Abortion and rites: Tough choices for Catholic leaders and politicians

The Union Leader ^ | April 17, 2004 | CHARLOTTE ALLEN

[Iron Matron]

Any person with the true heart of the faithful,one who believes the Word of God, will not allow his/her beliefs to become comprised by the principle MAN lives by.

Politicians whose religion forbids abortion, must take the stand of the higher cause, the Godly Cause, or they betray God. A politician who will betray God will also betray the people. If Catholic politicians do not follow and live by the tenants of the Church, it is simple: They are NOT Catholic, and are weak in character as well.

[gemoftheocean]

The Killea/Maher experience notwithstanding, the time has long come for ALL the bishops to unite and remove these "catholic" politicos from recieving communion. There will be hysteria from the weak kneed, and the clueless anticatholics of the liberal ilk. But thinking people will realize that you can't keep trotting up for communion and claim to be a _practising_ Catholic. It's like some jerk not wanting to be circumsized and then wanting to be bar mitzvahed. SUrrrreee, these idiots are free to support abortion all they want. Just don't expect communion if you do. If the bishops had found a spine and excommunicated all these "catholic" politicians at the same time, this issue would be long past us. The politicians would either have mended their ways, or at least they'd stop mocking the eucharist by consuming it through their rotten gullets.

[presidio9]

[Iron Matron]

Yeah, I saw his little ash cross.

---

BTW, God Himself holds Priests (any church leader) to a higher standard than the rest of us.

Priests who stray from the Word and pander to the public or to the political by ignoring Gods Holy Word and blessing those who are evil, or appear evil, well, maybe those priests ought to read up a bit, find out where they are REALLY going when they die.

[A.A. Cunningham]

In fact, it is excommunication: the denial of the church's central sacrament and hence full participation in the Catholic community.

Wrong, Charlotte. Denying Kerry the Eucharist does not deny him the Sacrament of Confession, of which he should avail himself of post haste. Besides, he's already excommunicated himself latae sententiae.

Sun Apr 18, 2:16 PM ET
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), addresses the congregation during services at the Ebenezer United Methodist Church, in Miami, Fl., Sunday, April 18, 2004. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

[Esther Ruth]

"stop mocking the Eucharist"

It seems God is being mocked by Catholic leaders, if they intentionally allow people to receive communion when there is a sin that is SO obvious, blatant and outspoken. You are to confess and turn from your sin before receiving communion. These Catholic leaders - if they do not speak up - are choosing to please man instead of God - when they do not do the right thing. No one can serve two masters, time for them to choose who they serve, God or man.

[Big Mack]

Abortion does not make a woman "unpregnant", it makes her the mother of a dead baby.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Sun Apr 18, 2:04 PM ET
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-Mass., center, stands next to U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., right, while singing during services at the Ebenezer United Methodist Church, in Miami, Fla., Sunday, April 18, 2004. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

[familyofman]

For we non-catholics - what does the church say on; capital punishment, homosexuality, and other sometimes controversial issue? Do all catholic politicians always/should follow the church's teaching on all matters?

[presidio9]

[presidio9]

The current Pope is morally opposed to capital punishment, but the Church does not have an official stance on the matter. It officially opposes both abortion and homosexuality.

[VeritatisSplendor]

Kerry holds a position of great authority and seeks a higher one. He says he wants to keep church and state separate.

He "votes his conscience" on abortion in the secular world. But can he accept that within the Church, he does not have authority, but is subject to it, and bow to the dictates of the hierarchy on receiving communion?

Mrs VS

[A.A. Cunningham]

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Abortion

2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.72

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.73 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.74

2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.75 God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.76

2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,"77 "by the very commission of the offense,"78 and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.79 The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

2273 The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."80

"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights."81

2274 Since it must be treated from conception as a person, the embryo must be defended in its integrity, cared for, and healed, as far as possible, like any other human being.

Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, "if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed toward its safe guarding or healing as an individual. . . . It is gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent of a death sentence."82

2275 "One must hold as licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but are directed toward its healing the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival."83

"It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material."84

"Certain attempts to influence chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities. Such manipulations are contrary to the personal dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity"85 which are unique and unrepeatable.

Capital Punishment

2266 The State's effort to contain the spread of behaviors injurious to human rights and the fundamental rules of civil coexistence corresponds to the requirement of watching over the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime. The primary scope of the penalty is to redress the disorder caused by the offense. When his punishment is voluntarily accepted by the offender, it takes on the value of expiation. Moreover, punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender.[67]

2267 The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor. "If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. "Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent.' [68]

[familyofman]

"The current Pope is morally opposed to capital punishment, but the Church does not have an official stance on the matter. It officially opposes both abortion and homosexuality."

A catholic can be excommunicated and/or denied the sacraments (including things like last rites) for not supporting (acting in oppostion to) any/all things the church is opposed to? What is the demarcation in teachings/rules of the church that lead to denial of benefits/privilages in the church; abortion, birth control, divorce, adultery...?

[afraidfortherepublic]

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), addresses the congregation during services at the Ebenezer United Methodist Church, in Miami, Fl., Sunday, April 18, 2004. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Did he also attend mass over the weekend?

[presidio9]

A catholic can be excommunicated and/or denied the sacraments (including things like last rites) for not supporting (acting in oppostion to) any/all things the church is opposed to?

Actually, the fact that Kerry and others have not been excommunicated is a pretty sign that that's not the case.

[familyofman]

"...the Catechism of the Catholic Church:"

The Catechism appears to be much more detailed, and covers an awfull lot more than just abortion than I imagined. Are the issues listed/highlighted in any manner that require the excommunication of a church member?

The point i'm trying to understand is - are there any other rules spelled out in the Catechism that are equal to abortion in their severity. It seems stem cell research might be approaching those limits, along with capital punishment when there are other social remedies available.

[livius]

It's only a "problem" if being a Democrat trumps being a Catholic. There's no question which is more important in Kerry's mind - hence, it shouldn't bother him a whole lot to have it made official.

However, the really big problem here is that the Catholic Church has been wedded to the Democratic party for demore than a century. During the Civil War, the Democrats were the party of slavery, and cultivated Irish immigrants by "siding" with them on draft issues. ("The peace Democrats excited large audiences by warning that white men were now dying in order to equalize a lower race."- Richard Jensen)

Boss Tweed emerged from the Draft Riots (1863), and soon in all of the major metropolitan centers, the Dems could rely on Irish politicians to be their devoted servants - something that has continued to this day, over 150 years later.

The contemporary Catholic bishops, who are in their majority Irish American, are still more loyal to the Dem Party than to the Church.

(Of course, what mystifies me even more is why blacks should be under the sway of a party that hated them that much, but I guess that's a whole 'nother question.)

[familyofman]

"...the fact that Kerry and others have not been excommunicated is a pretty sign that that's not the case."

Do rules that are not applied really equal rules? Selective application of a set of rules makes the enforcement of those rules seem fickle.