HLI President's Statement on Scandal in the Catholic Church

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president, Human Life International, rebukes the 48 "Catholic" U.S. congressmen who claim being denied communion because of their pro-abortion stance will "revive anti-Catholic bigotry":

"The Lord Jesus had a term for those who professed to believe in sacred principles and then contradicted those principles by their public positions and actions: hypocrites. Every wretched sinner, public or private, who turned away from sin, always received the fullness of His mercy, but He could not and would not countenance the pharisaical posturing of those legalists who knew the meaning of the law and flouted it anyway. If terms like 'whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones' and 'brood of vipers' say anything, they express the Lord's perfect contempt for such hypocrisy and those who think they know more than God.

"I have one very simple suggestion for all 'Catholic' Pharisees who want to be in the Church but not of the Church: spare us all your scandal mongering and get the hell out."

I had missed this press release and can honestly say that I feel much the same.

What must be distinguished in things of this nature are those who are honestly and legitimately confused about a particular Church teaching and those who boldly, proudly and, at times, publicly denounce the teaching of the Church making no effort to even try to understand it or accept it on faith.

Perhaps, now is the time to differentiate between those professed Catholics who are sinners even though they still make the effort to accept everything that is proposed for our belief with those others who are also sinners and who may rightly be called material 'heretics' because of the express rejection of the Church's teachings. This outright rejection separates one from the Church, the Mysical Body of Christ. Those who have been advised of the Church's teachings yet willfully embrace that which is contrary to the truth would be formally guilty of heresy. It is scandalous that these errors are permitted to occur in the Church with few, if any, consequences for the offending parties. Thic cannot possibly promote the doctrinal teachings of the Church, nor does it teach the meaning of true charity.

Maybe it is well past the time for Bishops to notify those publicly embracing a heresy, knowing it to be contrary to divine and Catholic faith, to be advised of the teaching of the Church on the matter at issue so as to prepare a case for the the use of Canon 1364 which states:

1. With due regard for can. 194, part 1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication and if a cleric, he can also be punished by the penalties mentioned in can. 1336, part 1, nn. 1, 2, and 3.
2. If long lasting contumacy or the seriousness of scandal warrants it, other penalties can be added including dismissal from the clerical state.

One reason for a formal notification would be to educate the 'material heretic' so that a defense of Canon 1321 may not be used later. A person who has not prudently weighed the issues involved in their action is not punished. Canon 1321 reads:

1. No one is punished unless the external violation of a law or a precept committed by the person is seriously imputable to that person by reason of malice or culpability.
2. A person who has deliberately violated a law or a precept is bound by the penalty stated in the law or that precept; unless a law or a precept provides otherwise, a person who has violated that law or that precept through a lack of necessary diligence is not punished.
3. Unless it is otherwise evident, imputability is presumed whenever an external violation has occurred.

It does not seem to pastorally wise to allow the rampant dissent in the Catholic Church to go undisciplined. Archbishop's Burke's use of Canon 915 is a most welcome start, it seems, to cleaning up the Church and providing commendable pastoral leadership in our times. True charity requires these actions. It is not charitable to permit a brother to walk blindly toward the edge of a cliff without some sort of warning to prevent his inevitable death.