At lifesitenews.com I came across an address given by Cardinal Burke. It is titled The Perennial Newness of the Gospel of Life. I have not yet read the whole thing but did find the following part to be very important. To borrow from Fr. Z – my emphases and comments.
In this regard, involvement in political life is essential to the advancement of the cause of life. Already in his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, Pope John Paul II had declared:
The social role of families is called upon to find expression also in the form of political intervention: families should be the first to take steps to see that the laws and institutions of the State not only do not offend but support and positively defend the rights and duties of the family. Along these lines, families should grow in awareness of being 'protagonists' of what is known as 'family politics' and assume responsibility for transforming society; otherwise families will be the first victims of the evils that they have done no more than note with indifference. (This is from St. John Paul II and he is telling us to get off our collective behinds and do something about the immoral nature of our society. If we just look at it and say, ‘Oh well, what can I do?’ then things will never improve.)
The Holy Father repeated the same exhortation to families in Evangelium Vitae. (EV, 507-508, n. 93)
In this context, I cannot fail to note the grave scandal caused by legislators, judges, and political leaders who profess to be Catholic and who present themselves to receive Holy Communion, while, at the same time, they uphold and even promote laws which violate the moral law in its most fundamental tenets. (To this I say loudly – Amen!) The Church’s discipline, from the time of Saint Paul, has admonished those who obstinately persevere in manifest grave sin not to present themselves for Holy Communion. (Here he is referring to canons 915 and 916. In 915 the clergy are charged with not admitting to Holy Communion those in such a state of sin and 916 deals with the sinner himself – that he should not present himself for Holy Commuion. Unfortunately, there are many times when members of the clergy ignore this canon law requirement and give Communion to these persons anyway. But to do so imperils not only the soul of the notorious sinner but also of the clergyman that knowingly distributes Holy Commuion to the notorious sinner.) The discipline is not a punishment but the recognition of the objective condition of the soul of the person involved in such sin. (And because of that objective condition of sinfulness they should not, at least for their own good, not receive the Blessed Sacrament.) It prevents them from committing sacrilege by violating the incomparable sanctity of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, and safeguards the Christian community and the community at large from scandal, that is, from being led to believe that the violation of the moral law, for example in what pertains to the inviolable dignity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the family, and the freedom of conscience, is not sinful, does not gravely break communion with Our Lord. (This represents the biggest problem. These type of public sins that too often go uncorrected cause everyone that sees it to think that it is OK to act in such a way. The result being that people really do not understand what is right and what is wrong.)
