Posted on 05/20/2004 6:19:23 AM PDT by NYer
Edited on 05/20/2004 8:46:00 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Sure abortion is intrinsically evil. So is masturbation. Does it necessarily follow that Catholic legislators who support laws that suffer people to masturbate in the privacy of their own homes also desire that people masturbate or contradict the Church's moral teaching by saying that masturbation is virtuous?
You encourage alcohol abuse if someone is planning an intervention and you prevent the intervention from happening.
"Whoa, what happened to separation of church and state. Politicians threatening religious leaders."
Yeah...if ANY letters are going to be written to religious leaders, how about addressing some to the "religion of peace" regarding thier gospels of hate. It always amazes me who liberals consider the enemy.
2267 Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, nonlethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent.
Am I under an obligation to actively stop a person from getting drunk?
Electing pro-life legislators is an objective that all of us have. I'm not sure that goal is furthered by the rhetoric of some bishops.
Bravo! Is there a thread with that news article?
Oh I agree. Picketing would be just the "kindling" stages of persecution. I wholly believe we're in the period of immense grace as talked about by mystics. God is setting all the issues on the table, clear as can be, and letting our public representatives and private citizens around the world determine what path they will choose. There's very little ambiguity these days with the issues. Those who choose God will be set aside and be persecuted, but will walk like angels among the dead. He's going to need good men and women to rebuild society. He needs good men and women right now to fish for souls and lead them to His mercy. Satan knows this and he will throw every obstacle in our paths imaginable. The media is drawing soul after soul into the clutches of hell -- that's not an exaggeration.
I went through my conversion roughly 10 years ago. I considered talk about "end times" as being shrill and reactionary. I no longer think that to be the case. God is telling the nation with the most free will on earth to choose good or evil. We're the barometer. If we fail, I fear for the future...
Agreed.
However, when I vote, I do weigh the issue of abortion more heavily than I do the death penalty. A lot of right-wing Catholics do. This is most likely due to the fact that the victims of abortion are purely innocent, the 'victims' of capital punishment are not.
Combine this with the fact that my state (Michigan) has no death penalty, and its easy to understand why it is less of an issue for Catholics here than abortion is.
masturbation is not intrinsically evil. The Church teaches that it is a grave disorder, though it gives weight to psychological and other mitigating factors for this weakness....
Am I obligated to answer to your false analogies?
[NO]
Thanks for the quote. What did Thomas Aquinas say regarding laws regulating sexual behavior? I can't imagine he was opposed to such regulation, just because some people want to be reprobates.
There is a great divide in the Church,for forty years the hierarchy has been commandeered by prelates who have used the method you are suggesting,and while it may please and comfort many it has not served the Truth.
They are here to lead us to know,love and serve God so that we can live with Him eternally in heaven and there is no time like the present to start preaching the Gospel,teaching the Truth and administering the sacraments. There is little time left to pussy foot around. The Bishops'jobs are to save souls not to please the politiians or public aat all costs.
Black Elk, good comments as per usual!!!
Interesting comments. Reminds me of in my tradition (Vedic) there are 10 Offenses to the Holy Name of God, which prevent a soul from communion with God. One of the most egregious is "commiting sin on the strength of the Holy Name".
The explanation is that if someone takes shelter of the Holy Name of God, which is all pure and all purifying, and is thereby cleansed of karma (sin), and then sins again, think that he will again take shelter of the Name of God, this is a gravely sinful mentally and the Holy Name won't help him until his mentality changes and he repents. It sounds kind of like what you explained.
Like someone who commits sin every week, thinking he'll wipe it off in confession or some other purifying religious act.
As for extenuating circumstances, there are extenuating circumstances surrounding every mortal sin. One can be objectively in mortal sin without necessarily being subjectively in mortal sin, depending on the intent, sufficient reflection, etc.
Not really. Psychological disorders do not carry the same weight of sin under any circumstance. A politician who gives it some thought and says, "Yeah, you know what? It may be evil, but the Consitution supercedes God's law in my book," is only asking for trouble.
These politicians are tantamount to Pilate choosing his relationship with Caesar instead of freeing an innocent man in the shadow of the cross.
Furthermore, these are PUBLIC proclamations they are making. Once the Church validates a public stance in favor of abortion by saying "they're still in the good graces of the church," there is nothing morally left for the Church to stand on.
...and what difference have those Catholics made? They are mostly pro-abortion, liberal heterodox secularists. These guys are worried they will lose more of the Catholic vote. And so they resort to threats.
So if it really is a mortal sin to knowingly and with intent, vote for a pro-abort candidate when another pro-life alternative is available, do these bozos expect the Bishops to remain silent on teaching faith and morals to their flock. Too bad it has to do with the game being played in their court.
which so many of us have worked so hard to overcome
By selling out the faith!??!
Deacon Francis
These politicians are tantamount to Pilate choosing his relationship with Caesar instead of freeing an innocent man in the shadow of the cross.In which case, they should take comfort from Jesus' words to Pilate:
"Do you refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?"Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."
Only if you can.
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