Here is why I think the church should not single out one person for what others may do.
I used to belong to the Greek Ortho. Church. I had seen so many marriages fall apart. Many failed due to extra-marital affairs with people in this same church. Now why is the church marrying people who have done this but the Catholic Church tells someone like Kennedy, no, you cannot take communion?
I guess I just look at it differently. Also, so many in the church I belonged to were very pro-choice and while I do not know if any have had abortions (I really do not want to know), they and the adulterers continue to line up for communion.
I know we are not perfect but this seems hypocritical to me.
Orthodox have relaxed the rules on remarriage after divorce. Catholics who remarry after a divorce are barred from Communion unless they abstain from sexual relations.
If it can be shown that the first “marriage” was invalid, they can remarry and receive Communion.
A lot of people don’t like this. The Church’s rules are just as tough on divorced and remarried, indeed more so, than anything Bishop Tobin has laid on Kennedy.
Granted, a lot of people defy the rules. But that’s on their heads, just as Patrick Kennedy’s defiance of his bishop is on his head.
You admit you only know Orthodox practice and you don’t like it. Why not find out first about what Catholic practice is before denouncing it?
Say what you will, the Catholic Church is the only Christian group even faintly trying to hold the line against the tidal wave of sexual license and culture of Death.
There’s plenty to fault the bishops for. They’ve screwed up badly over the last 40 years. But the scene among Protestants and even Orthodox (on remarriage, contraception, abortion) is worse.