[Apologetics] A must read - further info about No Communion for Pro-Abortion Politicians

[martyr at starpower.net]

Wohoo!  It's about time!  Maybe the other bishops will be shamed into doing
the same now.

Marty

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Dianne Dawson rcdianne at yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2004 06:16:45 -0700 (PDT)
To: apologetics at gathman.org
Subject: [Apologetics] A must read - further info about "No Communion for
Pro-Abortion Politicians"




SCCL <sccl at bellsouth.net> wrote:
From: "SCCL" 
To: "Dianne Dawson" 
Subject: Fw: [LifeNews.com] Three Catholic Bishops Say No Communion for
Pro-Abortion Politicians
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2004 16:46:56 -0400

This one says Bishop Baker has told the priests they cannot lift the ban
themselves:

Bishop Baker went further in a memo to parish priests by saying that they
could not determine if a politician could again receive communion. That
decision is up to him, Baker said.

Three Catholic Bishops Say No Communion for Pro-Abortion Politicians
http://www.lifenews.com/nat705.html

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 4, 2004

Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) -- Three leading Catholic bishops in
southern states said Wednesday that elected officials who back
abortion and refuse to recant their position should be denied communion in
Catholic churches in their jurisdictions.

The Archbishop of Atlanta and bishops in Charlotte, North Carolina and
Charleston, South Carolina put in place some of the strongest guidelines on
communion and abortion.

They said pro-abortion politicians must publicly renounce their views and
seek permission from the bishops to continue receiving communion. Their
decision affects more than 200 churches.

"Catholics in political life have the responsibility to exemplify in their
public service [the pro-life] teaching of the Church, and to work for the
protection of all innocent life," the bishops said.

"Catholic public officials who consistently support abortion on demand are
cooperating with evil in a public manner," the bishops wrote. "By
supporting pro-abortion legislation they participate in manifest grave sin,
a condition which excludes them from admission to Holy Communion as long as
they persist in the pro-abortion stance."

Atlanta Archbishop John Donoghue, Charleston Bishop Robert Baker and
Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis signed the joint statement called, "Worthy to
Receive the Lamb: Catholics in Political Life and the Reception of Holy
Communion."

Bishop Baker went further in a memo to parish priests by saying that they
could not determine if a politician could again receive communion. That
decision is up to him, Baker said.

"This is pretty draconian," Frances Kissling, president of the
Washington-based Catholics For a Free Choice, told the Associated Press in
response.

"It certainly does not seem to be a mainstream strategy," Kissling said.
"The overwhelming majority of Catholic people do not believe it is
appropriate for a bishop to use Communion as a political sledgehammer to
gain obedience."

However, a Zogby International poll of 1,388 Catholics conducted in May
shows pro-abortion presidential nominee John Kerry getting the support of
only 20% of Catholic voters on issues where he disagrees with the position
of the church.

Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would be less likely to vote
for a candidate, like Kerry, who would appoint only judicial nominees who
backed the Roe v. Wade decision allowing abortion. Only 16 percent said
they would be more likely to support such a candidate.

In June, the nation's Catholic bishops decided that they would not make a
collective decision whether or not to deny communion to politicians who
support abortion.

Since then, many bishops have said pro-abortion elected officials should
voluntarily refrain from taking the Christian sacrament until they change
their position.

Related web sites:
Read the three bishops' statement -
http://www.archatl.com/archbishops/donoghue/20040804.html
National Catholic Bishops' statement on communion and
abortion - http://www.usccb.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.htm





Like a deer that longs for running waters so my soul longs for you, O God.

Ps 42:1
 
 



		
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