Christ among the Doctors of the Law



Friday, January 25, 2008


I'm not making this up.


Majerus boasts a long career in lefty politics going back to the 1960s, so maybe that's why he apparently never noticed that the Second Vatican Council, in its only display of anger, denounced abortion as an "unspeakable crime" (GS 51). An unspeakable crime, folks, for which Catholics are liable to excommunication (1983 CIC 1398), which St. Louis University official Rick Majerus publically and repeatedly supports.


And if Majerus thinks that the Post-Dispatch is on his side, he should think again. News reporter Bernie Miklasz opined "If Burke is expecting an apology or silence from Majerus, it won't happen" and "If Burke hopes Majerus will fall in line with the Roman Catholic church's official positions on these two issues, it won't happen." That's not reporting news, that's fanning the flames of conflict. The secular press loves to play "Let's you and him fight", especially when the 'him' is a faithful Catholic bishop. Majerus is walking right into it.

I'm going to assume that Majerus knows even less about canon law than he apparently does about Church teaching, constitutional law, and media management, and offer the following thoughts.

Update: Culling a variety of sources, it appears that Abp. Burke has said that he is prepared to withhold Communion from Majerus. Denial of Communion is not a sign that the archbishop doesn't like Majerus or that he disagrees with his political views. Rather, it would be a determination by a highly-educated, deeply-dedicated successor to the apostles of Jesus Christ that the coach's conduct is tantamount to obstinate perseverance in manifest grave sin per 1983 CIC 915. Such a serious situation would require immediate attention.

Moreover, Majerus had better not provoke Abp. Burke into ordering him by penal precept (1983 CIC 1319) to retract his public support for experimenting on and killing pre-born human beings. Should Majerus receive and refuse such a precept, sanctions up to and including formal excommunication are possible against the St. Louis University official. A busload of First Amendment citations won't protect Majerus against that kind of canonical sanction.


Majerus still has time to get out of this mess, but probably not much time. Abp. Burke has considerably more experience defending Church teaching and enforcing ecclesiastical discipline than Majerus has experience dealing with principled stands by conscientious bishops. The last thing a SLU basketball coach should want is a certified letter from a determined archbishop whose office is just six blocks west of SLU's campus.

So I wonder, how far will things have to go before Majerus admits that maybe, just maybe, a 2,000-year-old Church founded by Jesus Christ knows more about the dignity of innocent human life than does Hillary Clinton?

How far? Only Majerus knows.

Edward Peters
SLU Class of 1979