From the National catholic Reporter (NcR)
A Catholic senator's view on Biden and the bishops
My comment:
I think the good Senator, Tim Kaine makes some valid points. I would agree with him that the bishops in general should not be micromanaging Catholic politicians in their job.
However, a local bishop, let's say of Washington, DC; Wilmington, Delaware or even San Francisco might have something to say to a Catholic politician who through legislative moves, rhetoric or even executive decisions enables genocide, abortion even unto the last moment of pregnancy and infanticide and legal segregation.
And certainly, a Catholic in high political office promoting racism and prejudice should be called out too, not by the NCCB but by his/her own local bishop after the bishop has privately dialogued with the offending Catholic. If there is no satisfaction, I would say the local bishop has an obligation place a censure in a public way against the offending governmental leader. The offending leader, though, should not receive Holy Communion if he fears for his political life in his Democrat party by going against its platform. That shows what truly is important to him/her.
In fact, I would have no problem if President Biden, after a private conversation with his Delaware bishop and the Cardinal of Washington, DC simply stopped receiving Holy Communion. This doesn't have to be a public spectacle. Both Biden and Pelosi have made it a public spectacle by not honoring the Church, their local bishop and Catholicism by simply forgoing the reception of Holy Communion on their own.
I know that when I was a lay Catholic, I did not go to Communion when I thought I was in a state of mortal sin. I did not need my bishop or priest telling me not to go. I just didn't go until I went to Confession.
Isn't is time for Democrat pro-choice politicians to act like adults and do the right thing?
I find Senator Kaine's entire article just a bit too self serving for himself and the Democrat Party which in many areas has gone off the rails.
And to use Pope Francis statement that Holy Communion is a medicine not a weapon is just plain ridiculous. It is a medicine for those who know they are sinners and for public sinners have repented of their sin.
Receiving Holy Communion as some kind of talisman that will convert a hardened heart without the person's free-will cooperation sounds like superstition.
I wonder, too, how these self-serving pro-choice, pro-genocide, pro-infanticide polliticians would have felt if President Trump had been a Catholic. Would they be scandalized if he received Holy Communion every Sunday, despite the fact he has several marriages and his current marriage is not convalidated in the Catholic Church?
Are Catholic politicians in illicit marital unions thus allowed to brag that they go to Holy Communion every Sunday because they can make their own decisions about this?
24 comments:
"Receiving Holy Communion as some kind of talisman that will convert a hardened heart without the person's free-will cooperation sounds like superstition."
Hardened hearts are softened by grace, and even "free-will cooperation" with grace is, itself, made possible by grace. The Eucharist is
Receiving communion could well be the source of conversion for those in need thereof.
Fr. John Hardon wrote: "The Holy Mass is the single most effective means by which Christ applies the merits He gained, and by which He communicates the graces He won by His Sacrifice on the Cross. Every Mass infallibly confers grace to the whole world, to the whole Church, to all the participants, to the one for whom the Mass is offered and, of course, to the priest."
The Mass does this and no one is suggesting that President Biden of Nancy Pelosi not attend Mass precisely for what you say. The reception of Holy Communion, though, requires that one be in a state of grace and free from mortal sin or censure. To receive in a state of unrepentant mortal sin, like enabling abortion, genocide, illicit marriage, living relationship, would negate the grace and be an additional mortal sin.
"Negate the grace..."
So grace that MIGHT soften their hardened hearts - it would not happen otherwise - would also be negated by their sin...
One is left wondering how humans have such power to defeat God's grace.
You have a deficit when it comes to Church teaching and receiving Holy Communion in a state of grace. I suggest you go and do your homework and stop making a ignoramus of yourself.
Oh, the ol' "Do your homework" dodge...
Typical.
Kaine is a member of the Abortion Party.
So....
What about Catholic politicians with "mixed records" on abortion? Maybe they only oppose abortions after the first trimester? What about if they would allow for abortion in cases of rape and incest? (While it would not be ideal, even if we just restricted abortion to the first trimester, that would be an improvement over the current dreadful situation---polls have shown that most Americans would restrict abortion after that time). Granted, these are hypothetical cases---most Democrats are gung ho on abortion, favoring not a single restriction, no matter how minor---but still worth asking.
As for Kaine, he is pretty liberal, but he is a reflection of modern-day Virginia, which thanks in large part to growth in Northern Virginia (DC suburbs) is feeling pretty blue these days. No Republican has won statewide there since 2009. Trump did not seriously contest the state last time (with good reason---he lost it by 10 points.) There are areas of socially conservative voters in Virginia---southwest Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley being 2 examples, but they are heavily outvoted by the major urban areas of the state, Northern Virginia, Richmond and Tidewater (Norfolk/Virginia Beach). And Georgia may be going that same way too as metro Atlanta, now heavily Democratic, can now outvote the mostly GOP rest of Georgia.
So, Anon, you are saying free will does not exist, that no matter how stubborn the sinner, this "grace" negates their free will, and they become merely puppets of divine random whim, and no co-operation with grace is required, as it will make the decision for them.
All they need do it eat a magic cookie, and voila. That makes sense. Now, as to those who are NOT of the predestined Elect, Mr. Calvin......
"So grace that MIGHT soften their hardened hearts - it would not happen otherwise - would also be negated by their sin...
One is left wondering how humans have such power to defeat God's grace."
In Intensive care units in a hospital, there are patients on respirators because they cannot take in enough air sufficient to their needs, yet it is not for lack of air around them. There is plenty of air for nursing staff and any visitors,but the person is so physically compromised that without the use of the breathing apparatus, the air that is around the patient does little good.
The computer I am using uses electricity to operate, but if for some reason the breaker were to trip on the circuit it is plugged into, it will cease running. The electricity and its power is still coming into the breaker box, but it cannot flow to where it is needed.
It is the same with grace. It is there available to us in the Sacraments through God's benevolence and mercy, but if the soul is compromised or corrupted it will do little, if anything, to affect the spiritual health within the person and the necessary orientation toward God and what he desires. God respects our free will to choose to obey Him or not, but does not impose His grace or His will on anyone except in extraordinary circumstances where it serves His purpose. It is good to keep in mind though that prayers and sacrifices of the faithful have converted the most hardened of sinners. However, it is sometimes necessary to confront such a person, as is written in Matthew 18:15.
It’s not just about these politicians promoting abortion in the political arena. They are also promoting abortion within the Catholic Church. How many times do they offer money to Catholic organizations contingent on those Catholic organizations providing services that go against Church teachings? How many times have they drafted legislation that demanded the Church disregard its teachings. How is any of this different from that English King that wanted a divorce?
A @ 10 AM: That is precisely the problem and President Biden and S of H Pelosi know what they are doing. They are persuading Catholics to be pro-choice and to vote democrat and not worry about genocide, infanticide and the gruesomeness of the partial birth abortion in particular and abortion in general. It's demonic and the bishops need to wake up to how these politicians work. The democrat party is their true religious allegiance.
"It's demonic" is one of the most mis-used phrases some people use. And they know what they are doing.
Of course we know what we are doing--telling the God awful truth.
Nah, you're pretending to be oh-so-in-the-know and with-it, blaming sin on demons. You might as well join Fr. David Fulton, who performed an unauthorized "exorcism" at the Capitol on January 6th last, and the now infamous Fr. John Zuhlsdorf who, also, performed and unauthorized exorcism to root out "election fraud." Both of these clerical miscreants are in hot water with their eccelsiastical superiors, and for good reason.
Man can easily reject Grace and does it out of preference to the sin we enjoy. We know the glory and Love of God but prefer the pleasure and power of sin. It is demonic not because it is caused by demons but rewarded by them when we welcome them into our hearts in place of God.
Uh, "democrat" should be capitalized. A proper noun. Like you would capitalize "Republican".
Speaking of Democrats, Mark Thomas likes to tell us that Democrats and Republicans are pro-abortion. Really? Maybe he could tell us which Democratic-controlled state legislatures in the last 5 years have passed pro-life legislation, even if minor. California, maybe? What about heavily Catholic Massachusetts and Rhode Island? Hawaii? Illinois? And then there are Republican legislatures like Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas which have passed legislation.
And you have to love how the liberals are upset that the Supreme Court will take up the Mississippi case next fall. What are the liberals afraid of? They like to say America is overwhelmingly pro-choice. OK, then they should not mind the Supreme Court shifting the issue back to the states, right? I still haven't found the words "right to abortion" mentioned in the Constitution. Maybe if I got a new pair of glasses?!?!
The trolls on this blog are becoming legion.
Sophia here: God bless you Fr. Mc Donald, for not giving up on correcting the "Anonymous" on this feed who is so obdurate in supporting, endorsing, justifying and excusing the sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion even in the most public and scandalous of situations as is the case when this is done by pro-abortion Roman Catholic politicians. Consistent with what Father has stated, the following references spell out the requirements for a worthy reception of the Most Holy Eucharist and the dire consequences for doing so unworthily:
Parable of The Wedding Banquet- Matthew 22:1-14
St. Paul 1 Cor. 11:27-30.
Catechism of the Catholic Church- no. 1457
Therefore it is up to this particular Anonymous to examine his motivation for working so arduously at rationalizing and defending the commission of this very grave sin. However, since your blog has such a wide readership it is that much more important that you correct any erroneous teaching expressed here, lest anyone- especially a Roman Catholic- reading the error and finding it uncorrected by you (not just by one of the rest of us), believes the error to be the truth and acts accordingly.
Just as in the Garden of Eden, we are surrounded by the challenges to God's Laws in the form of the query, which I shall paraphrase-Did God (the Bible, The Church) really say/ mean that?
Sophia - Wat is not up to you is judging the state of another person's conscience.
You see, that's precisely what all of the "Don't Give Them Communion!!!" folks are doing. "Oh," you will reply, "I'm not judging consciences, just actions!" Yes, you are judging consciences, concluding where that person stands with God.
This "Don't Give Them Communion!" thing is as self-serving as it gets. "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner." could easily be "If this priest really cared, he woud not give him/her communion!"
But then Jesus answered, "Sophia, I have something to tell you..."
Sophia expect the bishop to make the determination and he has an obligation to do so one way or the other. It is that bothersome thing about loosing and binding that belongs to the pope and the office of bishop. And yes, canonically, a bishop can make that determination.
Sophia here: In his May 13 "World Over" program, Raymond Arroyo states that the Teddy Mc Carrick doctrine which contradicted the Cardinal Ratzinger doctrine which unambiguously stated that pro-abortion politicians who remained recalcitrant after a warning MUST be refused Holy Communion by the Minister of Holy Communion, remains operational. The then Cardinal Teddy McCarrick had concealed the actual content of Cardinal Ratzinger's letter to the Bishops. When Raymond asks his guests, Cardinal Gerhard Muller and Theologian George Weigel whether the Ratzinger or the McCarrick "doctrine" will prevail when the Bishops convene in June, they both express confidence that the orthodox Catholic position as expressed by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and publicly reiterated by giants in our Faith such as Cardinal Burke, Archbishops Gomez, Cordileone and Chaput will triumph. They did admit that there is also the very public support by certain Cardinals- Cardinal Tobin, Cardinal Cupich and McElroy for eg.- for the contrary, pro-Teddy Mc Carrick policy! They asserted that especially at this time in Church History, when so many Catholics already do not believe in the Real Presence, the Bishops' official decision re whether recalcitrant pro-abortion Catholic politicians should continue the sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion will have a very serious impact on the Church! As Raymond Arroyo puts it, "The Church, the people in the pews are watching!"
Let us continue to fervently pray for Holy Mother Church as she continues to be attacked from within.
Sophia here: Cardinal Gerhard Muller was clearly appalled that 2 supporters of the Teddy McCarrick position- recalcitrant pro-abortion Catholic politicians should still be allowed to receive Holy Communion- had actually gone to Rome to meet with the current Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Ladaria Ferrer. Cardinal Muller accused them of "acting more like representatives of the Democrat Party than of Christ" because shortly after the meeting, Cardinal Ladaria wrote a letter to the U.S. Bishops which appeared to come down on the side of not withholding Holy Communion from such Catholic politicians. This of course is reminiscent of what then Cardinal McCarrick did back in 2004- when he concealed the letter to the bishops from then Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the CDF at the time, which instructed them to withhold Holy Communion from pro-abortion Catholic politicians. As a consequence of Mc Carrick's perfidy, we have come to this moment in time, 17 years later, when the problem has only become more widespread and therefore much more difficult to eradicate without widespread negative consequences for- and confusion in- the Church.
Pray brethren that God will strengthen the Bishops of His Church to stand firmly on this basic, core Church position on Eucharistic Coherence.
Sophia, you have always impressed me with your faith and reason. I am now even more impressed that you have been addressed by Christ Himself, or some who claims to speak for Him, yesterday at 2:39pm CT (Celestial Time). 😉
This is a very serious issue that *I* believe you are addressing seriously and correctly. It is difficult to reach a specific conclusion; I am not sure a single conclusion can be reached. But I do believe we are in a crisis of leadership that the bishops must be suffering greatly.
Father McDonald said..."I know that when I was a lay Catholic, I did not go to Communion when I thought I was in a state of mortal sin. I did not need my bishop or priest telling me not to go. I just didn't go until I went to Confession. Isn't is time for Democrat pro-choice politicians to act like adults and do the right thing?"
That would solve the Holy Communion reception issue in regard to pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
But even better, Catholics should not provide any degree of support to abortion.
Catholic Democrats should stop playing the "I oppose abortion personally, but..." Culture of Death game.
Catholic Republicans should stop playing the "I oppose abortion except for unborn children conceived via rape, incest, and the (supposed) health of the mother" Culture of Death game.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
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