Posted on 10/15/2007 4:56:51 PM PDT by wagglebee
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A former Catholic cardinal and a leading pro-abortion "Catholic" group have blasted comments by St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke who said he would deny communion to Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani because of his position favoring abortion.
Earlier this month, Burke said he would deny communion to Giuliani.
"If the question is about a Catholic who is publicly espousing positions contrary to the moral law, and I know that person knows it, yes I would [deny communion]," Burke told the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
He said anyone who administers Catholic communion can't knowingly give it to Catholic politicians who flout the Church's teachings on abortion.
"It is a cause of concern for me and for all bishops to find ourselves in this situation," Burke said.
Former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick restated his opposition to Burke's position to withhold communion from pro-abortion politicians.
McCarrick said the Catholic Church shouldn't be denying communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians because no elected official will ever perfectly fall in line with every policy position the Church takes.
In an interview with the Associated Press over the weekend he also said the church's positions on abortion and other issues such as euthanasia and the death penalty are base teachings, but do not fully encompass all Catholic beliefs.
"You cannot be authentically Catholic if you do not support life, yet it is not enough just to support life, you have to go beyond that," McCarrick said.
"To really be authentically Catholic, you need it and the family rights, the right to education, the right to take care of the poor, the right of migrants," he added.
Meanwhile, Jon O'Brien, the head of the pro-abortion group calling itself "Catholics for a Free Choice" said communion decisions shouldn't be based on abortion.
"In Catholicism, once you are baptized, you are authentically Catholic. We don't have a litmus test that people take," he told the Associated Press.
After Burke's comments, Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, was in New Hampshire campaigning and he avoided answering the comments directly.
"Archbishops have a right to their opinion, you know," Giuliani said. "There's freedom of religion in this country. There's no established religion, and archbishops have a right to their opinion. Everybody has a right to their opinion."
Maybe not, but the belief in the sanctity of life goes back to Cain and Abel.
Pro-Life Ping
Catholic Ping
The Archbishop does not have the right to be an Archbishop in the CAtholic church and to have a pro-abortion position. Let him resign from the church and then he can have any opinion he wants.
funny, but I don’t recall religion ever being quite as big a to-do when the candidates aren’t Catholic. I don’t recall anyone saying to bill clinton, “yo, Dr. Dobson and most pastors are against abortion. Whaddaya think about that?”
The pro-life movement, of which the Catholic Church is a major part, has been pushing to end abortion since 1973. Maybe it seems different this go around because there is a pro-abortion candidate seeking the GOP nomination.
You know, i’m just fed up already. Why don’t they just leave? You live it and struggle, just as if. If you’re obstinate (obviously, publicly stated), theres no purpose of amendment... that’s excommunication of yourself. Why does he even go up for communion... why do any of them?
They bring damnation to themselves and scandal to those who witness it. All men fall short, but this is about God’s will, not theirs. I would think my soul comes before a career in politics. Easy to say from this side I guess.
All I can do is pray for all of them... and us.
Hey wags, remember election time when McCarrick twisted the pope’s statement after Mike went to Rome re: Pro Abortion Pols?
You didn’t ask me, but I think it means were the last ones who give a damn.
Cardinal McCarrick has long been in the pocket of the Democratic party.Anything he says politically is to help the Democrats win and Cardinal McCarrick get a good obituary in his beloved N.Y.Times.
“A former Catholic cardinal...”
Cardinal McCarrick is not a “former” cardinal, nor even a “former” bishop.
**McCarrick said the Catholic Church shouldn’t be denying communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians because no elected official will ever perfectly fall in line with every policy position the Church takes.**
If they have a spine they will. Santorum is a good example.
You haven’t ever seen a Catholic voting guide put out by various organizations, it’s obvious. Makes me laugh at your post.
Arch Burke provides a theological and canonical teaching. Cdl Mccarrick aa political one. The Cdl evidently has forgotten his theology and canonical training, or is just another one of the ‘american catholic’ hierarchy who is a Democratic party pawn and a member of the de facto schism (also known as AmChurch). Obviously he doesn’t concern himself with the sacriligious act of presenting the Real Presence of Christ to a manifest unrepentant mortal sinner.
In fact, this matter isn’t about politics. It’s about the doctrinal and moral teaching of the Catholic Church.
Just for the record, matters of poverty, immigration, and war allow for prudential judgments that have to balance various aspects of social and distributive justice. Abortion doesn’t. There is no seamless garment of life in the context that CDL Mccarrick would like us to believe.
One has to go back to the Arian heresy to find such a theological/doctrinal fissure within the college of bishops. Arch Burke is an “Athanasius” of our time. I won’t comment further on CDL Mccarrick.
The late Cardinal Bernardin speaks from the grave. This is his "seamless garment" argument.
While pretending to advance a consistent "pro-life" agenda which extends to all areas of human culture, it in fact undermines the fight for the most fundamental of all rights, the right to life, by equating it with the rights to education, employment etc.
Sorry Ted. Without the right to life there, is no education nor migration.
I guess the former head of the Washington diocese is miffed to see the policy of his beloved accomplice, Bernardin,getting what it deserves; a good kicking to the curb from Archbishop Burke.
funny, but I don’t recall religion ever being quite as big a to-do when the candidates aren’t Catholic. I don’t recall anyone saying to bill clinton, “yo, Dr. Dobson and most pastors are against abortion. Whaddaya think about that?”
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You don’t think the news media would ever report anything that would embarass a Dem do you? ... Forget about Billary for a moment,,, Obama’s sect teaches abortion is A-OK and the hospital they run performs late term abortions.
By the ex Cardinal logic we should do away with Confession, stop harping on about Original Sin, dump the baptismal waters into the bay and all just meet every Sunday for pretzels and beer. I mean we are all going to fail at trying to be perfect so why the hell bother?
The Washington Archdiocese’s seminary is known as the pink palace. But I’d reserved judgment on the man. Then I met him. He comes across as a nice guy, but queer as a $69 bill. Since his retirement was announced, he’s put away his veneer of orthodoxy and come out swinging like the deranged froot loop he is.
Cardinal Burnadin from beyond the grave: “Oh, Satan, how it burns, it burns! My groin, my loins, even the flesh on my eyeballs, it burns, it burns so!”
The man ruthlessly promoted his gay sex partners everywhere he could, and stands credibly accused of the most depraved sacrileges I’ve ever heard of.
I realize that his appointments as bishop and cardinal do not cease with his retirement; however, we are not supposed to change titles.
His resignation, upon the event of his 75th birthday, was accepted immediately.
His predecessor (CDL Hickey) also tendered his resignation upon his 75th birthday. His resignation was not accepted ... and he continued to serve as Archbishop of Washington for some years, before ill health more or less forced his retirement.
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