Posted on 11/07/2008 10:33:04 AM PST by NYer
I learned recently of your visit to the diocese during the political campaign and that you attended the celebration of Sunday Mass in a local parish. The Church of Pensacola- Tallahassee welcomes all people of good will, all the baptized to pray with us. In particular, we welcome our fellow Catholics who seek to fulfill their Sunday obligation in a spirit of communion by participating in Sunday Mass.
Sunday Mass provides Catholics with the nourishment to live in the image of Jesus Christ whose mission is directed to the orphan and the widow, to the poor and the vulnerable. The principles of right reason, knowable to all even beyond the categories of faith, attest the common good is served only when the least of our brethren are accorded full rights correspondent to their inviolable dignity. Thus, human life is to be respected from the moment of conception until natural death. The Church has taught this from the beginning, and civilized societies live by this principle.
Our worship of God during Sunday Mass, which culminates in the reception of Holy Communion, is precisely the moment when we are nourished and strengthened by the Holy Spirit’s gift of courage to stand up in fortitude to protect the weakest among us. The Eucharist, as the real presence of Christ, is also the sign of our unity as a Church, which is built on sharing in the mission of Christ to protect the defenseless. While grateful for the effective collaboration you and your office have offered on so many worthy projects and concerns, I also observe, by your support for laws that fail to protect the unborn, a profound disconnection from your human and personal obligation to protect the weakest and most innocent among us: the child in the womb.
As the bishops said in their 2004 reflection on Catholics in Public Life, “The Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic life. Therefore, like every Catholic generation before us, we must be guided by the words of St. Paul, ‘Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord’ (1 Cor 11:27). This means that all must examine their consciences as to their worthiness to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord. This examination includes fidelity to the moral teaching of the Church in personal and public life. . . Respect for the Holy Eucharist, in particular, demands that it be received worthily and that it be seen as the source for our common mission in the world.”
I pray that the Catholic faith you have been raised in, the faith by which you pray, and the life of virtue which flows from both may strengthen you so that you may have the strength needed to witness Jesus, even as the martyrs did, and live by the virtue of fortitude as you proclaim your support to the Person of Christ in the most vulnerable of his members: the pre-born child. You are, Senator, always welcome to nourish such a faith within the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.
These ‘pro-choice’ CINOs all display great arrogance with disrespect for authority. Ironic, isn’t it since they relish holding powerful offices, themselves.
Maybe this “head-in-the-sand” thing is what allowed homos to overrun the Catholic church in the past 20 years, to the economic chagrin of the Church.
Is there not ONE bishop in this country willing to say what must be said - without all the pious platitudes?
This man gives bad example, persists in his actions without remorse and does not believe the Church’s teachings. He is anethema.
Much as we Conservatives want the RINOs booted out, the bishops MUST boot the CINOs out.
Or are they all SO politically correct that they cannot condemn what must be condemned. Abortion is murder - PERIOD!
This bishop came very close to saying something, and then he backed off. In other words, when Biden returns to the true faith, he is welcome to Communion in this diocese; the implication is that he is not welcome until then, but once again another bishop was unable to come out and say it.
In his defence, the Florida bishops as a whole gave a pretty lame statement and, on top of the USCCB statement, this bishop probably thought they’d hang him out to dry if he said much more. I think there’s a lot of internal pressure on individual bishops to avoid this.
*crickets chirping*
Biden to bishop: “I’ve considered your position and think you are wrong. Abortion is a complex issue, and my actions regarding abortion are perfectly compatable with Church teaching, and I will continue to tell this to anybody that will listen. You wouldn’t want me to strangle you with my rosary would you? And I think your hat looks stupid. Now gimme my wafer.”
Freegards
The bishops have urged, met with, discussed, written about, pontificated, and generally wrung their hands for years with these people. They’ve given Biden, Pelosi, Kennedy, et. al. more than enough time to “examine their consciences”. Now is the time for action. If the bishops are truly concerned about the salvation of these politicians’ souls, and to ending the scandal of abortion-supporting Catholics, public excommunication must be dealt.
This kind of approach is a fine way to appeal to a man with a healthy, well-formed conscience. Shall we say the bishop seems to have misjudged his audience?
Pretty weak. And that last sentence of his could easily be interpreted as negating everything else said previously in his letter. He writes to Biden as if it is “reasonable” to suppose that he has never heard this sort of thing before. ALL of the “Catholic” politicians at the Federal level have heard or read MORE than enough for them to form their consciences properly on this issue. Time to stop the stalling and mollycoddling and TELL them that they will either recant their pro-death positions in the public forum, or each and every one of them will be publicly excommunicated by their own local ordinary 30 days hence.
Things are starting to change, as far as the bishops’ responses to politicians over the pro-abortion votes/Communion issue is concerned. But they are still dragging their feet, and seem to be feeling their way rather than leading. Much more is needed.
FWIW, I recorded my own post-mortem on the elections yesterday, and this will air on my “internet radio” show next Sunday at 9:30 AM EST. The bishops figure-in prominently. The show can be found at www.cyberstationusa.com, and it will also be loaded into the archives shortly after it is aired - probably by noon on Sunday. For the archives, click on “The Shows” in the upper-right corner, scroll down to Sunday and click the more recent show in the archives for “Take Away the Stone.”
IMO, the greater threat is the IRS. There seems to be enough people ready to sick the IRS on any diocese. Unless of course you are.... but you already know who those with immunity are.
The Catholic Church is large enough, and still imposing enough, that the IRS would definitely be ordered to stand-down if, collectively, the U.S. bishops simply defied current policies and told it like it is from their pulpits. This would be even more the case if other denominations acted with them along the same lines.
There is no way that the Federal government would risk what would certainly follow from the millions of people in the flocks involved. No way!
>>I think there’s a lot of internal pressure on individual bishops to avoid this.
Rev 3:15-16:
“... thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.”
How’s that for internal pressure, and from the Head Man Himself.
Too much mincing around. When are the bishops going to get it through their heads? It’s all a BS game to these CINO politicians. They could give a rats patooty what the bishops SAY, they need to be shown some action. You know, all talk no action? That’s what the Catholic bishops have been reduced to in this country, with the exception being men like Chaput, it’s a lot of fancy-schmancy bleating.
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