Go ahead Bishop, make my day...

Cardinal McCarrick: Skeletons in the closet, or just a good Democrat?

Cardinal George: Bishop to hundreds (thousands?) of pro-abortion, gay rights supporting "Catholic" politicians

Bishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis: Kerry-kind-of-Catholics are 'Catholica non grata'

Bishop Fabian Bruskiewitz: Excommunicated members of "Call to Action" and other heretical sects, citing Canon 915 governing public scandal. Recently stated Sen. Kerry would not be allowed to receive the Eucharist in Nebraska.

In Illinois, several Catholic law makers have indicated that for decades, pressure has been placed on Illinois Catholic Bishops by pro-abortion politicians in response to threats of sanctions or excommunication.

In a state where both the Democratic and Republican parties are dominated by liberals who openly endorse abortion and homosexual "rights", political retaliation can come in several painful ways: mandatory distribution of abortifacients in Catholic hospitals, mandating handicap accessible elevators in Catholic churches, elimination of public funds for book programs in Catholic schools, as well as the constant threats of eliminating tax related exemptions. The mother of all retaliatory tactics is the constant threat that politicians will turn off the spigot of social"justice" programs, where payments flow directly from taxpayers to institutions like Catholic Charities (an institution that gets the majority of its funding from the federal government subsidies!) What else can explain the hierarchy's silence as pro-abortion "Catholics" Dick Durbin and Mayor Daley sit in the front row of Old St. Pat's on Sunday? Maybe we don't want to know...

Conservative journalist Rod Dreher thinks there's more to the story than just politics, and speculates that based on the homosexual scandals in the church, numerous bishops are likely to be compromised by past homosexual activities.

"Is there a connection between the silence, or at least the empty words, of so many Catholic bishops on the subject of pro-abortion Catholic politicians, and the possibility of hidden personal scandal in the lives of individual bishops?," asked Dreher.

"That thought has crossed my mind in the past few days as I've watched the bishops, with very few exceptions, either keep quiet or flail half-heartedly at John Kerry. There is one influential bishop in particular whose name has come up in public in connection with the Kerry controversy, and I know that this bishop is deeply compromised in his personal life; and more importantly, I know that this fact, while hidden from the public, is fairly widespread knowledge among the media and church elite," noted Dreher.

In a posting to a Catholic blog site (www.bettnet.com) Dreher went on to speculate that these concerns were horribly close to the truth. "I would be shocked if the higher-ups in the Democratic Party didn't know (of homosexual Bishops) too," said Dreher.

In Washingon DC, Cardinal McCarrick recently "met privately" with pro-abortion Presidential candidate and self described "Catholic" John Kerry, about which Dreher noted, "...I don't expect this bishop to offer any criticism of Kerry if asked, and in fact I would expect him to offer warm words of conciliation and 'healing.' He may mean them sincerely, or he may fear what might emerge if he took on Kerry directly on the abortion issue," noted Dreher.

And just how ready are the pro-abortion Catholics to unleash their smear campaigns against their political and religious enemies?

"I take this blackmail possibility seriously," writes Dreher. "In 1994, I was living on Capitol Hill in a group house with four others, all of whom worked in politics. When the Republicans took over the House that year, I taunted one of my housemates, who worked for a Democratic member, with chants of 'Speaker Gingrich! Speaker Gingrich' He wasn't fazed a bit. He told me calmly, 'We know that Newt cheats on his wife. If he pushes things too far, we'll make sure the media know it too.'"

Later the liberal media made public information that implicated Speaker Gingerich, we can presume, with the assistance of certain well connected Democrats, perhaps including Dreher's old roommates.

"I wonder how many bishops will pull their punches on pro-abortion Catholic politicians out of the same fear," Dreher speculated.

In comments posted at www.bettnet.com, Domenico Bettinelli wrote, "I've discussed this very thing (blackmail) with my circle of friends and professional colleagues. In fact, the topic came up often when discussing why so many bishops did nothing, or actively did wrong, in relation to shuffling pervert priests around in the Scandal. Often, we'd heard, without enough evidence to publish it, that such-and-such bishop had skeletons in his closet and was being threatened, implicitly or overtly, with exposure if he did anything untoward."

"Considering the dirty business of politics," wrote Bettinelli, "I wouldn't be surprised if the Democrats have engaged in the same thing, although I'm not sure it would take all that much prodding for some of these bishops to go easy on the politicians. I think that many of these bishops are genuinely sympathetic to the policy positions of liberal Democrats or Republicans, as the case may be, except for the inconvenient abortion issue."

Are the US Bishops being blackmailed? Extorted? Muscled-under? Politically hard-balled? It's hard to make sweeping judgments. In the case of hard left bishops like Mahoney in Los Angeles, it's difficult picturing pro-abortion and gay rights "Catholic" politicians being shut out of the Eucharist or more importantly, the Cardinal's fund raisers. But in Chicago, it is sad and painful to watch Cardinal George's indecisiveness on the issue of pro-abortion politicians being denied the Eucharist, as if his post graduate theology studies never touched on Canon 915, and how to effectively deal with grave public scandal.

In fairness, Cardinal George indicated in an April 16 press release that he will wait for the US Bishop's Conference (USCCB) to issue a statement on behalf of all the US Bishops rather than speaking for himself. But that hasn't stopped Bishops Burke of LaCross, Wisconsin and Bruskeiwitz of Lincoln, Nebraska from declaring that pro-abortion Catholics like Senator John Kerry are not welcome at the communion rail, whether they are politicians or not.

Which begs the question: what makes Illinois pro-abortion and gay rights supporting politicians any different from those in Wisconsin and Nebraska? Or put differently, how is it that the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church can have a Catechism that allows an unrepentant public sinner full access to the Sacraments by the Catholic Bishop in one diocese, where across the border he is denied those same Sacraments by the Catholic Bishop?

It is neither profane nor is it disrespectful for Roman Catholics to demand that their Bishops be leaders, be courageous, and that they defend the Faith, at all costs. Otherwise, the Catholic Church's ability to act as the conscience of our culture is doomed.

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Rod Dreher's is an opinion columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and has written for National Review Online.

Domenico Bettinelli's comments can be found on his web site www.bettnet.com.

NOTE: Due to a formatting error, the April 21 posting of this article incorrectly attributed several of Rod Dreher's comments to Domenico Betinelli. This has been corrected. We apologize to both writers for any confusion caused.

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