Photo: Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images
Photo below: Fr. Dwight Longnecker (Screenshot)
“Since their offense is public, it should be acknowledged publicly.”
By Paul Bois, Daily Caller, February 6, 2018
Last week, Senate Democrats shot down a bill banning late-term abortions; 14 of those legislators 
consider themselves Catholic, and their votes were in violation of Church teaching, which bans abortion in all circumstances.
According to Catholic Canon Law, politicians who publicly reject Church teaching are not to present themselves for Holy Communion. In the past 50 years, as liberalism has infected the American hierarchy, this rule has largely gone unenforced by prelates.
Father Dwight Longenecker, however, is putting his foot down, demanding that Catholic politicians who voice their support for evils like abortion finally be expelled from the Church.
“Today is the day for their bishops to issue a formal statement acknowledging that these men and women have publicly denied their Catholic faith, and if not formally, then have informally excommunicated themselves,” Longenecker wrote in a recent blog post.
Longenecker points out that the politicians who support abortion do so publicly, warranting a public rebuke.
“Since their offense is public, it should be acknowledged publicly and their pastors should publicly rebuke them and deny them access to the sacraments,” he said.
“If the bishops and priests do not do this,” Father Longenecker added, “the faithful in their parishes and dioceses should rise up and blizzard them with letters, emails and the one thing that will really make them sit up and take notice: withholding their contributions.”
Last week, 46 senators voted against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, seeking to protect unborn children at 20 weeks gestation.
“Fourteen Catholic senators voted for this barbaric, inhumane practice to still be legal in the United States and thereby assured its continuation,” Father Longenecker stated.
Father Longenecker pointed out that the USCCB should publicly name the 14 Catholic senators who voted against the bill rather than issuing a general condemnation. He also called on members in Catholic media to print their names for public viewing.
Per Father’s directive, below are the names of the 14 senators who identify themselves as Catholic and who support killing an unborn child at 20 weeks gestation:
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 – Massachusetts
Catherine Cortez Masto – Nevada
Claire McCaskill – Missouri
Bob Menendez – New Jersey
Lisa Murkowski – Alaska
Patty Murray – Washington
Jack Reed – Rhode Island
