The Roman Catholic

Church is upset with some of its own at least some in the Catholic Church

are upset.

The Reverend

Al Sharpton, a pro-abortion non-Catholic minister and a candidate for

the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, delivered the Sunday sermon

Feb. 9 at St. Sabrina Catholic Church in Chicago. The American Life League

(ALL), a Roman Catholic pro-life organization, expressed its outrage stating,

"Canon law states that only a bishop, priest, or deacon may serve

as homilist." The issue was not Sharpton per se but Sharpton's non-Catholicism

and his pro-abortion views. The archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis

George, admitted that an error was made but said, "Making a case

of this invitation at this time would be a futile gesture and a waste

of effort."

ALL's Judie

Brown said, "We want to make sure this situation is not repeated."

ALL ran a full-page ad in the Washington Times that read, in part, "Special

Alert to Cardinals, Bishops, and all Roman Catholic Clergy!! Al Sharpton

is NOT a Catholic Priest!!" Copies of the ad were sent to every bishop

in the U.S. with a letter asking them to "keep an eye on their parishes

in case another pro-abortion politician is offered the pulpit."

It wasn't the

first time that ALL has published ads that are "in your face"

and controversial. Earlier, ALL identified twelve pro-abortion United

States Catholic Senators and, in an ad campaign, labeled them the "The

Dirty Dozen." The ad read "Wanted for Fraudulently Claiming

Catholic Faith - The Dirty Dozen." The ad ran photographs of Senators

Ted Kennedy (MA), Tom Harkin (IA), John Kerry (MA), Tom Daschle (SD),

Christopher Todd (CT), Jack Reed (RI), Patty Murray (WA), Mary Landrieu

(LA), Patrick Leahy (VT), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Joseph Biden (DE), and

Susan Collins (ME), With the exception of Collins, a Republican, all the

rest are Democrats.

The ALL ad

stated, "You can't be both Catholic and pro-abortion," and charged

the twelve with possessing heretical beliefs that "makes them unworthy

to receive Holy Communion." Quoting Canon Law 915, the ALL ad said,

"Those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be

admitted to Communion." ALL called upon "all bishops and priests

to respectfully refuse Holy Communion to these and all public figures

whose unrepentant support for the killing of babies in the womb defiles

the Mass and the Body of Christ."

Well, hooray

for the American Life League. It is a fact that the most pro-life denomination

in the Christian faith is the Roman Catholic Church. The pope has made

it abundantly clear that the upholding of the sanctity of life is the

position of the Catholic Church and, thereby, the position of all Catholics.

Unlike some other denominations, Catholics are expected to support the

official position of the Church, especially in important and significant

matters. To do otherwise is to act like--well, act like Protestants. In

other words, to be a "good Catholic" is to live and act in accordance

with the official proclamations of the Church. As ALL points out in its

ad, such a deviation makes one a "heretic." Even Archbishop

Charles J. Chaput, in an October 2002 speech to the Rotary Club in Denver,

lamented, "John F. Kennedy promised he'd keep his Catholic faith

out of his public service. I think all Americans - not just Catholics

- have been paying for that mistake for 40 years."

So, will the

bishops and priests of the Catholic Church hold the senators to the same

standard as they would hold non-office holding Catholics? That remains

to be seen but, if the American Life League has its way, the Senators

who claim to be Catholic will either conform to the teachings of their

Church or face the discipline of the Church. ALL labels the Senators who

claim to be one thing and then act in a manner inconsistent with that

claim as "heretics." If they were Protestants, the good senators

would just be called "hypocrites."

[David Epps

is rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church on Ga. Highway

34 between Peachtree City and Newnan. He may be contacted at [email protected]

or at www.CTKCEC.org.]