Ping!
I've never quite grasped the excommunication concept. God is the judge, not humans. The Catholic Church is certainly entitled to expel members, but to give it more cosmic consequences than that seems to be usurping authority that is not their's.
Unlike the Kennedys, they don't have the money to "donate" to the Church. case in point - Joeseph Kennedy's marriage was "annulled" after he already had 4 or 5 kids. Of course because of that, in the eyes of the Church, his kids are now bastards. Well, we all know the Kennedys are bastards anyway :-)
I don't get it. If someone wants to be Catholic, they have to obey the teachings of the pope and of the bishops united with the pope. How can a person moan about excommunication when that person commits himself/herself to serious immoral actions condemned by the Church through the teaching authority of the pope?
I may be a skeptic when it comes to religion, but I can accept that if you want to be a member of a certain church, that church has the right to expel you or decline your affiliation if you refuse to follow its teachings! What's their problem?
They were "raised Catholic" but none admit to being a dreaded "practicing Catholic". They have excommunicated themselves. The secularists will greet them with open arms.
My view?
Excommunicate them and every pro abortion politician with them.
Religious persecution? Telling the Church what she should believe or not believe on moral issues is the real religious persecution around here.
Unbelievable that they're complaining about getting excommunicated. Why haven't they just quit the Catholic Church? So silly of them to pretend to be Christian when they so cavalierly destroy human life. And damn straight that the doctors and others who flush embryos down the drain at IVF clinics also ought not to be allowed to pretend to be Christians!
"Dr. Stephen Minger, leading stem cell expert at Kings College, told the BBC, "Having been raised a Catholic I found this stance really outrageous."
"Are they going to excommunicate IVF doctors, nurses and embryologists who routinely put millions of embryos down the sink every year throughout the world?" he asked."
They SHOULD excommunicate for IVF as well. More embryos are destroyed through IVF than through embryonic stem cell research.
This is pretty simple really.
Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) hold little or no potential for long term treatment or cure of anything.
Adult Stem Cells have 70 patents on proven and high potential treatment and cures.
IF ESC held any promise there would be no need for federal funding of research. The private sector would be flooding the market with investments.
The push for federal funding for ESC research is ALL about pretending there is a benefit to abortion.
Professor Cesare Galli of the Laboratory of Reproductive Technologies in Cremona, the first scientist to clone a horse, said last week that the position makes the Catholic church like the Talbian in Afghanistan.
These guys are in hysterics. Vigorous criticism does not equal persecution. Internal church disciplinary action does not equal persecution. They obviously never played "one of these things is not like the other" in childhood.
"I can bear excommunication. I was raised as a Catholic, I share Catholic values, but I am able to make my own judgment on some issues and I do not need to be told by the church what to do or to think,"
I can re-state this in two words: "Non serviam."
Question: "Are they going to excommunicate IVF doctors, nurses and embryologists who routinely put millions of embryos down the sink every year throughout the world?" Answer: YES!
Why don't they excommunicate the priests that molest kids?
Probably, dumbass (he thought he was asking a rhetorical question, didn't he?). He don't know his religion very well.
I'm surprised there are Catholics who would consider killing humans for research purposes.
YES! Where the heck has this guy been over the last 20 years??
Um...excuse me, but I believe only the Catholic scientists can be excommunicated from their own church! BTW, isn't religious persecution when outsiders persecute you for FOLLOWING YOUR OWN RELIGION???
How irrational. This dude is certainly qulified to be "MAD" scientist. A fine example of the liberal diseased mind, here.
Perhaps its time to start a support group for my catholic scientist collegues going through the same situation...we still got families to support and loans to pay back, but we shouldn't have to take part in this work to do it...Perhaps it can be done though the the KofC or something?? That would be awsome.