Open Letter to our Bishops
Your Excellencies,
I am not an educated man, so I find it difficult at times to understand why things are the way they are, so my prayer is that you would enlighten me if I am right or wrong in my opinions and beliefs, and I thank you in advance.
I want to share an alarming scripture verse that was brought to my attention by a dear pro-life friend of mine. The quotation was as such, “If you remain indifferent in time of adversity, your strength will depart from you. Rescue those who are being dragged to death; and from those tottering to execution withdraw not.” (Pr. 24: 10-12) It may be difficult and controversial to speak on the horror of abortion. But Jesus said “Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it” (Matthew 16: 25). I respect and honor you as successors of the Apostles and I look to you for guidance.
In the past I have written letters to our local Bishops, but surprisingly I have not yet received a response. My concern is the abortion issue. So many babies are dying a horrific death, in excruciating pain. My belief is that we can no longer remain idle or indifferent. With the knowledge we possess on fetal development we should be shouting it from the rooftops, “Enough is enough.”
I believe wholeheartedly that the norm by which God will judge the world is the abortion issue. Prior to 1973, I came to the realization of the horror of abortion and the realization that our nation could fall into condemnation for this hideous crime. I was overcome with fear and physically immobilized. To this day, I don’t understand how this nation, under God, allowed such a travesty.
Blessed John Paul the Great coined a phrase, “the culture of death.” Archbishop Burke stated that the Democratic Party is becoming the “party of death.” I would like to disagree – they are not becoming, but they have become the party of death. I recently read a book, called, “Can a Catholic be a Democrat?” The subtitle is, “How the Party I loved became the enemy of my Religion.”I want to quote a few lines from the book. “In the United States today, there is a Culture War between the secularists and the traditional Christians… In this Culture War the national Democratic Party has teamed up with the secularists and their allies.. The Democratic Party, once strongly identified with the common man, is now dominated by upper- and upper- middle class ideologues. Another book I highly recommend reading is “The Party of Death” by Ramesh Penury. It chronicles the descent of the Democrat party into the culture of death and gay marriage.
Having read through the book, my conclusion is that the Democrats have become the party of death. They have embraced gay marriage, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning and euthanasia as their party platform. My question is, we that vote Democrat, are we not responsible for promoting their agenda? It’s my understanding that the Church puts emphasis on the five non-negotiables as a guideline on how we should vote. Every principle we stand against has been embraced by the Democrats in reference to the life issues. I remember a quotation from Blessed John Paul II regarding the life issues: “The common outcry which is justly made on behalf of human rights- for example, the right to heath, to home, to work, to family, to culture- is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights is not defended with maximum determination” (Christifideles Laici 38).
As a norm, we can no longer vote Democrat. I was analyzing the Obama vote. He reinstated the Mexico City policy, enabling money for abortion to go around the world. A pro-choice vote empowers the death culture to promote abortion and now homosexuality worldwide with our tax money. The Obama administration also funded embryonic stem cell research, which in layman’s terms means the destruction of embryos that are alive and put to death for experimentation. We cannot allow Obama to regain the White House in 2012, because of his health care plan which promotes abortion and contraception. According to Pro-Life sources, it is the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade. My question to you is how do we channel this information to the masses if we don’t hear it from the pulpit. We are talking about a man that voted to kill a baby born alive after a botched abortion. I am very zealous over this issue, and I hope you can understand why.
My concern is how culpable do we stand before God? It’s my belief that Hell is a matter of choice or the lack thereof. The Church teaches, as you well know, that we sin both with commission and omission and all sin has a social aspect – both wounding the Mystical Body of Christ as well as the entire human community. Likewise, laws and policies have a tendency to affect global situations. When something is brought to our knowledge, we have an obligation to respond faithfully. We just had the Philippines fall to the contraceptive mentality. Money given through the Mexico City policy enacted by Obama (on the second day in office) enabled Planned Parenthood to lobby for acceptance of contraception in the Philippines. This and other actions done throughout the world have brought a direct conflict between Catholic principles and the current Democratic administration. To continue to support such individuals is to hurt our own Christian stand – it is, indeed, hypocritical because it is in direct conflict with our Catholic-Christian moral values.
We have been trying to end abortion for the last 39 years. But somehow, we continuously vote into office politicians that will continue the legalization of abortion, and who now support the homosexual agenda. We can no longer remain silent, nor cower over the fact that it might offend someone or some group. Is it a matter of being pastoral – fear of losing parishioners or our tax exempt status that we remain silent? It is my understanding that silence helps the oppressor never the victims.
In fear of being redundant, I want to reiterate my point on voting Pro-Choice. If we continue to vote for such individuals we will never end abortion. These politicians will always vote pro-choice, which in layman terms means pro-abortion, pro-death. These babies are dying in excruciating pain, and we that vote pro-choice are indirectly responsible for the death of these babies. Again, I ask, how responsible will we stand before God on judgment day? With all the knowledge we have, will we dare say I didn’t know on the day of judgment? The Bishops’ have stated that it’s not a mortal sin when we vote for a pro-choice candidate for reasons other than abortion. It might be true that it’s not a mortal sin but it’s mortal for the babies. I believe it is grave matter that cries out for our thoughtful compassion and reaction. A cry for mercy. Nowadays, we have a window into the womb with our 3 and 4 dimensional sonograms which gives us a view on fetal development which leaves us no doubt that it’s a baby. We have also seen the photos of the aborted babies. So it’s beyond me how someone can vote pro- choice then afterwards, want to receive Holy Communion, considering what’s going on in our society in regards to abortion. (i.e. the culture of death).My question to you is can a person remain in a state of grace after voting against life? I personally believe that the Lord will not remain unengaged when a person is voting, it seems impossible to me. Calling to mind what is taught in scripture about the reception of the Holy Eucharist can anyone vote Pro-Choice and not lose his state of grace. I believe that the Eucharist is the means by which the abortion issue will finally end. So my intention is to promote Eucharistic Adoration. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said you want to end abortion go spend some time at Adoration.
Fr. Richard Perozich, a priest of the diocese of San Diego, put out an e-mail in October 2010, entitled, “Priest to Catholic voters: “Stop being stupid!” In part, in his e-mail he says, “O stupid Catholics, who has bewitched you?” a takeoff on Galatians 3. He also states, “To you politicians who promote non-Catholic values, I will not vote for you just so your opponent will not get into office. If you do not represent me, you do not have my vote. I don’t want your government money. I don’t want your ideas of equality, fairness, and justice. I don”t want your health care. I am not a prostitute who sells my vote for temporal benefits.” Strong language, but it’s something that needs to be said against the brutality by which the babies are being dealt with.
Another one of my concerns is the immigration issue, with all the talk about it, it must be remembered that abortion is still much graver. In San Antonio – a center of the immigration issue, where almost 70% of abortions are among Hispanics, while we have a habit of voting Democrat. Some of our babies end up in the sewer plant as their final resting place. How do we bury these babies? We are called to be merciful and bury the dead. My fear is that if the Democrats run with the immigration issue, millions more babies will die, because of their pro-death stance. My hope is that you will promote the 40 days for life with a vengeance in your diocese. We need people on the sidewalk 24/7…I believe evangelization and education is key to ending abortion. Educating the masses on the horror of abortion and what can be done to end it. But if our church leaders don’t get involved the injustice will continue against the babies… Ezekiel (ch. 3) teaches us that our call is to proclaim sinners to repentance – failure to do so brings judgment on ourselves.
In defense of Fr. Frank Pavone, I believe he has a ministry within a ministry and I pray to God, in Jesus’ Name, and through Our Lady’s intercession that things will resolve in his favor and that of the prolife movement.
We appreciate your leadership and commitment in the Pro-Life movement in our nation. We thank you for what you have done and are doing. We assure you of our committed prayer for you, our shepherd’s. The one last thing I ask is that you would pray for a new boldness in defending the unborn and the life issues Amen…
In the Service of the Master,
Eucharistic Apostles for the Children in the Womb,
(Promoting Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament),
Juan A. Gaona
210-367-1687 6806 Farrow, San Antonio, TX, 78240
babyrescue@gmail.com
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