Most Reverend Bishop Daniel Jenky, C.S.C.
Bishop of Peoria, Illinois
On April 14, 2012, Bishop Daniel Jenky, Archdiocese of Peoria, Illinois, reflecting on the day’s gospel depicting Christ’s command to his followers, to "[g]o into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature," called on Catholics everywhere to follow that mandate, by voting their Catholic consciences this November:
“Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services, and health care. In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama — with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.
This fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic conscience or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public ministries …could easily be shut down….This is not a war where any believing Catholic may remain neutral,” said Bishop Jenky, “because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever cooperate with the intrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in the womb.”
Read Bishop Jenky’s entire homily.
Perhaps sensing the danger, the Left continues to mobilize. Leading the charge against Bishop Jenky was the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which filed a frivolous complaint with the Internal Revenue Service complaining that Bishop Jenky violated federal law by delivering such remarks to his congregation. The complaint calls for the IRS to conduct a full investigation reprimanding Bishop Jenky for speaking out against the Obama Administration’s attacks on religious liberty.
Read the complaint here.
Next, reported the Huffington Post, certain faculty members of Notre Dame University signed an open letter to the president of Notre Dame, Fr. John I. Jenkins, chastising Bishop Jenky for his “incendiary” homily. The letter demands Bishop Jenky resign from the University’s Governing Board of Fellows if he is unwilling “to renounce loudly and publicly” his homily!
Read the Notre Dame faculty letter here.
“Americans United for Separation of Church and State has a long history of anti-Catholic bigotry, extending back to its founding in the 1960’s when it opposed President John F. Kennedy’s candidacy on the basis of his professed Roman Catholic religious faith. This latest IRS complaint is a transparent ploy to intimidate into silence Catholic leaders with whose preaching, no matter how authentically Catholic, it disagrees.” said Peter Breen, Executive Director of Chicago’s Thomas More Society. “Faith leaders not only have a constitutional right to speak out against the current attacks on their religious freedom; they also have a conscientious obligation to do so. Government is crossing the line, not pastors and bishops.”
Read Thomas More Society’s entire press release.
Dear Bishop Jenky,I commend and thank you for courageously speaking out against the radical pro-abortion and anti-religious extremists who are viciously attacking our right to live our lives faithfully in accord with our religious convictions. I support you – and all religious leaders – who refuse to be silenced while our constitutional freedom of religion is under attack. With your guidance and leadership we will together fend off these religious assaults. I will stand with you, by voting my Catholic conscience this November.
Signed:
© 2012 Thomas More Society. All Rights Reserved.
Sign petition here: https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/istandwithbishopjenky/
