"She". (Not "he".) And not nearly the plug-ugly bulldyke I expected …
Posted on 11/05/2019 9:55:05 AM PST by Morgana
There is no debate that Joe Biden does not follow the Catholic Church’s teachings about the sanctity of human life.
A pro-abortion Democrat, Biden has embraced an increasingly radical pro-abortion position that supports abortions up to birth and taxpayer-funded abortions. Though Biden claims to be a faithful Catholic, his actions openly defy his faith when it comes to protecting babies in the womb.
That is why, about two weeks ago, a South Carolina priest refused to serve communion to Biden during Mass. The decision sparked national media attention and renewed a debate among Christians about whether it is right to refuse to serve communion to someone who requests it.
United Methodist Pastor Violet Johnicker thinks pastors should not be the ones to judge.
In a column for the Journal Standard, the Illinois pastor said the communion table is God’s, not pastors’.
“If we genuinely believe that communion is a means of sharing God’s love and grace, there’s no justification for denying that to anyone, ever,” she wrote.
Johnicker continued:
Not convinced? Alright, if you’re for denial of communion for that specific policy position, then you better be ready to follow through on other positions the church holds. Who is going to be sent back to their pews based on their advocacy for defunding health care, the harm they’ve caused to immigrants, the way they’ve mistreated women, and their cuts to food access for children? I’m obviously not advocating we do that, but it’s worth noting the inconsistencies of priests who selectively deny communion to those they disagree with. …
Rev. [Robert] Morey’s statement that he “had to refuse Holy Communion” to Biden is just plain false – he made a choice, just as every member of the clergy does when we choose whether to place limits on this and other symbolic acts of God’s love. Fortunately, no priest or pastor can ever actually limit God’s love – all we can do is further damage Christianity’s reputation by excluding folks who Jesus would have served.
Morey and others, however, have defended the decision to deny communion to people who openly and repeatedly defy God, as Biden does with abortion. The South Carolina priest expressed sadness at Biden’s refusal to follow the faith and promised to pray for him.
“Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching,” Morey said.
Anthony Carter, writing at Tabletalk magazine, explained the opposing argument, one that seems to support Morey’s decision to refuse communion to Biden. Carter wrote the column in 2018, so it does not address the current debate.
Carter explained that communion is a sacrament that was given to the church to demonstrate God’s faithfulness to His promises. He pointed to Bible verses that discourage people who are not Christians and those who are unrepentant from receiving communion.
“Those who refuse to acknowledge their sin, but harbor bitterness, malice, and hatred in their hearts, and refuse godly counsel toward reconciliation with God and others, and thus neglect the grace of repentance—let them refrain from the Lord’s Table,” he wrote. “Otherwise, to eat and to drink in such a state is to call forth the disciplining hand of God (1 Cor. 11:32).”
He said God’s desire is for all to partake of His love and to experience the sacrament of communion when they repent and believe.
Biden has not shown any sign of a willingness to repent for his abortion advocacy. Quite the opposite, in June, he took on an even more radical pro-abortion stance when he announced that he now supports forcing taxpayers to fund elective abortions.
His presidential health care plan would expand abortions by codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law and prohibiting states from passing even moderate restrictions that protect unborn babies from late-term abortions. It also would force insurance companies to cover abortions as “essential” health care under Obamacare.
In direct opposition to Catholic teachings about the sanctity of human life, Biden said he also would force American taxpayers to fund Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers by restoring the cuts President Donald Trump made to their funding.
Biden has a strong pro-abortion voting record that goes back for many years. He also supported President Barack Obama’s leadership as the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history.
As the vice president, he supported the administration’s pro-abortion policies, including Obamacare, which forced religious employers to pay for drugs that may cause abortions. Catholic nuns still are fighting in court to not be forced to violate their beliefs.
For one thing, Methodists just get grape juice, but Catholics get the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. Something no Methodist would even claim.
The lesbian and homosexual atheists who run the heretical and apostate United Methodist Church have exactly no authority to speak to actual people of faith.
The Methodist minister needs to 1) be concerned more about his own flock than the Catholic priest’s parish; 2) realize that he is NOT an enforcer of Catholic doctrine and dogma, primarily because he is NOT Catholic; 3) re-look at how his view of Methodism has strayed from its doctrinal roots on viewing good and evil and change his ways.
Basically old liberals and the senile who don’t know what’s happening?
A typical mainline Protestant church. They only survive by living off their endowment funds.
The pastorally-minded priest, in this situation, acted as he was morally obliged to do, in order not to cooperate with three gravely serious sins:
There is a path back to Communion, even for Biden. It involves sincerely repenting and turning away from his wretched, defiling sin; confession to a priest and obtaining absolution; being reconciled to God and to the Church; making due reparation (should include public rejection of abortion), and then being admitted again to Communion and the other sacraments, rejoicing in God's mercy to sinners.
I know and respect a number of Methodists, and I can't imagine this lady pastor's errant opinions count for much with many of her fellow-believers.
"She". (Not "he".) And not nearly the plug-ugly bulldyke I expected …
Let’s pray for her, OK? I know I’ve said evil and shame-worthy things in my past which I have long repented of, and if she is open to God’s grace she can do the same.
May God grant the grace of repentance and conversion to Joe Biden and to Violet Johnicker, and to all of us poor sinners.
Note to Methodist Pastor: Stay in your lane.
From her bio
She is an advocate for LGBTQ affirmation in the United Methodist Church, believing that God places no limits on who God calls into ministry and marriage.
In other words, she apparently makes up her own belief system.
Sorry, Methodist Pastor, you are not Catholic so your vote doesn’t count in Catholic Churches.
I think there was a time in Mehodist Churches when that Pastor would not have have been able to be a Methodist Pastor. That was when taking communion went with the acceptance of what communion meant. It was not a “greeting” to believers and non-believers alike.
In Catholicism that fundamental belief translates into other corallary beliefs in Catholicism. In that context, communion in a Roman Catholic church is really for Roman Catholic believers, not those who openly express denial and opposition to Catholic beliefs.
Methodists, like most Protestants, don't think that is what communion is. Lutherans believe something different than most Protestants, but presumably she doesn't have the Lutheran view of communion. So she's basically making things up.
I must confess that I didn’t note of her first name, Violet, might have indicated female, especially since I’ve known a guy whose name was Beverly (old tradition in his family).
As a Catholic I was lectured by my teetotalling coworkers (nice guys except on this topic) that alcohol in any form is sinful.
I reminded them that Jesus’ first miracle was to transform water into wine at Cana; Mary His mother had said to Him, “Son, they have no wine.”
They replied that it was really grape juice. I mentioned how the head steward, having tasted the miraculous wine, criticized the bridegroom for saving the best wine when the guests were already buzzed.
No, they said, Christ would never create anything sinful. I mentioned that the modern temperance movement only dates back to the 19th century and that even the early Mormons took wine in their rituals.
Like talking to a brick wall. Two of them.
I really don’t get where she has the temerity to pipe-up about this.
I’m Catholic and whatever the Methodist or Presbyterian Churches choose to have as rules for their members is none of my business.
No personal criticism intended; just adding information to the thread.
I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom
That was said at the Last Supper Passover meal, at which wine is always served.
Non-Catholic lay woman fails to mind her own business in spite of having no standing to tell Catholic priest what to do.
^^Fixed it.
“There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”
—Matthew 27:34-35
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