“Before I Formed You in
the Womb I Knew You”
A Pastoral Letter on the Human Dignity of the Unborn, Holy
Communion, and Catholics in Public Life
By the Most Reverend Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco
Executive
Summary
“Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations
I appointed you” (Jer 1:5). A young Jeremiah heard the Lord speak these
words to him over 2500 years ago. In these times in which we are living, the
scourge of abortion ignores the reality that humans are made in the image of
God, known and beloved by God. This pastoral letter addresses all Catholics,
but especially Catholics in public life, calling for deep reflection on the
evil of abortion and on the meaning of receiving Holy Communion, the Bread of
Life.
There are four pivotal points to this letter:
The gravity of the evil of abortion: Science
teaches that human life begins at conception. The ending of life through
abortion deeply wounds the woman and destroys the foundation of a just society;
it is a “pre-eminent priority” because it violates the right to life, the foundation
of all other rights. As Catholics we must be a voice for the voiceless and the
powerless; there is no one more defenseless than a child in the womb.
Cooperation in moral evil: Who bears
culpability when an abortion takes place? It is never solely the mother’s act.
Those who kill or assist in killing the child are directly involved in
performing a seriously evil act. Someone who pressures or encourages the mother
to have an abortion, who pays for it or provides financial assistance to
organizations that provide abortions, or who supports candidates who advance
pro-abortion legislation also cooperate by varying degrees in a grave moral
evil.
The meaning of choosing to receive the Holy Eucharist: The
Church has taught consistently for 2000 years that those who receive the
Eucharist are publicly professing their Catholic faith and are seriously
striving to live by the moral teachings of the Church. Those who reject the
teaching of the Church on the sanctity of human life and those who do not seek
to live in accordance with that teaching place themselves in contradiction to
the communion of the Church, and so should not receive the sacrament of that
communion, the Holy Eucharist. We all fall short in various ways, but there is
a great difference between struggling to live according to the teachings of the
Church and rejecting those teachings.
The responsibilities of Catholics in public life: From
the three points above it follows that Catholics prominent in public life have
a special responsibility to bear witness to the fullness of Church teaching. In
addition to their own spiritual good there is also the danger of scandal: that
is, by their false witness, other Catholics may come to doubt the Church’s
teaching on abortion, the Holy Eucharist, or both. This is becoming
increasingly challenging in our time.
We are all called to conversion, not only those Catholics who are prominent in
public life. Let us understand what is at stake here and work together in
building a culture of life. To those who need to hear this message clearly:
Turn away from evil and return home to the fullness of your Catholic faith. We
await you with open arms to welcome you back with joy.
Introduction
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew
you,
before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed
you."
(Jeremiah 1:5)
These words from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah speak
profoundly and movingly to the great love and purpose for which God brings each
one of us into the world from the first moment of our existence. Sadly, though,
in today’s “throw-away culture” — as Pope Francis so vividly refers to
it — the dignity of each and every human person is not accorded the value
inherent to it. In a culture that values profit, power, prestige, and pleasure
over all else, many people end up being victims of this throw-away culture,
from struggling immigrants and working poor to the elderly and physically
challenged. This throw-away mindset also fuels the serious damage inflicted on the
environment, which especially adversely impacts the poor. But when it is an
innocent human being’s very existence — a moral absolute — that is thrown away,
it is a sign that a society has truly become severely disordered. Such is the
plight of the unborn and the state of our society.
In 2023 our nation will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the
infamous Roe decision. Generations of Americans have now grown
up not knowing what it is like to live in a country that values and protects
the lives of the smallest, most defenseless and vulnerable members of its
society. Fifty years, over 60,000,000 deaths, and many more millions of scarred
lives later, it is time for a frank and honest reassessment. Abortion not only
kills the child, it deeply wounds the woman. How could it not? The maternal
instinct is very powerful: a mother will go to great lengths to protect her
child. Indeed, how often have those of us in Church ministry heard the lament
from post-abortive women, “I didn’t want to go through with it, but I felt like
I had no choice”? This lament exposes the lie of the “pro-choice” slogan.
This is especially a time for us Catholics, whose faith calls us
to advocate for the universal good of a consistent ethic of life, in every
stage and in every condition, to call our country back to respect for human
life. And this is especially so for Catholics who are prominent in all walks of
public life — entertainment, media, politics, education, the corporate
world, and so forth — as they have such a powerful influence on shaping the
attitudes and practices of people in our nation.
Abortion is the axe laid to the roots of the tree of human
rights: when our culture encourages the violation of life at its youngest and
most vulnerable condition, other ethical norms cannot stand for long. In this
pastoral letter, then, I would like to address four topics: the necessity for
Catholics and all people of good will to understand how gravely evil abortion
is; how to avoid sinful cooperation in this evil; how these principles apply to
the question of Catholics and the reception of Holy Communion; and the
special responsibility that Catholics prominent in public life have with regard
to the common good. The letter is thus structured in four sections,
corresponding to each of these four considerations. I begin with principles of
law and science because abortion is not a “Christian” or “Catholic” issue: the
dignity of the human person is a value that is, or should be, affirmed by us
all.
QUOTE EXCERPT FROM INTRODUCTION:
When our culture encourages the violation of life at its
youngest and most vulnerable condition, other ethical norms cannot stand for
long.
Section
1. The Human Foundation
Law and Science
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men . . . are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” With these
stirring words, the Declaration of Independence affirms that fundamental human
rights do not find their source in any individual, court, or government:
fundamental human rights are not bestowed, they are inherent and must be
acknowledged as such. These truths are self-evident because they emerge from
the very nature of what it is to be human, and they are accessible to reason
alone. The assertion of these unalienable rights in our Declaration of
Independence is not a matter of religious doctrine, but rather it flows from
the same natural law basis as the answers to other moral questions upon which
our laws are based: forbidding stealing, lying, cheating, racial
discrimination, homicide, and so forth. Furthermore, these inherent rights,
knowable by human reason, are presented in the Declaration with a definite order
of priority. Thus, one’s right to the pursuit of happiness is limited when it
deprives another of the right to liberty or life; one’s right to liberty is
limited when it deprives another of the right to life. The right to life itself
is the foundation of all other rights. Without protection of the right to life,
no other talk of rights makes sense.
Who possesses the right to life? The natural law teaches, and
the Declaration proclaims, that every human being possesses the dignity that
forms the foundation of these unalienable rights. Proponents of abortion raise
a chorus of theoretical questions about “what constitutes human life? When does
it begin?” The answer from science is clear: a new, genetically-distinct human
life begins at conception, defined as fertilization: “Development of the embryo
begins at Stage 1 when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together they form a
zygote.”1 Because an embryo is a unique and developing human
organism, it follows that she or he possesses an inherent right to life from
the moment of conception. Thus, the violent invasion of the act of
abortion ends a human life. Likewise, those contraceptives
which prevent the implantation of the embryo are in fact
abortifacients that kill an innocent, growing human being.
The horror of abortion is manifest in the biological reality of
what really happens in the “termination of pregnancy,” how violent it is.
Witness the Congressional testimony of Dr. Anthony Levatino, who performed
abortions before renouncing the practice. In his remarks before Congress, Dr.
Levatino describes in gruesome detail the procedure of killing a 24-week-old
unborn baby. The abortionist, he explains, after draining the uterus of the
amniotic fluid that was protecting the child, inserts a claw-like instrument
into the womb. The claw-like instrument begins tearing the child apart,
gradually dismembering the baby, removing the body parts one limb at a time.
Dr. Levatino describes the toughest part of the procedure, extracting the
baby’s head:
The head of a baby that age is about the size of a large plum
and is now free floating inside the uterine cavity. You can be pretty sure
you have hold of it if the Sopher clamp is spread about as far as your
fingers will allow. You will know you have it right when you crush down on the
clamp and see white gelatinous material coming through the cervix. That was the
baby’s brains. You can then extract the skull pieces. Many times a little face
will come out and stare back at you.2
How can anyone in good conscience dare to describe such a
procedure as “safe”?
We are all called to oppose abortion because we acknowledge the
human being’s right to life, the unique human identity of each living,
developing embryo from the moment of conception, and the horrendous violence of
the procedure itself. In addition to these human motivations, we as Catholics
are prompted by religious motivations as well. This does not mean that we seek
to impose our religious beliefs on others, but it does mean that our religious
understanding of the human person as created in the image and likeness of God
deepens our resolve to join hands with others, regardless of religious
convictions or lack of them, to serve, teach, heal, and protect the human
community, especially those most in need. We share with others the conviction
that human dignity is innate; but we also believe it is of inestimable value.
Our Savior has taught us that the two great commandments are to love God with
all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength, and to love our neighbors as
ourselves (Mt 22:36–40; Mk 12:28–31; Lk 10:27). And, because we believe that
Jesus Christ is truly both our brother, human like us in all things but sin,
and truly God incarnate, He unites in Himself the two commandments: in Christ
we love God by loving and serving our neighbor. Christ made this truth explicit
in His parable of the Last Judgment. When the king is asked, “ ‘Lord, when did
we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see
you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you
ill or in prison, and visit you?’ ” the king answers: “ ‘Amen, I say to you,
whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me’ ” (Mt
25:37–40).
Far from being “pre-occupied” with abortion, the Catholic Church
provides a wide variety of medical, social, and educational services both here
in the United States and throughout the world. Catholics champion various
expressions of this discipleship: opposing racism, fighting for the rights of
the oppressed, assisting the sick and the elderly, working for greater economic
equality, and so on. Some say that we should devote our energies solely to
“non-controversial” needs and keep quiet about abortion; we should concede
that, unlike all these other issues, this is a “private matter.” But it is not.
Indeed, the very existence of that growing child is the fruit of communion
between two persons, and the mother and father are themselves part of a
constellation of human relationships. All of these people are harmed to a
greater or lesser degree by the act of ending the unborn child’s life.
It is for good reason, then, that the bishops of the United
States speak of this as the “pre-eminent” political issue of our time and place
“because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the
sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed.”3
Aware of the profound effects of abortion, the Church also
engages in helping women and their families. Further, the erosion of reverence
for inherent human dignity poisons the wider culture, contributing to disregard
for the rights of “the other,” whoever he or she may be. Our increasingly
polarized and uncivil society manifests a lack of respect for “the other”
across a broad spectrum of issues, and the Catholic Church is committed to
rebuilding human solidarity. In the case of the killing of the unborn, the
Church strives to be a voice for the voiceless, speaking on behalf of those who
quite literally cannot speak for themselves.
THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH — THEN:
Dated between AD 70 and 130, these two documents are considered
by many scholars to be among the oldest surviving extra-biblical Christian
texts.
"You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that
which is born."
(Didache, ch. 2)
"You shall not kill the child by obtaining an
abortion. Nor, again, shall you destroy him after he is born."
(Epistle of Barnabas, ch. 19)
QUOTE EXCERPT FROM SECTION 1:
Fundamental human rights are not bestowed, they are inherent and
must be acknowledged as such.
OUTREACH:
The Catholic Church offers a variety of outreaches to women who
are grieving their abortion, as well as others affected by it.
Project Rachel is one such example. The Church also offers
life-giving assistance to women trying to cope with a pregnancy for which they
are not prepared. For more information, inquire at your local parish.
SECTION
2. Cooperation in Moral Evil
Abortion advocates argue that
they are empowering women, but in fact the widespread practice of contraception
and abortion has created a tremendous burden for a pregnant woman. Formerly, a
woman who found herself with child in difficult circumstances relied on family,
friends, and religious and social service organizations for support and
assistance; there was a sense of shared responsibility. And, very often the
father of the child recognized his responsibility for the situation and would
respond accordingly. Now, the contraceptive culture has changed all that: the
pregnancy has become “her problem.” She should have prevented it from
happening, and now she alone has to make the problem go away. Worse still, it
is not uncommon for the very people who should help her (the father of the
child, her family and friends) to encourage and even pressure her to have an
abortion. This sad state of affairs brings me to my second point: abortion
is never solely the mother’s act. Others, to a greater or
lesser degree, share culpability whenever this evil is perpetrated. Over the
centuries the Church has developed a nuanced ethical teaching on what we call
“cooperation in moral evil,” and this is relevant to the question of when such
participation precludes a Catholic from receiving the Eucharist, which also has
a particular application to Catholics in public life.
The major distinction is between formal and material
cooperation in evil. The key to formal cooperation is that I will the
evil that is being done by another, and my cooperation is given to help bring
it about. This applies clearly to those who willingly kill or assist in killing
the child, but also to others who pressure or encourage the mother to have an
abortion, pay for it, provide financial assistance to organizations to provide
abortions, or support candidates or legislation to make abortion more readily
available. Formal cooperation in evil is never morally justified.
For decades now western culture has been in denial about the harsh reality of
abortion. The topic is swathed in sophistries by its advocates and discussion
about it is forbidden in many venues. It is my conviction that this conspiracy
of disinformation and silence is fueled by fear of what it would mean to
recognize the reality with which we are dealing. How can we face the enormity
of this outrage? The only way we can bear to do so is with confidence in the
mercy of God, whose compassionate love provides us with the opportunity for
conversion and repentance. Christ bestows His forgiveness abundantly, and God’s
grace will assist us, for we are all in need of conversion in various ways.
This repentance is the first step in healing for everyone involved, for the
mother to be sure, but also for all others who are guilty. Only when we as
individuals and as a society see evil for what it is, and acknowledge our
culpability and seek conversion, can we begin to heal. I exhort, I beg my
fellow Catholics who are guilty of this grave offense to turn to God in the
sacrament of Reconciliation, receive His forgiveness, and do penance. This
message of conversion is at the heart of the Gospel and the Church’s mission.
Material cooperation means that I do not agree with or intend
the object of the act, but I contribute to the act in some way. Material
cooperation is further distinguished as immediate (cooperation
in the act itself) or mediate (cooperation involving attendant
circumstances of the act). In the case of abortion, for example, if a person
does not want the woman to have an abortion but still assists in the procedure,
this is immediate material cooperation. If this person does not participate in
the act itself, but helps with preparation or follow-up, the cooperation is
mediate. Immediate material cooperation in a grave evil can never be
morally justified: the person is guilty of participating in the evil act,
even if he or she believes the action is wrong.
Mediate cooperation can be of different kinds, depending on
whether it is closer to the act itself (proximate) or more removed from it
(remote). For example, assisting in the preparation of the patient would
be proximate mediate cooperation, while processing forms for
admitting patients to a hospital that, among many other things, performs
abortions would be remote mediate cooperation. Is such cooperation
permitted, and if so, when?
We all have a moral duty to avoid cooperating in evil as much as
possible, but Catholic moral theology recognizes that there can be
circumstances in which it is permissible to cooperate in a mediate material way
in an evil act. Such is the complexity of life and the interconnectedness of
human society that we cannot avoid some association with evil. Prudential
judgments must be made, and circumstances may suggest that I cooperate in a
mediate material way either to gain some good or to prevent the loss of some
good. Such cooperation must involve actions that are either good in themselves
or morally neutral, and they must be proportionate to the gravity of the evil
and the degree of my involvement in it. Here again we see the twin bases of
moral discernment: the act itself, and the intention of the one performing it.
As to the first, the greater the gravity of the wrongdoing, the more serious
must be the reason for the material cooperation to be licit. As to the second,
the greater the gravity of the wrongdoing, the more remote must the cooperation
be if it is to be morally permissible.
Determining when mediate material cooperation in evil is
permissible requires careful reflection and an honest appraisal of the
circumstances. Such cooperation may be permissible, for instance, in the
example above regarding the receptionist in a health care facility that
performs abortions among many other medical procedures (although the individual
should also actively seek employment elsewhere if possible). Another and even
clearer example is that of a legislator who votes for a parental consent law:
even though the law presupposes the legality of abortion itself, this law
restricts access to this evil somewhat, and the legislator could judge
that this good offers a justification for mediate material cooperation. St.
John Paul II addressed this precise issue in his encyclical Evangelium
vitae (n. 73), a document I would urge everyone to read.
To summarize: it is never morally permissible to
cooperate in a formal way in an evil act. It is never morally permissible to
cooperate in an immediate material way in the act itself. There
can be circumstances where it is permitted to cooperate in a mediately material
way in an evil act, and this is determined by the seriousness of the evil and
one’s proximity to or distance from it. However, given the reality that
abortion violates the most fundamental moral principle, the right to life
itself, the teaching of our faith is clear: those who kill or assist in killing
the child (even if personally opposed to abortion), those who pressure or
encourage the mother to have an abortion, who pay for it, who provide financial
assistance to organizations to provide abortions, or who support candidates or
legislation for the purpose of making abortion a more readily available
“choice” are all cooperating with a very serious evil. Formal
cooperation and immediate material cooperation in evil is never
morally justified.
QUOTE EXCERPT FROM SECTION 2:
Repentance is the first step in healing for everyone involved,
for the mother to be sure, but also for all others who are guilty.
QUOTE EXCERPT FROM SECTION 2:
The widespread practice of contraception and abortion has
created a tremendous burden for a pregnant woman.
SECTION
3. The Question of Reception of the Holy Eucharist
The Church’s teaching and
discipline on worthiness to receive Holy Communion has been consistent
throughout her history, going back to the very beginning. The earliest account
of the Last Supper is found in the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians,
written within thirty years of the event itself. Immediately after describing
Our Lord’s institution of the Holy Eucharist, St. Paul offers this admonition:
Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord
unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person
should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who
eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on
himself [1 Cor 11:27–29].
To eat and drink “without discerning the body” means not
discerning the reality of the Body of Christ. This refers both to the
sacramental Body of Christ, the Eucharist, and to His mystical Body, the Church.
Jesus Christ cannot be separated from His Body; to receive His Eucharistic Body
and Blood while repudiating essential doctrines of His Mystical Body is to eat
and drink judgment on oneself. St. Paul urged the members of his communities
temporarily to exclude serious wrongdoers from their midst (e.g., 1 Cor 5:1–5),
the First Letter of St. John invoked this practice (1 Jn 1:10), and Jesus
Himself speaks of this in the case of those who refuse to listen to the Church
(Mt 18:17). The purpose of such exclusion is medicinal: it is intended to help
the wrongdoer realize that he or she has wandered from Christ’s fold by their
ongoing evil behavior.
The earliest description of our Catholic Eucharistic liturgy in
Rome is found in the middle of the second century. St. Justin Martyr describes
the order of Sunday worship, and also explains the criteria for reception of
the Eucharist: “No one may share the Eucharist with us unless he believes what
we teach is true; unless he is washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for
the remission of his sins, and unless he lives in accordance with the
principles given us by Christ.” To apply these ancient requirements to the
present topic, those who reject the teaching of the Church on the sanctity of
human life and those who do not seek to live in accordance with that teaching
should not receive the Eucharist. It is fundamentally a question of integrity:
to receive the Blessed Sacrament in the Catholic liturgy is to espouse publicly
the faith and moral teachings of the Catholic Church, and to desire to live
accordingly. We all fall short in various ways, but there is a great difference
between struggling to live according to the teachings of the Church and
rejecting those teachings.
It is important to state that “worthiness” in this matter does
not concern the inner state of one’s soul: only God can judge that. None of us
is truly worthy to receive the very Body and Blood of Christ Himself, but God
in His great mercy and condescension invites us to receive and makes us worthy
to do so. The Eucharist itself is a medicine and a channel of God’s forgiveness
for our lesser sins. If we are conscious of grave sin, however, we must have
recourse to the sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving the Gift.
Confidence in God must not give way to presumption. We are a Church of sinners,
and we need to avail ourselves of the many graces Christ offers us in the
sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Christ Himself gave us these
two sacraments and we should regularly receive His forgiveness in confession.
In examining one’s conscience about being properly disposed to
receive the Holy Eucharist, the definitions regarding the kind and degree of
cooperation in an evil act serve as a necessary guiding principle. Most of the
time this is a private matter. There are, however, circumstances in which such
is not the case, occasions when those in public life violate the boundaries of
justifiable cooperation. In the case of public figures who profess to be
Catholic and promote abortion, we are not dealing with a sin committed in human
weakness or a moral lapse: this is a matter of persistent, obdurate, and public
rejection of Catholic teaching. This adds an even greater responsibility to the
role of the Church’s pastors in caring for the salvation of souls.
THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH — NOW:
“Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with
particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenseless and
innocent among us…. This defense of unborn life is closely linked to the
defense of each and every other human right. It involves the conviction that a
human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every
stage of development. Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of
resolving other problems. Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and
lasting foundations for the defense of human rights, which would always be
subject to the passing whims of the powers that be.” Pope Francis Evangelii
gaudium, n. 213
QUOTE EXCERPT FROM SECTION 3:
To receive the Blessed Sacrament in the Catholic liturgy is to
espouse publicly the faith and moral teachings of the Catholic Church, and to
desire to live accordingly.
MORE FROM POPE FRANCIS:
“Sad to say, some countries and international institutions are
also promoting abortion as one of the so-called ‘essential services’ provided
in the humanitarian response to the pandemic. It is troubling to see how simple
and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as
a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her
unborn child.”
(Video Message to the United Nations, September 25, 2020)
“It is painful . . . to note that under the pretext of guaranteeing presumed
subjective rights, a growing number of legal systems in our world seem to be
moving away from their inalienable duty to protect human life at every one of
its phases.”
(Speech to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, February 8,
2021)
SECTION
4. Catholics in Public Life
As followers of Christ, we must
all heed the plea of St. Paul: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but
be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the
will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12:2). This is not
easy for anyone, but it is especially challenging for Catholics in public life,
whose careers depend in large part on popularity. I want to express profound
gratitude to Catholics in public life who labor to protect the human dignity of
each and every person, especially of the defenseless unborn. This effort
requires great courage in our culture, and you are a source of inspiration and
pride to your fellow Catholics.
With regard to Catholics in public life who participate in
abortion or seek to advance it through legislation or advocacy, precisely
because these are actions of which many people are aware it introduces another
consideration: scandal. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines
scandal as “an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil” (CCC n.
2284). Prominent figures in society help to shape the mores of that society,
and in our culture their advocacy of abortion definitely leads others to do
evil. This must be stated with clarity: anyone who actively works to promote
abortion shares some of the guilt for the abortions performed because of their
actions.
But there is another source of scandal that pertains
specifically to Catholics in public life: if their participation in the evil of
abortion is not addressed forthrightly by their pastors, this can lead
Catholics (and others) to assume that the moral teaching of the Catholic Church
on the inviolate sanctity of human life is not seriously held. The constant
teaching of the Catholic Church from her very beginning, the repeated exhortations
of every Pope in recent times up to and including Pope Francis, the frequent
statements by the bishops of the United States, all make it clear what the
teaching of the Catholic Church is in regard to abortion. When public figures
identify themselves as Catholics and yet actively oppose one of the most
fundamental doctrines of the Church — the inherent dignity of each and every
human being and therefore the absolute prohibition of taking innocent human
life — we pastors have a responsibility both to them and to the rest of our
people. Our responsibility to them is to call them to conversion and to warn
them that if they do not amend their lives they must answer before the tribunal
of God for the innocent blood that has been shed. Our responsibility to the
rest of the Catholic community is to assure them that the Church of Jesus
Christ does take most seriously her mission to care for “the least of these,”
as Our Lord has commanded us, and to correct Catholics who erroneously, and
sometimes stubbornly, promote abortion.
This correction takes several forms, and rightly begins with
private conversations between the erring Catholic and his or her parish priest
or bishop. The experience of some of us in Church leadership over many years
demonstrates the sad truth that often such interventions can be fruitless. It
can happen that the conversations tend to go nowhere, thus leaving it easy for
the individual to continue participating fully in the life of the Church. Such
a situation is a cause of scandal to many of the faithful.
Because we are dealing with public figures and public examples
of cooperation in moral evil, this correction can also take the public form of
exclusion from the reception of Holy Communion. As seen above, this discipline
has been exercised throughout our history, going back to the New Testament.
When other avenues are exhausted, the only recourse a pastor has left is the
public medicine of temporary exclusion from the Lord’s Table. This is a bitter
medicine, but the gravity of the evil of abortion can sometimes warrant it.
Speaking for myself, I always keep before me the words from the prophet
Ezekiel: “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked, you must die,’ and you do not
speak up to warn the wicked about their ways, they shall die in their sins, but
I will hold you responsible for their blood” (Ez 33:8). I tremble that if I do
not forthrightly challenge Catholics under my pastoral care who advocate for
abortion, both they and I will have to answer to God for innocent blood.
To my fellow Catholics who openly advocate for the legitimacy of
abortion, I beg you to heed the perennial call to conversion God Himself
addresses to His people down through the ages: “I call heaven and earth today
to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and
the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving
the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will
mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the Lord swore
to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them” (Dt
30:19–20). Your Catholic ideals inspire you in your work to help those who
experience discrimination, violence, and injustice, and you deserve the
gratitude of your fellow Catholics and our nation for this service. But we
cannot empower the weak by crushing the weakest! A compassionate, inclusive
society must make room at the table for the most defenseless, and it should
help a woman to keep her unborn child, not kill her or him. If you find that
you are unwilling or unable to abandon your advocacy for abortion, you should
not come forward to receive Holy Communion. To publicly affirm the Catholic
faith while at the same time publicly rejecting one of its most
fundamental teachings is simply dishonest. Heeding this
perennial call to conversion is the only way to live the Catholic faith
with integrity.
THE MEDICINE OF EXCOMMUNICATION
During the struggle for civil rights after the Second World War,
several American bishops did not hesitate to threaten excommunication to
officials who opposed racial integration of Catholic schools. In 1947
Archbishop Joseph Ritter reminded the people of the Archdiocese of St. Louis of
this penalty, and a parents’ group organized to fight the admission of black
students to previously all-white Catholic schools was disbanded. In 1955 Bishop
Jules Jeanmard excommunicated assailants of a teacher of an integrated
catechism class in Erath, LA. In 1962 Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New
Orleans excommunicated three Catholic segregationist leaders who attempted to
block his school desegregation order. One of them, Leander Perez, quipped by
describing himself as “a Catholic, but not an Archbishop’s Catholic.”
Excommunication is a medicine of last resort to help erring Catholics return to
the faith.
QUOTE EXCERPT FROM SECTION 4:
If they do not amend their lives they must answer before the
tribunal of God for the innocent blood that has been shed.
Conclusion
Some people may question why
the topic of abortion should be addressed at this time, with all of the other
crises our country is facing right now: the lingering devastation of an
unprecedented pandemic, the scar of racism once again rearing its ugly head,
the aftermath of a contested election, escalating and widespread violence,
growing divisions and polarizations in our country, and so on. Abortion, after
all, has been a contested topic for very many decades now. But it is for good
reason that the U.S. bishops call it the pre-eminent issue of our time, for
abortion is a specific act that perpetuates a grave moral evil. It is not an
attitude that can manifest itself in more serious and less serious ways, nor a
matter of prudential judgment in which one decides the best path toward
achieving the good. Indeed, when one looks directly at what actually happens in
an abortion, it is hard to imagine anything more heinously evil. One such thing
is genocide. But with almost one out of five pregnancies in the United States
ending in abortion, what we are witnessing before our very eyes is,
effectively, a genocide against the unborn.
We all have a role to play in ridding our nation of this
scourge, and building a society that respects all life. Some members of society
have an especially critical role to play. I would like to address myself to you
at this time.
To Catholics in public life who advocate for life: thank
you for your courageous witness! Your bold and steadfast stand in the face of
what is often fierce opposition gives courage to others who know what is right
but might otherwise feel too timid to proclaim it in word and deed. What I said
above bears repeating here: you are a source of inspiration and pride for all
of us in the Catholic community!
To those who procure abortion or are involved in any way in the
abortion industry: look at the evil you are perpetrating
square in the face: admit it, accept it for what it is, and turn away from it.
Many of your former colleagues have done this, and are finding peace and are
repairing their lives by revealing the horrors of the abortion industry from
the inside out.
To Catholics in public life who practice abortion or
advocate for it: the killing must stop. Please, please, please: the killing
must stop. God has entrusted you with a prestigious position in society. You
have the power to affect societal practices and attitudes. Always remember that
you will one day have to render an account to God for your stewardship of this
trust. You are in a position to do something concrete and decisive to stop the
killing. Please stop the killing. And please stop pretending that advocating
for or practicing a grave moral evil — one that snuffs out an innocent human
life, one that denies a fundamental human right — is somehow compatible with
the Catholic faith. It is not. Please return home to the fullness of your
Catholic faith. We await you with open arms to welcome you back.
To women who have had an abortion and to those others who have
been affected by it: God loves you. We love you. God wants
you to heal, and so do we, and we have the resources to help you. Please turn
to us, because we love you and want to help you and want you to heal. Because
of what you have endured, you more than anyone can become a powerful voice for
the sanctity of life. Many people have made this turn in their life. You can
take this deeply painful and ugly episode in your life and turn it into
something beautiful for God, with God’s help. Let us help you to do that, so
you can experience the healing power of the love of Our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
To all people of good will: let
us work together to build a culture of life, starting at the very beginning.
Let us work for a society in which every new baby is received as a precious
gift from God and given a welcome to the human community. With God’s help, we
can, collaborating with mutual respect, build a society that, far from throwing
it away, respects and affirms the goodness of every human life.
Given
in San Francisco, on May 1, 2021
Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker
