Lancaster New Era (PA)
July 24, 2001

Several conservative Catholic groups want the pope to excommunicate Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and 49 other national politicians for being pro-choice on abortion.

More than 5,000 people have signed a petition to Pope John Paul II, asking him to officially nullify the Roman Catholic Church membership of Ridge and other politicians -- including U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and the Senate's majority leader, Tom Daschle.

The petition also asks the pope to come down on American bishops for not excommunicating pro-choice politicians themselves.

But some members of the local clergy are opposed to the move.

"I don't know if it is clear that anyone who has pro-choice beliefs should be excommunicated," says the Rev. Ray Collins, pastor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Ephrata.

He says the abortion issue is too complex to be as black and white as some groups try to make it. Political leaders who are pro-choice can be pro-life on other matters, such as the death penalty, Collins notes.

Phillip Woestman, who attends St. Anthony's Catholic Church on East Orange Street, agrees.

"I wouldn't support the petition," says Woestman, a member of the church's Gospel of Life Committee, a pro-life group that opposes abortion.

"You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know the bishops are pro-life," he says.

But Judie Brown, a former member of the Vatican's Pontifical Council on Life, says American Catholics are tired of seeing apathetic bishops and pro-choice politicians claiming to be good Catholics.

She heads the American Life League, a Stafford, Va., pro-life group, which claims to have a membership of 375,000 families. The American Life League supports the petition and is encouraging members to sign it.

"There are no sermons on Sunday talking about the penalties for politicians who support abortion. How do we nurture the eternal soul of Governor Ridge if he is not called to repent for this tragedy he is involved in?" asks Brown.

Ridge had no comment on the petition.

Timothy Chichester of Austerlitz, N.Y., is promoting the petition [on the web site www.cathfam.org/cfexcom/Excom.html].

Chichester calls Ridge a liberal and an atheist.

"These are politicians that have a hard-core record voting for abortion," he explains. "When you are voting to kill babies, you are a shame to the church."

The Catholic Church, he insists, must confront sinners and, if necessary, remove them from the church.

"Excommunication will hopefully bring them to their senses. At the very least, it will make them run for cover," Chichester says.

Chichester admits a political motivation behind the petition. Ridge is one of only two Republicans on the list. The rest are Democrats.

Ridge is a member of the Diocese of Erie and a friend of Bishop Donald Trautman.

Trautman knows the governor favors abortion rights, but he calls Ridge "a fine individual" and says, "I have a lot of respect for him, but we differ on one issue."

Trautman won't support the petition.

"The church believes in the medicine of mercy," he says.

Ridge is welcome to celebrate Mass and participate in church sacraments, says Trautman. "These events are highly personal matters between the governor and God," says the bishop.

The Rev. Bernardo Pistone, pastor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Lancaster, notes that the Catholic Church welcomes dialogue, even from people that would damage it.

"These groups know where the church stands and they should know..." he stops, and shakes his head. "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

End of article.

Letter to the editor -- which was published -- from Tim Chichester, petition author.

Ernie Schreiber, Editor
Lancaster New Era

To the Editor:

Given that the reporter had difficulty enumerating the correct number of Republicans named in our Petition to Excommunicate Culture of Death "Catholics" -- there are four, not two -- I am not surprised that he also had difficulty with the definition of the word "is."

The error he made in this instance was attributing words to me that I did not say. I said that Ridge's voting records on abortion reflect the mindset of an atheist, not that he is an atheist. This significant error distorts my meaning and my message. I must insist on a correction.

Since I stressed to him that we considered this petition to be a spiritual work of mercy, namely that of admonishing the sinner, I was dismayed to see that this aspect was omitted, thereby distorting the basis of the petition. Indeed, assuming that the comments of those also interviewed are accurate, it appears that many Catholic priests have lost the concept of this important work of mercy and thus the omission by the reporter results in a seriously lopsided story.

By the omission of the spiritual work of mercy basis and stating "Chichester admits a political motivation behind the petition" as a stand-alone paragraph, he reduces what he was told to mere politics. He was told that a public excommunication was inherently political in that the person cited has injured the body politic in a grievous manner and refused to change his ways. Catholics have a right to bring their morality into the workplace and the political arena, and insist that politicians who ride to victory on Catholic votes conform their conscience to the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Sincerely,

Timothy A. Chichester, Executive Director
Yankee Samizdat
518-392-2886


Supplement to letter [this part was not sent]: 

Again, assuming that they are accurate and he was not taken out of context, there are several comments I must make regarding remarks attributed to Bishop Trautman:

1) it is sad that Bishop Trautman chose to muddy the waters by saying, "The church believes in the medicine of mercy," thus implying, contrary to Catholic teaching, that excommunication is not a work of mercy.

2) That a bishop would say that a public individual such as Ridge, whose record shows he actively works to enable abortion (not simply "favor it") is a "fine individual ...but we differ on one issue." (slaughtering the innocent?) is to scandalize Catholics and others with the implication that the Ridge's pro-abortion initiatives are a matter of no importance. This is contrary to what the Catholic Church teaches about the grievous sin of ennoblement of abortion: "In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to 'take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law, or vote for it.' " (Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion, 11/18/74)

3) In his statement regarding Ridge's participation in church sacraments, when Bishop Trautman says, "These events are highly personal matters between the governor and God," it appears that he is again muddying the waters with respect to Catholic teaching. By not conditioning the statement with the caveat that a Catholic must conform his conscience to the teaching of the Church, he implies that Ridge need only to consult his own conscience. This concept, "that one's moral judgment is true merely by the fact that it has its origin in the conscience." (John Paul II, The Splendor of Truth), is an idea that he points out as being "explicitly atheist." St. Thomas Aquinas points out that the evil man arises in the morning not with the intent to "do evil," but rather arises to "do what is good in his own eyes." Thus the Pol Pots and Joe Stalins of the world, by malformation of conscience, arise each day to do what they perceive as good. Because of this the Church teaches that, simply put, "mere" conscience is not enough. If it were, there would be no justice. Merely blood. History shows this to be true.

Annotated Table of Contents                        Home