48 House Catholics send warning to Bishops

MSNBC ^ | May 20, 2004 | Alan Cooperman

[NYer]

Forty-eight Roman Catholic members of Congress have warned in a letter to Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington that U.S. bishops will revive anti-Catholic bigotry and severely harm the church if they deny Communion to politicians who support abortion rights.The letter's signers, all Democrats, include at least three House members with strong antiabortion voting records.

"For many years Catholics were denied public office by voters who feared that they would take direction from the Pope," they wrote. ". . . While that type of paranoid anti-Catholicism seems to be a thing of the past, attempts by Church leaders today to influence votes by the threat of withholding a sacrament will revive latent anti-Catholic prejudice, which so many of us have worked so hard to overcome."

The three-page letter, dated May 10, was sent to McCarrick because he heads a task force of U.S. bishops that is considering whether, and how, the church should take action against Catholic politicians whose public positions are at odds with Catholic doctrine.

McCarrick's spokesman, Susan Gibbs, said he would not comment on the letter. She said the seven-member task force is "listening to many different voices" and will grant the 48 House members' request for a meeting. "They will be heard. It just hasn't been arranged yet," she said.

[Bikers4Bush]

Politics is not superior to religion. The sooner the political hacks learn that the better.

[Solson]

Looks like a threat to me. The Dems say to the Catholic Church "back off or we'll villify you in the press and take away your funding."

I say "how is that any different than what you attempt to do everyday...right now.?"

[NYer]

The battle lines are drawn!

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[vandykelastone]

A church has to stand on the Bible. Let's see if this one goes ahead with this or bend to financial blackmail by politicians. Even money here.

[katana]

all Democrats

That says it all. Members of your friendly local Domestic Death Cult.

[marty60]

Whoa, what happened to separation of church and state. Politicians threatening religious leaders. Now maybe the leftie Catholics will get it. Christians are #1 on the extermination list.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Not surprising. Dems demanding no consequences for their actions.

[camle]

boy! talk about chutzpah! wave a red flag in front of a bull why doncha?
Actually they WANT to be excommunicated - that way they can claim to be victimized by the abusive church for standing up for their values. clever, huh?
except they forgot what it is all about - God.

[OldFriend]

When a politician stands up and announces his religion then he is expected to adhere to the main tenets of that religion.

Politicians exploit their religious afilliation and now want the privilege of that exploitation without any consequences......how typical.

[jocko12]

DEMWITS ARE GOING TO GET THERE BUTTS WHIPED AGAIN.

[katana]

"while I agree with [the bishops] on the pro-life issue, I don't agree with them on denying Communion to those who in good conscience have come to a different position".

Any honorable person whose views were in fundamental disagreement with a tenet of any church would look for a different place to worship. "Honorable Democrat" being an oxymoron, there doesn't seem to be much chance of that happening. Also, this statement coming from a supposedly pro-life Republican demonstrates why that part of the congressional herd also needs culling.

[Enterprise]

""For many years Catholics were denied public office by voters who feared that they would take direction from the Pope," they wrote. "

Well, to these vile people, holding public office trumps having a life, in more ways than one.

[aardvark1]

Looks like the Roman Catholics need a "here I stand" moment.

[Know your rights]

The letter questioned how the bishops could limit the denial of Communion to abortion, noting that Pope John Paul II and many U.S. bishops have condemned the death penalty and the war in Iraq.

Real Catholics, unlike these Rat CINOs, know the difference between doctrine and opinion.

[ZULU]

"The letter's signers, all Democrats, include at least three House members with strong antiabortion voting records."

Surprise, surprise. These mendacious hypocrits want to belong to an organization, reap the positive political benefits of the same and then ignore the rules.

As Catholics, they should know the Catholic Church is not now, nor ever was, a Democracy. The Pope and the College of Cardinals make the rules, not a pack of prostituting politicians whose only moral compass is the way the political wind happens to be blowing in their respective districts.

Any Catholic Priest or Bishop who performs a marriage for a divorced Catholic Politician, or who gives communion to a Catholic politician who supports abortion, is violating his office and jeopardizing his soul - according to Catholic dogma, regardless of how leftist prelates like Bishop Rodimer the liberal of New Jersey may care to present it.

Perhaps these people should be honest with themelves and become say, Episcopalians, or Unitarians. I think they would find the political views of a substantial number of members of those churches more in keeping with the total absence of moral clarity on their own parts.

[Sunshine Sister]

So now the supreme court has more power than God?