Archbishop McKnight’s Betrayal of Life

Well, isn’t this a swell spot we are in, here in the Kansas City of Kansas Archdiocese. We have Emeritus Archbishop Naumann stating on cards stuck on our cars after Mass that he IS voting YES on the direct election of our Kansas State Supreme Court Justices while the new guy on the block, Archbishop McKnight, in a most cowardly and disingenuous manner posted on Facebook that “the Church does not take a position on the outcome of this ballot measure” (please read, Archbishop McKnight – not the Church – “does not take a position on the outcome of this ballot measure”).

Remember in the Hodes & Nauser, MDs v. Derek Schmidt 2019 decision, our Kansas State Supreme Court, legislating from the bench, found that “Section 1 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights, which states that “all men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” protects a woman’s right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy.” Yep, that’s right our Kansas forefathers in our 1861 State Constitution gave women the right to kill their unborn babies, according to our activist Kansas State Supreme Court Justices.

So, since Archbishop McKnight is not supporting the direct election of our State Supreme Court Justices, I checked the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion. It remains the same from when I last read the Catholic Church’s stand on LIFE in our Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition promulgated by Pope John Paul II, now St. John Paul II (Archbishop McKnight should not argue with a saint) which states:

2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.⁷⁴ God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.⁷⁵

2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,”⁷⁶ “by the very commission of the offense,”⁷⁷ and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.⁷⁸ The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she (the Church, my emphasis) makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

2273 The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

“The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being’s right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death.”⁷⁹

Hmmm, seems to me the Church is EXTREMELY CLEAR that life is sacred, life is to be protected and you are not to participate in any manner in abortions. However, here we are with the Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas “cooperating” with Planned Parenthood by announcing that “the Church” meaning his personal opinion – that should be grounds for him getting thrown out on his ear – “does not take a position on the outcome of this ballot measure”.

As I have traveled 48,000 miles crisscrossing Kansas, I have told people that they have 19,811 reasons (the number of babies lost in Kanas to abortion in 2024) to VOTE YES. The Church has 19,811 reasons to BOLDY and PROUDLY stand with life and support the direct election of our Kansas State Supreme Court Justices.

Bishop McKnight, please get a copy of Dante’s Inferno, read it, seriously.  It might save you from an eternity opposite of Heaven.

Back to you, my readers: Let’s keep our shoulder to the wheel. Despite not having Archbishop McKnight’s support, we must get the direct election of our State Supreme Court Constitutional Amendment across the finish line. Tell everyone you know or you see to please vote next Tuesday, August 4th YES!! We each have 19,811 reasons to VOTE YES!!!

God Bless,

Charlotte O’Hara
Republican for Kansas Governor, 2026