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Urge our bishops to end the scandal
and confusion “Catholic” pro-abortion politicians are causing
August 2021
Friends,
In light of the mass confusion which pro-abortion “Catholics” in the Democrat Party continue to create within the Church here in America, I have written an “Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops” here in the U.S. and invite you to add your name to it.
Knowing the strength of your pro-life resolve I am confident you will be only too willing to do so.
But I don’t want to presume anything so I invite you read my “Open Letter” and then add your name to what I’ve written and echo the important plea I make with our hierarchy here in the United States.
I’m not going to recount all the points I’ve made in prior emails and letters about the woeful lack of inspired leadership from so many clergy. You already know these and, given your continued partnership with Priests for Life, are as concerned as I am about this serious dereliction of duty.
We need to express to our shepherds – clearly and respectfully – is that the time for dialog with “Catholic” politicians who persist in promoting the grave sin of abortion is over. These individuals are fully aware of the evil they are imposing on the country. They know full well that they are acting in total and complete opposition to Church teaching. And yet they persist in their sin and go so far as to dare our bishops to confront them.
Their arrogance – combined with the refusal of many bishops to publicly rebuke them – is a source of terrible confusion within the laity.
What the Catholic faithful need from our bishops more than anything else right now is firm and decisive action. These results from a recent survey of Catholics who attend Mass regularly bear this out. The survey was commissioned by our friends at CatholicVote and its findings are telling:
- 83% agree that the bishops should publicly defend all Catholic teachings.
- 90% want the bishops to teach on matters of faith and morals.
- 83% agree that Catholic public officials who disagree with the Church on serious or grave matters “create confusion and disunity.”
- 74% believe that Catholic public officials who disagree with their Church on serious or grave matters should not present themselves for Communion.
Those numbers confirm what you and I have known for years.
That’s why I’m inviting you to add your name to my “Open Letter”. And when you do here are some of the key points that you will be making with our bishops:
- The Catholic faithful look for leadership from you, as those in our nation primarily responsible for the protection and proclamation of the faith. Often, however, they are led to conclude that such leadership is absent, or at best, weak and tentative.
- Your Eminences and Excellencies, the faithful are indeed with you if you lead them; they will listen if you speak; they will respond heroically if you lead heroically.
- The actions of people like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi in our country today are not about fellow Catholics who are dealing with the “weaknesses” that we all have in walking the way of Christ. They are, instead, about leaders deliberately, creatively, and energetically implementing the agenda of a political party that has embraced, strongly and explicitly, positions that violate the most fundamental rights of human life and freedom. They are not stumbling along the path of discipleship with the rest of us; they are running in the opposite direction.
- They are expanding abortion funding and working to eliminate even the most modest and most widely-supported restrictions and limitations on abortion, without any mandate from their own base. This is not weakness; it is pro-abortion fanaticism.
- Some want the American public to think the bishops are reaching with a heavy hand into the Oval Office or into the halls of Congress to shape public policy in the image and likeness of Catholicism. But on the contrary, it is the pro-abortion public officials trying to shape the idea of what it means to be Catholic into their own image. And that is where you have every right and duty to respond.
- Addressing the pro-abortion stance of these political leaders is not simply a matter of disagreement. It is a matter of protecting victims of violence. The people who are being excluded here are the children in the womb. The goal here is not to secure an agreement but to protect the vulnerable.
- As you well know, Catholic teaching on abortion is not about abstract concepts but about treating the unborn as persons to be welcomed and protected.
- That is why, as I always point out, we are not simply concerned about Biden, Pelosi and others contradicting their Catholic faith; we are concerned about every pro-abortion public official contradicting the very meaning of public service, which requires that we serve the public rather than kill them.
- But at this moment we are not facing merely disagreement over policies. We are facing a political party that has explicitly abandoned principles which are at the core of our identity as a Church and threaten its freedom as well as the foundations of civilization.
- This is not a political activity. After all, if tomorrow the Democrat and Republican parties swapped positions on abortion, we would have exactly the same message for the Republican Party and its leaders. Our message does not change, because it is not based on political platforms, but on the Word of God.
- Indeed, the clear and explicit call to the Democrat Party and its leaders to abandon their current path is precisely a religious and pastoral activity. This is not about the Church being too political, but about our politics being too pagan. This is not about the Church being a political party; it is about the Church being the Church in the midst of the world, including the world of politics.
- You have a unique leadership role which is meant to encourage and strengthen the rest of us in carrying out ours. This is an appeal, therefore, to do exactly that by clearly calling upon the Democrat Party, and specifically on its leaders by name, to once again embrace the fundamental principles of the right to life and the freedom of the Church, and in the context of the latter, to stop misrepresenting what it means to be Catholic.
- That is what is needed in the current climate of the Church in America today, where, unfortunately, public warnings and canonical punishments seem to come more quickly to priests who speak out vigorously on these matters than on the political figures against whom they speak.
As I hope you can see from those highlights, the primary purpose of my “Open Letter” is to give voice to what you and all faithful, pro-life Catholics are feeling right now when it comes to how our bishops are addressing the current scandal of “Catholic” politicians and the evil of abortion.
The scandal and confusion these pro-abortion extremists are causing must end. Now!
Keep in mind that when you authorize me to add your name to my “Open Letter” you will make my words your words.
So sign on to my “Open Letter” right now ... before you move on to your next email.
And be sure to make as large a tax-deductible donation to Priests for Life as you can.
Your gift is urgently needed because the bishops will be meeting in November.
We have but a few short weeks to recruit hundreds of thousands of our fellow Catholics to join us in telling them that we need them to end the scandal and confusion which “Catholic” pro-abortion politicians are causing.
Your dollars will help Priests for Life spread my “Open Letter” far and wide, especially on all the social media platforms where I and Priests for Life are active. Remember:
Priests for Life reaches around ONE MILLION people EVERY DAY!
These contacts come from all the programming that airs through our EndAbortion.TV broadcasting on platforms like Parler, GETTR, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Periscope, ROKU, Amazon Fire and others. I will post my “Open Letter” on these platforms, encourage people to read it, and invite them to sign on to it.
In addition to circulating my “Open Letter” there, we will also send it to:
- Every bishop and priest in the country.
- Catholic media ... both in print and on the Internet.
- All conservative talk radio hosts / programs.
This is going to be a massive nationwide campaign that will cost upwards of $250,000 to carry out.
That’s why I’m hoping you will make a much-needed donation to Priests for Life right now.
This is a critical moment ... not only for our nation, but for the pro-life movement and the Church in America as well.
It’s crucial that all faithful, pro-life Catholics make their voices heard with our bishops.
And through your donation today you will partner with Priests for Life and help make it possible for literally hundreds of thousands of your fellow Catholics to do just that.
As for our bishops and the “Open Letter” I’m counting on you to sign, let me just say that we’ve begged, we’ve pleaded, we’ve explained, we’ve encouraged; in short, we’ve done everything we could – and for many years now – to convince the bishops and clergy to join us full force on the front lines of the fight to end America’s abortion holocaust.
Many have done so.
But now it’s time for all of them to not merely join the fight, but to LEAD the fight. Nothing less than the fate of the pro-life movement and the nation itself is at stake.
Thank you for doing your part in this effort. And know that in thanksgiving for your pro-life commitment I will remember you at every Mass I offer. May God bless you.
Sincerely,
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life
P.S. Along with your “signature” on my “Open Letter” I ask you to please PRAY for our bishops. Ask God to move them to recognize the threat pro-abortion extremists in the Democrat Party pose to the Church, to religious freedom and to the nation. Ask Him to inspire them to join us on the field of battle in time to save America.
NOTE: If you prefer to send a check, please make it out to Priests for Life and mail it to us at:
PO Box 236695, Cocoa, FL 32923. If you have any questions, call us at our easy-to-remember number: 321-500-1000 … or toll-free at 888-735-3448.