Posted on 06/11/2004 1:52:41 PM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat
Code: ZE04061023
Date: 2004-06-10
U.S. Cardinal: Lay Ministers Should Be in Sync With Church
CHICAGO, JUNE 10, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Catholic lay ministers who disagree with the Church's teachings should not be allowed to assist in distributing Communion, according to a letter reportedly sent by Cardinal Francis George to pastors in his archdiocese.
"If a minister should manifest his/her disagreement with Church teaching, he/she should not continue in active ministry until such time that the minister is reconciled to the Church's teaching," wrote Cardinal George, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Though this has been the policy of the archdiocese all along, Cardinal George said earlier this month he was writing in response to questions posed to the Church and in the media recently, the newspaper said.
In Arizona, meanwhile, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix said that Catholic politicians who unambiguously support abortion "rights" should not receive Communion, the Arizona Republic reported today.
But he declined to say he would deny Communion to politicians who do not follow Church teaching on abortion, the newspaper said.
Asked what he would do if John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president who is a Catholic and pro-abortion, came to him for Communion, the leader of the Phoenix Diocese told the newspaper: "If he asked about it, I would tell him he should not receive Communion."
Catholic lay ministers who disagree with the Church's teachings should not be allowed to assist in distributing Communion
:-)
Seriously...unless there is a grave reason...they shouldn't be doing it anyway.
Someone tell the Deacon. ;O)
I Don't have my ping list handy, please ping your lists
That was quick.
Rapid Response Team.
But, anyhow...that the Cardinal is correct to exclude from visible lay ministry those who reject Church doctrine is so blatantly obvious, it hardly merits a response. Still, there are indeed those who would argue the point, much to my chagrin.
At least one of the pro-abort Catholic women governors made quite a point of being a Eucharistic minister, didn't she? Maybe the one in Michigan was a lector, and the one in Kansas a minister of holy communion?
ping
Thanks for the sanity check, Knotts. There might be room for a few statues and a real altar in the sanctuary if all the busybodies stayed in the pews where they belong. Another good reason to re-install altar rails!
Yes, how about the non-Catholic wife of a parishioner taking up the gifts?
Granholm?
At our parish we have a sign up book to bring up the gifts, however, if no one's signed up, one of us ushers will ask a well dressed family to bring them up.
One Sunday, I asked a couple and their children whom I see every Sunday at the same Mass to bring up the gifts. I could see the kids were thrilled with the job so I asked them several more Sundays. After one Mass, one of my friends tells me the wife in this family isn't Catholic. I've never asked them since, but I have since noted that she doesn't receive Communion so I suppose my friend is correct.
This whole thing is a pet peeve of mine since the Rendell for Governor campaign. It seemed everywhere you turned there was an extraordinary minister or lector with a Rendell sign on their front lawn. It really bugged me that there was no shame for these people. I'm hoping Cardinal Rigali does not permit a similar scandal next time around.
Tell him what?
Is George going to make every Eucharistic Minister take a test?
Turn them in, friend.
In fact, why not dig through their trash and see if they use condoms?
Report everything you find to the Cardinal.
Everybody will love you for it.
He should. A lot of AmChurch-types can't be trusted to be obedient to Rome. They should be weeded out forthwith.
Because that's none of my business. I'm not going to follow them into the voting booth either. But when they've got a sign on their front lawn telling the world the abortion loving Rendell ("Kate Michaelman is a gift, a prophet") is their man, they're making it my business. And they ought not to be standing at the front of the church distributing the Precious Blood and then walk outside church and tell the world to vote for baby killer.
How far should this go?
If a company owner decides to bust a union and hire off the street, should a bishop ask him to stop lectoring until he "does the right thing" according to the Church? The Church is very pro-union, you know.
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