SB 3 and St. Catherine of Siena

First and foremost, all of us should have prayed harder! Personally, I know that I stand near the front of the line in those regards. Second, we should have been certain that all of our materials were absolutely accurate and comprehensive with regard to voting districts. Third, we would have absolutely benefited from forthright teaching on morals last Sunday - the archdiocese should have allowed the introduction to the seminary appeal to wait until this weekend....

There were six races common to all Bucks County voters. Other than with regard to voting for our congressman and auditor general, the identified pro life candidate was rejected by Bucks County in each of those races!  Yet somehow or other, few Catholics who opposed pro life candidates will have any reluctance to receive Holy Communion, today.  All of us share blame for failing to more forthrightly challenge our fellow Catholics, and all of us will be asked for an accounting on Judgement Day.  Yet Pope Pius XI's words in Casti Connubii remind me of why I am glad that I am not a priest: "if any confessor or pastor of souls, which may God forbid, lead the faithful entrusted to him into these errors or should at least confirm them by approval or by guilty silence, let him be mindful of the fact that he must render a strict account to God, the Supreme Judge, for the betrayal of his sacred trust"  Wow, do we need God's mercy!

As another battle awaits us, there is no time for us to lick our wounds.  Pennsylvania SB 3 was designed to prevent tax payer funding for at least some abortions in "Obamacare" and was passed in June 2011, by a vote of 37 to 12 (It was consistently supported by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.). Rather than simply put SB 3 up for a vote in the House, an identical bill - HB 1977 - was instead put up for a vote and passed by the House in December 2011, by a vote of 146 to 45. With the promise of Governor Corbett's signature in hand, pro life advocates naively assumed that the House and Senate would work together and get this abortion "opt out" legislation signed! Yet the legislative session ended with Pennsylvania lacking "opt out" legislation! We were played for fools. With election results now in, the seriousness of this back alley rebuke to faithful Catholics and other pro life Pennsylvanians should be abundantly clear!


With the current crop of legislators still officially intact till January, we must petition our "pro life" governor to demand that legislators come back to Harrisburg for a special session and get the deal done with this vital pro life legislation.

Along with St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), the late John Paul the Great declared St. Catherine of Siena co-patroness of Europe on 10/1/99:

"The hope of building a more just world, a world more worthy of the human person... must be coupled with an awareness that human efforts are of no avail if not accompanied by divine grace.... "Saint Catherine of Siena['s]...role in the unfolding history of the Church and also in the growing theological understanding of revelation has been recognized in significant ways, culminating in her proclamation as a Doctor of the Church....Many people, including members of the clergy, gathered around her and became her disciples, recognizing in her the gift of spiritual motherhood....she stressed the reform of morals to all, without exception....Catherine addressed Churchmen of every rank, demanding of them the most exacting integrity in their personal lives and their pastoral ministry....strengthened by her intimacy with Christ, the Saint of Siena was not afraid to point out frankly even to the Pope, whom she loved dearly as her 'sweet Christ on earth', that the will of God demanded that he should abandon the hesitation born of earthly prudence and worldly interests, and return from Avignon to Rome, to the Tomb of Peter"

Monsignor Lodovico Ferretti details the situation and words of what was said to Pope Gregory XI:

"From 1305, Rome had been deprived of its spiritual and political Father....Gregory XI, who ruled from 1370 - 1378 was, in theory, the most unlikely of them all to be energetic and steadfast in his resolution to return to Rome.  Elected Pope at only fory years of age, timorous and irritatingly indecisive by nature, he deserved Catherine's stern rebuke: 'Act like a man!'" (p. 57)

Saint Catherine of Siena would not have been one to counsel silence in the face of autracities, for fear of jeopardizing tax exempt statuses!  Please, please, please alert your parishioners to the need for Governor Corbett to call legislators back for a special session and get the deal done with SB 3, this vital pro life legislation.

(Siena, September 2012)