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Denver Archbishop scolds pro-choice Biden
Washington Times ^

Posted on 08/26/2008 7:27:02 AM PDT by WilliamReading

Catholic Archbishop Chaput, who was scheduled to lead a pro-life candlelight vigil Monday night here in front of Planned Parenthood, called Mr. Biden's support for abortion rights "seriously wrong," said archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette De Melo.

"I certainly presume his good will and integrity," said the archbishop, "and I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion if he supports a false 'right' to abortion."

The archbishop, who was not invited to speak at any convention events in what appeared to be a deliberate snub, told the Associated Press that he would like to speak privately with Mr. Biden.

The debate underscored what has emerged as a central theme of this year's convention: the tension between the Democratic Party's renewed outreach to religious voters and its long-standing support for unfettered access to abortion.

"The push for the Democratic Party is to have a new position on abortion," said Steve Waldman, editor of the religious Web site beliefnet.com. "When you look at Catholics and evangelicals, you see that they agree with 80 percent of what [Mr. Obama] says, but there's this stumbling block with abortion."

Whether pro-choice Catholics should take Communion became a major issue in 2004 during Democrat John Kerry's run for the presidency when more than a dozen bishops, including Archbishop Chaput, publicly asked the senator from Massachusetts not to present himself for the Eucharist.

Their stance may have given a boost to President Bush, who increased his share of the Catholic vote from 47 percent in 2000 to 52 percent in 2004.

"Now everywhere Biden campaigns, we'll have this question of whether a pro-abortion Catholic can receive Communion. ... Selecting a pro-abortion Catholic is a slap in the face to Catholic voters," said Fidelis President Brian Burch

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Delaware
KEYWORDS: 2008dncconvention; abortion; biden; catholic; catholicpoliticians; elections; prolife
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1 posted on 08/26/2008 7:27:02 AM PDT by WilliamReading
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To: WilliamReading

I am not Catholic, so I don’t understand this. Each Archbishop has the choice whether to offer communion to a pro-choice Catholic?

In Denver , an “abortion rights” Catholic cannot take communion, but in San Francisco and Chicago you can?


2 posted on 08/26/2008 7:29:37 AM PDT by WilliamReading
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To: WilliamReading

They should not take it nor be given it. Period.


3 posted on 08/26/2008 7:35:13 AM PDT by Bigoleelephant (Lawyers are to America what lead was to Rome.)
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To: WilliamReading
I am not Catholic, so I don’t understand this. Each Archbishop has the choice whether to offer communion to a pro-choice Catholic?

Yes... and no. Canon Law is pretty clear regarding this situation. However, a Bishop is the authority in his diocese and can choose to erroneously ignore the strictures.

For reference:

1] “Why should the Church deny the Eucharist to hundreds of ‘Catholic’ pro abortion politicians?”

Answer: The Catholic Church condemns abortion, euthanasia, sodomy, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, as well as other attacks against the sanctity of life and the family. It is the obligation of the bishop to follow canon law. Canon Law n.915 mandates the denial of Communion to all “manifest, obstinate, persistent sinners,” including but not exclusive to politicians.

Canon 915 not only protects the Eucharist from sacrilegious reception, but also prevents the faithful from sorrowful scandal.

It’s important to understand what ‘manifest, obstinate, persistent’ means. Many wrongly think it applies only to politicians. This is not so.

If a Catholic is a ‘manifest’ sinner, that means he is ‘known,’ or ‘public.’ This must be differentiated from the Catholics who are in the state of ‘private’ grave sin, to whom their sin is known only to themselves and God. The private grave sinner cannot be denied the Eucharist because their sin is unknown to the bishop, to his priests, and his ministers of the Eucharist.

If a Catholic is gravely ‘manifest’ and ‘obstinate’ in his sin, that means he pigheadedly continues to ‘persist’ or ‘stand firm’ in grave sin that is ‘public’ in nature and causes scandal to others. This is quite different from those who persist in ‘private’ sin.

‘Catholic’ pro-abortion politicians are certainly manifest, obstinate and persistent sinners and they are thus subject to the provisions of c.915.

Source: http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=989

4 posted on 08/26/2008 7:41:39 AM PDT by pgyanke (Public "servants" have decided it's their job to use the public's money to fight the public)
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To: WilliamReading
Each Archbishop has the choice whether to offer communion to a pro-choice Catholic?

The rules are pretty clear. Some bishops are men, and men of God, and enforce the rules. Others ...

5 posted on 08/26/2008 7:43:38 AM PDT by Campion
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To: WilliamReading
A Bishop has authority only over what takes place in his own diocese. Bishops are answerable to the Pope, not to one another. The cowardice that you are seeing exhibited today by some Bishops who allow the mockery of the Eucharist by the Pelosi's, Kerry's and Biden's of the world serves to reaffirm what St. Athanasius wrote so many centuries ago:

"The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops."

6 posted on 08/26/2008 7:45:00 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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To: WilliamReading
WilliamReading asked:

I am not Catholic, so I don’t understand this. Each Archbishop has the choice whether to offer communion to a pro-choice Catholic?

In Denver , an “abortion rights” Catholic cannot take communion, but in San Francisco and Chicago you can?

The rule of thumb on this matter is, you can't be Catholic if you are pro-abortion. People who are not Catholics should not be taking Communion. Biden has excommunicated himself from the RC Church for politically supporting abortion. Here's a couple of passages from the Catholic Catechism on the matter:

2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," "by the very commission of the offense," and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

2322 From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a "criminal" practice (GS 27 § 3), gravely contrary to the moral law. The Church imposes the canonical penalty of excommunication for this crime against human life.

If Biden sincerely stops supporting abortion and repents for this mortal sin, he can start attending Mass and receiving Communion.

7 posted on 08/26/2008 7:50:24 AM PDT by rochester_veteran ( http://RochesterConservative.com)
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To: WilliamReading

Sadly, we’re all over the map. “Father” Pfleger would probably perform an abortion and then say Mass.


8 posted on 08/26/2008 7:53:25 AM PDT by Travis McGee (--- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com ---)
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To: A.A. Cunningham

“Bishops are answerable to the Pope, not to one another.”

So this leads me to believe that the Pope and the Vatican is taking a “hands off” position on whether refusing communion to pro-choice politicians should be enforced or not.


9 posted on 08/26/2008 7:59:04 AM PDT by WilliamReading
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To: WilliamReading

(called Mr. Biden’s support for abortion rights “seriously wrong,” said archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette De Melo. “I certainly presume his good will and integrity,” said the archbishop, )

Ah, well I see here, where the Archbisop has gone wrong. He presumes goodwill and integrity in a POLITICIAN.


10 posted on 08/26/2008 8:07:15 AM PDT by SECURE AMERICA (Got Freedom ? Thank a Veteran...... Want to keep Freedom? Don't vote Obama)
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To: WilliamReading
"The push for the Democratic Party is to have a new position on abortion," said Steve Waldman, editor of the religious Web site beliefnet.com. "When you look at Catholics and evangelicals, you see that they agree with 80 percent of what [Mr. Obama] says, but there's this stumbling block with abortion."

I believe Mr. Waldman is wrong. I don't agree with anything Obama says, and almost everyone in my extended family is Christian, Catholic, Baptist, etc, and none of the ones with whom I've spoken agree with Obama about the issues, either. Abortion is just one of the those issues, albeit, the most important one.

11 posted on 08/26/2008 8:09:04 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: WilliamReading
People who support abortion present themselves for Communion all the time. It is regrettable, but most giving Communion have no idea about the views of others, unless they've made them public, as many politicians have. But even then, there are people who may not recognize a politician, and will give him or her Communion, unbeknownst. Either way, those who receive Holy Communion who should not be receiving will not only NOT receive the graces that flow from the Sacrament, they will be continuing to condemn their own souls, whether any Bishop makes a proclamation or not.

That being said, I'm glad the Bishops are speaking out on this, since the Democrats are doing their Election year 'religion dance', trying to bambooze the average Catholic into thinking that abortion is just one of many issues on which to decide one's vote, and their decision shouldn't be made on the basis of that one issue.

12 posted on 08/26/2008 8:15:10 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: WilliamReading
No they aren't. Raymond Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis, is now the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura; in effect the Supreme Court of the Church, at the Vatican, has been very outspoken on the issue of Canon 915 as has Pope Benedict XVI. Bishops, like all sinners, are given several opportunities to exercise free will and amend their lives and return to the straight and narrow path and preach the truth. Now that Burke is in Rome I expect that the heat will be turned up, albeit slowly, on those Bishops who talk the talk, and those that don't, but don't walk the walk regarding Catholic teaching and pro-infanticide politicians who mock the Eucharist.
13 posted on 08/26/2008 8:18:56 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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To: WilliamReading

“So this leads me to believe that the Pope and the Vatican is taking a “hands off” position on whether refusing communion to pro-choice politicians should be enforced or not.”

hmmm...not exactly.
The pope is not a micromanager.
He encourages bishops to do their job in their own territory.
Over recent years Rome has attempted to clarify this rule and make it more forceful - less likely to be misinterpetated.

Stubborn bishops who refuse to take the hint get “dealt” with differently according to their situation.
Many of these guys are approaching their 75th birthday where they are required to submit their resignation for the pope’s approval.

Some bishops have been moved around, or have been assigned a co-bishop (not the formal name - but same idea)

It is the last resort to publicly shame a bishop, and the church always reacts slowly.


14 posted on 08/26/2008 8:26:40 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: Scotswife

lol!
make that misinterpreted.


15 posted on 08/26/2008 8:28:56 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: Scotswife

“The pope is not a micromanager.”

The CEO of McDonald’s is also not a micromanager, but you will notice how all the McDonals serve the same food, at the same quality, and in a clean environment.


16 posted on 08/26/2008 8:44:55 AM PDT by WilliamReading
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To: WilliamReading

“The CEO of McDonald’s is also not a micromanager, but you will notice how all the McDonals serve the same food, at the same quality, and in a clean environment.”

really don’t see how this applies to dealing with millions of catholics.

Any catholic can walk into any mass around the world and will hear the same scriptures being read that day, the same psalm - a homily based on the gospel reading, and the same eucharistic sacrifice being offered.

Catholics are expected to respect the eucharist enough to not present themselves for communion when they know they should not.
What we have are a class of people who obviously do not believe in catholic teaching of the eucharist, or they would not be so careless.

So the church is faced with balancing the issue of reaching out to these people to convince them of their responsibility.

It is going to be very difficult for the church to track these people’s whereabouts week to week.

The bishops can order their priests to deny them communion - but that is assuming all the priests (many of them elderly) are going to be on top of their game and recognize these people prior to offering them the host.

The primary burden rests with the offenders themselves.
The message has now gone out - they have been publicly rebuked.
Let’s see if they listen.
They can still attend mass, but they should not get up for communion.


17 posted on 08/26/2008 9:01:57 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: Scotswife

What if a politician supports capital punishment? My understanding is that the Church is against capital punishment.

Is that enforced in any way?


18 posted on 08/26/2008 9:09:32 AM PDT by WilliamReading
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To: WilliamReading

that is not “as” absolute as the teaching on abortion.

For years it was considered acceptable as a safeguard against furthr killing of the innocent.

What the church basically has said is that now most of our countries have advanced enough to be able to contain these criminals without having to kill them.

However, the Church has also recognized exceptions can be made regarding those extreme persons who still represent a physical threat even in prison - to guards and to fellow inmates.

So there is room for debate regarding this teaching and it is not given the same weight as the teaching regarding the killing of innocent unborn children.


19 posted on 08/26/2008 9:16:10 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: Scotswife

Thank you for the explanation.


20 posted on 08/26/2008 9:59:36 AM PDT by WilliamReading
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