Brethren, Peace and Good to all of you.
I found this piece written by Matt Bowman at CatholicVote.org:
Pax Christi Promotes Killing
You may have heard that the Diocese of Pittsburgh in its lawsuit against the HHS Mandate was told to come back to court later after the Obama administration supposedly changes its rule next August.
What you may not have heard (unless you paid close attention to Catholic media a few months ago) is that Pax Christi Pittsburgh, among others, filed a legal brief asking the Court to dismiss the diocese’s lawsuit, not temporarily but permanently on the merits.
Pax Christi’s brief says that it assumes that the HHS Mandate does include abortifacients, and so it does require the Church herself to offer and pay for insurance coverage of items that kill human embryos, but that the diocese’s religious freedom claims are still meritless because the Church must submit to government coercion even to give coverage of abortion to private citizens, even if that forces it to violate its beliefs.
By this rationale, the federal government could force Pax Christi affiliates to volunteer in factories that manufacture military assassination drones. After all, those “peace” folks wouldn’t actually be assassinating anyone (“directly”), and nothing stops them the rest of the week form proclaiming that they really do oppose drone killings (except when a Democrat pulls the trigger).
Pittsburgh Area Pax Christi boasts in its brief of being an affiliate of Pax Christi USA. Also, “Pax Christi, Pittsburgh Area Chapter” is listed on the Diocese of Pittsburgh’s website as a lay organization.
Here is the Diocese’s statement in response to the lawsuit dismissal.
Pax Christi was joined on the brief by Call To Action Pennsylvania, Catholics for Social Justice, and The Association of Pittsburgh Priests.
I am thinking of starting my own lay organization: Catholics for Diocletian. Maybe Pax Christi USA would let me affiliate. I am sure I would get blogging privileges at the National Catholic Reporter and Commonweal, and of course a grant from the Soros Foundation.
May the “peace of Christ” be with you all. Wink, wink.
Commentary. PaxChristi’s actions defy logic and common sense; they also bring shame and dishonor upon themselves and cause grave scandal among the faithful.
All those self-proclaimed “Catholic” organizations like PaxChristi have one thing in common: a hubris derived from a conceit that their dedication to pursue a few of the corporal works of mercy cloaks them with a special cloak of prophetic authority which in turn enables them to oppose the bishops of the Catholic Church and scandalize the observant faithful of the Church who also care about the poor and the needy while at the same time supporting our bishops.
In his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote:
See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being theinstitution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] eitherby the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.
By this ancient standard, and by their own words an actions, PaxChristi has placed itself outside the pale of the Church of Christ and the bonds of ecclesial charity. Respectful calls for their repentance and conversion are now in order, as well as prayer and sacrifice.
Let’s hit PaxChristi in its pocketbook
Another way that may get their attention is withholding our money from them. During the holiday season, workers around the country are asked to contribute to charities of their choice via the United Fund Campaign (UFC). PaxChristi appears as choice in many regional collections. If you disagree with PaxChristi and want them to mend their ways, I invite you to not select PaxChristi as a receiver of your charitable contribution. Select another Catholic charity faithful to the Church, such as the Archdiocese for the Military Services. I’ve seen their reach and know what they are able to do. Your support of this Archdiocese will go to support our Catholic military men and women throughout the world. They’ll be thankful for it, I assure you.
To end, PaxChristi’s cozying up to Caesar’s behind in this manner is the dumbest move I’ve ever seen. Remains to be seen what are they going to do when Caesar comes knocking at their door asking for his due.