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Posted on 05/14/2004 12:00:50 PM PDT by NYer
Tuesday May 11, 2004
PITTSBURGH, May 11, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Democratic Presidential candidate, John Kerry has instigated the biggest storm of controversy in the US Catholic Church since news of the priestly sexual abuse scandal in the spring of 2002.
Kerry and his supporters continue to throw gasoline on the fire by his continued public reception of communion, most recently on Mother’s day at St. Scholastica Catholic Church in suburban Pittsburgh. Mother’s day is one regularly chosen by pro-life activists for an array of activities. Many Catholic pro-life commentators have pointed out that this is a critical juncture for the American episcopate and the Catholic Church as a whole. In Catholic doctrine, the reception of communion, believed by Catholics to be the actual body and blood of Jesus, is a public sign of unity of belief.
Kerry’s defiance of his Church is making Catholic Eucharistic practices newsworthy in the secular media and forcing both bishops and politicians to make decisions. On May 10, New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny (D-Hoboken), announced that he would be leaving the practice of Catholicism. After a meeting with the pastor of his Newark diocese parish, the senator announced that he would, “look for other options to express my faith and will probably join another Christian church.”
Newark Bishop John Myers wrote in his monthly pastoral letter that for a Catholic, faith is always expressed within the larger context of the ecclesial institution. In his letter he teaches that the faith of Catholics and the Catholic Faith cannot be separated. Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, bishop Myers writes, “Whoever says ‘I believe’ says ‘I pledge myself to what We believe.’”
Some have made the criticism that the attention is unevenly pointed at politicians over the abortion issue while ignoring other hot-button Catholic issues such as divorce and homosexual “marriage”. Rev. Larry Wieseler, the pastor of St. Mary's parish of the Crookston diocese in Minnesota. has asked two homosexual parishioners who publicly claim to be married, not to receive or distribute communion at Mass or sing in the choir. The two men, who met at a Catholic retreat, have vowed to find another church.
The next Synod of Bishops in Rome, scheduled for October 2005, will focus on issues surrounding the reception of the Eucharist. A 75-page outline has been prepared by the Vatican providing topics for discussion. The document says that the Catholic Church does not have the power to give Communion to those “teaching error” or to “persons living an immoral life.” “Communion can be received only in union with the whole church, after overcoming any separation because of religion or morality,” it said.
The US bishops will be meeting in Denver to discuss the problem at the same time Kerry plans a campaign stop there and there is speculation as to whether Archbishop Chaput, considered a conservative, will refuse him communion. An article in the Denver Post claims that this confluence will be a “defining moment” in the presidential campaign.
After the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) announced that the Canadian episcopate would be taking no action to curb public political dissenters in Canada, Canadian pro-life Catholics have reacted with no discernable surprise.
Natalie Hudson, executive director of Toronto Right to Life said, “The controversy is forcing the bishops in the whole Church to show what they are made of. This controversy is going to be very good for the Church in the long run; it is going to lance a boil that has festered since the (Second Vatican) Council. Bishops have avoided any firm expression of condemnation on many key issues. Now they are being forced to come out and say, ‘this is wrong’ without compromise, or back away from the faith altogether. There won’t be any more wiggle room after this.”
Hudson went on to say that Kerry is even more pernicious than Clinton was. “He has an agenda that is religious as much as it is political; he is trying to de-sacralize his Catholic faith and claim that being pro-abortion is a legitimate expression of it. He is attempting to make his abortionism and his Catholicism one,” she said.
I think you are confused, the Catholic Church is not dealing with political matters, it is dealing with internal church issues. As non Catholics it is none of your, or my business.
We are either a "free nation" or a phony nation. What freedom are we defending and promising to other countries if our churches are allowed to try and control politicians?
You seem to have this on upsidedown also,the politicians are exploiting the Church, the Church is taking steps to retain it's policy.
They should lose their tax deductions and register as lobbists or stay out of secular affairs.
All churches should willingly give up their 501 C-3 Corporate Status, then teach the word of God, not the way of the secular world.
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We've staked the whole future of American civilization
not on the power of government, far from it. We have
staked the future of all our political institutions upon the
capacity of each and all of us. . . to govern ourselves
according to the commandments of God.
The future and success of America is not in this
Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which
this Constitution is founded.
--James Madison, fourth U.S. president.
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Far be it from me to defend the UCC, which I have somewhat sorrowfully departed from-but the Central Committee, or politburo, or whatever of the UCC is not a teaching body which claims the right to form the consciences of the faithful.
It's just a bunch of pushy leftists who are busy destroying something they don't understand.
There is no analogy with the attempted conquest of Rome by the forces of Satan-if they can take over the Chair of Peter, they will control something that will give them real earthly power, much more than the right to run the mimeograph machine at a UCC new age breakfast.
Correct, but whether it is or not, it's important to correct ERegan's misapprehension that the bishops (the faithful ones, anyway) are meddling in secular affairs.
They are not.
They are doing what bishops are supposed to do.
No one is required to be a Catholic. It is the faith and practice of the Catholic Church that its membership is subordinate to a teaching body, of which the local bishop is the representative, in matters pertaining to the faith.
This is a great strength, except when the bishop is a heretic, but I digress.
In any event, what Catholics must profess and must do in order to remain publically Catholic is UNIQUELY the responsibility of the local bishop.
What else do you, ERegan, think they are supposed to do?
And by what right does a State forbidden to impair the free exercise of religion have anything at all to say about it?
And it will be too late to resolve this matter once President Kerry (or Durbin, or Collins, etc) is publically receiving communion once a week on the biggest stage in the world.
Thanks. I've never heard it expressed this way, it brings the sacriledge into a more personal focus.
Precisely. Perhaps he will start calling himself "bishop" Kerry.
Hi Newbie. They aren't being excommunicated from America...the Church as EVERY right to do this...it's not politics...were the Gays politicians??? You obviously aren't Catholic.
IMHO the Catholic Church in America is afraid of losing the donation money of its members if it alienates them. They should understand why Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple.
I don't think it's a money issue. It's the nature of the Church hierarchy. The Pope is getting tough on this, but unfortunately the Bishops are the instruments of policy and many of them are not willing to carry out the policy.
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"The Church teaches that if you are not in a state of grace, going to Communion is an act of Eucharistic sacrilege: a very serious thing. Very serious."
Quite. The average person in the pew who receives the sacrament sacriligeously, harms only himself. Perhaps scandalizes those in his immediate circle, if they are aware of the situation. Kerry, Kennedy, et al, scandalize millions.
My sister, when she was in an irregular marriage, had the moral courage to refrain from going to Holy Communion. She did not want to be responsible for encouraging other people in sin. So many in such a case DO go to Communion, out of pride or whatever . . . I have often thought, it is a matter of honesty. Choose to sin, and take the consequences, if that particular sin is that important to you. Don't go to Communion if you know you are in sin.
That used to be the Catholic way. Now, many "Catholics" want to have their cake, and eat it, too. They are not content to have their sin. They have to have Communion with the Church, too. They have to convince themselves, and try to convince everyone else, that their sin is not truly a sin. Public communion is a common way they do this . . . defying Church teaching and scandalizing many many others, just to make themselves feel better . . .
"there's about a thread a day on this topic would show that somebody cares about the issue"
Thankfully, so. Kennedy has gotten off lightly for YEARS. No, DECADES. Even w.r.t. going out drinking on Good Friday with his nephew!
Thankfully, Kerry is NOT getting a blank check as a Catholic. May he have the intellectual honesty to admit that he is NOT a practicing Catholic in conformity with the teachings of the Church!! I wish ALL Catholics would realize how crass it is, that he receives Communion sacraligeously FOR POLITICAL GAIN. And the "political gain" part of his equation is starting to evaporate. :)
That's right, and this is contradictory to Kerry's beliefs. The thinks that being a Catholic means "do as you please."
If Satan takes over the UCC he'll have losts of nice real estate in New England.
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