Posted on 11/13/2008 4:46:36 PM PST by csistrueblue
Dear Friends in Christ,
We the People have spoken, and the 44th President of the United States will be Barack Hussein Obama. This election ends a political process that started two years ago and which has revealed deep and bitter divisions within the United States and also within the Catholic Church in the United States. This division is sometimes called a “Culture War,” by which is meant a heated clash between two radically different and incompatible conceptions of how we should order our common life together, the public life that constitutes civil society. And the chief battleground in this culture war for the past 30 years has been abortion, which one side regards as a murderous abomination that cries out to Heaven for vengeance and the other side regards as a fundamental human right that must be protected in laws enforced by the authority of the state. Between these two visions of the use of lethal violence against the unborn there can be no negotiation or conciliation, and now our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president. We must also take note of the fact that this election was effectively decided by the votes of self-described (but not practicing) Catholics, the majority of whom cast their ballots for President-elect Obama.
In response to this, I am obliged by my duty as your shepherd to make two observations:
1. Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.
2. Barack Obama, although we must always and everywhere disagree with him over abortion, has been duly elected the next President of the United States, and after he takes the Oath of Office next January 20th, he will hold legitimate authority in this nation. For this reason, we are obliged by Scriptural precept to pray for him and to cooperate with him whenever conscience does not bind us otherwise. Let us hope and pray that the responsibilities of the presidency and the grace of God will awaken in the conscience of this extraordinarily gifted man an awareness that the unholy slaughter of children in this nation is the greatest threat to the peace and security of the United States and constitutes a clear and present danger to the common good. In the time of President Obama’s service to our country, let us pray for him in the words of a prayer found in the Roman Missal:
God our Father, all earthly powers must serve you. Help our President-elect, Barack Obama, to fulfill his responsibilities worthily and well. By honoring and striving to please you at all times, may he secure peace and freedom for the people entrusted to him. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Amen.
Father Newman
Catholics and Baptists in sync on this one, for sure! This is great! Too bad so many Catholics ended up voting for Hussein; doesn’t make sense.
Ping to read later
Very good! I placed some of this story earlier at this link http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2131497/posts but the greenville online said not to run it, so I didn’t, but referenced it. It was really the story I was more interested in.
God bless Father Jay Scott Newman. The Pope is watching. He just may be a bishop some day.
SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters
Our Pastor is in the news because of this article
SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters
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Catholics gird for fight with Obama on abortion, Paterson, NJ bishop takes a leading role
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To accept abortion is to challenge God, Lord of all things...
USCCB: Church should oppose FOCA 'early and often,' Niederauer (Pelosi's Archbishop) says
Cardinal [George]: Obama's Presidency Heals Racism, Now Time to End Abortion
CNN’s Rick Sanchez: Does the GOP ‘Have to Be Anti-Abortion’?
Catholic bishops plan to forcefully confront Obama
Niece of Martin Luther King Jr.: "The Dream" Is Not Yet Fulfilled
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New York Subway Riders Respond to Ad and Share Post-Abortion Grief, Agony
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Niece{Dr. Alveda King]: Abortion Means Obama Doesn't Fulfill Dream
Bishops to present concerns on abortion, other issues to politicians
Kneeling Before the World [Catholic Caucus]
Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life Receives Post-Election Death Threat
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BISHOPS APPROVE BLESSING FOR CHILD IN THE WOMB
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Head of U.S. bishops says no compromise on abortion
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Washington Post Admits Bias for Obama, Calls Pro-Life Policies "Offensive"
Novena for the Protection of the Unborn
Carving Out a Better Respect Life Position
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Abortion Groups Confident Obama Will Push His Pro-Abortion Agenda
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Obama reviews Bush orders on stem cells, drilling (Be prepared for the gas prices to go up)
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Pro-Life Dem Breakthroughs (Bad News for FOCA?)
Stopping FOCA: EWTN TV w/ Gianna Jessen, Sister Nirmala, Archbishop Burke, among others(?)
Dr. Alveda King to Pro-Lifers: Forward, March
What America Has Done (Was the election about racial equality or the right to life?)
The Freedom of Choice Act: Radical Attempt to Prematurely End Debate over Abortion
Becket Fund to Award Canterbury Medal to Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap.
Doug Kmiec to give election ‘post-mortem’ at Calif. seminary [Catholic Caucus]
Fighting FOCA (the time to act is now!)
Billy Graham Won't Advise Obama Because of Strong Pro-Abortion Position
Bishop Carlson: Our witness must grow stronger (Statement on election results)
Back to the Drawing Board (several bishops calling for Faithful Citizenship to be overhauled)
On Eucharistic Consistency (Florida bishop urges Biden to examine conscience before Communion)
Future Obama abortion legislation will violate conscience rights, PRI president says
THERE IS STILL A GOD IN HEAVEN!
Bill Berkowitz: Religious Right Down but Not Out
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Goodly Shepard. This is my first time visiting this site. To this day, I have never posted to a website, and only submitted an article for a blog once, but upon seeing this open and oft firey forum, I admit that I became excited about the prospect of posting an article or reply, and have simply been purusing the categories to find the proper place. Upon reading your superbly written article, I was finally convinced to write, so I thank you for the elicitation.
I wanted to post to you because I wanted to tell you a specific story about an extraordinary event that I experienced one time. By way of circumstance, I got to have a sit down conversation with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for about 2 hours. He was a fascinating person to speak with, and he basically preached to me the entire time (which was fine, I was a young man, so I was definitely the student to his professor). He produced a copy of the United States Constitution, he kept it in his inner-breast pocket. He said, “Lee, I’ve read this document. Hell, I’ve read it more than once. Now I’m not a really smart man, to be honest, but no where in this entire document can I ever find the words that a woman’s right to abort her unborn fetus shall not be infringed upon.”
Scalia explained to me during that conversation that it wasn’t abortion he was against, not as a judge anyway, but it was what he felt was a subversion of the established system, that thing laid down by our forefathers, by men who were overstepping their well-established boundaries.
“If,” he continued, “...if the nation wants to abort its unborn, fine. But then let the nation stand and say so, and let it be written into law.”
God bless...
Lee
Prayers for Fr. Newman. He’s going to need them. Not only to defend against attacks from the pro-abortion nutcases who are not Catholic, but to defend also against those within the Church who will go nuts over his stand on this issue.
As a protestant, do you think Catholic "nutcases" are less nutty than "nutcases who are not Catholic? "
I think there are more than enough Catholic nutcases who are pro-abortion in need of reform before you worry about those who are not Catholic.
The most important thing we can do is pray for President Obama every day. Imagine the impact he would have on our nation if he turned to the Lord while in office.
Interesting post!
Welcome to FreeRepublic, by the way. I saw your other (original) thread and I know you got a bit clobbered (I piled on a little myself—sorry about that!). While you’re new and finding your way around FR, take it easy on the vanity posts—and be sure to proof them really thoroughly before submitting. The Viking Kitties show no mercy when they suspect a troll, or even a well-meaning newbie, as you’ve discovered by now.
Hang in there!
Regards,
TXBlair
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Nutcases who are neither Catholic nor Non-Catholic Christians are much, much worse as witnessed by the reaction to Prop 8.
Here is my hope that Fr. Newman is there in the work camp to hear my confession and give me Communion. Pray that we all have the strenght to resist the anti Christ.
St. Stephan was the first martyr of the church....who will be the first of this era?
You have a wonderful pastor and a wonderful parish. We’ve gone out of our way a couple of times to be in Greenville on a Sunday morning, just so we could go to Mass at St. Mary’s.
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