Posted on 04/17/2003 1:05:24 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
ANY hope that Tony Blair had of enjoying a happy, Catholic Easter with his family will be crushed today by the Pope.
John Paul II is issuing a new encyclical that The Times has learnt will explicitly forbid Protestants like the Prime Minister taking Communion with Catholics such as Cherie Blair and their children.
The 83-year-old Pope has chosen Holy Week to stamp on what he sees as dangerously “liberal” interpretations of the Roman Catholic doctrine that only those “in full communion with Rome” can take part in the Eucharist.
Mr Blair, who remains a committed, if ecumenical, member of the Church of England, regularly attends Catholic Mass with his family. He also used to take Communion with them at the St Joan of Arc church in Islington.
But in 1996, he received a letter from Cardinal Basil Hume asking him to desist. In his reply, Mr Blair did not conceal his dismay at such theological conservatism. Saying that he merely wished to worship with his family but had not realised his behaviour was causing offence, he promised he would not do so again. The letter added: “I wonder what Jesus would have made of it?”
Since then Mr Blair, who admits he is strongly drawn to Catholicism, has more than once explored the limits of this doctrine. Britain has never had a Catholic prime minister and in 1998 he had to deny reports he had converted after being spotted going to Westminster Cathedral for Mass unaccompanied by his family. Suggestions that he had received the Eucharist on this occasion were never confirmed.
There have also been rumours that when Mr Blair is on holiday abroad he has taken Communion with his family.
The Pope´s fourteenth encyclical slams the door on the many Catholics and Protestants who currently take Communion together and represents a setback for Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is a firm advocate of ecumenism. When Mr Blair visited the Pope at the Vatican last month, he may have got a hint of what was to come. While his family went to take Communion with the Pope, the Prime Minister only received a blessing. The Pope also made it clear that he disagreed with Mr Blair about war in Iraq.
If you chose to leave the Catholic Church you are not in communion with Her. When you receive communion you affirm that you are in union. That makes you a liar, a hypocrite and what you do is sacrilegious.
Yes, it is exactly a question of whether God left us a Church or a Book. You believe the latter. That is your perogative.
All we ask is that those who do not believe all that we beleive to respect that we are not in union, and not to pretend to be so.
I am a Protestant. My wife is Catholic. We had planned to take our daughter to her first Easter mass this weekend. If I can't participate, I am not going to sanction such a divisive and exclusionary practice by going to get my "blessing."
You do what your conscience tells you. The blessing is there for those who would find it useful. You do not, so you can certainly abstain.
The requirement of belief in transsubstantiation is man-made law, and the Church does itself a disservice by turning away believers based upon it.
I posted the verses from 1 Cor above. They clearly show that one is to discern the Body and Blood of the Lord or to refrain from Communion.
I don't know how much more clear it can be. If you can not see the Body there, then don't partake. It could damn you.
The Church does no disservice in holding on to what we believe and not watering it down so that any old view of what the faith means is acceptable. Might as well become the Unitarians then.
SD
Date: 2003-04-17
"Ecclesia de Eucharistia" Is John Paul II's Most Personal Encyclical
Includes Autobiographical Notes and Poetic Quotations
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 17, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The encyclical "Ecclesia de Eucharistia," published by John Paul II this Holy Thursday, is the most personal of the 14 he has written.
The encyclical has some vivid poetic passages, interlaced with phrases in which the Pope expresses his intense love for the Eucharist. The style is testimonial, common to papal documents of this type.
Described in the presentation by the Vatican Press Office as "a relatively short document (78 pages in the version published by the Vatican), but profound in its theological, disciplinary and pastoral aspects," the encyclical is a text of six chapters, plus an Introduction and Conclusion, and 104 footnotes, the majority taken from the Second Vatican Council.
More than in any other of his documents, the Pope writes this encyclical in a very personal manner.
He does so by giving autobiographical notes, poetic quotations, metaphors and singularly personal topics, as well as unexpected contributions, such as the decision to dedicate the last chapter to Mary, whom he defines as a "Eucharistic" woman.
The Pope "confesses" to the reader the importance of the Eucharist in his ministry.
"From the time I began my ministry as the Successor of Peter, I have always marked Holy Thursday, the day of the Eucharist and of the priesthood, by sending a Letter to all the priests of the world. This year, the twenty-fifth of my Pontificate, I wish to involve the whole Church more fully in this Eucharistic reflection," he writes.
The Holy Father's memories in connection with the Eucharist are expressed in point No. 7, in which he says: "When I think of the Eucharist, and look at my life as a priest, as a Bishop, and as the Successor of Peter, I naturally recall the many times and places in which I was able to celebrate it."
"I remember the parish church of Niegowic, where I had my first pastoral assignment, the collegiate church of Saint Florian in Krakow, Wawel Cathedral, Saint Peter's Basilica and so many basilicas and churches in Rome and throughout the world."
He continues: "I have been able to celebrate Holy Mass in chapels built along mountain paths, on lakeshores and seacoasts; I have celebrated it on altars built in stadiums and in city squares. ... This varied scenario of celebrations of the Eucharist has given me a powerful experience of its universal and, so to speak, cosmic character.
"Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world. It unites heaven and earth. It embraces and permeates all creation."
Gratitude is another sentiment reflected in the encyclical. The Pope acknowledges that he takes up again the theme of his first reflections on the eucharistic mystery, during the early years of his apostolic ministry in the Chair of Peter.
He expresses "with even greater emotion and gratitude in my heart, echoing as it were the words of the Psalmist: 'What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.'"
John Paul II, who began his ministry with the encyclical "Redemptor Hominis," focused on Jesus Christ, "center of the cosmos and of history," now takes up, in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the issues that have concerned him most in this quarter of a century, which he considers decisive for the future of the Church.
Return to Roman jurisdiction. Re-affirm the Catholic faith and denounce the articles that differentiated the Anglicans from the Catholics.
And since they've generally cocked-up the ordination process, all of the priests woudl need to be at least conditionally ordained. This would exclude women, of course.
SD
Acknowledge the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, plus a few other minor doctrinal matters.
I am confident that Mr. Blair will abide by the Pope's ruling with respect. It's not exactly new, anyway. The Pope is just re-stating long standing policy.
"Discern the body of Christ" - And you are certain that this means see the actual living body of Christ, as opposed to, say, accept this sacrament as if it is the actual living body of Christ? And you are also certain that the latter interpretation is so far beyond the pale as to justify denying a Christian the sacrament? Are you so certain for any reason except that Rome says so?
What is the Catholic stance on cannabalism? In which verse does the exception for the Eucharist arise?
When you discern, does it still look like unleavened bread? Does it taste like it? Smell? Is there a physical discernment, or do you just "know"?
Be consistent!
SD
For instance, he could take the lunge and become Catholic. I'm not aware of many doctrinal differeneces between the Church of England and Rome so, except for how it fits with British history, it shouldn't really be too great a leap.
You are free to disagree, but to not understand our objections is to not act reasonably. We only want those who share our faith to commune with us. Why is that so hard to udnerstand?
We believe that those who do not agree with us risk their souls in communing under false pretenses. So we ask them not to.
Why is that so hard to udnerstand?
Disagree with our beliefs if you will, but understand whay we do what we do.
SD
Thats why you don't work for the London Times....
SD
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