Geraldine Ferraro’s Bishop was right to instruct her not to receive Communion.

    Archbishop Chaput stated, “Right. She was in his diocese. He was her Bishop; and I think that Bishops need to have that kind of personal conversation with all Catholics on these kinds of matters before they would act in a public way.”

  14. Daniel says:

    Father Z. can you please request prayers for the brazilian case. The Supreme court will decide about the abortion of anencephalic babies. In this is terrible, but it is also the first step to abortion on demand. Thank you. Mater Dei, ora pro nobis.

  15. I see in many places where people compare Archbishop Burke’s discussion of denial of Communion to such politicians and Archbishop Chaput’s approach of not declaring publicly that a specific person should be denied.

    Is there a case where Archbishop Burke actually, publicly, declared for every parish in the diocese to hear that someone should not be given Communion? Did it come AFTER he spoke with them personally or by letter?

    I think there is a difference between trying to get a response out of any bishop on a specific person with whom they have not spoken with personally.

    Once that private conversation happens, and if the person remains obstinate in the bishop’s face, I would hope at that point, there would be some kind of public notice sent out to the dioceses and put out on the diocesan websites to make the person’s status clear.

    In the case of Pelosi, if she remains obstinate in her position after respective bishops meet with her (and hopefully, they are seeking that meeting), they will prevent the people from being further scandalized by watching her receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ while not in Communion with the Cahtolic CHurch

  16. Brendan says:

    Does anybody have a form letter that I could send my bishop urging him to release a similar statement?

  17. mpm says:

    From the combox following Kathleen Parker’s column in the SF Chronicle:

    “Man, I am not exactly what you’d call a pro-lifer and am most decidedly not Catholic, but I can not believe someone would say something that dumb. The Catholic church is unequivocal in its views. That’s like me saying I’m an ardent, practicing Scientologist but I recommend the use of antidepressant medication.”

    Pelosi’s remarks are failing the “smell test” even outside the Church.

  18. Bill in LA says:

    Why are there no California bishops on this list? No need to answer. This is a rhetorical question.

  19. Diane says:

    My original list has been updated to include the Bishop of LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

  20. TJM says:

    It really is heartening that so many bishops have come front and center on this issue. I would
    hope Archbishop Neideraurer comes through this week. On the secular side, has the New York Slimes, the alleged newspaper of record, carried this story on its front page or written an editorial on the subject (although the news pages and the editorial pages of that publication are hardly distinguishable)? Or has Katie Couric made this her lead story? Since I
    do not read nor watch biased news sources, I was just wondering if, like Pravda, they have simply surpressed this news because it harms the “agenda.” Tom

  21. Massachusetts Catholic says:

    From Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s blog, published Friday, for Boston:

    “Two weeks ago, we presented the new book by Denver’s Archbishop Charles Chaput “Render unto Caesar,” which discusses the obligations of Catholic citizenship in America. We can see this week that “Caesar” has been meeting in Denver for the Democratic Convention and Archbishop Chaput has continued to expound on the importance of Catholics being consistent in their defense of Life.

    The bishops cannot endorse any particular party, but we must be clear on what the teachings of the Church are and the values that must be a part of any program for the improvement of our society.

    This was certainly true in the case of a statement made by U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during a recent television interview on “Meet the Press.”

    It was very unfortunate Speaker Pelosi was misinterpreting what Catholic teaching is on abortion. From the very first generation of Christians, abortion has always been considered a very serious sin and a violation of human life.

    I see that the Bishops’ Conference has issued a statement on its Web site http://www.usccb.org. The response was written by the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal Justin Rigali, who is the chairman of our Pro-Life Committee and who, like Archbishop Chaput, is an eloquent defender of life.”

    That’s all but it’s enough. The archdiocese has had the Bishop’s Conference statement up for a few days.

  22. Paul Haley says:

    God bless Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs which happens to be my diocese for lending his voice to those of his brother bishops in presenting the traditional, true and unambiguous teaching of the Catholic Church on this issue.

  23. Ray from MN says:

    One minor spelling error Father.

    The Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis pronounces his name that way, Neinstedt, using German pronunciation. But he spells it “Nienstedt.”

    There hasn’t been an explanation given, but stranger things have happened with surnames.

  24. Thirteen bishops out of how many have spoken up? A baker’s dozen. I was glad to see our bishop in the mix…Bp. Farrell

  25. mwa says:

    American Life League has some downloads that may be helpful in encouraging bishops to exercise their rightful authority, or educating the congregation on Canon 915.
    http://www.all.org/db_file/1058.pdf
    http://www.all.org/db_file/1008.pdf
    http://www.all.org/db_file/1015.pdf

  26. There seem to be a growing number of anti-Catholic web sites popping up that support Pelosi’s claim that the Church’s view on the sin of abortion has changed over time, and all seem to be based on the same misinformation. For instance there is the claim that Pope Gregory XIV, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St Augustine thought abortion to be permissible before the fetus was “ensouled”. All these claims are false. These 3 still considered abortion to be a grave sin whether or not the fetus was “ensouled”. The issue of “ensoulment” was a question of what penalty was required, whether for homicide as such or for something else, not at what point abortion became a grave sin.

    John Allen of NCR has a nice article on this issue:

    http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives/011703/011703d.htm

  27. Fr. Thomas says:

    Do Speaker Pelosi and those anti-Catholic blogs still believe that the sun orbits the earth? The irony is palpable: the Church holding a position based on modern science and biology while the opponents hold to ancient and medieval views!

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