By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann is asking Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to choose between his will and the oath she swore to govern the state of Kansas to the best of her ability.
Naumann has told Sebelius, a Catholic she must stop taking Communion. The governor has run afoul of the church several times with vetos of anti-abortion bills, the latest being a draconion measure that would have exposed abortion providers to endless lawsuits for doing their job.
Naumann says atonement for Sebelius would involve a confession, an apology and a promise to repair the damage caused by her "scandalous behavior that has misled people into dangerous behavior."
What the archbishop calls "scandalous behavior" is in fact good government. The bill Sebelius vetoed was bad public policy on so many levels.
It would have empowered district attorneys and prosecutors around the state to embark on legal fishing expeditions against abortion providers. (As if Kansas hasn't had enough of those already.)
It would have put patient privacy at risk by requiring abortion doctors to provide extensive details to the state about a woman's reasons for seeking a late-term abortion.
It would have placed abortion providers in the middle of family feuds by allowing relatives of abortion patients to sue the doctors.
What's scandalous in this matter isn't Sebelius's veto. It's Naumann's implication that a Catholic politician has to follow the lead of hard-line abortion opponents, regardless of the damage to privacy, Constitutional rights and good government.
Also, nothing Sebelius has done has "misled people into dangerous behavior." Women will terminate pregnancies regardless of what politicians, or church leaders, allow. Most of them do it voluntarily, eyes wide open. What's dangerous is erecting so many barriers to abortion that women delay the procedure or seek alternative means.
Delicious
Digg
If you love fashion,you must
If you love fashion,you must konw abercrombie and fitch
and you are a abercrombie manor
abercrombie womensand
hollister clothingis also very fashion.
And you know RuehlNo.925
I also like abercrombie outlet,and you?
But she didn't
"one of which the Archbishop reminds her of: stop advocating the killing of unborn children."
Come on, don't insult our intelligence with this crap.
It is Gov. Sibilius who presents herself for Holy Communion..
It is Gov. Sibilius, not the State of Kansas who presents herself for Holy Communion, a Catholic sacrament with conditions, one of which the Archbishop reminds her of: stop advocating the killing of unborn children. The Archbishop does not seek to impose Catholic doctrine -- a most compassionate position in this case, on the State of Kansas; he asks that a self-confessed Catholic to follow the obligations of her Faith.
What is scandalous is Ms. Shelly's missing the Archbishop's point. Surely Ms. Shelly realizes she is the wonderful result of a pro-life mother -- the exact position of the Archbishop.
Archbishop Naumann
Archbishop Naumann appears to be a "cafeteria Catholic". He has not denied Holy Eucharist to any Catholic leader who has defied the consistent teaching of the Church, the Holy Father, and the US Bishops and supported an unjust "preventive" war which is leading us to physical, moral and economic chaos.
Benedict XVI should be the model for our bishops.
He teaches truth on ALL issues of the day in a way that his hearers are invited to acknowledge its beauty and proportion. He does not let himself be seen as elitist, partisan or divisive.
"The bruised reed, he will not break; and the smoking flax he will not extinguish."
Missing the point
“I do find it distressing that someone in the Archbishop's position of responsibility buys into this false conflation and would rather drive Catholics out of the church than work with people on both sides of the abortion divide to ensure that fewer abortions occur.”
What you do not understand is that in the eyes of the Church abortion is the taking of a human life and tantamount to murder. Right or wrong that IS the position of the Church on abortion. The Church has as much of a right to their belief as NARAL does to theirs.
Given that viewpoint, how can the Church condone even one abortion? There’s an old saying, “When you compromise with the devil, the devil wins.”
It is not the bishop who drives Catholics out of the Church. That decision comes from each person’s own heart. If a person does not accept the teachings of the Church then that person should not call himself or herself a Catholic. That’s not to call the person a bad person but not Catholic.
Religion is not democracy. It is by definition a set of beliefs. One of the core beliefs of the Catholic Church is the sanctity of life. Either you believe or you don’t.
Ross Balano Midwest Voices 2008
Misguided
"Promoting abortion"
That's the thing, though -- I haven't seen anything to indicate that she "promoted" abortion.
A common (and no doubt intentional) conflation by the anti-abortion camp is to claim that those who believe that the choice to have an abortion is between a woman, her doctor, and her God are "pro-abortion," which just ain't so.
I do find it distressing that someone in the Archbishop's position of responsibility buys into this false conflation and would rather drive Catholics out of the church than work with people on both sides of the abortion divide to ensure that fewer abortions occur.
Misguided: faith-wise and legislative-wise
Kathleen Sebelius' recorded legislative efforts in various offices have advanced the abortion industry. She can govern as she chooses, and risk eternal consequences, but she has no right to commit a public sacrilege.
Under canon (rule) 915 of the Catholic Church, notorious and obstinate support for grave evil requires correction so that others are not led into sin. Promoting abortion is grave evil, and consequently, Archbishop Naumann personally counseled Sebelius not to receive the Body and Blood of Christ at Church.
As for the hysterical propaganda about the abortion bill Sebelius vetoed, any honest reading shows that the bill would protect teens, inform women and thwart coercion. It is thoroughly Constitutional, does not prohibit legal abortions, and cannot invade privacy.
The vetoed bill insures that women receive the medical information Kansas law already requires abortionists to submit to the state, explaining why banned, viable baby abortions were performed.
The bill would stop abortionists from refusing to show fetal ultrasounds to women wanting to see them. It would give women tools to reject forced abortion and would strengthen state actions against rapists.
Propaganda about fishing expeditions is tiresome. Kansas prosecutors, with legal basis, already possess the right to subpoena redacted medical records. The Kansas' Supreme Court recently confirmed such a right even extends to criminal investigations by grand juries.
Finally, considering that abortion has splintered enumerable family bonds and destroyed millions of family descendants, it's insulting to decry enhanced litigation for victims of abortion as family-divisive.
Read bill at http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/389.pdf
Bishop's Comments
It is amazing to me that this Bishop is condemning Governor Sibelius for her public views about choice. Where were the Catholic bishops when mafiosi very openly supported their churches? Where were they when they should have condemned Catholic legislators who support an unjust war?
There are so many actions taken by Cathlic public officials but only this one issue gets a rebuke. The same thing happened to Giuliani, when he had actually been divorced and remarried twice and yet the Archbishop didn't address that issue - just choice.
This is one of your worst
Barb, this is one of your worst.
I would like to point out something that you overlook. The Bishop did not call for Governor Sebelius to be removed from office or punished in any way in a secular fashion. He never says that she shouldn’t be governor or that she cannot do her job.
The bishop, however, is well within his rights to remind Governor Sebelius that the official view of the Catholic Church is that abortion is a sin. Be it right or wrong that is the Church’s stance. To enable or support abortion is, again in the eyes of the Church, a sin. No Catholic who commits a sin (we all do) is allowed to receive communion without confession and penance. The governor is no exception.
The fact that you disagree with the bishop and that abortion is legal in the United States is irrelevant.
The bishop has a duty to do what he has done. The sanctity of human life and the belief that life does begin at conception are part of the core beliefs of Catholicism. The topic is not up for debate in the Church.
If Governor Sebelius is so fervently opposed to those positions I don’t understand how she can claim to be a Catholic. And if she continues to support a cause that the Church deems to be a sin then the bishop has every right to refuse her communion.
Ross Balano Midwest Voices 2008