A reader sent along this piece of news:

Randall Terry, Operation Rescue Founder, led a delegation of nine pro-life leaders in an unprecedented series of meetings with Vatican officials from March 2-6 in Rome. (Names below.) The reactions ranged from shock to heartfelt agreement.

The purpose was to beg Vatican officials to intervene decisively in the American Catholic Church. Vatican officials were presented with irrefutable evidence that a majority of US bishops refuse to uphold key teachings of the Church.

The entire document — Oves Sine Pastore (Sheep Without a Shepherd) — is at www.humbleplea.com. The complete list of requests at tab 5.

Mr. Terry States:

“Our first request was that the Holy See relocate Archbishop Donald Wuerl (D.C.)[seen on the left] and Bishop Paul Loverde (Arlington V.A.), and to replace them with bishops who will uphold the laws of the Church — namely, bishops who refuse to serve Communion to any politician who supports the killing of children by abortion.

“Recent headlines proved our point. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, Kansas, recently excommunicated Governor Kathleen Sebelius. President Obama selected her to head Health and Human Services, where she will promote abortion. When she comes to DC, Archbishop Naumann will be scoffed at, she will receive Communion with Archbishop Wuerl’s or Bishop Loverde’s tacit approval, and American Catholics will descend further into scandal and confusion.

“If these two bishops are relocated, and Bishops of the caliber of Naumann are put in the D.C. area dioceses — which are watched by the whole world — it will show all humanity that the Holy See is serious about defending innocent life, and that the Eucharist is not to be profaned or scandalized. It will also tell all U.S. Bishops that the days of fear, equivocation, and outright disobedience are coming to an end.”

You can read more at the link.

This strikes me as a bad idea on a number of levels. As has been noted many times (often from people who are sharply critical of similar efforts by groups like Voice of the Faithful or SNAP): the church is not a democracy. (The people behind another move — a petition to excommunicate Nancy Pelosi — would do well to remember that.)

Among other things, this effort by Randall Terry and company also infers that the people’s judgment on this is better than the pope’s.

It seems to me that Rome has spoken on this issue already, and left the decision about communion in the hands of the local ordinary. I don’t see that changing any time soon.