Thanks to Gordon Zaft for this link. Nice to see Cardinal Maida take this stand against abortion pandering among the clergy.

Tougher question whether it's possible for Jennifer Granholm (Dem candidate for Governor - she beat my man Dave and former governor Jim Blanchard in the primary) to be a faithful RC communicant and be "pro-choice" (it sounds SO innocuous, doesn't it? Shudder...). I'm SURE she's not alone, there in the pews. Only RCIA converts are required to subscribe to "all that the Church teaches" - I was RCIA class of 1995, St. Blase parish, Sterling Heights, MI - so where do we draw the line?

I remember Cdl. Szoka getting all kinds of flak over his attempts to hold Sr. Mary Mansour in line on abortion issues when she was head of Michigan's Department of Social Services in the '80's. Her defense, quite reasonably, was that she was bound to uphold the law. I have heard (but am not sure) that the ensuing flap contributed greatly to his "relocation" to Rome. Rightly or not. But even then, I don't believe he was pushing for excommunication, but some kind of discipline from her order. Anyone who remembers this better than I do, please email me!

Anyhow, JG's one of ours, we need to set her straight, but I don't believe her political views, even on a life-and-death issue such as abortion, warrant excommunication. I also remain concerned that abortion (and school vouchers - puh-leaze!) continue to be our ONLY issues. Hunger kills more innocent babies than abortion, the death penalty is just as callous and irreverent of life. I believe, FIRMLY, that we continually miss the boat by splitting off abortion as its own issue, or as something we must somehow handle first before we can address these other sanctity-of-life issues.

So, in the mean time, I vote for the Boniors on the rare occasion one comes along, I throw money at my church and at Catholic Relief Services, and argue with my pro-abortion relatives a lot. Please note - no Catholics among the "pro-choice" bunch. Former RCs, but all have left. One more thing to pray about.