New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic, joined with state lawmakers last week to celebrate the passage of an abortion bill that legalizes abortion up until the moment of birth.
Not content with reveling in the moment, Cuomo ordering One World Trade Center, the hallowed ground where nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in an Islamic terrorist attack, to be lit in pink in celebration.
Actions that prompted some Catholic leaders to call for the Democrat governor to be excommunicated from the church, according to Fox News.
Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Saturday to say that it may come to ex-communication, which he called a “last resort,” if Cuomo continues to distance himself from the church.
He called the governor’s actions a “celebration of death.”
“It goes way beyond Roe v. Wade in so many ways, so I don’t see it as something to celebrate,” Scharfenberger said. “The kind of procedures that are now available in New York state, we wouldn’t even do to a dog or a cat…It’s torture.”
“This is a very radical separation from the Catholic communion,” he would add later.
In effect, an abortion right before birth involves killing the fully formed baby in the womb and then inducing delivery.
Which prompts one to wonder exactly what does it take for the Catholic Church to excommunicate a person — Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a late-term abortion supporter, let it be known last year that she’s a “practicing” Catholic.
Bishop Rick Stika of Knoxville, Tennessee said on Twitter that if it were up to him, he “might” excommunicate Cuomo.
“Someone asked me today if I would issue an excommunication of a Catholic Governor under my jurisdiction if the Governor did the same as in New York,” Stika tweeted. “I think I might do it for any Catholic legislator under my jurisdiction who voted for the bill as well as the Governor.”
And while he called the legislation “hideous and vile” in a follow-up tweet, Stika noted that excommunication is not a punishment.
“Enough is enough. Excommunication is to be not a punishment but to bring the person back into the Church. It’s like medicine for them. But this vote is so hideous and vile that it warrants the act. But thankfully I am not in that position. Very sad.”
Enough is enough. Excommunication is to be not a punishment but to bring the person back into the Church. It's like medicine for them. But this vote is so hideous and vile that it warrants the act. But thankfully I am not in that positon. Very sad.
— Bishop Rick Stika (@BishopStika) January 24, 2019
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, told “Fox & Friends” it would just be “ammunition” for pro-abortion opponents who would dismiss the issue as a Catholic one and not a human rights issue.
“He’s not going to be moved by this, so what’s the use?” Dolan remarked.
Reactions of this nature prompted actor James Woods, a Catholic, to say on Twitter that the church “fails yet again.”
I’m Catholic and the Church fails yet again. To cheer and light up a skyscraper with pink lights celebrating what at best is a difficult decision is an abomination. No matter a citizen’s stance on abortion, no rational person would actually celebrate it. https://t.co/jr8Pz401k0
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 28, 2019
Here’s a quick sampling of other reactions from Twitter:
If Andrew Cuomo remains a "Catholic in good standing" after signing this abortion bill then the Church's institutional witness to life simply has zero teeth and the US bishops have completely abdicated their responsibilities as shepherd of souls. No other way to square it, folks.
— Thomas Peters 🤦♂️ (@AmericanPapist) January 23, 2019
This is the sound of hell
Made possible by "Catholic" Gov Cuomo
So many elitist "Catholics" are making this world hell on Earth
Who do the bishops side with? The elitists or the faithful? https://t.co/uMs0KIZlOE
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) January 23, 2019
There are Cuomo-like pseudo-Catholic politicians in just about every state. The Church lost her ability/will to discipline them a long time ago. Very hard to recapture that discipline now.
— Bishop Thomas Tobin (@ThomasJTobin1) January 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/KimmersNapa/status/1088091093990805506
https://twitter.com/Mols59/status/1089881035167408129
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