Author: Pete Vere

The Elephant in the Democrat’s Voting Booth

As the only Canadian on Catholic Light, here’s where I more or less stand on various political issues:

Pro gun control
Pro state subsidized post secondary education
Anti capital punishment
Pro social safety net
Pro socialized healthcare
Pro immigration

Now given my stand on various political issues, which party do you think I would have more or less voted for in the last election if I happened to be an American citizen? If you guessed the GOP, you are correct.

Basically, I feel strongly on all the aforementioned issues, but not as strongly as I feel on the abortion issue. For me, the pro-life issue trumps all other issues when I enter the voting station, and most important among the pro-life issues is seeing abortion (the pre-meditated butchering of children in the womb) brought to an end. Looks like I’m not the only one who feels this way. Kristen Day, the head of Democrats for Life, writes the following excellent political reflection on how the Abortion Stance Hurts Dems.

The Granholm Situation — State Which State is a State

Owing to the fact my parents are down for a visit, I’m a little behind on things. But I wanted to reply to the following piece posted by Greg Popcak over on HMS Blog. Basically, it concerns the petition prepared by the St. Joseph Foundation for those who would like to see Governor-Elect Granholm in Michigan placed under interdict for her reported tolerance with regard to the act of butchering innocent children in the womb.

Chuck Wilson is one of most honest people I have ever worked with, and his integrity and orthodoxy is beyond reproach. I support both him and the St. Joseph Foundation, as they render a valuable service to the Church. One of Chuck’s strengths is that he is very open to (and listens to) contrary opinions when controversial issues arise, and thus I feel comfortable voicing my reservations about this initiative which, to be honest, I would love to support if in my opinion the following canonical technicality was not involved.

Basically, from what I recall from canonical tradition, each state making up the United States of America is considered a state under canon law, and not merely some minor political division like a province in Canada. The Governor is thus considered the head of state.

Now canon 1401 specifically states: “The Church has its own an exclusive right to judge: 1* cases which refer to matters which are spiritual or linked to the spiritual; 2* the violation of ecclesiastical laws and whatever contains an element of sin, to determine guilt and impose ecclesiastical penalties.” This is pretty self-explanatory, however, a problem arises when we look at canon 1405 which specifically states: “$1. In the cases mentioned in canon 1401, the Roman Pontiff alone has the right to judge: 1* Heads of State.”

In short, by the time Cardinal Maida could get the canonical machinery going, Granholm will have likely been sworn in as Governor of Michigan. This mean she will be head of state and the Archdiocese of Detroit will lack absolute competency to hear the case, since it would be reserved to the Holy Father alone. I hate it when these types of procedural techinicalities get in the way, but I that’s unfortunately the case. Therefore, albeit a long-shot, it would be best to take this one to Rome from the start.

Divine Doctorate

Below, Rich raises the question about the Doctor of Divinity degree which almost all bishops seem to possess. Hense the initials “D.D.” after their name. As far as I know, within the context of the Catholic Church, this is completely an honorary degree that is given to all bishops sometime between their appointment and episcopal consecration. At least within the Catholic context, I have never come across an earned “Doctor of Divinity” and I don’t know of any Pontifical University that offers a DD programme.

My guess is that besides tradition, there is some sort of connection between the DD and canon 378, par. 1, no. 5 which states: “To be a suitable candidate for the episcopate, a person must: hold a doctorate or at least a licentiate in sacred Scripture, theology or canon law, from an institute of higher studies approved by the Apostolic See, or at least be well versed in these disciplines.”

Traditionally, this hasn’t been as much a problem in Europe, where the state managed the Church’s property, so basically a bishop could be a good Pastor who was educated in the Sacred Sciences. However, in America, with the separation between Church and State, this didn’t lead to the best results because theologians and academics were often poor business managers. So even as early as the 1900’s Rome was complaining that among the American bishops, the skills of a banker were often more important than the skills of a pastor and theologian.