In the wake of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s radical proposals on reproductive health—which I preached about here—some people have started to say: “Enough.”  A few are even calling for his formal excommunication:

The governor and his legislative lemmings just passed a draconian gun control bill designed to protect the children of New York. Almost in the same breath, the same governor, wants to enact legislation that will kill more children every day in the state of New York than were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

 

Where is the priest of his parish? Where is the Bishop of his diocese? This man should be excommunicated from the church. The Church is complicit in the guilt of this man and other Church members who will vote with him on this bloody law.

Personally, I can’t remember the last time a prominent American was formally excommunicated from the Catholic Church — with the notable exceptions of Ray Bourgeois and Sister Margaret McBride, who were religious figures, not secular. (Sister McBride later reconciled with the Church.)  To the best of my knowledge, a Roman Catholic political figure — Senator, Governor, Congressman — has never been formally and publicly excommunicated for advocating laws in support of abortion.  (If you’re curious, you can find a list of some significant excommunications here.)  And, it turns out, the issue of excommunication and abortion is more complicated than most people realize.

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