Thread by me.
ROME, November 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On the eve his elevation to the Cardinalate on November 20, Archbishop Raymond (now Cardinal) Burke told a Vatican Radio interviewer that his stand on refusal of Communion to pro-abort politicians or public figures is based on “the God-centered thinking which has marked the discipline of the church” – namely, that a person who persists publicly in grave sin is to be denied Holy Communion.
Cardinal Burke spoke to Tracey McClure on November 19 about some of the challenges faced by the Church in the United States.
Cardinal Burke has never hesitated to make bold public statements in defense of the culture of life, and is viewed as a personal hero and the best of allies by those who are active in promoting faithful Catholic education, as well as those within the pro-life and pro-family movements. Notably, he has upheld and defended Cardinal Ratzinger’s instruction that persistently pro-abortion politicians or public figures must not be admitted to communion until they publicly repent.
McClure first described Burke “as a man with very firm ideas about the moral rectitude of those who profess Catholicism - ideas that don’t always sit comfortably with everyone - and I’m thinking of some of the remarks you’ve made about pro-abortion politicians, for example, receiving Communion - the Holy Eucharist - in the United States.” He then asked the Cardinal if he ever feels discouraged because people “aren’t getting the message.”
“I think it’s only natural to be tempted to discouragement, and I’ve had those temptations,” Cardinal Burke responded. “For instance, on the question of a person who publicly and obstinately espouses the right of a woman to choose to abort the infant in her womb receiving Holy Communion, strikes me as something very clear in the 2,000 years of the church’s tradition - she’s always firmly held that a person who is publicly and obstinately in grave sin should not approach to receive Holy Communion and, if he or she does, should be denied Holy Communion.”
Cardinal Burke explained that the sanction on receiving Communion for a person who publicly dissents from Church teaching is intended to “avoid for the person - himself or herself - committing a sacrilege: in other words, receiving the Sacrament unworthily, and also because the holiness of the Sacrament itself demands that one be in a state of grace to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.”
“It is discouraging that either members of the Church claim not to understand this or they claim that in some way there is an excuse for someone who is publicly and obstinately in grave sin to receive Holy Communion,” Cardinal Burke said.
“I look at it this way,” he continued. “This response on the part of many in the church comes from living in a society that’s completely secularized, and the thinking that is marked - the God-centered thinking which has marked the discipline of the church - is not easily understood by those who are bombarded day in and day out with a kind of God-less approach to the world and to many questions. So, I try not to get discouraged but try to continue to speak the message in a way that people can understand.”
Cardinal Burke expressed his understanding of the difficulty faced by his fellow priests in dealing with this issue.
“It’s difficult ... it hasn’t been easy for me to face this question with a certain number of Catholic politicians. And, I’ve had a number of priests speak to me and tell me how difficult it is when they have individuals in their parish who are in a situation of public and grave sin ... and so, they look ... to the bishop for encouragement and inspiration in dealing with this.”
However, the cleric said that is necessary to preach this message “in season and out of season, and whether it’s being warmly received or not being received or being resisted or criticized.” He stated that his committed stand on Church teaching is not only “speaking the truth with love as the Holy Scriptures say,” but that “when a bishop takes appropriate pastoral measures in this regard, he’s also helping very much brother bishops, and also the priests.”
Listen to the Vatican Radio interview with Cardinal Burke here.
Thread by rhema.
Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner in economics and an influential New York Times columnist, also has a blog, "The Conscience of a Liberal." On ABC's "This Week" (Nov. 14), during a discussion on balancing the federal budget against alarming deficits, he proclaimed the way to solve this problem is through deeply cost-effective health-care rationing.
"Some years down the pike," he said, "we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes." That would mean the U.S. Debt Reduction Commission "should have endorsed the panel that was part of the (Obama) health-care reform."
Sarah Palin was one of the first, and the most resounding, to warn us of the coming of government panels to decide which of us -- especially, but not exclusively, toward the end of life -- would cost too much to survive. She was mocked, scorned from sea to shining sea, including by the eminent Paul Krugman for being, he said, among those spreading "the death penalty lie" as part of "the lunatic fringe." (Summarized in "Krugman Wants 'Death Panels'" Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (Nov. 15).
Soon after he had left the ABC Studio, someone must have alerted Krugman that -- gee whiz -- he had publicly rooted for death panels! Swiftly, on his blog, Krugman admitted he had indeed said those dreaded words, but: "What I meant is that health care costs will have to be controlled, which will surely require having Medicare and Medicaid decide what they're willing to pay for -- not really death panels, of course, but consideration of medical effectiveness and, at some point, how much we're willing to spend for extreme care."
"Extreme care," Professor Krugman? To be defined by government commissions, right? Noel Sheppard of media watchdog Newsbusters
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...