Posted on 09/22/2004 6:46:23 PM PDT by sinkspur
Apparently somebody didn’t get the memo. Reader Geoff Garvey of Murrell’s Inlet, S.C., which is in the Charleston diocese, tells me that a eucharistic minister there turned away a communicant who wore a John Kerry for President button to the Communion rail.
Charleston Bishop Robert J. Baker had declared that Catholics in public life, especially elected ones, who didn’t support church teaching on the sanctity of human life “are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.” That came Aug. 4 in a joint letter from Baker, Archbishop John F. Donoghue of Atlanta, Ga., and Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte, N.C.
But in a pastoral addendum Baker published in his own see, he clarified his position: “No one else may make a decision regarding whether or not a person should be admitted to holy Communion. That determination is reserved to me personally.”
Garvey said that the parish pastor quickly squelched the self-appointed enforcer. When he discovered the incident he called in all eucharistic ministers and told them this action was beyond their purview.
In Charleston, Baker has reserved that decision to himself.
Bumping for additional comments.
All who present themselves for the Eucharist are to be given the Eucharist.
No Eucharistic Minister has the authority to refuse anybody.
If you read the article, Bishop Baker, one of the most conservative bishops in the country, won't even let a pastor turn someone away from the Eucharist. He reserves that to himself.
You're not familiar with liturgical directives, I see.
In general, a lot of people these days show up wearing anything they want to Mass (OK, now maybe pajamas are acceptable). My old priest would deny communion to any woman wearing pants. Suppose those days are gone.
The minister had no right to deny communion to that person.
**but who wears a political button to church? **
Good question -- almost makes one ask, "Did the communicant want this to happen?"
Oh yes he did. Kerry is pro partial birth abortion. If you are a Catholic and support Kerry then you have chosen to side with the enemy against the ideals of the Catholic Right to Life.
That wasn't John Kerry asking for communion. A person can support a candidate without supporting everything in their platform. I have no idea if that was the case in this situation, and neither did the minister. Even if this person was pro-choice, I don't think a Eucharistic minister should be making that decision.
Hot-dogging Eucharistic Ministers have no business turning ANYBODY away from the Eucharist.
You're absolutely right. The one who upheld his church-taught values should have resigned from his position as a eucharistic minister rather than succumb to the politics of the church heirarchy. As should all who hold dear the teachings they've been raised on.
Let the priests and their hierarchy sort out when to violate the sanctity of life and when not to. That's what we have them for, after all, isn't it?
Of course, on their way out the door, they might want to ask the priest and Bishop in question which of the teachings the church REALLY means and which it intends them to just pay lip service to.
But the bishop's rule prevails. And he says that no one, not even a pastor, can make the decision to refuse the Eucharist without consulting him.
If a EM can't obey the bishop, then, yes, he should resign.
Don't insult our intelligence. That person wore the button to mass for a reason. It wasn't because they really like his many positions on taxes.
Just as he should if he can't stomach the man's politicking.
Uh, someone wearing a Kerry button is not a "publicly unrepentant sinner." The bishop said that he, and he alone, would determine who should not receive the Eucharist.
The fact is, the Eucharistic Minister assumed to himself a decision to which he was not entitled.
>Uh, someone wearing a Kerry button is not a "publicly
>unrepentant sinner."
Would someone wearing an Osama Bin Laden button be a publically unrepentant sinner? Why, or why not?
It would be very difficult to give the Body and Blood of Christ to a person who blatantly flaunted His teaching by wearing a button proclaiming support for one who does not follow Him.
Let those who have taken vows to help feed the sheep stand before God on Judgement Day explaining how they "felt" it was the right thing to do.
Without talking to the person, I would have no idea.
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