Posted on 03/31/2014 2:43:50 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
Cardinal Donald Wuerl has been the most outspoken of those bishops who refuse to obey Canon 915, but all of them are on record, as he is, as endorsing the commission of MORTAL SINS by their priests and other ministers of Communion. Cardinal Wuerl has even punished those who have obeyed Canon 915.
(Excerpt) Read more at all.org ...
No “vow of obedience” authorizes a superior to command a subject to commit a sin. No bishop has the right to command or even to suggest that his priests commit sin.
Wuerl, O’Malley, Chaput, Dolan, and most other bishops ARE commanding their priests to commit mortal sin. Any bishop who says it is his “policy” to give Communion to pro-aborts is commanding his priests to commit mortal sins, and is committing multiple mortal sins himself.
“O’Malley’s comments on giving pro-aborts Communion were 100% political: He said that the bishops must be unanimous on the issue. Nonsense. He said that the bishops must not be seen as singling out a particular political party. Nonsense. And he blamed the Pope (JPII) for not clarifying the issue. Sleazy nonsense.”
[Note: The following memorandum was sent by Cardinal Ratzinger to Cardinal McCarrick and was made public in the first week of July 2004.]
Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion
General Principles
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
1. Presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion should be a conscious decision, based on a reasoned judgment regarding one’s worthiness to do so, according to the Church’s objective criteria, asking such questions as: “Am I in full communion with the Catholic Church? Am I guilty of grave sin? Have I incurred a penalty (e.g. excommunication, interdict) that forbids me to receive Holy Communion? Have I prepared myself by fasting for at least an hour?” The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected (cf. Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” nos. 81, 83).
2. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a “grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. [...] In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to ‘take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it’” (no. 73). Christians have a “grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God’s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. [...] This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it” (no. 74).
3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
4. Apart from an individual’s judgment about his worthiness to present himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone, such as in cases of a declared excommunication, a declared interdict, or an obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin (cf. can. 915).
5. Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.
6. When “these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they were not possible,” and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, “the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it” (cf. Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts Declaration “Holy Communion and Divorced, Civilly Remarried Catholics” [2002], nos. 3-4). This decision, properly speaking, is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is the minister of Holy Communion passing judgment on the person’s subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin.
[N.B. A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.]
http://www.priestsforlife.org/magisterium/bishops/04-07ratzingerommunion.htm
You must walk away from the Church until it finds it’s way.
It is longer an assistant to salvation but a corrupt quasi-secular operation shielding sexual predators, baby murderers and corrupt power/money mongers.
There is no requirement to be a member of an organized religion in order to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
I walked away and won’t be back until the hierarchy is thrown out and the Church is cleansed. My relationship with Christ is not affected in any way. I still visit churches for prayer, but never during services. I donate no money, and do no volunteer work. I volunteer and minister on my own now.
Cardinal Wuerl has lied publicly and repeatedly about every element of this statement by Cardinal Ratzinger.
Wuerl calls Denial of Communion a “penalty.” He does this because his other lie—that he has a right to have a “Pastoral Approach”—depends on it. Bishops have discretion regarding the imposition of penalties, so Wuerl lies that Denial of Communion is “penalty.”
Cardinal McCarrick lied to the assembled bishops, and hid the existence of the Ratzinger memo from them. They then adopted a “policy” they had no right to adopt: that each bishop may obey or disobey Canon 915 as he pleases.
A bishop who insists on committing the mortal sin of giving Communion to pro-aborts needs to be reminded of his sin often, in every possible forum: letters to the newspapers, flyers under windshield wipers, on Facebook, on Twitter, picket signs...anything that will pierce the conspiracy of silence.
I understand what you’re saying but I can’t walk away. I’m sorry. I can’t let the failings of others keep me away from the Eucharist and the other sacraments. A priest’s ability to confect the Eucharist is independent of his moral state.
We worship Christ and not men.
Totally agree. Which is why I support Michael Voris and his apostolate to expose these things.
It's like spitting into the wind. They simply don't care. They flit about, serenely ignoring the aspects of their duties which are politically uncomfortable. Ironically some of the worst practitioners of "clericalism" as decried by the Pope are now his close advisors.
Except MV will not criticize the pope in this or any other matter. By doing so he only scratches the surface.
That’s true. To avoid causing doubt amongst the faithful and those who are exploring the Faith. I can understand that. Don’t know if I agree with it or not. But I do understand it.
If that is the case, that’s too bad. The Pope is infallible only within a restricted area, morals and dogma, and only on certain occasions. Otherwise, the Pope can hold all sorts of ill-advised opinions and do all sorts of imprudent things. And the laity have all the freedom and right to call the Pope’s attention to his imprudence and errors that they have with any other bishop.
On this matter of Communion for pro-aborts, the Pope has been as negligent as any bishop in the world—except for those American bishops (Wuerl, Dolan, Chaput, O’Malley, etc.) who have deliberately spread B.S. on the subject.
I can believe that from the example he set right from the beginning. Though if the Pope actually takes such a position, is there a point to the Church overall? Or it just an object of adoration in itself to those faithful who cling but to its entrails?
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
I’m of the younger generation of Catholics who having grown up and catechized in the post Vatican II novus ordo tradition is now rejecting the modernist heresy that’s infected the Church.
...pax Domini sit semper tecum...
The Pope is not the Church. He holds a particular job in the hierarchy of the Church. He may be shallow, or a leftist, or an adulterer, or a camera-hound—whatever. And the laity have the right to clamor about his faults.
But the Church has a history, and hundreds of thousands of saints, and millions of martyrs, and great theologians, and a developed body of dogma, and the liturgy, and the sacraments, and an artistic and musical patrimony.
When it comes to “reasons” for leaving the Church, the faults of a particular Pope don’t amount to a hill of beans.
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