[sneakers]

bump to read later

[TYVets]

"Bishops remind Catholics that abortion, homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” are incompatible with receiving Holy Communion "

Catholics remind Bishops that very few bishops have publicly stated that abortion, homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” are incompatible with receiving Holy Communion "

[NYer]

Aided by Liberals in the Church The secularist attack on the Church’s freedom to preach the Gospel is greatly helped by liberal Catholics inside the Church.

Absolutely right! Great article (prepare to have the Admin/Moderator move it to the Religion forum, which seems to be the pattern of late). Thanks for posting this.

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

[american colleen]

bump! Thanks for a very good article.

[ArGee]

To say that the Church may not make moral pronouncements that have political consequences is to say the Church cannot promote morality. To a greater or lesser degree, every law has a moral dimension, and no moral principle fails to somehow influence law.

To say that personal moral conviction may not impact public life is to say that you know G-d does not exist and that your faith is just a philisophical construct.

If G-d is real then you act like it. Period!

What you believe is what you do. The rest is just religious prattle.

Shalom.

[Polycarp IV]

Bishops vote to approve statement on faith and politics

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2221495,00.html

By Eric Gorski

Denver Post Staff Writer

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on Friday approved a statement that attempts to strike a balanced tone on the difficult question of how to deal with dissenting Catholic politicians who present themselves for Communion, the Denver Post has learned.

The statement strongly reiterates the church’s core teaching against abortion while making clear that individual bishops ultimately decide how to deal with Catholics’ standing to receive the sacrament at the center of Catholic life, said Bishop Richard Hanifen, who retired as bishop of the Colorado Springs diocese last year.

“There’s a balance,” Hanifen said shortly after the vote on Friday, which was said to be strongly in favor of the statement. “There’s an obvious renewal of the clear commitment we have to life from the beginning of life to the end."

“There’s never going to be wavering on that," he said. "But the individual circumstances each bishop faces in his own dioceses have a lot to do with how each bishop responds.”

The statement, approved by bishops meeting privately outside Denver for a six-day prayer retreat, strikes a middle ground between positions staked out in recent months by U.S. bishops on the thorny Communion and politics question.

In January, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke caused a stir by stating that he would deny Communion to Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry because Kerry supports abortion rights in conflict with the church’s teachings. Burke, a canon lawyer, issued similar edicts when he was a bishop in Wisconsin.

On the other side of the spectrum was Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., who has stressed the individual consciences of Catholics – like all bishops have - and said he is not comfortable refusing Communion to anyone.

The statement approved by bishops on Friday falls somewhere in the middle of that spectrum but does make clear that consequences are potentially grave for Catholic candidates who take a stand in favor of laws affirming abortion rights.

As to whether the statement provides a definitive answer on denying Communion to a pro-choice candidate, Hanifen said, “I think you’ll see in there there’s not a directive one way or another.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did not immediately release the results of Friday’s vote.

A handful of bishops, including Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, have said that pro-choice Catholics should voluntarily refrain from receiving the sacrament.

Most bishops, however, have remained silent on the issue. For that reason, several advocated issuing a statement out of the Denver meeting, even though a task force of bishops studying the issue is not scheduled to release its findings until after the November election.

[kjvail]

The Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property is a shining light in the darkness. I encourage every traditionalist Catholic to make use of their site and support the organization

[Salvation]

**Catholics Must Affirm Their Faith in Their Public Lives**

Amen!!!!!

Part of why I post the Daily Readings.

BTW, if you would like to get the ping for the Daily Readings thread, FReepmail me.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

"To say that the Church may not make moral pronouncements that have political consequences is to say the Church cannot promote morality. To a greater or lesser degree, every law has a moral dimension, and no moral principle fails to somehow influence law. If the State determines what type of pronouncements the Church may make, it erases the distinction between the spiritual and temporal powers, and the temporal sphere absorbs the religious. The State becomes the sole arbiter of morals. It becomes a sort of State-Church, as in the times of the deified Roman emperors."

About the above the author couldn't be more right. Well stated.