[In response to Bishop Wuerl's weak stance against pro-choice "Catholic" politicians, Shaun Pierce wrote the following letter. He has yet to receive a reply. – Funky]
Civic Duty
6 Replies
Tag Archives: Donald Wuerl
Local Unrest
The fight over Communion has taken on local significance for me.
Protesters urge bishop to deny communion to pro-abortion legislators
Thursday, June 17, 2004
By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A dozen people picketed the Downtown headquarters of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh yesterday, calling on Bishop Donald Wuerl to deny communion to Catholic legislators who support legal abortion."
Weak as Water
Well, this is certainly a disappointment to me. Bishop Donald Wuerl, otherwise an upstanding, orthodox guy, has taken the politically correct way of the communion denial issue. Another bishop (I forget who at the moment) at least had the guts to say that no Catholic would take communion unworthily. In other words, to do so would make one un- or non-Catholic. Wuerl’s statement seems to laugh in the face of Canon 915.
Wuerl doesn’t back disciplining abortion rights politicians
Says bishops’ role is to educate them
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Pittsburgh’s Catholic bishop said today that Catholic politicians should not support legalized abortion but he does not advocate denying them Holy Communion."
Wuerl: Catholic legislators should make own decision on communion
Bishop says politicians like Kerry who favor abortion rights should stop receiving Holy Communion of their own accord
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
By Ervin Dyer and Mackenzie Carpenter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Pittsburgh’s Catholic bishop said yesterday that Catholic politicians should not support legalized abortion but that he does not advocate denying them Holy Communion."
Don’t deny sacrament, Wuerl says
By Robert Baird
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
"Catholic politicians who support abortion violate church teachings, but Pittsburgh’s Roman Catholic bishop said Tuesday he does not favor denying them the sacrament of Holy Communion."
On a related note:
Catholics Should Vote Pro-Life First, Despite Dissident Opinions
by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor
May 6, 2004
"Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A leading Catholic bishop has sparked controversy by suggesting that abortion is just one of many issues Catholic voters should consider when making a decision for whom to vote. Those comments stand in opposition to the overwhelming number of Catholic leaders who say other issues are important but that the pro-life perspective is paramount."
Not in My Backyard
Bishop Wuerl had better do something about this.
Kerry Takes Communion on Mother’s Day
May 9, 4:59 PM (ET)
By MIKE GLOVER
"PITTSBURGH (AP) – Democrat John Kerry attended Mother’s Day Mass on Sunday and took communion although some Roman Catholic leaders say he should not receive it because his abortion-rights stance violates church teachings."
Anarchy in the RCC
Critics feel rebuffed by bishops
Earlier meeting in Dallas now seen as ‘an aberration’
By Caryle Murphy
"WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 – As scores of U.S. Catholic bishops left a downtown Washington hotel Monday evening to board buses for a Mass, a group of nearly 100 demonstrators – including several who had been sexually abused by priests years ago – offered candles to each of the prelates and asked for their prayers."
Scandal Is Stirring Lay Catholics to Push Church for More Power
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and SAM DILLON
"INDIANAPOLIS – As the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops prepare to meet in Washington on Nov. 11 to complete their policy on sexual abuse by priests, they are confronting the most organized and widespread challenge to their power from the laity in the church’s modern history. "
Facts of priest sex abuse at odds with perception
Cathy Lynn Grossman and Anthony DeBarros
"When the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops meet today to decide how to deal with priests accused of sexually abusing children and teens, they’ll start with a handicap. Nearly a year into the scandal, the bishops have yet to compile a detailed accounting of the problem they face. They have collected no national data on how many priests have been accused, how many are serial offenders, how many are still in the church, or even how many are dead."
Editorial: Good guys vs. the bad guys
"Old-timers might recall the name of Paul Blanshard. In the late 1940s, Blanshard published a book called ‘American Freedom and Catholic Power.’ It was an anti-Catholic polemic that would become a runaway bestseller."
Rare sanction imposed on priest
Ties to priesthood severed by Vatican
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
"Anthony Cipolla, the Catholic priest and accused child molester at the heart of a battle between Bishop Donald Wuerl and the Vatican 10 years ago, has been involuntarily laicized by Pope John Paul II, a rare sanction that strips him of all ties to the priesthood."
"(CBS) For Catholic Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh, the debate in Dallas over pedophilia and the Church is one he has faced before – and alone."