Posted on 03/26/2013 11:11:30 AM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
Follow the link for the YouTube video of the jovial Cardinal Dolan.
Yeah, too bad it wasn’t in Biden’s face when he presented himself for communion....
Just another elitist fraud.
Just once, when a Biden, Cuomo or Pelosi approaches the priest for Communion, I would love for him to take out a lollipop, saying “And here’s a SPEcial one JUST for YOU!”
Yep.
I went to confession yesterday so I’m going to refrain from giving you my thoughts on Cardinal Dolan. Suffice it to say, we need to pray for him.
I’m sure the Lord is happy you laugh Cardinal Dolan. He is just hoping you aren’t laughing at yourself. Even more, He is also hoping that His law is more important to you than the money of rich democrats that fight for abortion rights.
Dolan is playing a dangerous game.
.
Oh that’s rich!
Stop tempting me! Lol! :-p
He should have laughed at Joe Biden when Joe showed up at his Communion rail.
Mr. Too dignified to kiss the Popes ring.
SOB.
Dolan is just a man and as such is prone to human failings. He is in power and has that human propensity to agree more with those you feel are equals(power) than they should. Also most people avoid controversy if they can. It is so much easier to just go along to get along. Priests, Bishops, Cardinals are no different than you and me. It is that simple. They are sinners as all of us are.
True enough. But I guarantee you, if by some odd twist of fate I were distributing the Holy Eucharist (who knows, maybe I'll be a deacon someday) and Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, Sebelius or Cuomo approached in my line, they would not receive.
Six or eight years ago, Biden made a veiled threat to the USCCB about refusing pro-abort pols Holy Eucharist. At the time I thought to myself, "What does he have on them?"
I've searched for it but was never able to find exactly what he said.
I am a Eucharistic minister at my church and I don’t feel that it would be in my power or purview to deny anyone communion that approached me. I know of a certain democrat congressman who at times attends mass and is pro-abort all the way and I have pondered the question before. I would have to offer it to him I feel.
Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion: General Principles
| Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith |
| [Note: The following memorandum was sent by Cardinal Ratzinger to Cardinal McCarrick and was made public in the first week of July 2004.] 1. Presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion should be a conscious decision, based on a reasoned judgment regarding one’s worthiness to do so, according to the Church’s objective criteria, asking such questions as: "Am I in full communion with the Catholic Church? Am I guilty of grave sin? Have I incurred a penalty (e.g. excommunication, interdict) that forbids me to receive Holy Communion? Have I prepared myself by fasting for at least an hour?" The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected (cf. Instruction "Redemptionis Sacramentum," nos. 81, 83). 2. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin. The Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that authorize or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a "grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. [...] In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to 'take part in a propaganda campaign in favour of such a law or vote for it'" (no. 73). Christians have a "grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God’s law. Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. [...] This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it" (no. 74). 3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia. 4. Apart from an individual's judgment about his worthiness to present himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion may find himself in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone, such as in cases of a declared excommunication, a declared interdict, or an obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin (cf. can. 915). 5. Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist. 6. When "these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they were not possible," and the person in question, with obstinate persistence, still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, "the minister of Holy Communion must refuse to distribute it" (cf. Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts Declaration "Holy Communion and Divorced, Civilly Remarried Catholics" [2002], nos. 3-4). This decision, properly speaking, is not a sanction or a penalty. Nor is the minister of Holy Communion passing judgment on the person’s subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public unworthiness to receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin. [N.B. A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.] |
Just picked a small booklet titled, Our Blessed Host, Have Mercy on Us! The Holy Eucharist in the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska.
The booklet begins in this fasion:
The most solemn moment of my life is when I receive Holy Communion. I long for each Holy Communion, and for every Holy Communion I give thanks to the Holy Trinity. (1804)
May your devotion to the Eucharist increase as you regularly, if not daily, reflect on the words of The Diary of St. Faustina - and may Holy Communion become for you "the most solemn moment" of your life.
I wish every priest, bishop and Cardinal would read these words. Perhaps then they would understand what this Sacrament is all about.
How to do it? I have pondered it. Only --- I repeat only ---- in the case of blatant public figures would this apply. Any others might have remedied their sins by Confession, unbeknownst to you, but the blatant public figures need to manifestly, publicly repent, or the public scandal remains.
I think the honorable course is to give the blatant unrepentant public offender (e.g. Mario Cuomo or Joe Biden) a calm and very quiet blessing as you would a little child --- a hand on the head, "May the Lord bless you, and bring you to repentance," whatever, and then, if he does not quickly move and give place to the next recipient, YOU take one or two steps and give Communion to the next person behind him.
Then it would be up to the offender to quietly go back to his pew, or make a scene, if he chooses. It's on him.
The bishops --- they carry those croziers for a purpose: to protect the lambs and dismay the wolves. And not the other way around.
And markomalley shared this one with me:
From having lived in the mountains of Turkey for a few years, I will tell you, from first hand observation, sheep are just about the stupidest creatures on God's green earth.They will literally put their heads down and graze themselves off a cliff if not stopped. I have seen this first hand.
The purpose of the long end of a shepherd's crook is to knock the sheep between the legs to get it moving. No, I am not exaggerating. The purpose of the hooked end is to grab the sheep by the neck and yank, hard, to get it to stop.
There are definite episcopal applications to this.
I believe you are obliged by Canon 915 to quietly, and with no fuss or indignity, decline to submit the Holy Eucharist to sacrilege. To protect the Eucharist, saints laid down their lives.Are Eucharistic Ministers "allowed" to deny Communion? That doesn't seem right. Just another reason why they should be rarely (if at all) used. (No offense to EMs meant.)
I sure agree with you on that. The regular, habitual use of EM’s is slowly makingme realize the “casualization” of the Most Blessed Sacrament of thr Altar. I can’t say a word about it at my parish, but I was invited to participate in this ministry, and I just mumbled, somewhat embarrasssed, “..I...I can’t.”
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