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.
Thank you for showing your true colors.
Pedophelia is the act of sexual intercourse with underage children. Name one priest charged for this...
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I believe you are correct. It's sad.
As Luther argued with Zwingli - estes estes estes (translation from the Greek: is is is). When God says this is my body, this is my blood, who are you to argue?
Funny, that's what Jesus' disciples said.
John 6:52-66Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real 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 live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit[e] and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
1 Corinthians 11:23-30
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep [died].
Folks who take Jesus's words at the Last Supper seriously. We believe He meant EXACTLY what He said.
>>but let's just say the Bishops have been out to lunch for quite some time as far as tending to their sheep.>>
I agree, and the liberalization of the Church has been a disaster as well.
Never seen any church of any size that didn't have nominal members who seem to be there just because, and who sometimes cause scandal or rock the boat - Pentecostal and Baptist groups also are not immune from this...there's just more of us - people forget that sometimes...
Idjits. That's the liberal flip side to the dolts who told folks back in the 50's that since they were divorced, they could no longer receive Communion, even if they had NOT re-married! I wonder how many people left the Church because they didn't question that?
Well, the apostles, all of the early chrch father, and pretty much anyone who wrote about Christianity for the first 1500 years after Christ who wasn't a Gnostic or Arian, just for starters...
Liberalism: The cancer of the world
"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."
The Church is not a democracy, and you do not have to remain within it.
"And by the way, Cardinal McCarrick, I think you have a letter for me." I like Papa Joe's sense of timing.
"For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself." --St. Paul
It's in your Bible.
That's like asking "Is there still death?" in response to Jesus' words on eternal life.
>>The popes statements are completely in line with the Orthodox take on the Eucharist and the Liturgy
LOL.. The orthodox can't even explain how the Bread and Wine are turned into the body and blood..And the Pope's statements are "in line"? LOL
And Ecclesial divorce, the Orthodox have yet to explain that in the light of the teachings of Christ..
Maybe one day, the Ortohdox will get in line with Rome and stop playing ethnic and regional politics -- it's the REAL reason for the scism in 1054... (the filoque was more of an excuse than a breaking point)
Only people who take Scripture seriously. Not Bible-haters like yourself.
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