A Commentary on Cardinal McCarrick's Address before the CCCB

Cardinal McCarrick Continues to Conceal Rome's Insistence that Pro-Abort Politicians Be Denied Communion

Failure to mention central contents of crucial Ratzinger letter seemingly habitual for McCarrick

Part 1

CORNWALL, October 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Last week, recently-retired Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick delivered an address to the annual Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. McCarrick, who headed up the US Bishops Conference task force on Catholics in Political Life, spoke mainly of his experiences on the task force and of the central debate it explored - namely that of whether or not to deny Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who reject Church teachings on central issues such as abortion and euthanasia.

During the 2004 deliberation among US Bishops, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a letter to the US Bishops to use as a guide. The letter pointed out that obstinately pro-abortion Catholic politicians, after being duly instructed and warned, "must" be denied Communion.

In his 12-page address, however, McCarrick did not even provide the gist of Cardinal Ratzinger's letter which outlined in six successive points why communion "must" be denied in the specified cases. He did however speak about a bracketed afterthought at the bottom of Cardinal Ratzinger's letter which spoke of reception of communion for Catholics who vote for pro-abortion politicians.

The failure to mention the central contents of that Ratzinger letter entitled "Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion. General Principles" is seemingly habitual for Cardinal McCarrick.

After reading the Cardinal's address, it is hard to imagine a weaker or more cowardly address in response to Cardinal Ratzinger's memo and the shameful so-called 'Catholic' politicians who openly flaunt their pro-death positions knowing that few bishops have the courage to abide by Canon 915 or the directives of Holy Father...What a real treat this must have been for the Canadian Bishops. Is this the best example of a bishop with fortitude and fidelity who could be found in the US...?

A LifeSiteNews article here.

*** Updated *** 10/24/06

Part 2 (from LifeSiteNews)

CORNWALL, October 24, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Whether intentional or not, the concealing of the Ratzinger document and the downplaying of seemingly clear statements from the Vatican has produced an atmosphere of controversy. Faithful Catholics voiced their concerns over what they saw as outright deception. And from his remarks to the Canadian bishops, it seems Cardinal McCarrick is still smarting from the responses he received to this day.

The "Communion issue," Cardinal McCarrick told the Canadian bishops last Tuesday, "became ground zero in the struggle to identify 'the real Catholic Church' in the United States." A significant portion of his speech was devoted to the "attacks" bishops on either side of the debate received.