Francis Effect And Seattle Metropolitan See - Out With Faithful Catholics, In With Baby Killers

The two incidents on which I'll speak below would seem unrelated to each other on the surface but for two things:

1. They both occurred within the metropolitan see of Seattle (Washington) AND
2. They closely resemble two recent actions by Pope Francis.

Because this is a very long post, I'm placing a jump break here.  So...




Let's look at the two incidents.  The first one involves Seattle University, a Jesuit Catholic institute.  Of course, these days "Jesuit Catholic" is an oxymoron, but I digress.  The nursing school there is hosting an event called "Catholicism and Full Spectrum Reproductive Health Care: One Provider's Perspective".  So nursing students at an ostensibly Catholic school are going to sit through a lecture by a "provider".  The "provider", Dr. Pentlicky, happens to be a Planned Parenthood abortionist.  In other words a murderer of babies is being honored at a Catholic school precisely because she is a baby-killer.  Please check out the page from Students for Life.  They show a flyer advertising the event, with a blasphemous picture of a Rosary; the crucifix has been removed and in its place is an IUD.  At the time I am writing this on the east coast, the screed will be starting in two hours.  That's not enough time for me to suggest action, although Students for Life did; I hope many good people rose to the occasion.

Now let's look at the second incident.  This happened in the Diocese of Yakima, Washington.  Again, this lies within the Seattle metropolitan see.  A pro-life organization called Image Point Mobile Medical Services was conducting a fundraising dinner to raise money for another mobile unit to provide ultrasounds and counseling in front of abortion mills.  They retained Laura Ingraham, a faithful Catholic and rather well-known radio hostess, to be the keynote speaker.  Image Point is not affiliated with the diocese and thus is not under their control.  Ingraham has been an opponent of the push for amnesty for illegal immigrants: a stance in opposition to that of many progressive bishops and of the USCCB.  It should be borne in mind that many dioceses have received federal grants via Catholic Charities to facilitate influx of illegal immigration.  Bishop Tyson of that diocese sent out directions to his parishes ordering them not to advertise this fundraiser on account of Ingraham's opposition to the USCCB pet-project.

Consider that within the same metropolitan see, we have on one hand a faithful Catholic being given the "back of the hand" by a bishop because of her stance on illegal immigration.  By no means can she be considered a dissident since good Catholics can disagree on these matters of prudential judgment.  Some have opined that this move is just as much an attack on Image Point for not putting themselves under the control of the diocese as much as it is an insult to Ingraham.  It should be noted that this is not the first time that Tyson has attacked pro-life efforts.  See this account for his various affronts, including barring 40 Days for Life from his parishes.

On the other hand - within that same metropolitan see - a woman who murders babies for a living is being given a Catholic audience and is held up for public esteem at a Catholic school versus a pro-life Catholic who is insulted because she does not tow a progressive party line of the USCCB.  Does the Archdiocese of Seattle have its priorities exactly ass-backwards or what?

Now let's address the similarities of these Washington-state incidents with those recently perpetrated by Pope Francis.  We'll address the second one, the maltreatment meted out to Laura Ingraham first.   Please recall the plane interview of six days ago, when Pope Francis said of Donald Trump that Trump, owing to his opposition to illegal immigration, is not Christian.  I'm sure the progressive bishops - some of them who are seeing the coffers of their Catholic Charities offices grow because of illegal immigration - are just glomming onto his actions.  Might that be some impetus behind Bishop Tyson's boorish actions against Ingraham?  It's hard to say since his previous animosity to pro-life endeavors predate this current papacy.

The similarity to the first incident is much more sickening, since it has come to light that Pope Francis openly praised a notorious Italian abortionist, Emma Bonino.  This happened on Feb 6.  When challenged on his praise for her, he said, "we have to look at people, at what they do."  It seems he didn't heed his own advice.  Bonino committed over 10,000 abortions in 1975 alone.  That's 40 years ago; how many more babies did she murder between now and then?  And yet the pope says that she "is among the greatest names in Italy today"?

Below I'll post from Gloria TV about this Bonino incident.  Before I do so, I'd suggest we consider just how this "Francis effect" is lowering the bar for what can be considered behavior worthy of the One True Church established by Jesus Christ.  To my friends who insist on denying that real problems exist with this papacy, please consider that we must have our eyes wide open to pray intelligently for our church and to mitigate the harm done by these and future scandals.