Knoxville Catholic Bishop Richard Stika recently found himself in a hot, but brief, national spotlight over New York's late-term abortion law.

Stika, who heads the Diocese of Knoxville, tweeted he'd likely excommunicate Catholic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he were his bishop.

In a Jan. 24 tweet, Stika said he was asked if he'd excommunicate Cuomo. "I think I might do it for any Catholic legislator under my jurisdiction who voted for the bill as well as the Governor," he wrote.

"Excommunication is to be not a punishment but to bring the person back into the Church. It's like medicine for them," Stika continued. "But this vote is so hideous and vile that it warrants the act."

The New York law allows late-term abortions at the discretion of a health care practitioner based on an "absence of fetal viability" or if the woman's life or health is in danger. It also takes abortion out of the New York criminal code.

Tweeting a message

Installed as the East Tennessee's bishop in March 2009, Stika's never shied from giving his opinion on controversial social or political issues, and the 61-year-old often uses Twitter to do so.

"I think it is my role, not to tell people how to vote, but to maybe point out what they should be thinking of, across the board," he told the News Sentinel.

His opinions often bring responses from supporters and dissenters; Stika's got nearly 10,000 Twitter followers. Some 400, he said, he picked up over the Cuomo abortion tweets.

His is a love-hate Twitter relationship. He has tried answering replies “to use it as an informational thing, but it goes back and forth, back and forth and gets distorted." He limits himself to posting only from his home computer. His account has been hacked more than once. He's stopped tweeting for periods of time when "Twitter trolls" take over.

"It is a powerful tool. I disagree a lot with how the president uses it, and other people, other politicians. I try to be respectful of people's opinions. Occasionally, I'll get my dander up a little bit," he said.

He wasn't expecting the national publicity after one of his tweets about excommunicating Cuomo was quoted by the Associated Press.

"I came to realize more the impact of Twitter than I actually thought. Which is fine; it got people to think again," he said.

Abortion is 'legal child abuse'

He stands by his words, although he said most non-Catholics don't understand what excommunication is.

"The whole point of excommunication is to say to somebody, 'You're out of communion of a relationship with the church by how you have chosen to live your life.' I don't know if he (Gov. Cuomo) practices his faith or not ... The world is kind of a messy place now. I don't think it would make any difference to him."

Stika made similar statements Feb. 3, tweeting first that Cuomo is "out of the Church already. Again, all those who are Pro-Choice will be judged by God." He later tweeted he's ignoring the New York governor "until he promotes more evil. The best way to deal with him is to vote him out. God will deal with him."

Stika said his excommunication tweets came after he was angered not only at the New York law but in what he saw as happiness by Cuomo and others over its passage. "I just thought, 'Enough’s enough.' We have been waging this abortion battle since 1973."

It's perhaps no surprise a Catholic bishop is opposed to abortion. Stika has called abortion "legal child abuse." On Twitter, he's challenged abortion-rights advocates to watch a filmed abortion. He sees is as "a human rights issue."

"Do you ever go up to somebody and say, 'When will your fetus be born?' You say, 'When is your baby going to be born?’ It's a human; it's a baby. It's got all the DNA at the beginning."

What if the 'unborn' had citizen's rights?

Stika thinks the U.S. Supreme Court will again deal with abortion. The future of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion across the country, is a focus on both sides of the debate.

New York is one state that has passed a law to allow abortions if Roe v. Wade were overturned. Other states are working to pass laws to ban or restrict the procedure. In Tennessee, a bill introduced this month would ban most abortions if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Stika said a law could come from a state that would give citizenship rights to the unborn. If such a law got the support of the Supreme Court, "it's a whole new ball game. Because you are saying in the United States of America, born or unborn, you are a human person."

Views on death penalty, immigration

While conservatives support Stika on his pro-life beliefs, he said they often disagree with his opinion on immigration. He supports a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the country without legal permission. He's against the death penalty and has spoken against Tennessee's recent executions.

"If you are pro-life, you are pro-life the whole way. We cannot just be pro-life up until the child is born," he said. "The consistency of a pro-life message is to care for the person from conception until natural death."

"We have millions of people in the United States who are here, and they live in the shadows. We are not going to deport them. We don’t have the way to do it. Plus, if we do, a lot of our economy will collapse."

Stika supports giving immigrants a way to obtain legal status that could include paying a fine, perhaps over 10 years. Within that decade, he said, if someone "breaks a major law," he or she could be deported.

'We turn our back on God'

Stika has repeated his immigration stance in reaction to local and national events. He spoke for "victimized families" in April 2018 after federal agents arrested undocumented immigrant workers at a Bean Station meat-packing plant.

Then he asked government leaders to make laws to "protect our national identity and sovereign borders and recognize America’s undeniable role as a sanctuary for those who arrived here many years ago with no intent to do harm."

More recently, he's been distressed at children taken from family members at the U.S.-Mexico border.

"When we turn our back on migrants and those who are searching for peace and stability, especially for their children, we turn our back on God," he tweeted last November.

He sees the issue of a border wall as a political issue in which neither President Donald Trump nor Democrats want to give in. He suggests removing politicians from the discourse. Instead, he promotes hiring experts in security to determine how to protect the border.

"A country does have the right to protect and defend its borders. But the United States has always been a generous country with refugees and immigrants. We have opened our doors," he told the News Sentinel.

Past immigrants have enriched America, he said. "If we cease to be that nation that opens its arms as the Statue of Liberty reminds us, I think we are making a huge mistake."

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