Posted on 07/03/2004 11:20:24 AM PDT by NeoCaveman
Catholic politicians who support abortion rights may decide for themselves whether they are morally fit to receive Communion in the eight-county Diocese of Cleveland.
In a statement Thursday that was also sent to area officeholders, Cleveland Bishop Anthony Pilla chose to align himself with the majority of U.S. bishops who favor persuasion over sanctions in the abortion debate.
"The battles for human life and dignity and for the weak and vulnerable should be fought not at the Communion rail, but in the public square, in hearts and minds, in our pulpits and public advocacy, in our consciences and communities," Pilla said in a statement to the more than 800,000 diocesan Catholics.
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The issue has created a political furor in a presidential election featuring an abortion-rights Catholic candidate from the Democratic party, U.S. Sen. John Kerry.
Several U.S. bishops said this spring that it was important to distance the church from the idea that one can be Catholic and support abortion. Some bishops, with the blessing of the Vatican, have banned abortion-rights politicians from receiving Communion.
But both Rome and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops decided last month to leave it up to individual diocesan bishops to decide whether to ban public officials from the sacrament.
Pilla's statement Thursday was his response to the controversy.
Cuyahoga County commissioner-elect Tim Hagan, who supports abortion rights, praised Pilla for favoring dialogue over carrying a big ecclesiastical stick.
"Bishop Pilla is one of the reasons I still hold out hope for the church having some voice in the public discussion," Hagan said.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland, one of 48 Catholic members of Congress who signed a letter in May warning the bishops that a Communion ban could revive anti-Catholic bigotry and harm the church, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
In a meeting last month, U.S. church leaders defended the right of bishops to deny Communion to public officials who support legalized abortion. "It is the teaching of the Catholic Church from the very beginning . . . that the killing of an unborn child is always intrinsically evil and can never be justified," the bishops said in a statement on "Catholics in Political Life."
But most bishops supported the recommendation of a leadership task force favoring persuasion over penalties that could be perceived as turning the Eucharist into a partisan political battleground.
In his statement, Pilla said that public officials, especially Catholics, have a moral obligation to protect "unborn children" and that the true measure of a politician is the consistency of his moral conviction and conduct. "Moral convictions have no other meaning except to be translated into choices and actions," Pilla said.
However, he said that for him to refuse Communion to politicians who support legalizing abortion would go against church tradition that places the responsibility for such a decision on the individual coming forward to receive the sacrament.
What public policy debates need are greater dialogue, understanding and civility, Pilla said.
"I firmly believe that clear and honest dialogue about moral teaching is always preferred over arbitrary judgments, condemnation or punitive actions," Pilla said. "The altar is a place of unity, healing, nourishment and grace. It is not a place for confrontation."
Has he ever heard of Canon 915?
Well atleast he's a staunch defender of tradition (/sarcasm)
Cleveland ping
These are the times that try mens souls (as they all are) and this is the time for Bishops to test their mettle.
They (Bishops) treat this subject a something that needs to be hashed out and discussed, while at the same time millions of God's children are being dispatched to who knows where.
How many souls are saved if just one Bishop make an example of just one sinner? I don't know, but I'll bet that somehow, somewhere, a mother or mothers are taking notice, and a life is saved - the babies life and the mothers soul.
While the cowards talk about it and give the impression that it's not so serious, how many souls are lost?
for him to refuse Communion to politicians who support legalizing abortion would go against church tradition that places the responsibility for such a decision on the individual coming forward to receive the sacrament.
Ratzinger:
5. Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.
6. When “these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they were not possible,” and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, “the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it”
Notice that Ratzinger simply states, “the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it” . He makes NO distinction between bishop, priest, deacon or EEM.
Therefore, regardless of the cowardice or cooperation with evil of the USCCB or the local bishop, all ministers of Holy Communion MUST refuse to distribute it. That would include EEMs the way I read Ratzinger's statement here.
Ping. (As usual, if you would like to be added to or removed from my "conservative Catholics" ping list, please send me a FReepmail. Please note that this is occasionally a high volume ping list and some of my ping posts are long.)
No EEM should take it upon himself to refuse the Eucharist to anybody, especially since he has no clue as to what the pastor or bishop may be doing in terms of counselling the individual involved.
Determining whether or not one receives the Eucharist is not the responsibility of a layman.
Are they a "minister" of the Eucharist or aren't they? If they ARE then the fact that they are lay persons would be immaterial.
Good time to revisit why the Church forbids the habitual use of EEMs, huh? Maybe it wasn't such a prudent idea in the first place to allow laity to be ministers of the Eucharist, and this debate brings that fact into sharp focus.
Only in the minds of a few here on FR.
EEMs will take direction from the pastor and the bishop, and not free lance.
They are "ministers" which means they assist the priest. They don't make moral judgments on their own as to who receives and who doesn't.
Yeah...and in the Vatican. But who in America gives a damn about clear Vatican directives affecting matters of Faith and morals?
I wonder how much more "honest dialogue" one can have with someone who will not change their mind such as Senator Kerry.
And, I wonder when this 'honest dialogue' is going to happen.
EEM's, properly known as EME's, are NOT ministers of Holy Communion. That is the presiding Priest or Bishop of the Mass only.
The first E stands for Extraordinary. Iknow you know this, but it must have slipped your mind.
Pax
"U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland, one of 48 Catholic members of Congress who signed a letter in May warning the bishops that a Communion ban could revive anti-Catholic bigotry and harm the church,..."
This is just the beginning. Abortion now, homosexual norming next, and then another manifest sin will be given a pass.
I commend those Bishops who are willing to say what the teachings are and hold to them. The spector of anti-Catholic bigotry will be raised again when those who promote and LEGISLATE sodomite marriage approach the altar.
What then?
Given Pilla's heretical promotion of the sin of homosexual activity, I am not in the least surprised.
Pilla is almost as "liberated" as the Southern African bishops who welcomed the Clintons at Holy Communion some years ago...
http://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A056rcClintonCommunion.htm
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