A Sheperd Stands and Delivers in Sacramento!

Michael Gaynor, writing for Renew America, has the story here!

Bishop William K, Wiegand of the Diocese of Sacramento leans on a Catholic High School Principal to fire a scandalous Drama teacher. Take a look:

In Loretto High School, a Catholic high school in Sacramento, California, there is student rebellion of sorts. Because a teacher who had served as a Planned Parenthood volunteer and publicly written in favor of facilitating abortion for students, was terminated. Thanks to William K, Wiegand, Bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento (who may have needed to let the school principal know he would shut down the school if necessary to move her to do what she should have done without any need for encouragement).

At a recent open house at the school, some parents sensed that something was very wrong. Examples: (1) a poster on one wall stating that "Our girls can be anything they want to be" and showing a group of girls dressed as a coven of witches; (2) bookshelves displaying the books of notorious clerical dissenters; and (3) another poster promoting an event sponsored by the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the name of which does not even hint that it is a Planned Parenthood donor. See http://tinyurl.com/bqr5p.

Later that night the rightly very concerned parents discovered the inspiration for these decidedly unCatholic displays in a Catholic high school. This article on the front page of the Sacramento Bee (http://tinyurl.com/93fbo):

"A drama teacher at a Catholic high school in Sacramento was fired Thursday after church officials learned she had previously volunteered at an abortion clinic, school officials said Friday.

"Marie Bain, 50, of Sacramento, who had taught at Loretto High School since August, was dismissed after a student's parent obtained pictures showing Bain escorting people into a Planned Parenthood clinic last spring.

"The pictures were delivered to Bishop William K. Weigand, head of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, who outlined the decision to terminate Bain in an Oct. 5 letter to the president of the all-female school.

"'Obviously, the very public nature of Ms. Bain's previous volunteer activity at a Planned Parenthood Clinic is inconsistent with her position as a teacher at a Catholic high school and her role as a collaborator in the formation of Catholic women,' Weigand wrote. 'Abortion is gravely immoral and Ms. Bain's active and public participation in the procurement of abortions is morally inappropriate and unacceptable with regard to her work as a teacher at Loretto.'

"Reached at home Friday night, Bain acknowledged that she had been fired and that she had volunteered at Planned Parenthood before taking the Loretto job.

"'There are many things I would love to say, but I don't want to jeopardize anything. I am pursuing many avenues,' she said.

Of course, the Foolable staff rend their garments and beat their breasts that the mean old Episcopal drove off their brave and "compassionate" colleague. All she did was escort young women into an abortuary on her own time! Where's the harm in that? Why does the Bishop have to be so unReasonable?

Well, maybe that's because he's a Fool. For some strange reason, he takes Christ, his gospel and his church seriously! He even honors those canons of the Church that bear witness to the immorality of abortion:

Canon 1398 of the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law specifies that "[a] person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication." Meaning that a pregnant woman who chooses death for her unborn baby and all of her formal co-conspirators are excommunicated without the need for an official decree at the instant her pregnancy is terminated.

Canon 1323 provides that no one can be excommunicated who has not turned 17; was, without fault, ignorant of violating the law; acted under physical force, or under a chance occurrence that could not be foreseen or avoided; acted under compulsion of grave fear; or lacked the use of reason. Unless it applies, excommunication is automatic.

A 1988 Vatican ruling by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, the Vatican office charged with authoritative interpretations of canon law, defined "abortion" as any method used to terminate a pregnancy from the moment of conception and explained that the prohibition against abortion, in the sense of the deliberate termination of a pregnancy, is absolute.

According to Redemptorist Father Brian Johnstone, a bioethics expert at Rome's prestigious Alphonsian Academy, the only instance in which the removal of a fetus may be tolerated by official Catholic teaching is if the mother urgently requires a life-or-death procedure with the unwanted consequence of ending her pregnancy. A pregnant woman with advanced cervical cancer, for example, could have an operation to remove the cancer, which would also mean removing the fetus. In Catholic moral theology, this is understood as the principle of "double effect." The positive effect, saving the life of the mother, being what is intended, while the negative effect, the death of the fetus, is merely foreseen.

(snip)

Canon 1329 specifies that accomplices to an act that triggers automatic excommunication are also subject to the same penalty if "without their assistance, the crime would not have been committed."

Canonists interpret accomplices to include the doctor and nurses who perform the procedure and friends or family (such as the husband or boyfriend) who cooperate directly, for example, by paying for the abortion or driving to the clinic.

According to Canon 1331, an excommunicated person cannot have any ministerial part in the celebration of the Eucharist or other ceremonies of public worship; cannot receive the sacraments; and cannot exercise any ecclesiastical offices, functions, or acts of governance.

What a concept! A Bishop that actually takes a stand for Christ and his Church! No wonder the Foolables weap and moan. How dare he demand integrity from Catholic High School teachers?

More Sheperds like him, please!