Posted on 02/25/2019 12:06:03 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o
Pro-life Catholics who wish Catholic Church leaders would step up and deny communion to leading politicians who support abortion are getting good news today.
One Catholic bishop is denying communion to pro-abortion Democrat Dick Durbin, a top Democrat in the Senate who has long supported and promoted abortion. Durbin joined other Democrats to block a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks.
Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois says Durbin is “cooperating in evil” and persisting in “manifest grave sin” because of his abortion advocacy and must therefore “not be admitted to Holy Communion until he repents of his sin.”
In a statement on the Diocese of Springfield website, Bishop Paprocki said, “Fourteen Catholic senators voted against the bill that would have prohibited abortions starting at 20 weeks after fertilization, including Sen. Richard Durbin, whose residence is in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.”
The full statement reads:
I agree completely with His Eminence, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, who called the U.S. Senate’s failure to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act “appalling.”
Fourteen Catholic senators voted against the bill that would have prohibited abortions starting at 20 weeks after fertilization, including Sen. Richard Durbin, whose residence is in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. In April 2004, Sen. Durbin’s pastor, then Msgr. Kevin Vann (now Bishop Kevin Vann of Orange, CA), said that he would be reticent to give Sen. Durbin Holy Communion because his pro-abortion position put him outside of communion or unity with the Church’s teachings on life. My predecessor, now Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, said that he would support that decision. I have continued that position.
Canon 915 of the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law states that those “who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.” In our 2004 Statement on Catholics in Political Life, the USCCB said, “Failing to protect the lives of innocent and defenseless members of the human race is to sin against justice. Those who formulate law therefore have an obligation in conscience to work toward correcting morally defective laws, lest they be guilty of cooperating in evil and in sinning against the common good.” Because his voting record in support of abortion over many years constitutes “obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin,” the determination continues that Sen. Durbin is not to be admitted to Holy Communion until he repents of this sin. This provision is intended not to punish, but to bring about a change of heart. Sen. Durbin was once pro-life. I sincerely pray that he will repent and return to being pro-life.
A 2013 letter from Pope Francis says pro-abortion politicians should not be eligible for communion in the Catholic Church.
In the letter, Pope Francis directed the Argentinean bishops to govern the Church there following the Aparecida Document.
The text states, in part, “[people] cannot receive Holy Communion and at the same time act with deeds or words against the commandments, particularly when abortion, euthanasia, and other grave crimes against life and family are encouraged. This responsibility weighs particularly over legislators, heads of governments, and health professionals.”
“These are the guidelines we need for this time in history,” the pope wrote to the bishops.
It is pretty sad that this is the first time I’ve heard of the RCC doing this to anyone with money and/or power.
+1
It’s a start, even if late. Isn’t Pelosi “Catholic”?
I did not know that. Wow.
1) Big Media doesn't like to report on these things. They don't fit The Narrative.
2) It is a bit unusual in that the Bishop in question is actually the Bishop of the abortionist politician's home diocese.
Was this last year or is the date wrong?
Make him Pope and send Frankie to Venezuela he can be Maduro’s spiritual adviser.
For my esteemed non-Christian friends, those of other Faiths and of no Faith:
I would like to point out that perverse copulation, body-mutilation, gender-mix-n-match, and baby-killing --- all these mad derangements --- are contrary to Natural Law which we can know by reason, as well as to the Supernatural Laws which we know by revelation.
Surely even animals, were they to react harmfully against their natural procreative instinct, their natural bodily wholeness and their natural offspring, would be seen as aberrant.
This is true of any species; it would be acutely concerning if it were a particularly valued species: pedigreed show dogs or carefully-bred race horses, for instance. To account for their destructive mania, we´d be looking for toxins in their feed-box or abnormalities in their brain-box.
There is nothing noble in these behaviors. There´s nothing sane and sound about them.
The Book of Scripture isn´t even needed to tell us this. We could learn it by looking hard at the Book of Nature: and at our poor, self-serving, self-centered, self-distorted selves.
Incidentally, St. Paul wrote in Romans that the pagans themselves know the Law that is written in their hearts. He concluded, not "...and that's why pagans are so cool", but "...and that's why they have no excuse."
Wow. A bunch of great posts today.
This was definitely one of them.
THIS kind of writing should be in school text books.
Instead they teach the aberrations as the norm.
ok, I’m going to try to remember this name: Bishop Paprocki. Let’s pray for this man of courage and rectitude.
Other reports of the same news:
Bishop Paprocki to Sen. Durbin: Change Your Heart; Change Your Abortion Votes (National Catholic Register)
Bishop Paprocki discusses background, decision regarding Sen. Durbin (Catholic World Report)
No, it happened in 2018. It’s old news.
Bishop Tom Paprocki is the Holy Goalie - https://thetablet.org/holy-goalie-connects-sports-and-faith/ And my newest personal hero.
God Love him...
Bishop Paprocki: Senator Durbin is not to be admitted to Holy Communion
Now if Cardinal Dolan would o the same to “Don” Cuomo.
The date is on the URL, and it's 2018:
https://www.lifenews.com/2018/02/22/catholic-bishop-denies-communion-to-pro-abortion-democrat-sen-dick-durbin-until-he-repents-of-his-sin/?fbclid=IwAR0ay7xzvG57EtbELE37ySr8t2eKZp9pu7PCdjf4j3zF0E-0UhS1LxWNBkI
Oh well-a-day, it's good news even if it's old news.
The dollar is mightier then the communion.
Is this a first?
Does Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) go to church?
Shoulda started doing this about 40 years ago - kudos to Bishop Paprocki, but it would’ve been better for the unborn and for the Church if a whole passel of these Catholics-in-name-only had been publicly disciplined early on.
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