Archbishop: Catholic Governor Must Repudiate her Positions

"...she refrain from presenting herself for reception of the Eucharist until she had acknowledged the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life."

TOPEKA (LifeSiteNews) - Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann has directed Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to refrain from presenting herself for Holy Communion until she takes "the necessary steps for amendment of her life which would include a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion."

The Archbishop made the directive public by writing about his actions in his archdiocesan newspaper The Leaven.

"Having made every effort to inform and to persuade Governor Sebelius and after consultation with Bishop Ron Gilmore (Dodge City), Bishop Paul Coakley (Salina) and Bishop Michael Jackels (Wichita), I wrote the governor last August requesting that she refrain from presenting herself for reception of the Eucharist until she had acknowledged the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession and taken the necessary steps for amendment of her life which would include a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion," he wrote.

He explains his reason for making the directive public as Sebelius went against his directive not to receive Communion. "Recently, it came to my attention that the governor had received holy Communion at one of our parishes," he wrote. "I have written to her again, asking her to respect my previous request and not require from me any additional pastoral actions."

Sebelius is known as an aggressive supporter of radical abortion rights and has vetoed a number of pieces of common-sense legislation over the years that would have reigned in an out-of-control abortion industry in Kansas. As a result, abortion mills remain uninspected in spite of documented substandard conditions, and abortion laws meant to protect women and viable babies remain unenforced.

Sebelius has close ties to abortionist George R. Tiller, who has funneled huge amounts of campaign contributions to Sebelius in the past. Tiller currently faces 19 criminal charges, a grand jury investigation, and two open investigations with the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts for criminal conduct and violations of the standard of care. Nevertheless, Sebelius remains supportive of Tiller and his notorious abortion business.

"We believe evidence exists that shows that Sebelius has strong personal and political ties to Tiller, and has used her political influence to cover up for crimes committed by Tiller and his associates in order to maintain the flow of abortion money into Kansas politics, thus furthering her own political career," commented Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

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"It is because of her policies that three abortionists come to Kansas to commit the latest of late-term abortions from states that prohibit them. It is also because of her policies that women come to Kansas from all over the world for the latest of late-term abortions that are banned elsewhere. These people come to kill viable babies because they know as long as Sebelius is governor that Kansas laws prohibiting post-viability abortions will not be enforced."

"Sebelius stands in open rebellion to the teachings and requests of her Church," said Newman. "We join Archbishop Naumann in calling on Sebelius to repent from her support of abortion, and to amend her life to undo some of the human devastation and tragedy for which her public policies and private cover ups are responsible."

Archbishop Naumann concluded his column stating, "I have not made lightly this request of Governor Sebelius, but only after much prayer and reflection. The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well as many other high profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: 'The church's teaching on abortion is optional!'

I reissue my request of the faithful of the archdiocese to pray for Governor Sebelius. I hope that my request of the governor, not to present herself for holy Communion, will provoke her to reconsider the serious spiritual and moral consequences of her past and present actions. At the same time, I pray this pastoral action on my part will help alert other Catholics to the moral gravity of participating in and/or cooperating with the performance of abortions."

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