Shadesofgrey:
I'm a catholic -- do I not understand catholicism as well? Maybe you don't mean to be, but you come across as very condescending and judgemental.
Shadesofgrey, it's always nice to meet another Catholic.
During the campaign leading up to the 2004 election, Sen. Kerry had his mug shot taken of him receiving the Holy Eucharist every time he went to Holy Mass. Right afterwards, in press conferences and debates, he told us that he's "pro-choice" and if elected would keep the abortion mills up and running.
You should know that we lay people have the authority, the responsiblity and yes, the duty to bring such problems before the Church. So, I wrote to Kerry and to Kerry's priest asking him to catechize Kerry as to the wrongness of his consistent pro-abort voting record and tell him if he obstinately persists in manifest grave sin as per Canon 915 then, he should not present himself for Holy COmmunion.
Perhaps you're asking well, how do we know a politician's heart? And that's an honest question, but one that Pope John Paul II already anticipated in his 2003 encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia. You can get read it online.
"The judgment of one's state of grace obviously belongs only to the person involved, since it is a question of examining one's conscience. However, in cases of outward conduct which is seriously, clearly and steadfastly contrary to the moral norm, the CHruch, in her pastoral concern for the good order of the community and out of respect for the Sacrament, cannot fail to feel directly involved. The Code of Canon Law 915 refers to this situation of a manifest lack of proper moral disposition when it states that those who "obstinately persist in manifest grave sin' are not to be admitted to Eucharistic Communion."
DrGUy Posts:
If you believe that it is just a mass of parasitic tissue until birth, then you are stating that you do not believe it is a person, and that excising it is no worse than cutting off a wart. And you can then still be a part of the body as you have not denied one of the basic tenets.
I'm quoting in part from the Coadjutor Bishop of Orlando, Thomas Wenski, "Any Catholic on this side of Judgment day can call himself a 'practicing Catholic". After all, our earthly pilgrimage in this 'valley of tears' is our one time opportunity to 'practice' Catholicism till we get it right.
But 'getting it right' for practicing Catholics means conforming oneself to the will of GOd as revealed to us through Scripture and Tradition and as definitely set forth by the teaching authority of the Church. A practicing Catholic cannot invoke "conscience" to defy or disregard what the Chruch definitely holds as true---for a practicing Catholic doesn't create his own truth, but forms his conscience according to the Truth.
Invincible ignorance, culpubale willfulness, or ingrained habits of sin might explain why a self-described "practicing Catholic' might dissent from one or more of the definitive teachings of the Church in word, thought or deed and still think that he or she is a Catholic in good standing able to be admitted to the Eucharist. One of these factors may explain it, but none can excuse it."
Bishops as teachers of the faith have no special competencies in the world of business or politics--and in those worlds we have no regulatory or legal powers--nor should we. But precisely as teachers of the Catholic faith we do have competence to tell businessmen and politicians or anyone else for that matter what is required to be a Catholic.
It is totally within our competence to say that one cannot be complicit in the injustice of denying the right to life of an unborn child or an invalid elder and still consider oneself a good Catholic. It is totally within our competence to urge our Catholic people to participate in the political life of our nation with coherence and honesty. ...
To be Catholic is to strive for holiness. This is a daunting task for us all---impossible without the saving grace that embraces us through our turning to the Lord and walking in His company. The Lord is patient with us--after all, we are still "practicing".
He warns His disciples not to be too ready to pull out the tares lest we damage the wheat. For this reason, when rebukes are necessary, pastors generally strive to do them in private. But to fail to rebuke when necessary is to fail in the character we owe our brethren.
Should pro-abortion politicians receiving Holy COmmunion: "NO".
Those pro-abort pols who insist on calling themselves Catholic without seeing the contradiction between what they say they believe and their anti-life stance have to do a lot more of "practicing'. They need to get it right before the approach the Eucharistic altar.
Communion means "union". Specifically, it is union with Jesus Christ, His teachings, and His Church. Being pro-abortion is a direct contradiction to Jesus, His teachings, and His Church. So how can one be in union and in contradicition with someone at the same time?
Holy Communion is the Bread of Life. Abortion is the infliction of death. How can one stand for both at the same time?
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