SecretAgentMan's Dossier

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

Via Mark Shea's Catholic and Enjoying It we read of this interview which, upon reflection, seems to justify this blog's title. We use the term "abortion Holocaust" because millions of people are being killed for two reasons -- (1) they're inconveniently in the way, and (2) nobody recognizes them as human beings. Nobody, that is, except the Catholic Church and those who accept her teachings on the dignity of all that "inconvenient" life. Commitment to Church teaching, however, varies from place to place and person to person. So, do we have the bravery to continue the parallel when warranted? Herewith a continuation which, although it takes some liberties with Church leaders' statements in the late 1930s, suggests that with respect to some bishops the more things change, the more they stay the same. No, Cardinal McCarrick isn't avidly pro-Democratic as Cardinal Innitzer was pro-Nazi. But the thinking is eerily similar -- an unwillingness to risk the Church's position just to fight an "unwinnable" battle contra mundum, a coy piety which shrinks from secular challenges, an eagerness to put a pin in that "one little evil" in exchange for so much good . . . . The article's in black. My comments are in blue.

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ROME (CNS) -- When church leaders speak out about major issues like abortion anti-Semitsm or the union of Austria and Germany during an election campaign, they are not telling people how to vote, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick Theodor Innitzer of Washington Vienna said.

Instead, they are encouraging Catholics to study candidates' positions the upcoming plebiscite on a wide range of questions and weigh them all very carefully, Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer said in an interview with Catholic News Service.

Life issues like abortion and euthenasia the humanity of Jews come first because "without life, you cannot have any other human values," the cardinal said.

But the church is not a single-issue institution, he said.

"One (issue) may be primary, but there are many issues that have to be considered. There are probably people who are with us on one issue but against us on many other issues. All these things have to be weighed very carefully -- without giving anybody any direction on how they should vote," he said. "We joyfully acknowledge the eminent work which the National-Socialist movement has done and is still doing in the fields of national construction and the economy, as well as in the area of social welfare, for the benefit of the Reich and the German people, in particular the poorest among them," he said.

Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer spoke after a Vatican official, Cardinal Francis Arinze Eugenio Pacelli made headlines around the world when he that Catholic politicians who were unambiguously pro-abortion should not be given Communion. He was presenting a new Vatican document on Eucharist-related abuses. preached at Notre Dame Cathedral that Germany was a "noble and powerful nation whom bad shepherds would lead astray into an ideology of race." And after the metropolitan of Linz, Germany, home-town of Adolf Hitler, stated categorically "that it was impossible to be a 'good Catholic and a sincere National Socialist." Some speculated that Pacelli was referring to a Vatican statement on Church-state relations.

Cardinal Arinze's Pacelli's remarks were read by many as a reference to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler the probable Democratic nominee for U.S. president leader of Austria after the plebiscite and a supporter of legalized abortion, anti-Jewish policies who has continued to receive Communion. court Catholic support for his Nazi party.

Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer, in Rome with several other U.S. bishops on their "ad limina" visits required of heads of dioceses every five years, called to Rome to consult with Pacelli after the Vatican publicly rebuked his support for the Anschluss in an article published in L'Osservetore Romano discussed the issue April 27 with Cardinal Arinze Pacelli, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments Secretariat of State. Cardinal Arinze Pacelli seemed surprised that his remarks had caused a political stir, Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer said.

"He made it clear that where he stands is what the document said. The document goes so far, and no further," Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer said.

The Vatican document titled, Mit Brennender Sorge said that "anyone who is conscious of grave sin should not celebrate or receive the body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession, except for grave reason." "Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community -- however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things -- whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds." It did not speak about withholding the Eucharist as a sanction.Nazism.

Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer said that while church law foresees situations in which Communion should be denied Catholics work vigorously against Church teaching interpreting the law is a delicate question.

"I think the canons (church law) sort of remind us that we have to tell our people that if they are not in communion with the church, they should not go and receive Communion. But that doesn't say to us that we should deny them Communion when they come," he said. "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.

"I would be very uncomfortable to have a confrontation at the altar, because it implies that I know precisely what's in a man's heart or in a woman's heart, and I'm not always sure," he said. "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.

Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer said his approach to Catholic politicians who clearly oppose important church teachings is to make sure they know what the church teaches, keep dialogue open, and let them know that "if they are taking a public stand there will be some sanctions of a certain nature." "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.

In that situation, the church should find "some way of saying to our people that this is not an ideal situation," he said. "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.

But that does not mean singling out political candidates, he said. "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.

"To the best of my knowledge, no one is talking about anyone in particular. And certainly in the United States Austria we're not talking about anyone in particular. We're talking about a genus of people, a group of people, who may be Catholic and who may not be accepting of the teaching of the church," he said. "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.

Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer met privately with Kerry Hitler in mid-April. He said the encounter lasted nearly an hour and was "a good meeting, a meeting where we discussed many things." He declined to elaborate, saying that when he meets someone "as a priest" he does not think it appropriate to give details. "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.

Cardinal McCarrick Innitzer heads a task force established by the U.S. Austrian bishops to discuss issues related to Catholic participation in political life. It is addressing, among other things, the question of reception of the sacraments by politicians whose positions contradict church teaching.

The cardinal said the Vatican has shown interest in the task force, which expects to complete its work after -- well, well after, the presidential election plebiscite this year.

"I think it's important that we be on the same wavelength, and I think we are," he said of his Vatican meetings.

He said any differences that arise among bishop members of the task force on some of the thorny issues involved will prove a healthy thing in the end.

"We may not reach a consensus on everything. But I think we will reach a consensus on some practices," he said. He said it was not yet certain whether the task force would draft guidelines or simply suggest "best practices." "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.

"It certainly will do deep consultation among the bishops of our country, among the different episcopal conferences all over the world, and certainly here at the Holy See," he said.

"And having done that we'll be talking to theologians and pastoral people and to each other, trying to come up with something which will be helpful to the church, to our Catholic people and to people in political life," he said. "In present circumstances it is necessary to emphasise that the duty of the Church is the cure of souls— through worship, the sacraments, and preaching. She must remain aloof from all else," Innitzer said.