Public Confession for Catholic Pro-Abortion Politicians

“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”  Step 5 of the 12 Steps.

INTRODUCTION

When St. John the Baptist led his followers into the Jordan, he and those being baptized heard their confessions of sin.  It was a public confession, and such public Confession was followed in the early Christian Church.   Penitents would proclaim their sins publicly and not be admitted back into the Church for a long period of time, perhaps many years.

But this practice of public Confession had disappeared even before the Medieval Church.  Why?  Fr. X, in the homily I listened to (online) last Sunday (December 6th) gave three reasons*:

1. Scandal—that a public display of sins from avowed Catholics would discredit the Church and put it to shame;
2. Humiliation, Lack of Charity—that the penitent, despite contrition and penance, would be forever humiliated and unforgiven by those who hear his confession; this would inhibit many from confession;
3. Occasion for Sin—that the naive and innocent, by hearing of sins of which they would not have known, might be tempted to commit them.

So why should public Confession be required for Catholic politicians who permit or even promote pro-abortion and anti-legislation directly contrary to Church teaching?  I’ll give Fr. X’s reasons below.

But before doing that, let me explain again why these politicians who profess to be Catholic have indeed committed a grievous sin. The instructions given by the Pontifical Academy for Life, in its commentary on the use of cell lines derived from abortions, is useful here.  There can be either “formal” cooperation in the evil act of abortion or “material.”   In “formal” cooperation the agent shares the evil intention that abortions be performed.   In “mediate material” cooperation the agent does not share the intention that abortions be performed, but cooperates with the sinner by providing the means for the act to be performed, even though the agent does not participate in the abortion or  (if a charitable interpretation be allowed) intend it to happen .

CATHOLIC POLITICIANS’ SIN IN VOTING, AN EXAMPLE

Let’s give a specific example.  In January 2018 a bill was up before the US Senate to forbid abortions after 20 weeks (“to protect pain-capable unborn children”).   A cloture motion, to forbid filibustering on the bill was up for vote.  A yea vote would permit cloture and ultimately passage of the bill (with the Republican majority).  A nay vote would shut the bill down.   In short, a nay vote was to allow abortion.   Two Democrat senators, Bob Casey (PA) and Joe Manchin (W VA), voted “yea,” along with eleven Republican senators.   Fourteen senators who identify as Catholic  voted “nay.”   Their names are listed below:

• Maria Cantwell – Washington
• Susan Collins -Maine
• Dick Durbin – Illinois
• Kirsten Gillibrand – New York
• Heidi Heitkamp – North Dakota
• Tim Kaine – Virginia
• Patrick Leahy – Vermont
• Ed Markey – Massachussetts
• Catherine Cortez Masto – Nevada
• Claire McCaskill – Missouri
• Bob Menendez – New Jersey
• Lisa Murkowski – Alaska
• Patty Murray – Washington
• Jack Reed – Rhode Island

Of those above,  Collins and Murkowski are Republican, the others, Democrat.

PUBLIC CONFESSION FOR  CATHOLIC PRO-ABORTION POLITICIANS

Why should Confession be public for these Catholic politicians?   As Fr. X explained it, because their sin has been public, not private.  By professing to be Catholic, and then promoting something that directly violates Church teaching on the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, they testify that the Church teaching is only on paper, not something one lives by.   Only by public Confession of their sin can they remove this testimony.

Now, I don’t believe that  anti-life Catholics in Congress, state governments or, God forbid, a future President, will confess either privately or publicly to this sin.   But one can always pray for that to happen.

NOTES

*I don’t want to give Fr. X’s name or his parish lest he undergo attack from radical sources or the Church hierarchy—I’m not sure which is more likely or worse.