As I continue reading Excommunication and the Catholic Church I keep coming across things that I very much agree with but that leads to very serious questions. The following paragraph is one such example.

Remember – the Church is like a loving mother who does not want to discipline her children too harshly. Rather, she only wants to use the amount of punishment necessary to correct and train her children in the right path – that is, according to the truth.

I think any sane and loving parent would completely agree with the author's point in this paragraph. (Although I would go further than the author because the Church isn't 'like' a mother but instead She is our Mother, at least spiritually, who gave birth to us through the waters of Baptism.) But here is my question that necessarily comes from the author's point – what about those mothers who do not do as they ought, either by not disciplining their children at all or by giving threats they never follow through with, or by not being severe enough in making the punishment fit the crime? When a mother doesn't correct her children as she ought to what are the implications for the children?

I think we all know the answer because we see the result in many families, maybe even our own. When a mother (not to ignore the father – I'm just sticking the analogy of the Church as Mother) isn't harsh enough, her children become spoiled brats who ignore her pleading to behave and just continue to do as they please! Like the child in the mall who throws a fit for a toy until the mother acquiesces, if the Church doesn't properly discipline her children they will go on misbehaving and doing as they please. So far the author has not addressed this very serious issue.

Of course one blatantly obvious example of the Church not correctly disciplining Her children is the fact that most pro-death, pro-abortion 'Catholic' politicians go uncorrected or, in the least, are allowed to continue in their sin. This is a very serious concern because it not only involves the soul of the politician but the souls of countless Catholics and non-Catholics who buy into the whole “I can't impose my morality on others” nonsense that is espoused by these politicians.

At this point someone may point out that the various ecclesiastical authorities do publically call to repentance these politicians. But, as we can all see, these pleas for repentance fall on the deaf ears of the politicians. And if the call to repentance is not effecting the change of heart necessary for them to repent then obviously, and according to the paragraph cited above, something more serious should and must be done. So why isn't something more done? To do nothing to 'get their attention' and bring them to repentance implies that we don't care about their souls or the souls of the people they mislead in their wrong way of thinking. Therefore, like a good mother who applies the appropriate correction to a child playing with matches the Church our Mother needs to correct and bring to repentance Her wayward children. Because if She doesn't those unrepentant children (and here again, I am not just referring to the politicians themselves but to the countless number of people that are influenced or affected by them and their decisions) could very well wind up getting burned in the end.