Cardinal Edward Egan steps up, rebukes Giuliani's reception of Eucharist

• Statement by Cardinal Edward M. Egan, Archdiocese of New York City:

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 28, 2008
  

  The following is a statement issued by Edward Cardinal Egan:
  

  “ The Catholic Church clearly teaches that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God. Throughout my years as Archbishop of New York, I have repeated this teaching in sermons, articles, addresses, and interviews without hesitation or compromise of any kind. Thus it was that I had an understanding with Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, when I became Archbishop of New York and he was serving as Mayor of New York, that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion. I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the Papal visit here in New York, and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding.”

  
  
• Roundup of news and commentary at American Papist (Thomas Peters).
  

• Readers might remember that back in gave an interview with NBC, in which -- asked about his opinions of the presidential candidates, declined to weigh in on their "pro-choice" stance:

  I'm not looking to involve myself in any political issues that are not moral issues, basically. For instance, I think that you can consider the abortion issue a political issue, but it's basically an issue of right and wrong. And I've certainly spoken on that very clearly. ... don't ever expect me to be involved in partisan politics. I think I'm a good friend of [Pataki, Giuliani, Hillary], whom you've mentioned or whom I've mentioned. And I wish them all the best, and they've been very good to us."

  An "artful dodge" which prompted Fr. Neuhaus to respond:

  of course he was making a statement of momentous political consequence, in that he seemed to be saying, as far as he is concerned, that the Church has no problem with pro-abortion politicians. It is understandable that Catholics and others have drawn the conclusion that, for both Wuerl and Egan, bishops of the two most prominent sees in the country, rejecting the Church’s teaching on the human dignity of the unborn child is not a big deal.
  

  Note that the politicians in question in these instances are not struggling with the moral questions involved or trying to reconcile their position with the Church’s teaching. At least there is no public evidence of such struggle, nor any suggestion by the bishops that their longstanding and adamant support for the unlimited abortion license should be a matter of concern.

  Perhaps this can be taken as evidence that Egan is finally recognizing that -- when a prominent Catholic politician proclaims himself to be "pro-choice, pro-gay rights" in clear defiance of Church teaching, while relegating his faith to "a private matter" -- one cannot so easily separate proclamation of moral teaching from "partisan politics."