Posted on 05/12/2015 10:51:42 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
You know you are in for a wild ride when a GetReligion reader sends you a URL from The New York Post (or The New York Daily News, for that matter) with one of those, "Yeah, consider the source, BUT" notes that basically is warning you to duck and cover. Incoming.
So here is the headline on this one: "The Catholic Church will now forgive your abortion."
The loyal reader noted: "The title is bad, but it gets worse from there. Wouldn't have wasted your time with it, but it is such awful dreck that it seemed to me a perfect crystallization of what your site is so admirably attempting to combat – sort of a 'why we fight' type of example."
At the heart of this story is a journalistic virus that seems to be affecting journalists around the world. You know the one, the "Everything Pope Francis touches is brand new" bug. As you could see from that headline, this one is an instant classic. Here's the top of the story:
Pope Francis will send an army of globe-trotting priests – his “missionaries of mercy” – to absolve women who’ve had abortions, in the latest Vatican bid to catch up with modern times.The effort, which includes reaching out to doctors and nurses who’ve performed abortions, will commence in the Holy Year of Mercy, which Francis has declared will be celebrated between Dec. 8, 2015, and Nov. 20, 2016.
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, announced the bold initiative and said the church should always be in the absolution business.
Catholic readers, you can get back up into your chair now or clean the computer screen onto which you spewed your morning source of caffeine.
This story makes it sound like Catholic projects to help women who have had abortions are brand new, that this is some kind of theological innovation and even (wink, wink) that this implies the church may have moved closer to modernizing its stance (that "catch up with modern times" riff was amazing) on the sanctity of unborn life.
Really? Well, how do you read this?
Vatican officials walked a tightrope on Thursday, celebrating forgiveness but standing firm that abortion is still very much against church teachings.“There are a number of clergy with the ability to pardon abortions already, it is not that rare,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman.
Now, if you have been anywhere near the religion beat in the past three decades you are aware that the Catholic church has long had a ministry, founded in 1984, dedicated to working with women who have had abortions and are seeking reconciliation with the church – moving from Confession, back into the sacraments of the faith.
This ministry is called "Project Rachel" – click here to go to the national website – and there are priests and others doing this work from coast to coast. This latest Pope Francis project is interesting, and it may be valid news, but it is news because it is another effort to build support for an old concept that already has wide support.
Apparently, Post editors have also never heard of a famous New Yorker who is currently known as the Servant of God Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Momentum is building toward her recognition as a saint. One of the turning points in her remarkable life was an abortion and a vision that followed, which led her back into the church. Click here and you can see that NPR has even touched on this part of her life.
So this kind of ministry is more evidence that Pope Francis is pulling the church into the modern world? Well, I guess that is true if you accept the basic framework of this Post story. Believe it or not, the following text is from a news story, not an editorial:
Francis has made stunningly progressive remarks in his two years leading world Catholics.He’s preached for acceptance of gays and lesbians, embraced science and even hinted that women will be taking bigger roles in the Vatican.
So there.
Abortion: still a moral sin.
Excommunication: still a penalty that can be lifted.
Repentance and reconciliation of sinner with God and the Church: still the #1 goal of the Catholic Church from Day One.
But to the EneMedia it's something at once sardonic and exciting: Pope Francis going soft on sin! Subversion of doctrine! Revolution!
Funny how often the Secular Media Left and the RadTrad Right agree on distorting this in exactly the same direction.
More like, more evangelical in tone. Instead of waiting for would be penitents to come to it, the Roman church is advertising for them now.
A good move for any level of sincere Christendom.
Project Rachel has been operating quietly for years.
And it has surprised the MSM and the Left in general every time there is a new pope elected, at least since John Paul I that the pope eventually turns out to be Catholic. Francis, or rather the reporting about Francis does cause me to worry about him from time to time but the bad news still turns out to be projections of the liberals rather than actual performance. The liberal fog machine has been running harder this time than previously so it is harder to see the actual man but that will probably change when the libs finally decide that they can’t pep talk Francis into being a an Episcopalian and/or a Marxist with a neon halo.
God has provided the one and only anointed, certified and necessary mediator and intercessor, His Son, Jesus, Christ. No human agent should presume to assume or supplant His office.
I don’t know...maybe I’m on the wrong thread, but since I’m former RCC here goes....
Jesus Forgives...if you ask Him in Repentance with a broken heart.
There’s only one “unforgivable” sin and here’s the scripture to prove it:
Mark 3:22-30
Matthew 12:22-32
You go to your grave denying the Deity of Jesus and that He is the Christ, born, died, rose from the dead (Romans 10:9-10)...then it’s unpardonable.
One could wish. I haven’t seen an alternative explanation of his jag on “global warming/climate change” however which is lousy science. Not the first time the Church didn’t listen to the best science, however.
“But don’t you get divorced, by God! You are cut off from the sacraments for life if you do...unless you pay the mordida, that is!”
That’s completely false. Being divorced does not cut you off from the sacraments. If you divorce and remarry outside of the Church, that is a different story because then you’re nothing more than shacked up in the Church’s point of view. Once again, just to make this clear: BEING DIVORCED DOES NOT CUT YOU OFF FROM THE SACRAMENTS.
http://www.catholic.com/blog/jim-blackburn/receiving-the-sacraments-after-divorce-and-remarriage
If abortion is murder, is not every woman who has procured an abortion an accessory before the fact??
It’s often hard for people to accept God’s mercy ... especially God’s mercy toward other people.
However, having relations with someone not your spouse (e.g. the second "marital" "partner") while your original spouse is still alive, Jesus called, three different times, adultery (Matthew 19:9; Mark 10:11-122; Luke 16:18)
That's where the excommunication comes from, the second marriage: ongoing, civilly-licensed, open adultery.
But human beings can be ordained Catholic Priests, who are ordained to minister sacraments like Reconciliation (Confession.) That is not "assuming or supplanting" His office. That is offering a ministry of grace with His blessing and in His Name
The disagreement isn’t going to go away overnight; it has to do with whether the scriptures (all written as witnesses of Jewish or Christian faith, it scarcely needs to be added, but yet could stand to be) can be trusted to carry the Lord’s message and blessing on their own, or a given contemporary body of men is needed to furnish something missing.
It is very easy for men to be heavy handed with things “religious.” It fulfills their fallen desire to dominate, inherited from the devil through the common fall of mankind. I’d argue that the gospel of John itself argues for Christian faith to be a “scripture” faith. That however well men may advise, sooner or later they must move out of the way and make room for pure God.
Tagline.
True,and thank God.
There’s only one “unforgivable” sin and here’s the scripture to prove it:
Mark 3:22-30
Matthew 12:22-32"
All true as well. And the reason it's :"unforgivable" is because the sinner is rejecting Jesus' mercy, which is always offered but, tragically, not always wanted or accepted.<> The Catholic Church has always condemned abortion as a mortal sin, but has never called it an unforgivable sin. The unforgivable sin is refusing the Source of forgiveness.
...”It’s often hard for people to accept God’s mercy ... especially God’s mercy toward other people”....
Pope Francis nor the Catholic Church is God. Christians speak directly with God regarding forgiveness .... they do not need the Popes announcement, of all things, or the catholic church approval........ nor accept that it matters one iotta.
It all depends on what he DOES say, and with what level of authority.<> If,for instance, he says "Destroying people's air, water, and soil resources is wrong" --- he's right on the money. You can't be destroying other peoples' --- or future generations' ---necessities of life. God made this world for everyone, including our children. Creation-care, tending the garden, is one of the first mandates from God in Genesis.
If he says "We have to all reduce our CO2 and stop global warming" (or any other specific policy recommendation supposedly based on the physical sciences) he's simply speaking outside of his competence. I really hope he doesn't do that, because then it will be necessary for Catholics to point out that statements outside of his competence are not magisterial.
I'm not sure what the legal term "accessory before the fact" means, but let me put it this way: every women who procures an abortion, and all of her formal accomplices (doctor, mom who said she should "get rid of it," boyfriend who drove her to the clinic, politician who made sure these foul deeds were legal and funded) is guilty of murder.
You put my thoughts into words with your post.
John IMVHO is by far the Best Christianity 101 gospel there is.
I’m of the opinion that if the Lord wanted to tell us more, He would have in other books.
We’ve got to walk by faith in this life. He demands it.
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