***** Originally posted 10/16/04 @ 1:36am *****
Fr. Basil Cole, OP, STD, in response to a request by Very Reverend Augustine DiNoia, OP, the undersecretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, sent a letter to MarC Balestieri, a canon lawyer who filed a heresy charge against John Kerry.
That response can be read here. Mr. Balestieri was to appear on EWTN's "The World Over" with Raymond Arroyo. I missed it but will try to catch one of the re-runs .
***** Updated *****
After watching the interview with Mr. Balestrieri, all I can say is it looks like things may really start heating up.
The responses to his dubia are clear:
The Church's teaching against abortion is of Divine and Catholic Faith. It requires the assent of theological faith. Obstinate denial or doubt of this teaching results in the mortal sin of heresy and automatic excommunication.
Likewise, one who believes or supports the so-called "right to choose (an abortion)" is also guilty of heresy, a mortal sin, and may incur automatic excommunication.
This is devastating news for those like Kerry, who, while claiming to be personally opposed, support a woman's "right to choose" - he has already incurred automatic excommunication. Also those Catholics who support the pro-choice (anti-life) movement are guilty of heresy and automatically excommunicated. (per the letter)
Mr. Balestieri stated he is now ready to file 4 more complaint charges of heresy. He said he was selecting those who are the most notorious Catholics who support abortion and cause grave scandal to the faithful. He named four:
Ted Kennedy
Tom Harkin
Mario Cuomo
Susan Collins
My guess is all of those on American Life League's Deadly Dozen will be subject to a charge of heresy.
This is something (heresy and automatic excommunication) which many have believed should have been resolved years ago. The Code of Canon Law seems pretty clear, but then it's a canonical issue that must be resolved through the proper channels, I suppose.
One should read:
Ad Tuendam Fidam ,
Professio Fidei,
The Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of Profession Fidei,
and/or this Summary of Categories of Belief in Professio fidei.
The fireworks will certainly be interesting to watch.
**** Updated 10/17/04 @ 4:30pm
I finished watching a re-run of the EWTN interview and Mr. Balestrieri stated that he was ready to file 4 additional charges of heresy, not 40 as I had previously posted...
No comments:
Post a Comment