Dissenting Catholic Dick Durbin Tells Dems Not to Dissent From Party on Abortion

Last updated on: March 4, 2018 at 11:31 pm by Scott Eric Alt

Dissenting Catholic Dick Durbin Tells Dems Not to Dissent From Party on Abortion 2018-03-04T23:31:18-04:00 Scott Eric Alt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Sen. Dick Durbin (public domain image)

)

The hypocrisy of Sen. Dick Durbin knows no bounds. He is a Catholic who publicly dissents from his Church on abortion. And yet he has no difficulty in telling fellow Democrats that if they are pro-life, they have no place in the party. So as Durbin sees it, you have a higher obligation to your political party than you do to your Church. You should obey men rather than God.

Fortunately, according to Deacon Greg Kandra, Sen. Durbin’s bishop has invoked Canon 915 and forbidden him from receiving Holy Communion. Bishop Paprocki has said:

Senator Durbin was informed several years ago by his Pastor at Blessed Sacrament Parish here in Springfield that he was not permitted to receive Holy Communion per canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law. My predecessor upheld that decision and it remains in effect. It is my understanding that the Senator is complying with that decision here in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.

Good. This should also be the case (though it is not) with dissenting Catholics like Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, John Kerry, and Tim Kaine. The Church leaves no room, as I have pointed out before, for Catholics to be “personally opposed” to abortion but think it should be legal. Sen. Durbin can not make that claim with any credibility.

Cardinal Ratzinger made that clear as Prefect of the CDF:

Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.

And Pope St. John Paul II made that clear in Evangelium Vitae:

The doctrine on the necessary conformity of civil law with the moral law is in continuity with the whole tradition of the Church. This is clear once more from John XXIII’s Encyclical: “Authority is a postulate of the moral order and derives from God. Consequently, laws and decrees enacted in contravention of the moral order, and hence of the divine will, can have no binding force in conscience. … [Thus, no matter what Sen. Durbin says, they may not bind the consciences of Democrats.]

Now the first and most immediate application of this teaching concerns a human law which disregards the fundamental right and source of all other rights which is the right to life, a right belonging to every individual. Consequently, laws which legitimize the direct killing of innocent human beings through abortion or euthanasia are in complete opposition to the inviolable right to life proper to every individual. …

Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. From the very beginnings of the Church, the apostolic preaching reminded Christians of their duty to obey legitimately constituted public authorities (cf. Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-14), but at the same time it firmly warned that “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). …

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.”

“We must obey God rather than men,” St. John Paul II reminds us. But according to Sen. Durbin, Democrats must obey men rather than God.

That is where dissent from the Church always leads, which is why Sen. Durbin has incurred a latae sententiae excommunication under Canon 915. Would that this could be said, also, of Pelosi, Biden, Kerry, Kaine, and other Catholic politicians who support abortion.

I say that Democrats should obey God, and their (rightly formed) conscience, and not men. The Church has a higher claim on our conscience than the Party.

***

Abortion

In the News

Dick Durbin

Previous Post

April 24, 2017

The Incoherence of "Just Clarify Amoris! Answer the Dubia!"

Next Post

April 25, 2017 Trump Contracepts Promise to Little Sisters of the Poor

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion About Me Answers for Calvinists Answers to Media Fictions Answers to Objections Anti-Catholicism Apologetics Apostolic Succession Atonement Authority of the Church Baptism Benedictines Biblical Exegesis Blogging Book Reviews Books & Writing &c. Calvin's Institutes Capital Punishment Catholic Church Chastity Christology Church Fathers Church Social Doctrine Confession Contraception Conversion Stories Crusades Debates Depression & Suicide Deuterocanon Development of Doctrine Ecumenism English Language Eucharistic Adoration Exorcism Extra Ecclesiam Fisks & Rebuttals Freedom of Religion Freedom of Speech Fundamentalism Gender Politics Gender Theory Good Works Homosexuality Humor Idolatry Immaculate Conception In the News Inquisition ISIS Islam Just for Fun Just War Justification LCWR Limbo Liturgical Abuse Liturgical Year Magisterium Marriage and Family Mary Mortal Sin New Evangelization NFP Papacy Papal Documents Papal Infallibility Personal Narrative Politics Pope Francis Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome Population Control Praying to the "Dead" Priesthood Primacy of Peter Protestant Denominations Purgatory Radical Islam Radical Traditionalists Real Presence Right to Conscience RIght to Life Saints Same-Sex "Marriage" Seven Quick Takes Social Justice Social Media Sola Scriptura Spirit of Vatican II SSPX The Eucharist The Mass The Resurrection Traditionalism Vatican II Year of Mercy

Select a Month August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 April 2018 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 May 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group refers to their leaders as "General Superintendents"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Catholic Methodist Orthodox Nazarene