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What Do
I Say to Vatican Officials?
Questions and Answers
Concerning Contacting Leaders
at the Vatican
About
Catholic Promoters of Child Killing Receiving Holy Communion
Dear
Pro-life Friend,
We are getting questions about the new tool we have
created to enable you to quickly and efficiently write a personal letter
to members of the Vatican Hierarchy. (Complete list of recipients
below.)
In case you did not know, a delegation of between 8
and 10 of us are going to the Vatican to ask Vatican officials if they
stand by the words of Pope Benedict when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. in
his instruction, he said that Catholic politicians who promote child
killing must be denied the Eucharist. It is not up to them or their
conscience, and it is not up to each bishop to decide what to do. They
must be denied the Eucharist. (Cardinal
Ratzinger's words are at the end of this letter.)
We will beg them to require American Catholic
bishops to uphold the teaching of the Church regarding Communion and
politicians to who promote the murder of babies by abortion.
In conjunction with this trip, we've created a tool for you to be a part
of this mission -- your words, your heartfelt anguish, your plea to the
Vatican -- will be sent by fax to the members below, and hand-delivered
by us if you so choose.
Let me go over some of the questions we are
receiving and give you some answers.
Question:
"How do I address these leaders?"
Answer:
Each fax letter already has the salutation to each individual embedded.
Automatically, each all of your letters will begin with a personal salutation: "Dear Archbishop Burke," and
"Dear Cardinal Bertone," et cetera.
Question:
"What do I say to the Pope? I would want to read something different to
him."
Answer: "We are not writing letters to the Pope. We
are writing letters to the Vatican leaders that surround him and advise
him about the pope's words in 2004 and again in December of 2009. We are
sending copies to the Pope and his personal secretary as a courtesy.
Obviously the Pope is not reading all the letters that come to him. But
his private secretary may choose to show him a letter that comes across
his desk.
Question: "How long can my letter be?"
Answer:
You have 1350 characters available to you. Note: This is characters, not
words. This does not include your name and address, the name and title
of the recipient of your letter, and the opening salutation. So you have
the space for four or five paragraphs. The goal is to make these
letters short and to the point, so that they are read. (The program will
let you know how many characters you have used.)
Question: "Would you provide a form letter for me
to sign?"
Answer: No. We feel that
this is so critical in the life and health of the Church that each
person must bear testimony to what they are seeing with their own eyes.
Having 25 form letters across Vatican officials' desks is not the way for
our anguished voices to be heard. Let the Holy Spirit speak through you!
Question: "What do I say? I want to say
something, but I am not sure what to say."
Answer:
The most simple -- and probably the most powerful -- thing to say is to
simply quote portions of Cardinal Ratzinger's statement and ask the
officials if they affirm his words. Is this the teaching of the Church?
If it is, why are so many American bishops defying it? Why do so many
obstinately refuse to obey?
Finally, remember to be respectful as well as
passionate. These are princes in Christ's Church. It is our love for
Jesus, our love for His Church, our love for the babies, in order love
for the Holy Eucharist that compels us to lift up our anguished voices.
It is this crisis that compels us to take this pilgrimage to Rome.
Below are the exact words of Cardinal Ratzinger
to American bishops from 2004. A high school freshman could
understand that bishops are required to withhold the body and blood of
Christ from a Catholic politician who promotes the murder of babies. God
help our bishops to have the wisdom of a child!
Decide which of the three levels you want to
participate in: a Vanguard Supplicant, a Vanguard Herald, or a Vanguard
Emissary. You are participating as a voice in this mission, as well as
helping fund it. For this, we thank you.
Also, if you do not want to write a letter, but you
simply want to make a $500 or $1000 contribution, we need the help.
To
write your own letter, click here. And be sure to read all of the
instructions on the page.
We beg your prayers.
Randall
Terry
P.S.: Here are the exact words of Cardinal Ratzinger to American
bishops in 2004.
5. Regarding the grave sin of
abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes
manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his
consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and
euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about
the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself
for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of
sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.
6. When "these precautionary measures have not had their effect or
in which they were not possible," and the person in question, with
obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy
Eucharist, "the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it"
(cf. Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts Declaration "Holy
Communion and Divorced, Civilly Remarried Catholics" [2002], nos. 3-4).
This decision, properly speaking, is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is
the minister of Holy Communion passing judgement on the person’s
subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public
unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of
sin.
Here is
the complete list of the recipients of your letter:
His Excellency The Most Reverend Raymond Leo Burke
Prefect,
Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
His
Excellency The Most Reverend Pietro Sambi
The Apostolic Nuncio
to the United States
His Excellency The Most Reverend Celestino Migliore
Permanent
Observer of the Holy See to The United Nations
His Eminence
Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, S.D.B.
The Secretariat of State of His
Holiness
His Eminence William Cardinal Levada
Prefect, The
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
His Eminence
Antonio Cardinal Canizares Llovera
Prefect, The Congregation for
Divine Worship
and the Discipline of the Sacraments
His Eminence Claudio
Cardinal Hummes, O.F.M.
Prefect, The Congregation for the Clergy
His
Eminence Giovanni Cardinal Battista Re
Prefect, The Congregation
for Bishops
His Eminence Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski
Prefect, The
Congregation for Catholic Education of Seminaries
and
Institutes of Studies
His Eminence Franc Cardinal Rode, C.M.
Prefect,
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life
and for Societies of Apostolic Life His Eminence Cardinal
William Levada
President, Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei"
His
Excellency The Most Reverend Fortunato Baldelli
Penitentiary Major, Apostolic Penitentiary Supreme Tribunal of the
Apostolic Signatura
His Eminence Cardinal Ennio
Antonelli
President, Pontifical Council for the Family
His
Eminence Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko
President, Pontifical Council for the Laity
Copies
will be sent to:
His Holiness
Pope Benedict XVI PP.
Bishop of Rome
Monsignor Georg Ganswein
Private Secretary to Holy
Father
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Randall Terry