Reuters PHOTO: "ROMAN CATHOLIC" John Kerry takes communion at AME Church [Is this kosher?]

REUTERS photo (via the Drudge thread) ^ | April 4, 2004 | RonDog

[RonDog]

Perhaps someone on the RELIGION forum can help us.

On tonight's Drudge thread there is some question as to the propriety of a ROMAN CATHOLIC taking communion in a NON-Catholic church.

See, for instance, my post 321:

To: tgslTakoma

The AP and Reuters stories said that he did take communion. Kerry attended Palm Sunday services, but not at a Catholic Church; he went to the Charles Street AME Church in Boston to take Communion.

(It's been a very long time since my Catholic school religion classes, but I seem to remember that it's a big no-no for a Catholic to take Communion in other than a Catholic church. Maybe that rule has changed...)

From Yahoo! NEWS photos:

Sun Apr 4, 3:16 PM ET

Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator John Kerry
(news - web sites) (D-Ma) and his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry (2nd from L)
kneel in prayer with Boston Mayor Tom Menino (3rd from L)
and his wife Angela as they wait to be served communion
during church services at the Charles Street AME Church
in the Dorchester section of Boston April 4, 2004.
REUTERS/Jim Bourg US ELECTION

The AP and Reuters stories said that he did take communion. Kerry attended Palm Sunday services, but not at a Catholic Church; he went to the Charles Street AME Church in Boston to take Communion.

(It's been a very long time since my Catholic school religion classes, but I seem to remember that it's a big no-no for a Catholic to take Communion in other than a Catholic church. Maybe that rule has changed...)

From Yahoo! NEWS photos:

[tob2]

Kerry used it as a photo op.

[Desdemona]

Ah, yes, what a quandry. Easter. The one Sunday we Catholics are required to receive Eucharist, after going to Confession, of course.

Kerry has a problem. If he is recognized in the confessional and doesn't make a complete confession he's not supposed to go.

Hmmmm.... Practicing, orthodox Catholics don't take kindly to politicians wanting the rules bent for them.

[rudyrudy]

I think that since they do not believe it is the body and blood of Jesus Christ he was more or less just having a cracker with them. What's wrong with that?

[RonDog]

From that Washington Times article:

Sen. John Kerry prayed at
an Episcopal church in
Massachusetts yesterday.
(AP)
Click here for larger image

[Jalapeno]

What Say You?

Let's forget it's John Kerry.

Let's pretend it's Joe Lieberman. Would it seem strange?

Same thing...

[kjvail]

Yet another reason for this heretic to be excommunicated. If Rome continues to do nothing, they are saying their faith means nothing.

[Mo1]

With these photographs, though, I don't know how anyone could doubt his insincerity any longer

he's not just making a mockery of his own religion but he's also making a mockery of others religious beliefs

Kerry is a disgrace

[RonDog]

I think that since they do not believe it is the body and blood of Jesus Christ he was more or less just having a cracker with them.
What's wrong with that?

See also this PARODY, from www.scrappleface.com:

Kerry Calls Pope's Abortion Stance 'Not Nuanced'

(2004-03-29) -- The strict anti-abortion stance of Pope John Paul II is "tragically not nuanced," according to U.S. Democrat presidential candidate John Forbes Kerry, a practicing Roman Catholic.

"I pray for an America where rosary beads are sold in abortion clinic gift shops," said Mr. Kerry. "But I won't be a Catholic president, or even, as John F. Kennedy called himself, 'a president who happens to be Catholic'. I will be a president who happens to say he is Catholic but doesn't feel constrained by the black-and-white teachings of a church which is the bedrock of values, of sureness about who I am."

Mr. Kerry made the remarks as he left Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Flexible Doctrine...

[OpusatFR]

Kerry is not Catholic.

I am. I love the Church and I love what it states. I love the Eucharist and believe Christ is present Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Kerry's photo-op is making a mockery of his claim to Catholicism.

[GirlShortstop]

Kerry is not Catholic.

I am. I love the Church and I love what it states. I love the Eucharist and believe Christ is present Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.

Kerry's photo-op is making a mockery of his claim to Catholicism.

AMEN!

[Modernman]

I believe that Russian and Greek Orthodox Churches may fall under this umbrella, being Eastern rather than Latin Rite.

That's correct. The two branches of Catholicism (Eastern and Western) recognize each other's sacraments. That's why, for example, a marriage performed in an Eastern Orthodox Church is fully valid in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church.

[B Knotts]

"We're thankful that there's going to be a revolution in this country ... a new movement," the Rev. Gregory Groover saidfrom the pulpit during the Palm Sunday service. "And we say, God, bring him on, the next president of the United States."

Why is it that this kind of blatant politicking is allowed by the IRS in "black" churches, but not in other churches?

Frankly, I think it should be allowed, but in all churches, not just black ones.

[old and tired]

Only exception I know if is in an Orthodox Church under very limited circumstances (you can't find a Catholic Church).

My understanding was that you could receive at an Orthodox Church (or SSPX, or anyone else who believes in the Real Presence) if you are there for the Mass (like a wedding or funeral, for example)if you are specifically invited by the presiding priest.

I certainly hope this is the case, because we have dear Russian Orthodox friends whose five children's weddings we attended and we received Communion after being specifically invited to do so.

[old and tired]

Practicing, orthodox Catholics weren't going to vote for the baby killing Kerry anyway. Just read the words of this idiot:

“My friends, you won the right to choose [abortion]. It didn't just happen. People made it happen. Women most of all. Now we need to work just as hard to protect it...We can't go back. We will never go back. We will never, ever let this right be taken away!” ( NARAL Pro-Choice America Dinner, 2003)

“Abortions need to be moved out of the fringes of medicine and into the mainstream of medical practice. And by the same token, if our children are to be safe from the danger of fanaticism, tolerance needs to spread out of the mainstream churches, mosques, and synagogues, and into the religious fringes." (congressional record)

[patent]

>>>>My understanding was that you could receive at an Orthodox Church (or SSPX, or anyone else who believes in the Real Presence) if you are there for the Mass (like a wedding or funeral, for example)if you are specifically invited by the presiding priest.


Not trying to start another SSPX flame war, but I wouldn't have included them in the provision here.

As to your receipt, my understanding is that your circumstances weren't appropriate, it has to be a situation where you can't make it to a Catholic Church. That said, I doubt anyone is going to be critical of your actions.

patent

[old and tired]

As to your receipt, my understanding is that your circumstances weren't appropriate

Well, I know my wife checked on it back in the eighties, and then we just went with it for the rest of the times.

I would like to know definitively, though, because there will undoubtedly be more instances where we will be at a Russian Orthodox Church.

[SoothingDave]

I think that since they do not believe it is the body and blood of Jesus Christ he was more or less just having a cracker with them. What's wrong with that?

Primarily, it's an expression of a unity (communion means "union with") between the Catholic Church and this other Protestant faith that is not there. So it's a lie.

And by engaging in what a Catholic can only believe, as you said, is a "cracker," he is expressing for the world what is called "indifferentism," the idea that taking the True Sacrament in a Catholic Church and taking a symbolic communion in an AME church are equivalent. That what religion you profess and where you worship is not important.

SD

[drstevej]

***Kissing a book is neither a sacrament nor a statement of faith.***

"a book" in this case is the KORAN -- did ya miss that?

Sacrament? Not yet at least.
Statement of Faith? Don't be so sure.

[SoothingDave]

I would like to know definitively, though, because there will undoubtedly be more instances where we will be at a Russian Orthodox Church.

I am sure that the Catholic position is that an Orthodox priest may be sought out for sacraments only in situations of grave emergency and where one's own clergy is not available. And that likewise, a Catholic priest would serve an Orthodox member in such a situation.

I have read, though nowhere official, that the Orthodox do not have such a provision in their code.

In any event, a wedding is not a grave emergency. Though a case could be made for being gracious in accepting an invitation from an Orthodox priest. Certainly the issue of the sacrament's validity is not in question.

SD

[SoothingDave]

Give it a rest, Steve. Join the Kerry-Kondemnation. Be a uniter, not a divider.

SD