Paper lists Bishop's abortion rapsheet

The Citizens Voice had an article this morning that spoke of the letter from the Auxiliary Bishop John Dougherty to three prominent Irish Catholic organizations, The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the St. Patricks Parade Association of Lackawanna County, and the Society of Irish Women. In his letter, the Bishop warns not to honor politicians with a record of supporting the "...daily killing of the unborn by abortion." That means people like Little Bobby Casey shouldn't be the grand marshall, they shouldn't be marching down the street happily waving at the crowds and then they shouldn't be sitting on the dais as the remainder of the parade goes by in review.

And I agree.

If we also start to ostracize these baby killers from the day to day celebrations that were once commonplace for them, if we make it known they are not wanted, perhaps they will change their hearts.

Hahahahahahaha! Like that'll ever happen.

I really don't think that the organizers care if pro-death politicians march, this is such a democratic stronghold, and these people show such utter disregard for Mother Church, they won't care, because they have the support of the throngs, who think the Bishop is trying to strongarm the Irish Catholic organizations by a threat of closing the Cathedral and canceling the yearly Mass before the parade. These yahoos will bypass the Bishop if they can, find some renegade priest to say Mass and distribute the Blessed Sacrament to the heretics, and then go march in their parade.

Evie Rafalko McNulty, founder of the Society of Irsh Women, an ardent Democrat, by the way,
is quoted thusly: “We’re not a Christian organization. We’re not ‘saint’ anything. We’re just a group of Irish women,” she said. Her group pays $500 to help defray the cost of the Mass given at St. Peter’s Cathedral on parade day, because it was asked to help contribute. “If he doesn’t have the Mass, then we save $500,” she said.


You gotta love rocket scientists like McNulty.

If you didn't have "Saint" Patirck, you wouldn't be having a parade to begin with, honey.

Those of you not fortunate enough to be living in Northeastern PA now see the intellects of those in our area. McNulty is Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds by the way, and the wife of the former Mayor of Scranton James McNulty. I wonder how she got her job? I wish I could find a pic of her husband. She looks just like him.

I think they are brother and sister, actually.

But back to my headline.

At the end of the article, the writer shows us a laundry list of Bishop Martino's anti-abortion actions as if they were a bad thing.

There is a movement afoot to label the Bishop as a radical who is simply backing the Holy Father in an attempt to make Cardinal. This is laughable.

What this is, is a Bishop doing his job, who sees abortion for the blight on mankind that it is, and who wants to save as many of these unborn lives as he can. And for that he is ridiculed and labeled a "politician".

Here's the Bishop's rap sheet from the article: Note that they call his Excellence "Martino".

llegere@timesshamrock.comn April 11, 2004: Bishop Joseph F. Martino says in an interview with Times-Shamrock newspapers that he would “very, very seriously consider” denying Holy Communion to politicians who have supported abortion rights.

n Sept. 29, 2004: The diocesan Catholic Light newspaper prints a statement by Martino saying, “A Catholic would be unworthy to receive Holy Communion if he or she were deliberately to vote for a candidate precisely because of that candidate’s permissive stand on abortion … It must be noted that a Catholic who would vote for such a candidate must have reasons which outweigh that candidate’s pro-abortion position.”

n Sept. 15, 2005: The bishop issues a pastoral letter in which he says, “I will not tolerate any politician who claims to be a faithful Catholic who is not genuinely pro-life. No Catholic politician who supports the culture of death should approach Holy Communion. I will be truly vigilant on this point.”

n Sept. 30, 2008: Martino issues a pastoral letter to be read in place of homilies by all diocesan priests at Masses on Oct. 4 and 5 telling Catholic voters that no other voting issue but euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research are as morally grave as abortion. “Jesus Christ … does not ask us to take up his Cross only to have us leave it at the voting booth door,” he writes.

n Oct. 19, 2008: Martino arrives unannounced at a voters’ forum in a Honesdale Catholic church and chastises the group for discussing excerpts from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ position on voting issues. The document defines abortion and euthanasia, as well as racism, torture and genocide, as among the most important issues for Catholic voters to consider.

n Jan. 15, 2009: Martino issues a pastoral letter encouraging Catholics to work to block passage of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would outlaw restrictions on abortion.

n Feb. 5, 2009: Martino sends a letter to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey accusing him of “cooperating with … evil” by refusing to back legislation to block U.S. tax dollars from flowing to foreign family planning groups that refuse to renounce abortion.