Saturday, July 12, 2025
WORLD CATHOLIC NEWS
Advertisement
  • WORLD NEWS
  • US NEWS
  • VATICAN NEWS
  • ASIA – PACIFIC
  • EUROPE
  • MIDDLE EAST – AFRICA
  • VIDEOS
  • COLUMNS
  • BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
WORLD CATHOLIC NEWS
No Result
View All Result

Senators represent constituents — not priests or mullahs

NEWS DESK by NEWS DESK
August 1, 2021
in FROM THE BISHOPS
0
Senators represent constituents — not priests or mullahs
0
SHARES
7
VIEWS
ShareShareShareShareShare

When I was 13, Jack Kennedy was running for president. As a fan, I didn’t understand why his Catholicism was a big deal; but many U.S. citizens feared that their commander-in-chief would be secretly taking orders from the Pope.

We are the U.S., not Iran. Separation of church and state is essential to our form of government.

Some religions are unkind to women: Catholics oppose women’s freedom of choice, but also would deny women contraceptives. (Go figure!) Islamic states often won’t let women drive, show their faces, or be educated. Some societies even mutilate girls’ genitals in childhood. In the U.S., public decision-makers should act for the public good, not obey priests’ or mullahs’ orders.

Pope Francis appears to understand this, as do most clergy. But some U.S. bishops (who insist popes are infallible except when they disagree with a pope) are punishing politicians who honor their oaths of office. Joe Biden (in South Carolina) and our own State Sen. Joe Cervantes (by the local Catholic diocese) were recently denied communion. These Catholic prelates are attacking not just Joe and Joe, but our system of government.

Bishop Peter Baldacchino’s account is close to a confession of criminal behavior. New Mexico law defines extortion as “communication or transmission of any threat … to wrongfully compel the person threatened to do or refrain from doing any act against his will.” I don’t say the bishop committed extortion; but extortion isn’t just “Pay me or I’ll break your legs!” For example, threatening criminal prosecution when trying to settle a civil dispute can qualify. To a devout Catholic, receiving communion might matter more than avoiding jail.

The diocese says it repeatedly warned Cervantes that he could be denied communion.

Cervantes says he’s being refused communion because of his office. (The church says the denial is punishment for Joe’s vote; but logic supports the senator.)  As chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, Cervantes can singlehandedly kill a bill. On a bill passing with a comfortable margin, his vote means little; but using his power to veto a bill is huge. (Note that devout Catholic and committed progressive Micaela Lara Cadena reportedly has received no such threat). The diocese’s official statement may be masking the seriousness of this incident, if the diocese told Cervantes to do all he could to stop the bill. (And did the threat concern only the abortion criminal law or also the bill allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives?)

The church complains that Cervantes didn’t call back. Given the relevant laws, I wonder if that failure kept the diocese from stumbling into some clearer criminal conduct.

I hope the bishop rethinks this. Consults the church’s lawyer and ensures his conduct conforms to the law; consults the Bible, which never mentions abortion but does say that if you accidentally cause a woman to miscarry, you can be made to pay damages — to her husband; and, for some local perspective, consults other New Mexico Catholics, who’ve been here long enough to know and understand this place.

Even if having or performing an abortion is a mortal sin, Cervantes did neither. He merely allowed this state, as a majority wished, to avoid jailing women for abortions.

The bishop ain’t answering my questions, but I wonder what Baldacchino would have done if Joe had done something really anti-Catholic, like claiming (as did Galileo) that the Earth went round the sun.

Las Cruces resident Peter Goodman writes, shoots pictures, and occasionally practices law. His blog at http://soledadcanyon.blogspot.com/ contains further information on this column.

More from Peter Goodman:

Credit: Source link

Previous Post

Former Taiwan vice president joins Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Next Post

Daily Readings and Homily – 2020-09-26 – Fr. John Paul

Next Post
Daily Readings and Homily – 2020-09-26 – Fr. John Paul

Daily Readings and Homily - 2020-09-26 - Fr. John Paul

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

© 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • WORLD NEWS
  • US NEWS
  • VATICAN NEWS
  • ASIA – PACIFIC
  • EUROPE NEWS
  • MIDDLE EAST – AFRICA
  • VIDEOS
  • COLUMNS
  • BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

© 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.