What Anthony Weiner can teach us

After a rather lengthy absence from blogging — between my personal life and my work, including a coding binge during April so that I could take a nearly three-week vacation in May (including two glorious weeks in England... post coming on that later) — I'm back on the scene.

By now you have heard of Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY-D) and "Weinergate".  Long story short: congressman has sexually explicit conversations with several women online and on the phone, and accidentally sends a woman an inappropriate picture via a public tweet.  (He meant it to be a direct message, a private tweet.)  In a panic, he began concocting a fable that his Twitter account was hacked, and that he was the victim of some hoax or prank.  Yesterday, he set the record straight and took responsibility for his actions; he was visibly distressed during his public apology, which appeared heartfelt.

What can we learn from this?  What can be gained by looking at this little (?) scandal from a Catholic perspective?  A little foray into the Catechism of the Catholic Church (II.2.2.4 — The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, specifically nn. 1451-1454) sheds light on the matter.

When it comes to sin and reconciliation, Catholic theology calls the sinner's first step towards reconciliation contrition.  The Catechism defines it as "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again." (CCC 1451)  The Catechism goes further and distinguishes between two kinds of contrition:  imperfect and perfect.

Imperfect contrition is what we express when we consider the ugliness of sin or, more likely (I think), the eternal ramifications that our sins have on our own selves.  Yes, I'm talking about "the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner." (CCC 1453)  This imperfect contrition (also called attrition) is a contrition which grows out of fear.  This sort of contrition is not the ideal, but it is still a gift of God, a movement of the Holy Spirit within us:  it is sufficient for our honest entreaty to God for pardon and forgiveness, which is brought to completion in sacramental confession.  Imperfect contrition is infinitely and eternally better than no contrition!

The ideal, however, is perfect contrition.  While imperfect contrition is derived from fear of Hell, perfect contrition is derived from love of God, "a love by which God is loved above all else." (CCC 1452)  Instead of thinking of ourselves and the mess we've gotten into, we think of God and how, by sinning, we have offended Him, Who is "all good and deserving of all [our] love", as one popular Act of Contrition puts it.  This contrition moves us to be sorry for our sins out of our love for such a great and merciful God, a God Who endured the Passion and Crucifixion for us, because of our sins.

So what does this have to do with Rep. Weiner, the scandal, and the public apology?

If we take Rep. Weiner at his word, he is "deeply sorry" for the "terrible mistakes" he had made.  He is aware of "the pain this has caused" his wife, family, constituents, friends, supporters, and staff.  (Realize that his staff was told to lie about the situation — whether they knew it or not, they were spreading mistruths by advancing the "hacking" fable.)  He admits to not telling the truth and to doing things he "deeply regret[s]", and he apologizes for it.  He is "deeply ashamed of [his] terrible judgment and actions."  One would hope he will not make this errors in judgment in the future; that is, that he has a "firm purpose of amendment."  (He did not make this clear in his statement.)

Rep. Weiner is showing contrition for his sins, even if he didn't say it that way.  But let us consider why he is contrite:  due to a small accident of his keyboard, his actions were suddenly made public, brought to light.  I'm sure he would have preferred no one else ever knew about these things.  But because his conduct is becoming public knowledge, he feels remorse for what he has done.  I think we could consider that "imperfect contrition".  Who knows if he would have ever been moved to contrition if that inappropriate picture had been privately (rather than publicly) transmitted?

But let us not find ourselves in Anthony's situation of having a private mess made public, compounding our sin with more sin (such as lying), compelling us to come clean.  We should not wait for imperfect contrition, for a soul-shuddering fear of Hell to move us to ask God for pardon.  We must want to love God more fully so that our fear diminishes — as St. John so eloquently wrote in 1 John 4:18, perfect love casts out fear.  Let us learn from Anthony's mistakes, and our own, and approach the throne of grace and mercy, not looking over the precipice to the depths below, but looking ahead and up at our loving Father.  May we receive the grace to be truly and perfectly contrite for our sins.

Pope Benedict and the New York Times

Fr. Raymond de Souza takes on the New York Times with an excellent bit of work which could be called research and reporting.

H/T: Servant and Steward

News on Haiti

Archbishop of Port-au-Prince dies in earthquake (Catholic Spirit)

Donate now through Catholic Relief Services.

Fr. John Corapi comes to New Jersey in 2010

Breaking news from WFJS 1260 AM, New Jersey's only Catholic radio station:

Fr. John Corapi will be making only five public speaking appearances in 2010, God-willing, and one of those appearances will be in New Jersey!  Fr. Corapi will be at Prudential Center in Newark for an all-day conference on Saturday, October 30, 2010.

USCCB emails every parish about Health Care & Abortion

For more details, click here.

From: Tom Grenchik, Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities
To: Diocesan Pro-Life Directors & State Catholic Conference Director

Re: URGENT: Nationwide USCCB Bulletin Insert on Health Care Reform

Attached [see below], please find an Urgent Memorandum highlighting USCCB plans and requests for diocesan and parish based activation on health care reform.

The President of the Conference and the Chairmen of the three major USCCB committees engaged in health care reform have written all the bishops and asked that the attached USCCB Nationwide Bulletin Insert (PDF) on health care reform be printed or hand-stuffed in every parish bulletin and/or distributed in pews or at church entrances as soon as possible.

Congressional votes may take place as soon as early November. If your Arch/bishop is not in agreement with disseminating the bulletin insert, you will be hearing from his office immediately. You may wish to check with his office ASAP to see how you may be of assistance in distributing the Bulletin Insert, far and wide.

Tomorrow, the USCCB will be e-mailing these same materials to a large number of parishes across the country, already on a USCCB contact list. The parish list is incomplete, so we will still have to rely on diocesan e-mail systems to reach EVERY parish. Thank you for your great help with this.

Also included are suggested Pulpit Announcements and a Prayer Petition. (MS Word)

There is also a copy of a newly-released ad for the Catholic press (PDF), which may be printed as flyers for the vestibule or copied on the flip-side of the Bulletin Insert. The flyer/ad directs readers to www.usccb.org/action where they may send their pre-written e-mails to Congress through NCHLA’s Grassroots Action Center. If you wish to sponsor the ad in your local Catholic paper and need a different size, please contact Deirdre McQuade at dmcquade@usccb.org.

Please encourage parishioners to pray for this effort as well. More information can be found at www.usccb.org/healthcare.

Thank you for your urgent actions and prayers on behalf of this nationwide effort!

Penn and Teller talk "Bull****" about the Vatican

That's the name of their show, Bull****.  And in their August 27th episode on the Vatican, that's what they dished out.  14 lies refuted at TheMediaReport.com.

My thoughts on the Kennedy funeral

Update (9/5): My comment was approved on Cardinal Seán's blog.

I'm going to keep this short and to the point.  We owe it to Ted Kennedy to pray for his soul; it's the least we would ask anyone else to do for us.  We can hope that he repented of his support of abortion (among other things) at his last confession, but we will never know that, because of the seal of confession.

What we do know with certainty is that he did not publicly recant the positions he held on issues that were not consonant with the Catholic faith.  I dare say that it would have been utterly disastrous for the pro-choice movement if he had done so:  the "liberal lion" ending up to be a turncoat (although, in honesty, he would be a return-coat, coming back to the pro-life stance he held earlier in life).

Maybe he wanted to publicly recant, but did not get the opportunity to do so.  But what causes me sorrow is to know of the "lost opportunity" of his public repudiation of abortion.  It makes me second-guess (to my deep sorrow) whether he was truly repentant on the matter, whether he confessed it with true contrition, if he confessed it at all.  This, among other things, has resulted in a scandal surrounding the highly-publicized funeral Mass.

Cincinnati Enquirer polls on women's ordination

Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk has banned Sister Louise Akers from teaching in the diocese because of her support for the ordination of women in the Catholic Church.  The simple summary of the article is this quote:

"The principle here is that someone who is teaching in the name of the church should be in accord with the teachings of the church," said archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco.

What the article doesn't get across clearly enough is that the ordination of women is an impossibility in the Catholic Church; instead, it polls its readership with the question "Should the Church allow women to be ordained as priests?"  Regardless of whether a person thinks the Church should allow women to be ordained, the Church simply cannot.

Please take a minute to take the poll and let Cincinnati know that the Church shouldn't try to do something she can't.

News: Sudanese Bishop warns faithful about the "Reformed Catholic Church"

Update: To be clear, the "Reformed Catholic Church" is a church with purports to have valid apostolic orders and a valid Eucharist; however, they ordain men and women. They are a denomination or ancestor of the "Old Catholic Church" (which broke off from the Catholic Church after Vatican I in the late 19th century). They have some of the Catholic faith, and some of their sacraments may be valid, but they are not in communion with the Catholic Church, because they do not recognize the primacy of the successor of Peter (the Pope, the Bishop of Rome). It is a grave sin for a Catholic to receive Communion in such a church.

Here are some excerpts from a ZENIT article. In a pastoral letter to his flock, Bishop Cesare Mazzolari of Rumbek, Sudan, warned the faithful about the breakaway sect calling itself the "Reformed Catholic Church":

"I am clearly and strongly alerting you, dear Christians, that people who call themselves The Reformed Catholic Church, in all truth, are no longer acceptable members of the Catholic Church and you should not follow them. ... These teachers are merely imitating the external ceremonies of the Church and some of its practices, but theirs is a false religion, not the Catholic faith that we know."

...

Followers of the Reformed Catholic Church are "perfect copy cats," Bishop Mazzolari warned, imitating prayers, readings, and external ceremonies so that "simple people" think they are attending a Catholic Mass. He continued: "Be advised that these are false practices, not Catholic practices. Do not attend such services or you will only become confused."

Read the whole article.

More interesting news about St. Paul

This time by way of Father Z's excellent blog, What Does the Prayer Really Say?

"We are gathered at the tomb of the apostle, whose sarcophagus, kept under the papal altar, was recently made the object of a careful scientific analysis. A tiny perforation was made in the sarcophagus, which had not been opened for many centuries, for a special probe that picked up traces of a valuable linen cloth dyed purple, laminated with pure gold and a blue-colored cloth with linen thread. It also detected grains of red incense and of substances containing protein and calcium. Moreover, very tiny fragments of bone, subjected to Carbon-14 dating by experts who were unaware of their origin, were determined to belong to a person who lived between the first and second centuries. This seems to confirm the unanimous and unopposed tradition that these are the mortal remains of the apostle Paul."

So for Paul, too – as also for the apostle Peter, whose tomb has already been identified with certainty beneath the main altar of the basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican – there is important confirmation that he is buried precisely where he has always been venerated: under the main altar of the Roman basilica dedicated to him. [Time and again, we see how modern science confirms what the ancients said.]

...

The archaeologists Fabrizio Bisconti and Barbara Mazzei provided all of the details of the discovery [of the fresco of St. Paul] in two extensive accounts in the newspaper of the Holy See. But one element is more striking than all the rest. And it concerns the reasons that led to depicting the apostle Paul as we see him in this fresco, and then in so many others that followed: with the appearance of a pensive philosopher, with the penetrating expression, the high forehead, the incipient baldness, the pointed beard.

...

Here is the evocative explanation given by Professor Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums and a great art historian, in presenting the exhibition on St. Paul:

"The problem was posed between the third and fourth centuries, when a Church that had become widespread and well structured made the great and brilliant wager that is at the basis of our entire artistic history. [very cool] It accepted and made its own the world of images, and accepted it in the forms in which the Greco-Roman stylistic and iconographic traditions had developed it. It was in this way is that Christ the Good Shepherd took on the appearance of Pheobus Apollo or Orpheus, and that Daniel in the lion’s den had the appearance of Hercules, the victorious nude athlete.

"But how could one represent Peter and Paul, the princes of the apostles, the pillars of the Church, the foundations of the hierarchy and doctrine? Someone got a good idea. He gave the first apostles the appearance of the first philosophers. So Paul, bald, bearded, with the serious and focused air of the intellectual, had the appearance of Plato or perhaps of Plotinus, while that of Aristotle was given to the pragmatic and worldly Peter, who has the task of guiding the professing and militant Church through the snares of the world."

If this is what happened, then the Church in the early centuries had no reservations about attributing to the apostles, and to Paul in particular, the title of philosopher, nor of handing down, studying, and proclaiming in its entirety his thought, which is certainly not easy to understand and accept.

...

The depiction of Paul the philosopher is an eloquent warning to those who today deny relevance to a pope theologian like Benedict XVI, a modern Father of the Church.

[Read more]

Abortion incentives: no cost!

A Philadelphia abortion clinic "honors" the murdered late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller by giving away abortions on Tuesday, from morning to the early afternoon. Disgusting.

How many women weighing abortion or no abortion decided to kill their unborn child simply because of the $0 price tag? Disgraceful.

Please, please pray for the souls of all involved: abortion-providers, abortion-enablers, abortion-supporters, abortion-recipients, and abortion's helpless victims.

Statement from Fr. Cutié's (former) Archbishop

Here is a strong pastoral statement from Archbishop Favalora of Miami, Florida.

STATEMENT
from John C. Favalora, Archbishop of Miami, about
Father Alberto Cutié's separation from the Roman Catholic Church.

Miami • May 28, 2009

I am genuinely disappointed by the announcement made earlier this afternoon by Father Alberto Cutié that he is joining the Episcopal Church.

According to our canon law, with this very act Father Cutié is separating himself from the communion of the Roman Catholic Church (c. 1364, §1) by professing erroneous faith and morals, and refusing submission to the Holy Father (canon 751). He also is irregular for the exercise of sacred orders as a priest (canons 1041 and 1044, §1) and no longer has the faculties of the Archdiocese of Miami to celebrate the sacraments; nor may he preach or teach on Catholic faith and morals (cannon 1336, §1). His actions could lead to his dismissal from the clerical state.

This means that Father Cutié is removing himself from full communion with the Catholic Church and thereby forfeiting his rights as a cleric. Roman Catholics should not request the sacraments from Father Cuité. Any sacramental actions he attempts to perform would be illicit. Any Mass he says would be valid but illicit, meaning it does not meet a Catholic’s obligation. Father Cutié cannot validly officiate at marriages of Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of Miami or anywhere.

Father Cutié is still bound by his promise to live a celibate life, which he freely embraced at ordination. Only the Holy Father can release him from that obligation.

To the Catholic faithful of Saint Francis de Sales Parish, Radio Paz and the entire Archdiocese of Miami, I again say that Father Cutié’s actions cannot be justified, despite his good works as a priest (statement of May 5, 2009). This is all the more true in light of today’s announcement. Father Cutié may have abandoned the Catholic Church; he may have abandoned you. But I tell you that the Catholic Church will never abandon you; the Archdiocese of Miami is here for you.

Father Cutié’s actions have caused grave scandal within the Catholic Church, harmed the Archdiocese of Miami − especially our priests – and led to division within the ecumenical community and the community at large. Today’s announcement only deepens those wounds.

When Father Cutié met with me on May 5th, he requested and I granted a leave of absence from the exercise of the priesthood. Because of this, he could no longer be the administrator of St Francis de Sales Parish or the General Director of Radio Paz. For the good of the Church and to avoid the media frenzy, I chose not to impose publicly an ecclesiastical penalty, although his admitted actions clearly warranted it. Since that meeting, I have not heard from Father Cutié nor has he requested to meet with me. He has never told me that he was considering joining the Episcopal Church.

I must also express my sincere disappointment with how Bishop Leo Frade of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida has handled this situation. Bishop Frade has never spoken to me about his position on this delicate matter or what actions he was contemplating. I have only heard from him through the local media. This truly is a serious setback for ecumenical relations and cooperation between us. The Archdiocese of Miami has never made a public display when for doctrinal reasons Episcopal priests have joined the Catholic Church and sought ordination. In fact, to do so would violate the principles of the Catholic Church governing ecumenical relations. I regret that Bishop Frade has not afforded me or the Catholic community the same courtesy and respect.

In my nearly 50 years as a priest, I have often preached on Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son – which really should be called the parable of the Forgiving Father (Luke 15, 11-32). Perhaps the story told by the Lord so long ago is applicable to our discussions this afternoon.

A father had two sons. One of them took his inheritance early and left home, spending his money wantonly. The father waited patiently for the return of his prodigal son, who after he had seen the error of his ways, repented and returned home. Upon his return, the father lovingly embraced him and called him his son. I pray that Father Cutié will “come to his senses” (Luke 15, 17) and return home. The Catholic Church seeks the conversion and salvation of sinners, not their condemnation. The same is my attitude toward Father Cutié.

We must not forget, however, that there were two sons in the Lord’s story. The other son, who never left home, was angry that his erring brother was welcomed home by the father. To all faithful Catholics, I say what the father said to this second son: “You are with me always and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice. This brother of yours was dead and has come back to life. He was lost, and is found” (Luke 15, 31-32).

In this beautiful parable Jesus teaches us that God is a loving and forgiving Father. Each of us has experienced that love, each of us needs that forgiveness; for we are all sinners. If our brother comes home, let us celebrate with the Father.

In conclusion, I commend and salute the priests of the Archdiocese of Miami and all priests who faithfully live and fulfill their promise of celibacy. By their fidelity to their promise they reflect more clearly to the world the Christ whose total gift of himself to the Father was pure and chaste love for his brothers and sisters. In our times so pre-occupied with sex, the gift of celibacy is all the more a sign of the Kingdom of Heaven where, as scripture says, there will be “no marrying or giving in marriage” (Matthew 22, 30). I encourage all Catholics to pray for and support our dedicated priests.

Most Reverend John C. Favalora
Archbishop of Miami

Bad reaction to Fr. Cutié's defection to the Episcopal communion

On the Catholic Answers Forum, there are some rather disgusting comments being made about Fr. Cutié's decision to leave the Catholic Church to join the Episcopal communion and marry his girlfriend.

• "It's sad that he lied and made the choices he did but I say good riddens."
• "Yeah yeah, whatever.....just go..."
• "Well, I hate to say it, but the Protestant churches have been our trash receptacle for 400 years now. I'm grateful that the Church can remain pure in its teachings, even when men who claim to be of God are incapable of remaining pure... It's a shame for the good and solid Christians in the Protestant churches, that they have to take our weakest members and we get their strongest as converts, but there it is."
• "Who else walked out on the Last Supper?....I am not impressed"
• "Well good ridden! The Church has purified itself of 1 less bad apple."

Typos aside, this sampling (which is NOT indicative of the whole response) is not concerned for his soul or his well-being. You'd think there wasn't a sin among these people!

This is an issue about more than just clerical celibacy. Obedience, celibacy, chastity, scandal... there's a lot going on here.

More about this morning.

New Bishop for Allentown (PA)

Pope Benedict has appointed a new Bishop for the diocese of Allentown, PA (where my parents live). Congratulations to Msgr. John Barres!

What Catholic media should be

I just read Vatican II's Inter Mirifica over lunch. This document was promulgated in 1963 (along the with Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), and provides the Church's teaching and pastoral activity in the media of social communications.

You should read it too, and then see if so-called Catholic media like National Catholic Reporter (US) and The Tablet (UK) actually adhere to the Church's teaching on media and communications from Vatican II.

On the other hand, consider the fine programming of EWTN, Sacred Heart Radio, Ave Maria Radio, etc., and then read this paragraph from the document:

It is quite unbecoming for the Church's children idly to permit the message of salvation to be thwarted or impeded by the technical delays or expenses, however vast, which are encountered by the very nature of these media. Therefore, this sacred Synod advises them of the obligation they have to maintain and assist Catholic newspapers, periodicals and film projects, radio and television programs and stations, whose principal objective is to spread and defend the truth and foster Christian influence in human society. At the same time, the Synod earnestly invites those organizations and individuals who possess financial and technical ability to support these media freely and generously with their resources and their skills, inasmuch as they contribute to genuine culture and the apostolate. (IM 17)

Have you supported Catholic media lately?

Notre Dame and President Obama

If you haven't already heard, President Obama has been invited by the president of Notre Dame (Fr. Jenkins of the Congregation of the Holy Cross) to give the Commencement Address at this year's graduation. President Obama will also be receiving an honorary degree.

Needless to say, this has caused a bit of an uproar in the Catholic sphere. Here's a lengthy blog roundup of posts on the issue (chronologically).

Friday, March 20th
The University of Notre Dame to Honor Obama (InsideCatholic)

Saturday, March 21st
POTUS at Notre Dame (Young Fogeys)
Archbishop Chaput encourages people to write to Notre Dame president over Obama commencement invitation (Te Deum laudamus!)

Monday, March 23rd
McInerny on Notre Dame’s “vulgar lust” (WDTPRS)
270 per hour (Ten Reasons)
Wha...? (Ignatius Insight Scoop)

Tuesday, March 24th
Fr. Jenkins Plans On Teaching Obama (InsideCatholic)
Obama at Notre Dame: What if? (Young Fogeys)
More from McInerny on UND and Pres. Obama (WDTPRS)
Bishop D'Arcy to boycott Notre Dame commencement (InsideCatholic)
Bp. D’Arcy (where U. Notre Dame is) speaks (WDTPRS)
Notre Dame Scandals: Reactions on March 24th (Te Deum laudamus!)

News flash: embryos are fertilized

Update: (3/16) I did a Google search this morning for clinton embryos fertilized (and various other permutations of terms), and did not find a single hit for Reuters, CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, etc. The Catholic News Agency has covered it, though.

Update: (3/12) Creative Minority Report has a fuller transcript. Clinton repeated the "embryos aren't fertilized yet" error over and over!

Perhaps this could have been mentioned in the conversation between Dr. Sanjay Gupta and former president Bill Clinton?

"If it's obvious that we're not taking embryos that under any conceivable scenario would be used for a process that would allow them to be fertilized and become a p... little babies. ... These committees need to make it clear that they're not going to fool with any embryos where there is any possibility, even if it's somewhat remote, that they could be fertilized and become human beings."

Yes, he almost said "a person".

What does he think an embryo is?

Perhaps he meant "implanted"? Let's see if the main-stream media calls attention to this, or if it allows the public to be slowly (?) tricked into thinking that human embryos are somehow unfertilized.

News: "Relentlessly confessional and rarely contrite"

There's a decent article in the New York Times about a parish in Stamford, CT, that has restored the traditional approach to the Sacrament of Confession: plenty of scheduled time for confession and refurnished confessionals (as opposed to "reconciliation rooms").

The article interviewed a woman at the parish who appreciates the renewal of Confession; the article says that "she recognizes how the practice sets her apart from a national popular culture of celebrity magazines, talk shows, Facebook pages and Twitters that is relentlessly confessional and rarely contrite". Awesome turn of phrase!

At the end of the article, Fr. Richard McBrien (true to form...) says that "Confession as we once knew it is pretty much a dead letter" and calls the parish "an anomaly and not a sign of anything else".

News: David Ogden, deputy attorney general

This is appalling:

Obama has picked a man called David Ogden to be deputy Attorney-General. Ogden has made his legal career from representing pornographers, trying to defeat child protection legislation and undermining family values. As FoxNews reported this week, he once represented a group of library directors arguing against the Children's Internet Protection Act, which ordered libraries and schools receiving funding for the Internet to restrict access to obscene sites. And on behalf of several media groups, he successfully argued against a child pornography law that required publishers to verify and document the age of their models, which would have ensured these models were at least 18.

The Family Research Council has more examples of his contribution to upholding American and western values. In one such case, he expressed the view that abortion was less damaging to a woman than having children[.] ...

In another, co-authored brief, he argued that it was an unconstitutional burden on 14-year old girls seeking an abortion for their parents to be notified -- because there was no difference between adults and mid-teens in their ability to grasp all the implications of such a decision[.]

[H/T to Gretchen]

News: "Botched abortion"?

Depressing and maddening news from Florida:

Williams ... went into labor and delivered a live baby girl. What Williams and the Health Department say happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate: One of the clinic's owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant's umbilical cord. Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

...

The case has riled the anti-abortion community, which contends the clinic's actions constitute murder. "The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage," said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, a law firm that is also representing Williams. "People all over the country are just aghast."

Even those who support abortion rights are concerned about the allegations.

...

Williams' lawsuit offers a cruder account: She says Gonzalez knocked the baby off the recliner chair where she had given birth, onto the floor. The baby's umbilical cord was not clamped, allowing her to bleed out. Gonzalez scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

...

An autopsy determined Williams' baby - she named her Shanice - had filled her lungs with air, meaning she had been born alive, according to the Department of Health. The cause of death was listed as extreme prematurity.