Basketball Coach Majerus Defiant Toward Archbishop Burke on Abortion and ESCR

From The St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Surprised by the reaction to his pro-choice, pro-embryonic stem cell research comments made Saturday night at a Hillary Clinton political rally, St. Louis University basketball coach Rick Majerus spent part of Wednesday morning on the phone, trying to calm his elderly mother. [ED.: Nice emotional tug by bringing his "elderly mother" into it. How dare Archbishop Burke upset this nice little old lady?]

"She was upset, thinking I was going to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church, and that I would be denied Communion during Mass," [ED.: Well, wouldn't Archbishop Burke be completely justified in taking such action?] Majerus said Wednesday night, in his first public comments over a controversy that included a strong rebuke from St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke. "But she told me to keep doing what I thought was right, just as my parents taught me." [ED.: Hmmmm. Perhaps the "nice little old lady" is as much a dissident as her son.]

This week, Burke said St. Louis University should discipline Majerus for comments he made at the rally. Burke also said he'd deny Majerus holy Communion if the coach did not change his positions on abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

But if Burke is expecting an apology or silence from Majerus, it won't happen. If Burke hopes Majerus will fall in line with the Roman Catholic church's official positions on these two issues, it won't happen.

During an exclusive 90-minute conversation Wednesday, Majerus was civil and respectful in his comments made about Burke. But make no mistake: Majerus is unyielding, and defiant. [ED.: Non serviam!]

"I'm very respectful to the archbishop," Majerus said. "But I rely on my value judgments [ED.: The Church of I and Me], thanks to my education at Marquette, which is a Jesuit institution, just like St. Louis. [ED.: Another ringing endorsement of Jesuit education.] And that Jesuit education led me to believe that I can make a value judgment. And my value judgment happens to differ from the archbishop's.

"I do not speak for the university or the Catholic Church. These are my personal views. And I'm not letting him change my mind. I think religion should be inclusive. I would hope that all people would feel welcome inside a church, and that the church would serve to bring people together, even if they happen to disagree on certain things." [ED.: Oh, what a lovely sentiment. Too bad that mean old Archbishop is set on being so divisive over such a trivial matter as the death of innocents. Can't we all just get along?]

Majerus, in his first season at SLU, has never shied away from political activism. A lifelong Democrat, Majerus said he marched with his late father, a union leader in Milwaukee, at civil rights rallies during the 1960s. Majerus campaigned outside factory gates with Jimmy Carter in 1976. He campaigned for John Kerry in 2004. He's participated in death penalty protests outside prisons. [ED.: Let's see. Supports death for innocent babies, yet opposes it for convicted murderers. Interesting set of priorities Mr. Majerus has. Or perhaps he's just your typical leftist Catholic.]

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(emphasis and editorial commentary added)

My Comments:
It is quite apparent that Mr. Majerus is not a supporter of the Democrats and Hilliary! in spite of their pro-death policies, but rather because of them.

(See Archbishop Chaput's comments on when it is permissible to support a pro-abortion candidate: "Catholics can vote for pro-choice candidates if they vote for them despite—not because of—their pro-choice views." See also Archbishop Chaput's comments on voting one's conscience: "The way we get a healthy conscience is by submitting it and shaping it to God’s will; and the way we find God’s will is by conforming our lives to the counsel and guidance of the Church that Jesus left us. If we find ourselves disagreeing as Catholics with the teaching of the Church on a serious matter, it’s probably not the Church that’s wrong. The problem is much more likely with us.")