Addressing the topic of confronting pro-abortion Catholic politicians:
Asked what lay people can do in the face of Catholic politicians who are ‘clearly, directly contradicting the faith’, Cardinal Pell said that ‘if they’re very significant issues, I think the lay people should tell the politicians that they’re disappointed, and do it regularly, consistently and reasonably, not with hostility or a lack of charity.’
He says that if Catholic politicians contravene Church teachings on a number of ‘really significant issues’, he would have to ask: ‘to what extent they are straight up and down the line Catholics, and to what extent they remain Catholic.’
‘I mean,’ he said, ‘if they call themselves Catholics and on every significant public issue they don’t line up with us, well at the very minimum I think they should go quiet on the Catholic labelling.’
People often forget that part of dialouge actually involves initiating the discussion. A charitable intent that never matures into dialouge can often be worse than a dialouge that evolves into a charitable understanding.
The heart of ecumenism, I think. Well said.