Every Democrat voted against Sen. Rand Paul’s amendment to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood, Sen. Paul explains that Plan Parenthood’s abortion business “ends the lives of 320,000 babies every year. That’s about 900 babies every day.” (Article from the Washington Examiner, April 23, 2018)
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Governor Cuomo satanic signing of the killing of newborns…why are they smiling?
LifeSiteNews.com reported that Planned Parenthood received more than $543 million in fiscal year 2016-2017. The site added, “It is forbidden from spending that money directly on most abortions, but pro-lifers warn that subsidies earmarked for non-abortion purposes ultimately enable abortion groups to commit more abortions by freeing up money from their other revenue services. Duke University healthcare analyst Chris Conover estimates that taxpayers end up covering almost 25 percent of all abortion costs.”
How did we get here? New York’s 2019 Reproductive Health Act doesn’t just permit abortion — it removed protections for infants born alive during an abortion attempt. And we watched it happen. How, in God’s name, does a politician who champions such a law keep getting elected? And how many Catholics and Christians handed him that victory at the ballot box?
Clichés are a coward’s exit from hard conversations. “To each his own” sounds tolerant — but tolerance of evil isn’t a virtue. It’s cowardice dressed up as charity. The Catechism is not ambiguous: since the first century, the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion, and that teaching has not changed and will not change. Ignorance of that truth doesn’t just hurt the person who holds it — it shapes votes, forms culture, and costs innocent lives.
Abortion is not a political issue to me — it’s a matter of personal passion rooted in faith. Every election, I vote pro-life. The rest I leave to God. But the numbers are hard to ignore: there are very few Democratic politicians who are pro-life, yet nearly half of Catholics continue to vote for the ones who aren’t. And many Christians do the same. That is a scandal — and we should name it as one.
Some will say, “But what about the poor?” Serving the poor is not only good — it’s obligatory. Solidarity is a pillar of Catholic social teaching, and no one disputes that. But solidarity with the poor cannot justify abandoning the most defenseless human being of all: the child in the womb. You cannot claim to defend the vulnerable while voting to leave the most vulnerable of all without a voice or a chance.
The Book of Revelation warns that God will spit out the lukewarm (Rev. 3:16). Making the Sign of the Cross and receiving Holy Communion are gifts from God — but they are not a substitute for a formed conscience. No Catholic can take a “pro-choice” stand when the choice in question is the taking of an innocent life. Catholic politicians who campaign against the very teaching of the Church on human life are not just in error — they risk leading others into serious sin, and they will answer for it.
The liberal media has done its work well. It has cozied a lie deep into the spirits of too many Catholics and Christians, making them believe that caring for the poor and caring for the unborn are in competition. They are not. They are both demands of the same Gospel of Life.
The Church does not need louder voices. She needs bolder ones — Catholics formed in prayer, grounded in doctrine, and unwilling to go silent when the innocent have no one else to speak for them. Unity on this is not optional. It never was.
The call is not to rage. It is to clarity. Not to condemn persons, but to defend truth — without apology, without excuse, and without retreat.
How can the Church unite when half of her own seem lost — and when some of the shepherds themselves have lost their way? It is almost unfathomable, yet it must be said: there are priests, bishops, and even pastors who have either gone silent on abortion or actively given cover to those who promote it. How can the lay faithful be led when the leaders won’t lead? We are called to win souls — but division within the Church makes that mission nearly impossible.
And then there is the question that demands an answer: how do Catholic politicians who publicly champion abortion get away with presenting themselves for Holy Communion, Sunday after Sunday, as though nothing is wrong?
The Catechism is clear that anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation before approaching Communion. Canon 915 is equally clear — those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion. This is not a judgment about the state of a person’s soul. Only God knows that. But the public act of a Catholic politician advancing laws that permit the killing of unborn children is a public scandal, and the Church has both the right and the responsibility to respond to it publicly.
That is why Cardinal Dolan’s refusal to act on Governor Cuomo demands a response — not out of anger, but out of love for the truth and for the faithful who are watching.
Canon law is not the obstacle here — it is the framework for action. Canon 915 exists precisely for situations like this. The argument that canonical stipulations prevent any response is not a reading of the law — it is a retreat from it. And when a shepherd retreats, the flock notices. When a prince of the Church declines to act in the face of public, persistent, grave moral scandal, it does not project mercy — it projects confusion. And confusion about the sanctity of human life has a body count.
This is not about personal condemnation. It is about clarity. The Church does not excommunicate to punish — she excommunicates to correct, to protect the faithful from scandal, and to call the sinner back. Withholding that correction is not pastoral charity. It is a failure of it.
The faithful deserve shepherds who shepherd. They deserve leaders who lead — not leaders who manage optics while the most defenseless members of the human family are destroyed without consequence. Dear God, help us raise up such shepherds. And in the meantime, help the lay faithful to hold the line when the leaders will not.
To the 40% of Catholics who continue to support politicians that champion abortion: the question must be asked directly — if your faith is not about life and love, then what is it about? How do you bow your head in prayer knowing your vote gave power to those who permit the killing of the innocent? How do you receive the Body of Christ on Sunday and then, on Tuesday, cast a vote that contradicts everything He taught about the dignity of human life?
Abortion is not one issue among many. It is the preeminent moral issue of our time — the words are not mine alone, but those of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. When a candidate supports the destruction of innocent life, no other policy position — not immigration, not healthcare, not poverty relief — can morally offset that support. This is not political opinion. It is Catholic moral teaching.
And yet here is where the challenge must be honest: supporting a pro-life candidate does not mean pretending that candidate is without sin or without fault. No politician is. No person is. But the Church has always taught that a candidate’s position on intrinsic evils — acts that are always and everywhere wrong, regardless of circumstance — must weigh more heavily than any other consideration when forming a conscience for voting.
That is why, in good conscience and with clear eyes about his flaws, supporting a pro-life president is defensible — not because he is a saint, but because he has used the office to defend the lives of the unborn. That matters. It matters enormously. And any Catholic who wishes to debate his personal sins is welcome to do so — but those sins do not erase the lives that were protected because of where he stood on the most fundamental question of human rights.
As for this Catholic — the faith is not going anywhere. The fight to clean up the Church, to call her back to clarity, and to defend the most defenseless members of the human family will not stop. That is not stubbornness. That is faithfulness.
I wrote and copyrighted this song a few years ago:
The Door
I still quite don’t understand. The mother of all nature cries out because she can. Who will hear the thunder of the voices not allowed to speak? Who will rise up for all the strong, the young, and old, and weak?
They are all abandoned to the ways of not. What was good was soon to be forgot. They look the wrong direction seeking trust. Where can they turn in a world of lust?
Pound the doors of Heaven when you sin, Then you go back and do it all again. What do people tell you when you look for good advice? Does it really matter in this place unsupervised?
Oh, the lost soul, the lost hope — Pound the doors of Heaven when you sin, Then you go back and do it all again.
The innocent delight in the attention of the present light. Who will hold you to it when you cannot even fight?
Pound the doors of Heaven when you sin, Then you go back and do it all again.
In the world of plenty, much is given to the lost. Who will they remember when looking in despair? What a world we live in, in need of great repair!
Pound the doors of Heaven when you sin, Then you go back and do it all again.
© Lynda Ciriza
