YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (ChurchMilitant.com) – An Ohio prelate is warning his priests not to preach from the pulpit about government health mandates or abortion-tainted vaccines.
Bp. David Bonnar
Bishop David Bonnar of the diocese of Youngstown, Ohio issued a letter Wednesday cautioning pastors about preaching politics to their flocks. In the letter, Bp. Bonnar threatens to strip his monsignors, priests and deacons of their ability to preach if they disobey.
“I want to state unequivocally that I will no longer condone abuses in this area,” wrote the bishop. He continued: “If I am made aware that any clergy is using the pulpit to promote political opinions and denouncing current Church teaching, I will have no other recourse than to revoke their faculty to preach.”
Elsewhere in the letter, he used the phrase “current Church teaching” to describe the hierarchy’s pro-vax posturing.
The bishop decried “harsh political rhetoric” present in the culture and praised “the unifying aspect of preaching,” echoing Pope Francis. Bishop Bonnar urged his pastors not to use sacred texts for their own advantage, quoting Pope Francis: “Never forget that sometimes ‘even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11:14).”
Jab Jabberwocky
After warning priests not to preach about government health mandates or COVID jabs, Bp. Bonnar proceeded to “strongly encourage” his clerics to get jabbed. The letter pointed out many prelates — along with the pontiff — are shilling abortion-tainted jabs.
“I want to remind you that the Holy Father, the USCCB and the Ohio bishops have endorsed the vaccines for the common good,” touted Bonnar, continuing, “our Holy Father noted that the vaccine is a moral obligation for Catholics.”
However, the Vatican’s doctrinal office disagrees with the statement, as do many bishops around the world.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document in December 2020 clarifying that getting vaccinated “is not, as a rule, a moral obligation” and “must be voluntary.” The Congregation further called it a “moral imperative” for the pharmaceutical industry, governments and international organizations to provide ethical vaccines for those opposed to the evil of abortion.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former apostolic nuncio to the United States, has been a vocal critic of experimental jabs and the global effort to force them on Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, also opposes the use of abortion-tainted jabs. Bishop Schneider insists there should be no participation with abortion and its deadly industry.
(L to R) Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò, Bp. Athanasius Schneider
and Bp. Joseph Strickland
Bishop Strickland of the diocese of Tyler, Texas, has also publicly decried attempts — in and out of the Church — to force jabs on Americans.
Bishops in Colorado even provided a religious exemption form for Catholics to download and use if they oppose COVID shots connected with aborted fetal cells.
Causing Division
While pushing the experimental jabs in Wednesday’s letter, Bp. Bonnar also addressed “deep polarization” within our nation, families and Church. He again quoted Pope Francis: “The preacher has the wonderful but difficult task of joining loving hearts.”
“As preachers, it is incumbent upon us to prayerfully prepare our homilies,” writes Bp. Bonnar, “and to deliver them in a way that we build up the Church and not divide it.”
Pope Francis, while condemning division among Catholics, recently penned the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, a document critics note has caused great division among the faithful. The pontiff’s motu proprio, along with subsequent clarifications from the Vatican, has empowered progressive prelates across the globe to limit or ban the Traditional Latin Mass — and even sacraments offered in the Extraordinary Form.
Critics point out this liturgical aggression is tearing apart thriving communities centered around traditional parishes, often filled with young Catholic families. Chicago’s Cdl. Blase Cupich, who publicly received an abortion-tainted COVID jab, has banned the Tridentine form of the Mass in his archdiocese.
Cupich even went further and stopped priests from celebrating Mass ad orientem, or facing East towards the sunrise, an ancient tradition symbolizing hope in the resurrection and Christ’s — the Son’s — second coming. It began in the early Church as facing literal east, but the term is often used today to refer to the priest facing the same direction as the people.