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Catholics cannot support abortion rights-Vatican
Yahoo News ^ | July 7, 2005 | Phillip Pulella

Posted on 07/07/2005 7:58:28 AM PDT by NYer

The Vatican on Thursday said too many Roman Catholics were not taking their religion seriously and that those faithful who receive communion and still support abortion rights were behaving scandalously.

In an 88-page working document for a synod of bishops to be held in October, the Vatican also decried dwindling attendance at Sunday Mass and reaffirmed a rule that Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the Church cannot take communion.

The document on the theme of the Eucharist said many Catholics had lost the sense of the sacred surrounding communion, which the Church teaches becomes the body and blood of Christ during the Mass.

One part of the document returned to an issue that remains particularly hot in the United States -- whether Catholics who support abortion rights can receive communion.

"Some receive communion while denying the teachings of the Church or publicly supporting immoral choices in life, such as abortion, without thinking that they are committing an act of grave personal dishonesty and causing scandal," it said.

"Some Catholics do not understand why it might be a sin to support a political candidate who is openly in favor of abortion or other serious acts against life, justice and peace," it said.

The U.S. Catholic community was divided last year over whether they should support presidential candidate John Kerry, himself an Catholic who supported abortion rights.

Some Catholics say they personally would not have an abortion but, in pluralistic societies such as the United States, feel obliged to support a woman's right to choose.

But the Church, which teaches that life begins at the moment of conception and that abortion is murder, says Catholics cannot have it both ways.

The document lamented what it called "a crisis in the meaning of belonging to the Church" and an inadequate understanding of the Catholic teaching that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is real and not symbolic.

It said an increasingly secularized society had weakened the sense of mystery in the sacrament of communion. Too few Catholics were approaching communion with the "fear and trembling" that the true presence of God warranted.

It also listed a series of other "deficiencies and shadows" related to communion, lamenting that too many Catholics were taking the sacrament while they were in a state of sin because they had not gone to confession first.

"The faithful frequently receive Holy Communion without even thinking that they might be in state of mortal sin," it said.

The taking of communion by divorced Catholics who remarry outside the Church had become "a common occurrence in various countries" even though it is officially forbidden.

The Catholic Church forbids divorce.

The document lamented that in some developed countries participation at Sunday Mass was as low at 5 percent and again urged the faithful to keep Sunday holy.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; abortionlovingrats; cafeteriacatholics; catholic; cino; communion; vatican
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1 posted on 07/07/2005 7:58:30 AM PDT by NYer
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To: american colleen; Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; ...

Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


2 posted on 07/07/2005 7:59:51 AM PDT by NYer ("Each person is meant to exist. Each person is God's own idea." - Pope Benedict XVI)
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To: NYer

Translation: "The cafeteria is closed. Get used to it."


3 posted on 07/07/2005 8:01:40 AM PDT by Antoninus (Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Hosanna in excelsis!)
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To: NYer
The U.S. Catholic community was divided last year over whether they should support presidential candidate John Kerry, himself an Catholic who supported abortion rights.

He is excommunicated from the Catholic Church, ipso facto, for this very reason.

4 posted on 07/07/2005 8:03:08 AM PDT by frogjerk
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To: Antoninus

Well, it's about time.


5 posted on 07/07/2005 8:03:52 AM PDT by kharaku (G3 (http://www.cobolsoundsystem.com/mp3s/unreleased/evewasanape.mp3))
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: NYer
The Vatican on Thursday said too many Roman Catholics were not taking their religion seriously and that those faithful who receive communion and still support abortion rights

I am quite sure the vatican didn't use the term "abortion rights". The reporter added her own bias.

7 posted on 07/07/2005 8:05:22 AM PDT by Rodney King (No, we can't all just get along.)
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To: NYer

I like this Pope.


8 posted on 07/07/2005 8:05:44 AM PDT by squirt-gun
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To: petconservative

Thats a real Christian attitude you have there.


9 posted on 07/07/2005 8:06:05 AM PDT by malos
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To: NYer
many Catholics had lost the sense of the sacred surrounding communion

Heard Father Fessio on the radio last night speaking on the liturgy and the way it has been debased, resulting in losing the sense of the sacred. Well, it's been lots o' fun being brought 'up to date' for an entire lifetime but it really isn't working out too well.

10 posted on 07/07/2005 8:06:26 AM PDT by siunevada
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To: NYer; Diago

>>In an 88-page working document for a synod of bishops to be held in October, the Vatican also decried dwindling attendance at Sunday Mass and reaffirmed a rule that Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the Church cannot take
communion.<<


This is going to be big news to my sister that was told by an office in the Cleveland Diocese that she may continue receiving the Sacraments without an annulment because, "We don't believe that anymore."


11 posted on 07/07/2005 8:06:40 AM PDT by netmilsmom (There was no sign of a pile of gnawed hearts.....)
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To: petconservative
Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats 19 my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
12 posted on 07/07/2005 8:07:20 AM PDT by frogjerk
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To: NYer

See Kerry, John.


13 posted on 07/07/2005 8:07:34 AM PDT by RockinRight (Democrats - Trying to make an a$$ out of America since 1933)
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To: petconservative; Salvation
Who could believe such a teaching? No wonder the people don't take the Church seriously. That and the pedophile priests. Chickens are coming home to roost.

*************

Catholics.

14 posted on 07/07/2005 8:08:54 AM PDT by trisham ("Live Free or Die," General John Stark, July 31, 1809)
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To: squirt-gun
I like this Pope.

Amen to that!

15 posted on 07/07/2005 8:09:05 AM PDT by frogjerk
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To: NYer
Some Catholics say they personally would not have an abortion but, in pluralistic societies such as the United States, feel obliged to support a woman's right to choose.

Some people just can't read the sign:

Cafeteria Closed
Under New Management - BXVI

16 posted on 07/07/2005 8:09:20 AM PDT by N. Theknow (If Social Security is so good - why aren't members of Congress in it?)
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To: petconservative
Who could believe such a teaching? No wonder the people don't take the Church seriously. That and the pedophile priests. Chickens are coming home to roost.

Yeah, there are only about 1,000,000,000 Catholics worldwide, give or take a few hundred million. How many believers does your sect have?

Take your Catholic-hating tripe and stuff it. If you don't like Catholics, don't bother reading our threads.
17 posted on 07/07/2005 8:10:37 AM PDT by Antoninus (Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Hosanna in excelsis!)
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To: petconservative
Who could believe such a teaching? No wonder the people don't take the Church seriously. That and the pedophile priests. Chickens are coming home to roost.

I believe in this teaching and I take the Church seriously. Are you saying there is something wrong with me?

18 posted on 07/07/2005 8:10:37 AM PDT by frogjerk
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To: NYer

Any decent human being cannot support abortion just as any decent human being cannot support the destruction of any innocent life. If decent people won't stand for the defenseless, then who will?

I am not Catholic but I say, Bravo for a brave new Pope that is willing to take a stand for what is so right.


19 posted on 07/07/2005 8:10:55 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Conservatism: doing what is right instead of what is easy)
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To: Antoninus
The popes statements are completely in line with the Orthodox take on the Eucharist and the Liturgy. I'm happy to see him standing up for the true teachings of the church.
20 posted on 07/07/2005 8:12:05 AM PDT by kharaku (G3 (http://www.cobolsoundsystem.com/mp3s/unreleased/evewasanape.mp3))
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