The trial of abortion provider Kermit Gosnell has dominated pro-life news headlines. The seventy-two year-old Gosnell was the owner and only licensed doctor at the Women’s Medical Society in Philadelphia’s poor Mantua neighborhood. Prosecutors allege that Gosnell killed seven babies who were delivered alive as part of a late-term abortion procedure, by snipping their spinal cords with scissors after delivery or directing his workers to do so. A worker at Gosnell’s clinic, Stephen Massof, testified: “It was literally a beheading.” Gosnell is charged with capital murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.
A recent statement by Archbishop Alan Vigneron of Detroit has also been in the news. On April 7, Archbishop Vigneron told the Detroit Free Press that Catholics in office who publicly support gay marriage and yet receive Communion “contradict themselves” and “bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.” The statement’s pro-life implication became clear, when, two days later, a spokesman for the Archbishop wrote in an email to CNN: “If a Catholic publicly opposes the church on a serious matter of the church’s teaching, any serious matter—for example, whether it be a rejection of the divinity of Christ, racist beliefs, support for abortion or support for redefining marriage—that would contradict the public affirmation they would make of the church’s beliefs by receiving Communion.” This dilemma has ramifications for the Knights of Columbus. Unless the bishop bars him from receiving Communion, the expulsion of a politician-Knight who publicly supports intrinsic evils, such as abortion, is forbidden by Supreme Council.
In local pro-life news, Sacramento 40 Days for Life pioneer Wynette Sills was featured in the April 29 webcast of the national 40 Days for Life, where she was happy to tell of the recent, unexpected closure of a nearby late-term abortion business.
Vivat Jesus!
Bill James
Culture of Life Director