AmericanPapist Comments
I think it is pretty clear, but then, of course, we now live in Amerika where 54% of "Catholics" reject the Bishop of Rome, without any shame whatsoever.
FOCA will certainly be introduced, it will likely pass and be signed into law, and various Catholic legislators will commit objective grave sin by supporting it. They will be liable to consequences under Canon 915 for doing so (btw, they should be liable whether FOCA passes or no).
But they will not be liable to excommunication under c 1398. I suppose I'll just have to go on repeating this until somebody (in a position to get quoted on the issue) reads my post from last year: http://www.canonlaw.info/2007/05...on-1398-
to.html.
Any conversations begun yet/places to point to regarding what the passing of FOCA would mean for us Catholics? In the event that FOCA is passed under it's current form, do we stop paying our taxes to avoid cooperating with such an evil law? etc.
Any thoughts?
Canon 1369 could also be brought to bear if a bishop has the stomach for it (as Thomas More was given to say in A Man for All Seasons).
Can. 1369 A person who in a public show or speech, in published writing, or in other uses of the instruments of social communication utters blasphemy, gravely injures good morals, expresses insults, or excites hatred or contempt against religion or the Church is to be punished with a just penalty.
So, Thomas, it appears your father says that Automatic Excommunication is not possible for these politicians.
What's your response?
Moni,
I posed that question to the Ask an Apologist forum at Catholic Answers. The apologist who responded stated that it would be "prudentially unwise" to stop paying taxes, especially if you are responsible for the temporal welfare of others who would be affected by the legal and financial consequences of tax evasion.
It was further stated that we would not be morally culpable if the government chooses to spend our tax dollars for intrinsic evils such as abortion. The guilt would fall on those government officials who supported such spending. By paying taxes, we meet a legal obligation and receive the just benefits derived from them (e.g. law enforcement, maintenance of highways, etc.)
Those Catholics who are for FOCA are out of their FOCAn minds!
The bill's language is such that Planned Parenthood could bring immediate civil or federal suits against any pro-life organization or person who stands outside a clinic.
It could also sue any hospital, clinic, or individual doctor who refused to offer abortion or contraception as it overturns conscience clause exemptions by calling abortion a fundamental right.
And that's just for starters. The folk who find new rights hidden in the penumbras can use FOCA as a club to seek out and destroy people who aren't sufficiently happy about abortion - public school textbooks for example, can't have the poor dears thinking the "choice" is in anyway a negative thing now can we?
Sure, imposed excommunication is possible under Canon 1369. But that isn't automatic!
Dr. Peters' answer seems quite satisfactory to me.
Moni: Jesus himself explicitly answered that exact question:
"Is it lawful for us to pay tribute to Caesar or not?" Recognizing their craftiness he said to them, "Show me a denarius; whose image and name does it bear?" They replied, "Caesar's." So he said to them, "Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God" (Luke 20:22-25 NAB).
A further thought to my earlier comment about taxes. The Church teaches that remote material cooperation with evil can be tolerated for a proportionate reason. Well, what would be proportionate to having a small amount of your taxes going to abortion? How about this: If you commit tax evasion and are jailed or fined, that is LESS money you will have to donate to pro-life causes to counteract the evil done by the government. Also, if you go to jail, you might be hailed as a "hero" by the pro-life movement, but I don't think there's much else you could do to HELP the pro-life movement while sitting in your jail cell. (Well, except maybe work to convert your fellow inmates who are pro-abortion.) Finally, since tax evasion is a felony, you might lose your right to vote in future elections and thus be unable to help pro-life candidates get into office.
Did Cdl. George need to emphasize the distinction between formal cooperation and material cooperation? It seems to me that I was taught in ethics class that proximate material cooperation in evil could be gravely sinful as well, depending on circumstances. If writing into the legislated law of the land such an absolute horror as FOCA isn't at least the gravest form of proximate, indispensable material cooperation, contrary to explicit duty, I'd like to know why not. Let's not leave any hiding place for any Catholic legislator on this one. No one can be "personally opposed" and vote yes on this bill. This is the big one and the bishops seem to grasp that.
Moni,
In my letter to my senators and legislators on FOCA I made a pledge that I would put as much effort as possible to (legally) minimize my tax burden. I also pledged to make them waste as much time and money as possible by doing things like constantly calling, e-mailing, and faxing their offices with questions; submitting Freedom of Information Act requests, etc. I think we should all do that. As for reactions, the only response I have received so far was from Ben Cardin who basically replaced the even letters of the legislation's name and pointed it at me.
"I also pledged to make them waste as much time and money as possible by doing things like constantly calling, e-mailing, and faxing their offices with questions; submitting Freedom of Information Act requests, etc."
Real smart, that. Give the radicals on the Hill another excuse to curb public access under FOI, and use up time they could devote to responding to other constituent concerns. I just hope you don't live in my district, so that when I make request on related pro-life topic, I'm not written as a gadfly nutcase.
We are in for some tough days ahead. I pray we are ready for them. This video illustrates the climate of the times: http://salesianity.blogspot.com/...ual-
battle.html
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