Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces recently denied state Senator Joe Cervantes (D) communion because of his track record on life issues. According to Elisa Martinez of the New Mexico Alliance for Life, the senator has voted in favor of assisted suicide and of strong laws supporting abortion.
"He's taken these votes, I think, for the last four or five years that we've tried to introduce just some common sense legislation to protect life, to restore parental involvement," Martinez accounts. "In fact, the latest piece of legislation that this particular senator supported also removed conscience protections for pro-life medical professionals."
Bishop Baldacchino had warned Senator Cervantes and offered to meet with him about it, but Cervantes refused.
Meanwhile in Albuquerque, there is a priest who appears to be on the senator's side.
"We have a priest, Father Chavez, who makes very controversial statements in support of pro-abortion Democrats like Kamala Harris and Joe Biden on his church signage and has persecuted one of his pro-life parishioners because of what he perceived was her involvement with a pro-life protest," Martinez reports.
Chavez has yet to comment on the matter.
Given these two situations, Martinez says Catholic leaders are sending a mixed message on morality to their parishioners, many of whom consider bishops and priests to be role models.
